The Shadow Archer Twins

I was really getting tired of the one-liners. It seemed like every single time I tried to ask a question, either Izzy or Katie came back with a snappy little question that left me looking stupid. And I’m the one who’s mother is the wisdom goddess. I decided to control my anger for mow. I had to put that aside and get the report to Chiron with a level, unbiased head. But I was still shocked.

“No,” I said to Katie, “Izzy’s report can wait. I was in that tent with her, and I think we can both agree on saying that it was a major success. The officers had no chance against the Aphrodite kids. They’re hooked, and they won’t tell Octavian anything.”

She smiled at that. “Well, it sounds like Izzy wouldn’t have much to say anyways, so I guess my falling in love is more important.”

Trying to get her to elaborate, I said, “So I’ll ask again, what exactly happened in your meeting?”

“Well,” Katie responded, “Right off of the bat I started to ask him more personal questions, thinking that he’s gotta be stressed about leading an entire camp into the possibility of war. And you know what happened? He opened up to me like a flower in April. I felt like Dr. Phil, or some other psychologist. I keep stalling for time, but then I start to work on the secondary objective of leading him on a bit. I guess he fell hard, because when I kept asking him about love, he got this far-away look in his eyes. And when I told him that a girl should be all that he wants in life, he…kissed me.”

I glanced over at Tox and saw him quietly fuming, watching Katie’s eyes to detect any amount of deception, any small chance that she didn’t fall in love with him as he did with her. No deception indicated. She was in love. Wait, she was in love? I thought that she liked me? I looked over to Izzy and saw her glancing pointedly at me, like ‘Ha, Malcolm! How’s it feel to not be the object of a crush anymore?’ I rolled my eyes at her and she smiled, victorious.

I tried to not show any emotion, but it really got to me that Katie had fallen in love with that guy. He was the enemy, and she knew that. In my mind, part of me said that she had failed her mission. Even though she had completed her primary objective to distract him, she had let her emotions get involved. She was compromised. And as much as I hated to think like that, as if it were some spy movie and she was an undercover agent, I had to.

“Well, Katie, do you think that he would want to schedule another meeting? We could run the same setup as today, and continue our talks with the officers.”

“Oh, definitely,” said Katie, with a little too much enthusiasm for my taste, “He’ll want another chance to see me. And Malcolm,” I looked up at her face, which seemed bright and full of happiness, “I have everything under control. I promise.”

“Promise…” I said softly, slipping into a memory.

Without meaning to, I flashed back to the day I had left for New Orleans. I was supposed to continue on to San Francisco, and do some spying on Camp Jupiter, to gather intel and clear up some rumors that had been stirring around Camp.

When I had finished packing and had grabbed a go-bag from the Big House with normal demigod supplies, Jake Campbell had stopped me outside the Athena cabin. When I saw him, I had broken out into a grin.

“Hey, buddy,” I said. He gave me a big hug and said,

“Be safe on your journey, Malcolm! I can’t wait to hear all the stories you’ll have about the Roman camp and the giants and California and…”

“Whoa there, Jake,” I said, “Calm down, buddy, you’re not coming with me, are ya?”

“Nooo, but I want to!” He said disappointedly.

I ruffled his hair and said, “Some day, Jake, you’ll be old enough and strong enough. You’ll be a great fighter, the greatest fighter Nike’s cabin has ever had.”

“I will?” He asked, in awe.

“You bet.”

“Promise?” Jake had asked.

“Promise,” I had responded. “And, if you stay safe and train hard when I get back, I’ll start teaching you how to use a bow.”

“Awesome!” Jake said.

“But I have to go now, Jake. I’ll see you in about two weeks, okay?”

“Okay,” He’d said reluctantly.

That was the last time I had seen him alive. I was about to cry, thinking about how useless promises are, when an Iris-Message appeared at the table. It was a distress call from somewhere in uptown Manhattan. I didn’t recognize the woman on the other side of the message. She had black hair, long, that was a mess with twigs and leaves, as if she had slept outside for several days. Her emerald green eyes were wild with adrenaline, darting around as if she were being followed. When she noticed that her Iris-message had gone through, she looked directly into the portal and Katie and Tox both almost had a coronary.

“Mom!” They both shouted. Tox, being the quickest-witted, only took a second to snap out of the trance.

“Where are you? We can come pick you up!”

“I’m on the farm road! I’m only five minutes from Camp, but I can’t hold him off for that long! I need help!”

She turned around right as a spike flew at her face, but she blocked it with a shield that she had fashioned from a couple trash can lids that she had pushed together, making a thick metal wall that the spike hit with a loud Pang!

Kicked out of my memory, I said, “Tox, your bow. Katie, right behind me. I’ll lead. Let’s go.”

Like a well-oiled machine, we sprinted up the hill, Tox somehow pulling his bow and quiver out of thin air, and Katie brandishing a bone dagger that she had produced out of nowhere.

Good, I thought, We won’t have to stop for weapons.

Notes

So yeah, I'm late. It happens. Unfortunately, I have school and a lot of work, and it's hard to post as often as I can on the weekends. I promise to get back on schedule: one chapter every weekday, three to four chapters on the weekends until the end of the story, around chapter 40 or so.