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Jessica

I was standing in a big shadowy hall. It seemed to be some kind of temple, but it had no ceiling. On the sides, the marble columns rose at least fifty feet high, like they were supporting the clear, star dotted night sky. In the temple, - inasmuch as it even was one - it was almost pitch dark. The only light was from the stars above, and I could barely see ten feet ahead. Most of the hall was covered in shadows and some kind of weird purple and black mist... Or was it maybe Mist? I quickly looked back, almost certain that someone was lurking in the shadows. I didn't see anyone, but the feeling didn't go away. If there was somebody, and if he/she decided to attack, I would be an easy target. I just hated that pathetic feeling! If I just had a simple flashlight... Of course! I unsheathed my sword. For some reason, Iliachtída (AN: that's the name of her sword, just in case you don't remember) glowed in the dark. And the weirdest thing was that it glowed soft gold. The hilt sure was golden, but the blade was Celestial Bronze. Maybe it was due to the fact that I had gotten the sword from Apollo, who was god of the sun. Yeah... that would actually make sense.

I raised the sword, which helped me to see farther than yet a moment ago. Though, since the hall was so huge, most of it still remained hidden in the shadows. I took a step toward the nearest column. I had no idea, whose temple this possibly was, or where it even was located. Then, without any kind of warning, a pair of large double doors flew open a few ten feet behind me. I just had time to see a flash of soft light from the doorway before a girl stepped in. She was far enough so that I couldn't see much details of her appearance, but as she got closer, I saw that she wore a black chest armor, a pair of black wrist guards, black jeans and a black robe. She looked a few years older than me, and she had black hair and a good tan. I took a good position, ready for an attack. Then she just strided past me, like I didn't even exist. For a second, I just stood there, wondering what was wrong with her vision. Then I heard someone speak. And that someone wasn't the newly arrived girl. The girl was on her knees on the black marble floor, in a spot just on the edge of my field of vision - in front of her, I could only see that weird mist. It actually seemed like the voice came somewhere from within the mist. Like there really was somebody.

"I called you, Lieutenant Nicoli, to order you a mission", the voice said. It was female, and I first thought of Gaea, but her voice didn't meet my perception of Gaea's voice in any way. She sounded much younger than I pictured Gaea to sound. But then again, her voice was commanding, arrogant and cold.

"Yes ma'am", the girl dressed in black armor answered. Her voice got the similar hardness and arrogance as the first speaker's, and also a sort of cruelty. If that dude noticed my presence, she would kill me without a doubt. I couldn't help but to think of my odds against that girl. I wasn't too sure about them. Her whole essence breathed self-confidence given by experience. Somehow, I got the feeling that one day I would be against her on the battlefield. She surely wasn't on our side in this war. This whole place breathed darkness and evil...

"Lets get to the point", the voice said from the darkness. "You have to make sure we can't be defeated when the time comes. Your job is to crush their last hope of beating us. Do you understand what I mean?" I could hear the cruel satisfaction in her cold voice.

Even I didn't see the black warrior's face, I could tell by the tone of her answer that she was smiling cruelly. "Yes ma'am, I think I understand."

"And you probably also realize that this is the maximum sign of trust for you. If, and when you perform this mission exemplary, you have great opportunities to rise on your rank, Lieutenant Nicoli. Now, get back to your normal duties and wait for more instructions. You're dismissed."

I somehow felt that the speakers presence left the hall. Or not really... More like it's conscious part, the part that could speak and give orders, moved off. In the room, in the mist swirling around me, even in the starry sky, remained part of her presence. The girl called lieutenant Nicoli stood up and started heading towards the double doors that were hidden in the shadows. As she was a few feet away from me, I thought she would just pass me as she did when she came. That's why I almost jumped from fright when she suddenly turned her gaze straight into me. Her eyes were dark brown and pretty much like steel. They didn't show any kind of emotion, like she had trained for years to harden her feelings so that she'd become just a cold killing machine. And somehow I got the feeling that her newest mission was to crush us, to crush our camp. My fists clenched as I met her eyes. She stared me straight back, as if trying to break my willpower and courage with her steely glare. I didn't turn my eyes away. No one would crush me. Neither my camp.

"The fact that you're just dreaming, may turn you invisible to the others, even to my mistress, but not to me. And you're not going to stop me from completing my mission, Jessica Silver, daughter of Apollo." She smiled sardonically, then lazily swung her hand first at the swirling mist, which was everywhere around us, then at me. After that, she continued towards the doors.

