The Shadow Archer Twins

It seemed like everyone in our little circle was there. Everyone who had become a friend, an enemy, or had just gotten into a relationship I knew about was there. Everyone I had met in the past weeks through this cluster of happenings, ready to recap our own journey. In short, sitting around the ping pong table of the rec room in the Big House was me, Malcolm, Katie, Octavian, Tox and Emily. We had been through Hades. Actually I shouldn’t say that because of…you know…Percy, but I felt like we had been through our own little version of Hell itself.

It had been exactly 14 minutes since Malcolm had picked me up from the Hermes cabin and told me of Percy’s Iris-Message, and I was ready to recap it all. I was ready to learn every detail of the scary journey those twins had gone through with him. And so, once we had gotten everyone situated, I grabbed the hot plate Grover used for melting nacho cheese and heated it up, Once it was red hot, I splashed some water on it, the steam making a rainbow in the fading evening light that reached through the window. I through a drachma at the hot plate, and said the blessing. Suddenly, Percy and Annabeth were there, both looking expectant. When they saw us, their eyes lit up and they both said in unison,

“What’s up!”

They looked at each other awkwardly, but I smiled. They really were the perfect couple.
Malcolm was the first to speak. “Hey guys, we were just—”

Percy was frantically moving his hand in a slicing gesture across his neck, and Malcolm got the message, shifting his sentence.

“Uh, we were just, um, calling to report. I thought, well, we thought, that, uh, as the head counselor of Athena, Annabeth, you might want to, um, know what happened in the battle between the two camps.”

“Uh huh,” Annabeth said, looking over pointedly over at Percy, who blushed sheepishly. Then, he forced a look of defensiveness, saying,

“What?”

“Nice try, Seaweed Brain.” She replied, glaring at him. But, she softened her look and looked back towards us.

“It doesn’t matter anyways. Your report, Malcolm? What exactly happened over the past three weeks? We’ve been fighting everyone from Ephialtes to Tartarus himself….”

Her voice trailed off, as if lost in a nightmare memory.

Taking the cue, Malcolm cleared his throat, and delivered his story in the most complete form he could. I knew that there’d be parts of the story too emotional or hurtful to repeat, even to Annabeth, his half-sister. But, he went through the details of New Orleans, to outside Pittsburgh, to Harrisburg, faltering a little at Jake’s death, to Camp, to the meetings, to the fights, to today. When he was done, Annabeth had only one emotion on her face: respect, specifically newfound respect. She smiled at Malcolm through the IM, and said,

“Well, Malcolm, it sounds like your journey was hard, but a victory in the end. I have no trouble in saying the everyone aboard this ship is immensely proud of your actions, and the actions of your friends.”

I felt like we were receiving medals or something. But then, after a short pause, Annabeth said,

“Also, to everyone, a thanks is in order. You saved our home, and made a powerful ally in the process. We will report when we can, but for now, I think this meeting is wrapped up. See ya when we see ya.”

She waved her hand over the portal, and the connection dissolved, leaving the six of us alone, sitting with our feet perched on the ping-pong table. We indulged ourselves in the pleasant silence for a little while, but then, Katie and Octavian quietly excused themselves to return to their previous activities, as well as Tox and Emily, leaving Malcolm and I alone in the rec room. When Malcolm was sure that we were completely alone, without anyone to hear anything, he spoke into the silence,

“Izzy, can I tell you something?”

I was still smiling from seeing Annabeth and Percy. It felt good to see old friends. But when I looked back into Malcolm’s eyes, he had calmed down, and was serious. Not angry, but serious. So I said,

“Of course you can. What’s up?”

He took a deep breath and sighed, “Well, there’s still one thing I haven’t told anyone about the journey from New Orleans to Camp.”

That confused me, because Malcolm had just given a 20-minute report to Annabeth.

“What haven’t you told anyone?” I asked.

“I haven’t told them about what I said to Katie in the motel in Pittsburgh.”

His eyes started to water, and he looked down at his feet. I could tell he was still hurt, like was remembering something Gaea had shown him while he was in his coma.

In a gentler tone, I asked, “Malcolm, what did you tell her?”

He looked up at me, directly in the eyes and said, “Well, after Tox was bit by the Chimera’s snake-head, I had absolutely no idea how to clean the wound. The poison was spreading, and I thought he was going to die. But then, Katie came in and kind of saved the day, finding the perfect way to heal him. Afterwards, she kind of broke down and started crying.”

He paused, as if getting to the touchy part, saying,

“Well, I, um, kind of, uh, hugged her and told her that ‘I needed her’. Gaea had told me I had failed you, showed me that scene over and over again, until it was seared into my brain. I was ashamed to even look at you after I woke up. I hadn't needed you on my journey to Camp. I should've realized how lucky I was to have someone like you. I didn’t realize how stupid I had acted, and how I had, in fact, led Katie on. I’m sorry, Izzy.”

“Don’t be,” I responded, “Please, don’t ever be sorry unless you have an actual cause to be sorry. Everyone acts silly sometimes. But I still love you, Malcolm.”

“You do?”

As a response, I leaned forward and kissed him. It was our first real kiss since he had gotten back from his fiasco, and it felt so good. His hand lightly brushed the side of my face, making my cheeks get goosebumps as he ran his fingers through my hair. I released and he pulled his hand free.

“That would be a yes,” He said.

I laughed. It was so good to be alive, we both started laughing, and we didn’t stop for a long time. When we finally quieted down, I realized that it was almost midnight, and that Chiron would probably want us in bed right about now. Then I thought about Tox and Emily, who I hadn’t seen come back from their walk to the canoe lake. Meh, who cares. They were in love too.

Notes

Sorry I'm late, but this is the 2nd to last chapter in the story, and I am kind of struggling to close out the story as well as focus on an intensive load of school work. Last chapter soon.