This took me longer than I thought... Sorry. But however, I really hope you'll like this!

Happy reading!

Jessica

'Impressive, Silver. Unfortunately, that's not gonna be enough to stop me, or my army. See you tomorrow.'

Yeah. Then what? What could I do to stop that bitch? I tried to come up with an idea. The only problem: I had no ideas. It felt like my brain was full of saw dust. Oh, what a great demigod I am.

I studied Kayden's face. He was still unconscious and painfully weak-looking, but Chiron had ensured he would be fine. He had yet got a shade of his normal complex back, and he was breathing evenly. I touched his messy blond hair slightly. Before, I hadn't really thought how big role he had in my life. But as I now thought back to the Titan war and some other tricky situations, when we had to prepare for a battle, I realized he had made it a lot easier for me. The uptight feel had always got a little glimmer of hope and humor because of him. Now I really could've used a few stupid ideas he'd probably had if he was conscious. He tented to let out really stupid points of views, looking completely serious, (his typical serious expression could be pretty comic) which was actually pretty cute. As I now thought of him in a bit different way, I could almost understand why Cara liked him.

Cara...

The look I saw on her face in the stand during Kayden's fight was still looming in my mind. Something told me there was a simple meaning for it, and that it should've been obvious to me, but there I was again: Trying to think. Always when I thought I was close to the answer, it slipped away from me. Like a stupid, slippery bar of soap. I slammed a palm on my face and cursed. It was so frustrating. I got that impatient feeling, and wanted to hit something - why couldn't my brain just work?

Jessica, a male voice whispered in my mind. Let those thoughts escape. I know this may sound weird to you, but don't try too hard. And, obviously, the point is: Remember how awesome I am. I guess that's all! Oh, and wait! Don't forget to... shine. In the end, it sounded like he was smiling at a private joke between us. Or well, since I didn't get it, it was more like his own private joke. And who was he? I was pretty sure, it was my dad, Apollo. The 'awesome' thing kind of relieved him.

Great, thanks for giving me one more puzzle to solve... Oh, wait! Didn't you say I shouldn't think? Doesn't letting thoughts escape mean that? And shining... He said it like it had many meanings... I sighed. I was really starting to get jealous at Kayden. I would've so much rather been badly wounded, if it meant I was unconscious and free of thoughts.

"Um... hi." A nervous voice said from behind. I already recognized her from the voice, but anyway, I turned around to see her. I wasn't really sure if I wanted to see her, but this was about to get dealt with.

"Cara." I looked at her, trying to look blank. I wasn't sure if it worked, but if there was an emotion on my face, I had no idea what it was. Was it possibly suspicion? Probably. Was there also something else? Maybe.

"Um, could you come over there?" She asked in that same hesitant tone, pointing towards the infirmary's front door.

I frowned slightly, wondering what was in her mind. "Yeah, sure." I saw her cast a short glance at Kayden, looking pained. I studied her face carefully, trying to find a hint of what was going on in her mind. Unfortunately, I wasn't too good in reading people's expressions. So I just followed her out of the door to the nightfall. She stopped at the corner of the small house, turning around to face me.

"I... I need to tell you something", she said with that pained look on her face.
I didn't say anything, just looked her into the eyes. She met my eyes hesitantly, almost turning to look away. I remembered the first time we had talked in private. Well, actually it was the only time we'd ever talked to each other. However, her look had been fierce and assertive. Now she looked like a different person. Even the gleaming of her hair looked dimmer.

"I know a way to beat the Black army."

"The Black army? That's the name of Nicoli's army?"

"Meliza's." She looked like I had hit her. "Yes. She's working for Nyx."

I frowned. "You mean the night goddess. How do you know?"

Cara swallowed, like having a lump in her throat. "She told me so." She looked at me, but not into the eyes. "She's my sister."

I just nodded. Actually, I didn't feel shocked, or even surprised as I heard that. I hadn't ever even trusted her, since she was a daughter of Hecate. I'd always kind of waited her to betray us. But no matter how much I wanted to get mad at her, something told me it wasn't the right thing to do.

She frowned. My reaction had had to seem pretty weird.

"Yeah. I don't believe you're with her."

She looked like she was wondering if I was serious. Then she just shook her head. "I hate her." There was so much hatred and bitterness in her voice, I almost flinched. "After today..." she continued, her voice suddenly quivering from anger. She shook her head. "I wouldn't even hesitate if I had the change to kill her. She's evil. Completely evil." She sounded broken and thunderstruck. I couldn't help but to think that I was probably the first person she told about this in the camp. She didn't even know me, but still trusted this to me.