I was so mad, I wanted to rush after her. I squeezed my sword's hilt. Yeah, my surname must be really amusing to you... You sure are good at mocking and glaring, but don't you even have the courage to pick out you're sword? Scared that you're not so invincible after all? I was so hardly trying to resist the temptation of rushing after Mrs. Invincible, that for a moment, I didn't spot anything freak happening. Then I noticed that the thick, swirling mist, which had just stayed some distance from me, was now threateningly whirling straight towards. It rolled from all sides, and soon I stood in the only mistless point of the hall. And it was getting smaller second by second. I couldn't do anything but to stand there, horrid. Mist wasn't that kind of enemy, you could fight by sword. And I was pretty sure about that, since I had already tried it - you know, just to make sure it didn't work. I held my breath, ready to drown to the mist. I still didn't know what it was, but it certainly wasn't regular mist. That's why I considered likely that this would be a bad thing for me. Right when the mist rolled over me, and I couldn't hold my breath anymore, I woke up.

I jumped up in my bed, catching desperately for breath. The golden walls of the cabin seven shimmered softly. Almost everyone were already awake, sleepily getting dressed for the breakfast. Immediately, all of them turned to look at me. I sighed and slumped back onto my bed. When I next opened my eyes, I saw Kayden standing over me. I buried my face behind my hands and muttered: "It was just a dream."

"You sure you're okay?" Kayden asked, looking concerned, which didn't really match with the blush on his cheeks. His blond hair was messy, as always, and he was nervously chewing his upper lip. He looked pretty comic.

I managed to smile at his face. My brother always made my life feel a bit more tolerable. And he did that just by... well, by being himself. I couldn't help but to think about the black warrior in my dream... Why did 'Nicoli' sound somehow familiar to me? And it felt like I had seen her before... I just wished I remembered where. But one thing was for sure: I would have to face her again. I would have to fight her. Hesitation tried to capture my thoughts. My chest felt like someone was standing on it as I thought, what could happen. I had to keep my friends alive. I had to keep Kayden alive.

I rolled my eyes at him and sat up. "Really. Stop worrying about me." I punched his arm lightly and raised my eyebrows. "What are you waiting for? I have to get dressed."

"Hey! What have I done?" He protested, rubbing his arm, as if I had punched hard.

"Mmm, lets think about that... Ran away from the campfire with a certain girl?"

Kayden's blush brightened. "We just-"

"Thanks Kayden, but I don't need any details."

Kayden opened his mouth to say something, but he was saved by Will.

"Hey, no need to tease Kayden", he said and ruffled Kayden's hair. "And everyone else is already ready, Jess. We have to leave in..." He raised his look at the big gold clock. "...ten minutes for the breakfast, so you should hurry up."

I sticked my tongue out at him, then dragged myself to my storage box. I quickly dressed in the same clothes as yesterday: jeans and black top. I wondered if should I tell somebody about my dream. I coudn't forget that sardonic smile on that black dressed girl's face. 'And you're not going to stop me from completing my mission, Jessica Silver, daughter of Apollo.' Crushing our last hope... that was her mission. I squeezed the dagger I was holding in my hand. Be free to try.

-LINE BREAK-

We had a swording class right after the breakfast. I was more than fine with that, since little training wasn't bad before the tournament... Which again wasn't bad before the upcoming war. We gathered on the side of the swording arena with the children of Hermes. Me, Will and the the counselor of Hermes cabin, Travis Stoll, stepped in the front of the others.

"Okay", Will started. "I was thinking, that we should rehearse some basics today", he said. "Jessica? Could you display with Tra-"

"With Will!" Travis interrupted and hastily gestured us to go to the arena.

I grinned at Will, teasing. This was what happened before every swording lesson. For some reason, almost no one in the camp seemed to be willing to spar with me.

Will sighed, but accepted his fate. "Oh well." We moved closer to the center of the arena, as the others remained watching.

"Okay Will", I said. "Try to attack me in different ways, and I show different ways to block them." I took the ready position and focused all my thoughts to this moment. However, my dream was still disturbing me. I had pushed it to the rearmost part of my mind, but still, it was eating my concentration. I had the feeling, that I had missed something important... I couldn't tell about it to the others, though. They had already enough to worry about.

I tried to focus. I stared at Will, waiting for him to attack. Finally, he did it. He rushed towards me, his sword ready, then quickly stepped aside and stabbed at my right side. It was easy to reject. I just pulled my sword sideways, stopping his stroke, charging enough power to force him to back off. "Okay. Then the same but slower", I said. We did it again in slow-motion.

