I did this in hurry, so I'm sorry if the translation sucks... Though it's the best I managed right now, so you just have to deal with it ;) I promise to write the next chapter better, and there will finally happen something interesting!

Be free to check out my other story, Win or Die!

Happy Reading!

Kayden

I stared at the magical camp fire, which always reflected the mood of the campers. This evening, it was burning dark red and only a few feet tall. The campers around me were whispering to each other in tension, waiting for Chiron to arrive. I thought about what Will had told us after the meeting. The Romans were planning to attack... I couldn't help but to think of Jessica's reaction, as she heard the news. She couldn't stand the thought, than someone would harm her camp. Harm her friends. I knew, that she was gonna fight to the death, if needed. Literally. I hated that thought. She was so much like Angelica... She wanted to save everyone. Even if it required her own life. And that's what I was afraid of. I didn't want to lose her, too.

I tried to shake that thought off, as Chiron finally arrived. The campers fell silent. I looked at my siblings, restless. Lyn was biting her nails on my right side. On my left, Jessica's eyes were glued at Chiron. In the glow of the camp fire, it looked like her red hair was flaming. I bit my lip, then turned to look at Chiron.

"Dear campers", Chiron started in a firm tone. "You all probably know something already, but I'm still going to make sure, that you all understand the situation for sure. It's very important, that you can prepare yourselves for the upcoming." He looked at us, carefully.

It was completely silent. The last time, it had been so silent in the amphitheater, was in the memorials after the Titan war. I shivered at the memory. Angelica, Michael, and so many others were gone. And now there was coming a new war... I forced myself to concentrate, as Chiron told us about Argo II arriving to New Rome, and what had happened thereafter. I had heard almost the same things from Will, but I was still stunned about the fact, that Leo had fired the Roman city. As I'd heard it from Will, I weren't sure either to believe him or not, but now that Chiron confirmed it... Well, I kind of didn't know what to think.

Then Chiron told us, how to prepare for the Roman's attack. It would take them a few weeks to prepare the attack and reach our camp. The image of the Romans marching from California to here on foot, felt a little stupid. How could even mortals miss an entire legion, if it marched through their gardens in full armor?

Chiron didn't tell much about any strategic plans, since we were out in the open. We did have the magical barriers, but it still wouldn't be really wise to shout aloud thinks like that. Instead of that, he told us some things about the Roman fighting style, which was quite different than ours, and accented, that we all should attend to train hard our fighting skills.

"And you probably remember, that tomorrow we start the gladiator tournament, which, for sure, is a great opportunity to improve those skills. So, I urge all of you", he gave a significantly look at the children of Aphrodite, "to fight seriously tomorrow! I think this is enough for today. You can go to sleep!"

I headed towards the cabins with the other campers. It was getting dark, and in front of us, the Apollo cabin glowed golden. The sky was cloudless, and the stars above Long Island created a magical feel. They seemed to stress the importance of this day.

I slowed my steps by oversight, and soon I noticed, that I had left behind the others. I was just going to run after them, when I felt someone touching my shoulder.

"Hi." It was Cara. There was a small, a bit melancholy smile on her lips, and the stars reflected from her royal blue eyes.

"Um... Hi", I gasped out. I must've looked pretty stupid, as I stood there, unsure what to do.

Cara looked somewhat amused, as she brushed a glittering tress of hair away from her face. She lightly squeezed my shoulder and pointed towards the beach with her other hand. "You ever vent to the beach in a night as clear as this?" She asked.

I shook my head. "No." I mentally sighed from relief. This time, I could already recognize my voice.

Cara grinned at me. "Come!" She caught my wrist and began to drag me past the climbing wall toward the beach. The other campers were heading to the opposite direction to the cabin, and fortunately no one turned to look back. It was forbidden to hang out outdoors in the night, and the patrol harpies had the permission to eat all the campers who break that rule. However, we didn't see any harpies on our way.

