The Shadow Archer Twins

As soon as the mortal woman was dragged across the camp border, I knew two things. Firstly, Chiron knew about the situation enough to let a full mortal pass through the borders, but for some reason wasn’t helping in the ‘shooting arrows at Romans’ department. Secondly, I knew that the woman was Katie and Tox’s mother.

Tox had the woman’s black hair, dark as midnight. Katie had her emerald green eyes that sparkled with energy. They both were thin and athletic like their mother and both had the same facial structure. She had to be their mother. Then I realized a third thing. She was seriously hurt.

Medics from Apollo’s cabin rushed over and swarmed the lady, who was lying on the ground, working furiously to heal her. She had cuts from the manticore’s spikes in about fifteen different places, all glowing green with poison. Her legs and forearms were covered in tiny red incisions, like she had recently sprinted through some barbed wire, or more likely, some backwoods brambles and thorns, and had raised her arms up to protect herself. Her hair was a mess, tangled with leaves like she had slept outside without supplies, and her running shoes were torn in two places each, like she had run for a long time. In other words, she looked like Hades.

The Apollo medics all started murmuring different incantations to draw the poison out of the wounds, and with six of them all focused on one body, the green liquid seeped out of her wounds like water in space, suspended in the air. The Apollo kids stopped chanting, and the liquid fell to the ground around the woman, searing the dirt where it touched it. One of the medics took a canteen out and opened it, offering the liquid to the woman. She was about to take a sip when Will Solace, the head counselor, slapped the canteen out of the other kid’s hand, saying,

“You idiot, she’s a mortal! She can’t drink nectar!”

The other kid paled and quickly shut the canteen, and then reached behind him and pulled out a water bottle, seemingly from thin air. This time Will made no comment as the kid held up the woman’s head gently and let her drink long sips. After she had taken her fill and had been pulled up into a chair, she said,

“Where…where is Katie? Tox? Where are my kids?”

“Just rest for now,” comforted Will, “They’re fine. They just need to…clean up, per se. By the way, since you’re the first mortal on the campgrounds since the new Oracle arrived, what’s your name?”

‘Sofia,” the woman replied, “Sofia Holmes.”

“Well, Sofia Holmes, it’s obvious you’ve raised good kids. Tox is one of the best archers at Camp, and Katie is on track to become the best healer Chiron has ever seen. Ah, here they are now.”

Will said all this so calmly, which was funny, seeing as both Tox and Katie were sprinting, and I mean sprinting, over to see their mother.

“Mom!” They both shouted in unison. They slowed down before her chair, and both gave her huge hugs. I smiled. It was good to see a family reunited. It was a small moment of hope in a sea of despair. Katie wiped a tear from her eye as they starting asking Sofia a million different questions. I didn’t catch them all, but Sofia silenced them both with a quick movement of her hand. The last question I heard came from Katie, who said,

“You said you would explain everything, Mom! So, what happened to you?”

She took a deep, story-telling breath, and began.

“I guess we’ll start at the hotel in New Orleans. The manticore saw me, and started following me. So, I led him through the maze of people in the hotel and out onto the street. I eventually got to the French Quarter, and I lost him. I got onto a boat up to Long Island, thinking that he wouldn’t look for me on a boat. Just my luck, he hopped on the same boat as me, and I had to hide from him on the boat for so long. On the last day of the boat trip, I saw him talking to a guy in a purple shirt. The same guy who had me in a headlock earlier. Anyway, I got off at Long Island, and, trying to avoid him, stayed in Uptown for the night. But, he had followed me. And, when I had gotten into a taxi yesterday to get to Camp, he was waiting for me. He killed the cab driver with his spikes when we were about a mile from camp. The car swerved, and we crashed. I got out and started running, and you know the rest.”

Both Tox and Katie stayed very still for a while, just thinking. I broke the uncomfortable silence.
“Sofia, you said that you recognized the guy who met with the monster as one of the Roman officers, right? Do you think the monster was on their side, or working for Gaea?”

“Personally,” she replied easily, “I think the monster was working for Gaea and trying to recruit another demigod for the cause. I don’t think the Romans would want to parlay with someone who had just attacked their camp.”

“Make sense,” I replied. Then, remembering something, I asked, “So, Katie, after the meeting today, we felt that we could further convince the officers if we had another meeting. Do you think that would be possible to schedule after today. Or not?”

“Actually, I already scheduled it with Octavian. Day after tomorrow, late afternoon. Same set-up,” Then, with a sly smile, she said, “I think he liked that set-up the first time, so he’ll stick to what he likes.”

I grinned. Sofia saw my face, and raised and eyebrow curiously, and as she was about to say something, Katie said,

“A conversation for tomorrow, Mom. I promise.”

Notes