"I'm not sure about her, but at least I'm pretty sure I know a way to beat her army... or actually Nyx's army. The Black blessing. That's what they'll use tomorrow. That would make sense, considering how sure she was about their invincibility", she continued.

Invincibility... 'You have to make sure we can't be defeated...' The voice from the darkness had said. She had to be Nyx. The place I had been in in my dream, had to be her temple. I told Cara about my dream.

As I finished, Cara nodded thoughtfully. "So that has to mean..." Suddenly she tensed and cursed in Ancient Greek.

"What?" I asked.

She just cursed again and started to drag me back to the infirmary. As she got the door closed, she stopped and looked at me. "Sorry. In Hades' name... I shouldn't had taken you out."

"You mean... because it's night and..."

"Yeah. It's now her realm out there. The night sky itself is a part of her. She hears everything we say under it."

"But if she wanted to, couldn't she hear us anyway? Like now? Isn't that a gods' ability?"

"Yeah, but it's wiser to talk here. And I could do an ASW -shield. Just wait a second." She closed her eyes and softly mumbled something. I didn't see anything happening, but she opened her eyes and said. "Okay. Now no one can hear us."

"So, what's that Black blessing?"

"It's a spell. Very evil one. It gots it's power from Nyx."

"Is it that Nyx needs Meliza's help for the spell, since she's a daughter of Hecate?" I guessed.

"In a sense. Nyx could do it by herself, but with Meliza's help the magic will be stronger."

"Nice", I sighed. "And what does it do?"

"It makes their soldiers invincible. A bit like a bath in the river Styx."

"Just getting better and better", I muttered. "And let me guess: the spell is unbreakable."

"Generally, yes. But there is a way to break it." She looked at me significantly. There was now a determined look on her face. She had decided to stop her evil sister from destroying the camp. She was on our side. It was strange, but suddenly I was trusting her perfectly. And after she had told me about Meliza.

"Are you telling me that I should break it?" I asked. "You know magic much better than I do."

"Tell me: what's the opposite of night?"

"Day, but..."

"And what turns night to day?"

Sun... 'Don't forget to... shine.' No... it couldn't be...

Cara seemed to be reading my thoughts. Well, it probably wasn't too hard to reason them just by looking at my face. She smiled dryly. "Yeah."

"But if I'm the risk, why did she then challenge Kayden and not me?"

Cara thought for a while. "Kayden is a child of Apollo, too. But... I don't think he has the ability. Only a very few children of Apollo has had it in the history. But you... You have a lot of his power."

I frowned. I had always wanted to be The hero. The one who turns the tide and takes the glory. But de facto, I had never thought I was anyhow a typical child of Apollo, so how could I supposedly have a lot of his power? More than like anyone else? Actually, Kayden had much more Apollo's features.

Once again, Cara seemed to read my thoughts. "You know, having his power and being a typical child of his aren't the same. His power... I believe, that's something he chooses to give to his child. And as I said, he doesn't do that too often."

My gaze moved to my sword. I placed my hand on the leather hilt. Was it possible that my dad hadn't only given me a sword, but also something much more bigger. Some kind of power. Had he chosen me? I had always wanted something like that to happen, but now that it really seemed to happen, it felt... strange. Unreal. In some other situation, this would've probably felt cool, but now? When Kayden was wounded and everything? I wasn't really in a festive mood. "So, how can I know if I have it? And how do I use it?"

She looked at my hand, which was now clutching the sword hilt. "Yeah... that sword... didn't Apollo give it to you?"

I nodded.

"It would make sense." She shook her head, thoughtful. "Maybe it has some kind of relation to the power. Like... maybe you can control the power through it. But I'm pretty sure you have it."

"And... what does 'the power' do? Do I start glowing golden or something?"

The daughter of Hecate shrugged. "Something like that probably." She gave a look at Kayden's direction and bit her lip. "Could you... Could you seek me if he wakes?"

I nodded and suddenly placed a hand on her shoulder. "It wasn't your fault. I'm not blaming you." I looked her into the eyes. I could still see the pain, but the determination was now much stronger.

"Thanks." And she really sounded thankful. I could tell that this wasn't what she had prepared for. Then she turned around and stepped out of the door, back to Nyx's realm.

Please tell me your opinion of this chapter - or the whole story - in a review! ;)

I try my best to post the next chapter as soon as possible, and the next POV will probably be Clarisse's. Probably.

Anyway, thanks for reading and hope you find this story interesting ;)

-Patroness of Athens