The Shadow Archer Twins

I was having serious doubts about this plan, First of all, it made me uncomfortable just knowing that Izzy would have to play any part in it. Secondly, the idea of inviting the one Roman that hated us the most into the heart of our camp made my skin tingle like I had a rash.

But, I finished my short journey to the Hermes cabin and knocked on the door. Thankfully, Izzy answered it. Looking at her face, with its elfish shape, and her brown eyes, I had an idea. My face must have looked shocked, because Izzy’s eyes furrowed in concern.

“What’s up, Wise Guy?”

That was her idea of a nickname. I didn’t mind it, though.

“Nothing, actually. I had an idea for you, but I just realized something. Be right back.”

I just realized that the idea that I had thought would work for Izzy would work so much better if someone else did it. The idea that I had had was that Izzy could hold the special meeting for Octavian, and if she could get him to like her, in a political or, other, way, or at least get him to stall his attack plans, we wouldn’t ever have to worry about using Plan B, which still scared me. But, I realized that someone else would be better for the job.

Tox was going to kill me for this, but I turned away from the Hermes cabin door and walked to Cabin 7. Luckily, she was there.

“Katie?” I called. She looked up from her medical kit that she had been taking the inventory of, and looked up. I saw a sadness in her eyes, a maturity that hadn’t been there when she had gotten to camp. In a way, it made me proud to see that. She had hardened emotionally, and hadn’t cracked. She was a full camper now.

“Hey, Malcolm, what’s up?” She responded. Izzy would kill me for saying this, but she looked kind of cute in cut-off jean shorts and a Camp Half-Blood t-shirt. I realized I was staring and said something of Athena-level intelligence like,

“Duh, um, er, uh, not much, actually. I have a question to ask. No, more like a favor. A favor to me.”

Her eyes darkened with curious concern. But, I saw an undertone of eagerness that lit up her eyes after I had said that the favor would be personal. She asked, slowly, “And this favor would be…?”

“Part of a plan on how to deal with the Roman problem, actually. I was wondering, could you maybe take part in it?”

I explained the plan I had formed with Tox earlier, how I wanted to set up two meetings, one to convince the lower-ranked officers to revolt against Octavian for peace, the other to stall Octavian and get nowhere.

“…And I was wondering,” I finished the thought, “That you might be the right person to hold that meeting for Octavian.”

“You just want me to stall him? Make him bored? Wouldn’t an Aphrodite kid be better at that than me? I’m a new camper!”

“That’s why you’d be perfect. You don’t know any old camp secrets because you haven’t been her long enough to have heard them. No offense. And, just so you know, the person needs to be someone smart, so the Aphrodite kids wouldn’t do.”

She smiled at the word “Smart,” I was about to convince her.

“Also,” I said, looking at her outfit again, “I’m guessing that Octavian would respond well to a cute girl talking him down from war, and you fit that profile, so, what I mean is, I guess you could try to lead him on a little, convince him you’re interested in having more meetings. If he has any personal attachment, he might rethink his ambitions to attack the camp so quickly.”

“Oh,” She said, in a hollow voice. Her face had morphed into an expression of agonizing sadness. The light in her eyes was extinguished like a baby fire being stomped on by a hiker’s boot. The short life that her eagerness to do this favor was over.

“Well,” She said, in a defeated tone, “If that’s what you want me to do, I’ll do it. But only because it’s a favor to you.”

“Thanks,” I said cheerfully. She didn’t smile. For some reason, I couldn’t understand why. With my goal accomplished, I said,

“Well, now I owe you one. Thanks again, Katie. I’ll see you around.”

With that, I turned toward the Hermes cabin to go look for Izzy. I needed someone to talk to. I was a little concerned at why Katie had looked so glum at the end of our conversation, but I decided to drop it. She was probably just thinking about how it might be difficult to perform the favor I had asked for her. It was a tough task, I must admit. But I trusted her as much as anyone in the camp, and I knew she could get Octavian to back off of his attack plans.

As I was leaving to go back to the Hermes cabin, I heard Katie mutter something, like "Boys." I slowed down to hear if she said more, but she stopped saying whatever she was about to say. Not wanting to be awkward, I kept walking out until I got back to the Cabin 6 door. Izzy was waiting there for me.

“What was that all about?”

“Oh, nothing. Just an idea that Katie agreed to do for me. I’ll tell you later.”

“No,” Izzy said, with a wisp of annoyance, “You’ll tell me now.”

And so I did.

Notes

I have the next five or six chapters all planned out. I just need to write them. More content very soon.