"Look at him. What is he doing?" The elder woman asked, turning away from the newly installed monitor in her office. Her long, black hair moving along as her serpent like green eyes rested upon her son.

"I believe this is what humans call panic attack, mother." Phobetor answered, just now arriving at her office. He came straight to her after having dropped the message to Morpheus. He looked around the bright room, wondering how on earth his mother could bare all the light in here.

"Ugh, pathetic." She responded with a snarl, standing up to approach her son. 
"I feel like you could have done a better job." Was the first thing she said. Phobetor rolled his eyes.

"The only better job would have been abducting him too." He told his mother.
"And why didn't you? Hypnos would come for his son, as I said before. Not some meaningless human girl." She countered, reminding Phobetor of the long discussion they had the day prior.

"As I said before, Hypnos is a coward. He does not care about anyone, but himself. You and I both know that. So, having his son put pressure on him, will get us more than some stranger showing up at his door and telling him we have his son. He has spent decades on earth and if I didn't know better, he could've fooled me about being an actual human. Maybe, just maybe some of those useless emotions somehow got to him. Maybe he actually feels some of them now." Phobetor explained.

"You truly believe that." His mother shook her head.
"I do. Morpheus is our best shot when he's panicking, but still alive." He looked at the computer monitor, shaking his head at the sight of Morpheus pacing his hotel room, hands feverishly raking through his hair.

"These humans will ruin themselves with all their useless crying and suffering." His eyes shot to his mother, who by now sat back down at her desk, watching Morpheus as well.
"Well, at least they invented cameras. Otherwise, we would not be witnesses of this spectacle." Phobetor turned around to leave, when a voice arose.

"She is awake." The whole house echoed with the male voice. It was nowhere near as deep as Phobetor's, it was more boyish, yet mature. 
"I'll talk to her." Phobetor volunteered, not waiting for his mother to respond, before he left her office and went to the stairwell. He instantly felt better when darkness surrounded him as soon as he reached the cellar. 

"Nathaniel?" Her voice echoed through the rock walls of the hallway to her prison.
"Look who's awake." Phobetor started as soon as he caught sight of the woman clutching the iron bars of her cell tight. But she took a step backwards in fear as soon as she saw Phobetor. 

"You must be Charlotte. I have heard a lot about you." His grin was surreal, Charlie noted. It was as if his mouth just kept stretching. But his skin looked so glassy and white. It looked like porcelain to Charlotte and not the cute way of describing a skin shade. No, it looked like actual porcelain. Like her mother's old white Chinese vase. 

"Who are you?" She refrained from stuttering in fear as her back hit the cold iron gates behind her. Charlotte looked around, her eyes roaming the rocks outside of her cell. It looked like she was in a cave somewhere. It was freezing in here, so she figured this wasn't hell yet.

"How ill-mannered of me. I am Phobetor Kaos. Pleasure to meet you." He stepped closer towards Charlie's small cell, which was only big enough to let her lay down and not stretch. Because if she were to, her feet and hands would touch the bars. 

"Ph- Phobetor?" Now, she stuttered. And she had every reason to. If she knew about Morpheus, she obviously knew about his brother Phobetor. In Greek Mythology, he was the frightener, often described as a dark, cold beast or creature from your worst nightmares.
"Ah, I see. You've heard of me." The Uvalion turned away from her to get a wooden stool that stood beside her cage. He dragged it, so he could take a seat in front of Charlotte.

"It's a shame we had to meet this way. But I am sure, everything will be just fine." This was most bizarre to Charlie. 

"What do you want from me?" She dared ask, making Phobetor shake his head.
"Nothing. You're just a mean." He responded.
"A mean for what?" 
"For my purpose. Well, my mother's too, but we have the same goal. But before we get into that, I wonder what Morpheus meant when he said you don't have much time. That if you fall asleep, you may never wake up again. That's the part I'm interested in." All the while talking, the tall, slender man watched her every move, even the smallest change in her facial expression.

"I don't care what you're interested in, I demand you to release me this instant." Charlie scoffed, refusing to become his personal entertainment. His serpent like eyes looked at her as if she was a snack and not in the sexual, harassing way. But more the actual predator and prey way. She gulped when all he did was laugh, the sound of it reaching her bone marrow, causing Charlie's whole body to shake in fear. 

He suddenly sprung up and approached the only barrier between them. And within a second, black smoke appeared and vanished behind his body when all of a sudden, Phobetor was in her cell, merely a step away form her. Charlie gulped and pressed herself even harder against the bars behind her, immediately regretting her outburst. 

"I suppose you don't want to repeat that, do you?" Charlie shook her head in answer, closing her eyes in fear at the tone of his voice.
"I figured. You don't know me, I am aware. But you cannot be stupid enough to think you're safe in here. Especially from me." Her eyes were still closed, but it didn't matter, Phobetor grabbed her wrist and she immediately felt just how powerful this Uvalion was. Without saying a word, he put images in her head, that caused her goosebumps. And not the good kind.

"Please, stop." She begged him finally when the images grew too scary. To her surprise, Phobetor did as told and waited until she opened her eyes in order to reveal that he had shifted into a giant snake, hissing down at the young adult. Charlie screamed and cowered away from him, her knees giving in, making her fall to the stoned ground.

"Very well." Phobetor turned back into his human form and took a step back, out of her cell. He sat back down and waited for her to look up at him. Once she did, he cleared his throat.
"You may answer now." He said in a stern tone.