Next time, Will lunged more subtly. He managed to get behind me, and if he had had a clumsier opponent, he would've had time to strike. But I wasn't clumsy in any way. I turned backwards elbow foremost and hit him in the chest. He fell on the ground. I grimaced at him, apologetically. "Sorry."

"No problem..." Will breathed. "But lets not do it again." He stood up and we continued the show.

After a few examples, we splitted the rest of the group into training pairs. After that, me, Travis and Will circled among the training campers, correcting their flaws. As the lesson was coming to it's end, some campers from the other cabins came to the stand. Most of the Ares gang was there, likewise many Athena's children and some other campers. I spotted Clarisse, who was sitting with her gang in the middle of the stand. She was pointing at... me? That's what it looked like. She was probably blustering her friends how she would beat me up in the evening... What a surprise.

Then the idea hit me: I wanted to tell someone about my dream. However, I didn't want to make all the campers worried with the information. And, I wasn't sure about telling it to Chiron. I wanted to talk to someone, who could maybe know something, or who at least was an experienced warrior. I maybe didn't personally love Clarisse, but in a way, she kind of fit in those frames.

I still stopped to explain to a little Hermes' girl, that she shouldn't handle her sword like an axe, and, even if her sparring partner was however annoying, she really wasn't suppose to kill him. Then I informed to everyone, that the lesson was over. From the corner of my eye, I noticed, how Cara pulled Kayden up from the ground, since he had stumbled in the very last second of the training. I threw a calculating look at her back, then carried on to the stairs of the stand. I headed to Clarisse, watching as her boyfriend Chris Rodriguez poked her on the arm and nodded towards me. Clarisse turned to look at me, grinning. "Hey, redhead!" She exclaimed. "We were just placing bets for the evening. Wanna know how popular you are?"

"Some other time", I answered. "You have a moment?" I bit my lip and gestured towards the empty part of the stand.

Clarisse looked at me and her expression sobered a bit. She shrugged. "Fine, just wait here guys", she said to Chris and the rest of her gang.

I walked ahead of her and sat down on an empty bench. There was nobody in hearing distance. Clarisse sat next to me, frowning. "Well?"

I told her my dream as fully as I could. She didn't spoke until I was finished. "So, you expect me to know, who that black dressed dude was?"

"I thought that you could know." I corrected, looking at her expectantly.

"...Strange, I have never though of your last name's irony before. Apollo's daughter named Silver..." She grinned at me, amused.

I rolled my eyes. "Hey, seriously! That wasn't the point." I muttered. "So, would you know anyone who's surname is Nicoli?"

Clarisse thought about it for a second. "Don't think so." However, she looked more serious now. "Could it have something to do with the Romans?" She asked, saying the word 'Romans', as if it was the worst insult ever. "Or with Gaea?"

"At least, I'm quite sure, she's a demigod. Roman or Greek? No idea, but I don't think their allies with the Romans. And what comes to Gaea... the voice who spoke in the temple... It could very well be on Gaea's side. At least, it was evil."

Clarisse nodded. "And there wasn't anyone else? Only that voice and the warrior?"

I nodded. "Yep, only them."

Clarisse frowned, looking thoughtful, like if she was considering, to tell or not to tell me something. "What?" I asked, since she hadn't said anything for a while.

She looked at me, as if still wondering, was I worth or her trust. Then she just shrugged, like she had came to the conclusion that I wasn't so good-for-nothing as she usually told me. "I saw a dream last night. We were fighting the Romans on the Half-Blood hill... Or well, actually I was fighting them, There weren't any other campers. Just Romans."

"So, in other words, it's just a matter of time, when the Romans and the warrior from my dream both attack us, and, lets not forget about Gaea's army, which is also coming here in any minute... How awesome."

Clarisse shrugged. "Yeah... You got the point." She stood up. "Well, see you in the evening", she blurted, giving me a smugly grin. "You're going to be in a bad shape." She sounded quite happy about that.

"We'll see that later", I aswered, raising my eyebrows at her, challengingly. Then I jumped to the tier below us, continuing down to the arena. I still had a few more things to clear up before the evening, when I would have some other things to do. Regardless, I was still waiting for the tournament. And for that, I had only one goal: Victory.

So, hated it? Liked it? I really invested on this chapter, so tell me your opinion of it, and don't forget to put your story recommendation in your review!

- Patroness of Athens