We soon reached the beach, near to the place, where we always shot fireworks in the end of the camp summer. Cara released my wrist and sat down on the sand. I sat next to her and looked at the lake. The scenery really was beautiful. Due to the stars, it looked like there was molten silver through the black water. Far ahead, you could see the lights of New York. I breathed in the fresh night air. The view calmed me down, and soon the panic-stricken tension was gone. Sure I was still tensed, but in a different way. In a much nicer way, than still a moment ago.

"Well, what do you think?" Cara asked in a silent voice and turned to look at me. Before, it had looked like there were silvery stripes through her hair. Now they shimmered almost totally silver. The violet color seemed to blend to the silver in the same way, as the black water blend to the shimmer of the stars.

"Something in this evening... there's something unusual, you feel it?" I was going to say something a bit more ordinary, like Wow, what a beautiful view, but the words as if escaped my lips.

Cara looked at me, thoughtful. "So you feel it too. I thought that..." She shook her head. "I thought, that only we children of Hecate can sense this... But you're right. This is one kind of magic. There's indeed something special in this day."

"You mean... Is it about the Romans?"

Cara shook her head thoughtfully. "Not sure... but I don't think so. This is something bigger." She looked me into the eyes, and the overwhelming feel in my chest made breathing hard. Her eyes were so perfectly blue...

"I think, that something major is about to happen", she continued. "And it's not a good thing for us."

The way she said it... there was pain in her voice, like she knew more, but didn't want to say her suspicions out loud.

"What should we do? Should we tell Chiron?"

Cara shook her head again. "No. He's aware of this. All we can do, is to look out... I don't think, that we can get ready for this - whatever it is - in any way." She bit her lip. Cara looked almost... uncomfortable. The she sighed and smiled vexedly. "I have to think this over, but not today." She stood up and brushed some sand off her jeans. "Come. I have had enough of this place already." She offered me her hand and pulled me up.

We slowly walked towards the cabins, having a chat. We talked about small, normal things, like there were no Gaia or Romans or anything else threatening us. We were talking about the tournament, as Cara suddenly whispered: "Get down!" I hit the ground and from the corner of my eye, I caught a dark figure on the left. A harpy!

We were only less than a ten feet away from one of the columns of the dining pavilion, and apparently the harpy hadn't noticed us yet. For a moment, I considered trying to hide behind the column. Then I ditched the idea. The column was too far, and the harpy was heading straight toward us... Then it came to me. "Cara!" I whispered as quietly as I could. "Can you bluff it using magic?" Then I looked at her more specifically, noticing, that she had closed her eyes and seemed to concentrate hardly. Well, she's already on it... I was pretty sure I blushed. It felt so stupid just to wait there and... Then something happened. A giant mushroom appeared straight in front of the harpy. The harpy stopped like it had walked into an invisible wall. The mushroom, which was about a few feet tall, started jumping, sidestepped the stunned harpy and carried on toward the beach. For a moment, the harpy just looked stunned, but then it decided to rush after the mushroom.

If you have never seen a chicken monster chasing a giant mushroom... Well, I can tell you, it was worth seeing. I tried to stay quiet as long as the harpy was in hearing distance, but I failed. I burst laughing in the same time with Cara. Luckily, the harpy was so busy chasing the jumping mushroom, it didn't notice anything. I laid on the grass next to Cara, and couldn't stop laughing. At some point, I turned my look from the grass to Cara and managed: "How... how did you do that?"

She grinned at me. "Just manipulated the Mist - the mushroom didn't really exist."

"Wow. Wish I could do something like that", I said and couldn't help but to admire her.

She smiled smugly, kidding, then shrugged. "Yeah, it can be useful sometimes." I hadn't noticed until now, how close she was. Our shoulders almost touched. Cara seemed to noticed it, too. She suddenly leaned on her other elbow and touched my cheek lightly. Then she looked me straight into the eyes, and pressed her hand again on my cheek. She was so close, I felt her breath on my face. That's when she kissed me. It was a short kiss, but filled me with warmth.

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