"Speak, human!" He yelled impatiently when it took Charlie too long to remember his question. She jumped, but stayed seated on the floor. With a short nod, she gulped and opened her mouth.
"I am cursed." Was all she said, succeeding to sound less scared than she felt. But also managing to confuse Phobetor even further.

"Elaborate." Phobetor leaned forward and placed his elbows on his knees, seemingly very curious about her story.
"Well, when Morpheus was a kid, he accidentally cursed me to have nightmares every time I fall asleep. And it has only gotten worse since I found out about it. I started sleepwalking." Phobetor was quiet and looked as if expecting Charlie to go on. She took a deep breath and continued.

"And now that we have found a similar case in an old diary about a man that fell asleep one day and never woke up again, Morpheus fears the same will happen to me. We hope by coming here and seeking out the senate, they will help us undo the curse and not arrest Morpheus." She nodded, hopefully having explained enough for him to let her go.

Charlie dared look into Phobetors eyes and wondered if he was thinking or if he expected her to say more. He was most peculiar and even trying to read this Uvalion was out of question. She had a hard time reading Morpheus and he was only half Uvalion. A minute passed before the man leaned back.

"To get this straight, you think the Uvalion of dreams has given you nightmares for life. And as a result, you want to go to the senate, so they can undo that?" He asked and Charlie nodded.
"And Morpheus thinks so too?" Phobetor had to make sure. But her words sounded genuine and the way his brother begged him to let go of her, made Phobetor certain, they actually believed in that curse.

"Y-yes." His questions made Charlie nervous. Why did he look so suspicious?
"And did he tell you how exactly he cursed you?" The Uvalion asked, standing up now.
"Not really. He just got upset one day and saw me with my parents, happy and unbothered. He was jealous and said he wished me nothing, but the worst in life. But he was a child and I don't think he-"

"For Helios' sake, save me from your opinion." He interrupted her, sitting back down and shaking his head. He had to think now. This half Uvalion had no idea what he was dealing with. And quite frankly, Phobetor could not yet explain this human's nightmares. But he knew one thing for sure, Morpheus had nothing to do with them. It was impossible.

"Say, do humans sometimes wake up and decide to grow wings?" He asked her, momentarily startling her. Charlie blinked, but shook her head.
"No, that's-"
"Do humans sometimes physically become animals, because they simply wish to?" He continued. Charlie refrained from verbally answering and just shook her head this time.

"And why is that?" He asked, sounding as if he expected one true answer. Charlie panicked.
"Well, because we can't." She hoped that was right. But from the looks of it, he wanted more.
"And why can't you?" He stood up again, Charlie gulped.
"Think, human." He said in a menacingly low tone of voice. 

"I- I- I don't know. We just can't do that, it's against our nature. We can't just wish something and then get it. But Morpheus is half Uvalion and-"
"And what? He all of a sudden can decide whether he gives dreams or nightmares? Just by being upset at someone? If that were the case, I would've cursed the whole world by now. No, impossible. Even an Uvalion cannot go against his nature." He glared down at her. Charlie's jaw dropped. But, he had to.

"B- but he said I started crying immediately after. And Hypnos said he believed in it too." Charlie said, but saw the look of hatred in Phobetor's eyes when she mentioned Morpheus' father.
"That alone is reason enough not to believe it. Hypnos is a liar and a cheater, nothing more!" Charlie blinked at his outburst, but stayed silent.

"I will not blame Morpheus for being stupid enough to believe him. Hypnos was his only mentor after all. But I will tell you this right now. There is no way that he cursed you. Only I could have done that and I am certain, I did not. As for the senate, what lie has Hypnos told you about it? Did he say that coming here and asking around would bring you to them? The senate is not to be bothered ever. Especially not by a half Uvalion and a human. They don't just sit around and wait for someone to visit. They will come when needed." Charlie was having a hard time comprehending his words.

"They know when someone needs them. Especially if you were a cursed human, you'd long be healed by now." Phobetor shook his head.
"No, you're not cursed. You might sleepwalk, but that's nothing Hypnos cannot fix." He told her.

"But that's just it. Neither Hypnos nor Morpheus could fix me. I still sleepwalk, I even resisted one of Hypnos' mattresses. Maybe you haven't heard of a case like this yet, but-"
"No, you don't understand. Morpheus is physically incompetent to curse you. No matter how much he wished for you to die, you wouldn't drop dead. Besides that, he would have to touch you at the very least. And if he wanted your nightmares to last, he would have to say his verses. Did he do that?" Phobetor was starting to get angry. At this human and also at Hypnos. He feared even his favourite child would not be able to get the Uvalion of sleep to Silverthorne.

"I don't think so." Charlie's voice was small, but sounded convinced. 
"But what is it then?" Her lips started to tremble and Charlie cursed herself for thinking too much now. If what Phobetor said was true, what else was wrong with her? Then this whole journey was for nothing and she was wasting time here on the other end of the world instead of being with her father. Her father. The thought of him made her even more miserable. 

"That I cannot tell you. But as an Uvalion, it is my duty to help." He started, making Charlie frown even deeper and forget about her family for a split second.
"But you're Phobetor. You're supposed to frighten people." She said, making the Uvalion tilt his head to the side.

"But you're still human." He squinted his eyes at her, realizing why she was surprised.
"What exactly do you know about Uvalions. Or more importantly, what exactly does Morpheus know?" He asked her, making Charlie gulp.

Charlie had a feeling he wouldn't like her answers.