Silence masked the night, interrupted only by the hoot of an owl. Everything was still and dormant at the academy, as the cadets were sound asleep—except for one. Alexia tossed and turned ceaselessly, her worried conscious not allowing her to rest. The examination would take place the next day. She brooded over how things could turn out, and imagined several bad scenarios. Eventually she was able to close her eyes, only to have a most discomforting dream.

In the vision, Alexia saw that she was back in her old village. The town was deserted, with no signs of life in sight. She heard her father's voice call out in distress.

"Don't worry, I'm coming!" she shouted, taking off to find him. As she ran, people started to appear out of nowhere, people from her past. They stared at her with fiery eyes and said things like,

"You can't do that."

"Who do you think you are?"

"You're worthless."

"Get out of my way!"

"You can't do anything right."

"You're nothing."

Alexia began running harder to reach her father, but the more she ran, the further away his voice seemed to be, and the more the people taunted her.

She finally reached her house and burst through the door. "Father!" she cried, but he was nowhere to be found. Instead, there was a dark-cloaked figure facing the back wall.

"Who are you? What have you done with my father?" she asked in a demanding tone, although her voice quivered. When the person did not respond, she walked closer to find out who it was. She was within a few paces away when they suddenly turned around and removed the hood. Alexia was shocked to be staring in the face of Hercules. His usual kind and honest eyes were now shining with the same evil fire as the people from the village. He grinned wickedly, and in a low, sinister tone he uttered one simple sentence, "You can't do it."

Alexia woke up in fear, with sweat covering her body. The recent nightmare plagued her mind, and she tried to decipher its message. All of those people coming back and telling her that she would fail. Even Hercules, the person who had prompted what little faith she possessed, said that she couldn't. This made her all the more confused. What if the dream is right? she thought. Feeling like a small, helpless little girl again, Alexia curled into a ball and softly cried herself back to sleep.

---

"Are you gonna eat that?" Iolaus asked Alexia that morning at breakfast, indicating her untouched bowl of oatmeal.

"No," she sighed, nudging the bowl across the table to him.

"Are you feeling all right?" Hercules asked her.

"No, not really," she replied. "I didn't get much sleep last night."

"Because you were nervous about the exam?" inquired Jason.

"Yeah, that and this nightmare that I had." She told them about the dream and all of the events that occurred—her father, the villagers, and the stranger in her house. "...and the worst part was, when the person revealed themselves, it turned out to be..." she trailed off.

Hercules looked at her curiously. "Who?" Alexia didn't respond verbally, but she answered with the troubled look in her eyes.

"Alexia, don't let it get to you." Lilith told her friend. "You've worked really hard and you're bound to pass the exam."

"Do you really think so?" she asked.

"Yeah," three of her comrades agreed. They then looked over at Iolaus, who was polishing off his breakfast.

"Right Iolaus?" Hercules asked sternly.

Iolaus peeked his head up. "Oh, yeah, sure," he said.

The others exchanged looks and rolled their eyes at the typical behavior of their friend. Oddly enough, though, Alexia gave a faint smile at the slight shift in the mood. She turned to look out a window and saw sunlight streaming in. Outside, the grass was a perfect green, with the cloudless morning sky painted above it. It was truly a beautiful day, and somewhere out there was her father. It was at that moment when Alexia made a revelation. Passing the exam wasn't a matter of could she do it, but rather a matter of she had to do it, for both her father and herself. If she thought of it that way, and truly wanted to pass bad enough, it was possible. She felt foolish and blind for not figuring it out sooner, as her friends had been trying to tell her all along.

She looked back at the other four and said, "I think I'll go for seconds. I need to build up my energy for this afternoon."