The Shadow Archer Twins

You know how I asked you if you remembered any of the old-school TV bullies that would shake, up-side down, their scrawny victims to see what they were worth? You know how I said life was doing that to me? Well, I guess I gotta answer that question now.

Standing on the beach of the canoe lake, the water calm as glass, the stars as bright as I had ever seen them, with Emily’s hand in mine, I knew what I was worth. I knew I was worth at least 35 arrows, one dagger, and a kickass stealth outfit, plus the skill of a trained archer. I was a friend, brother, and boyfriend. I was a returned soul, and was embracing life. Speaking of which, I should probably get back to that now. Where was I? Oh, yeah, beach.

So, we were walking down the beach and after about half an hour of silence I said,

“You know, Emily, we never did get to have that talk. I mean, we’re kinda crazy in love, and we don’t even know each other.”

She smiled at me and her grey eyes twinkled in the starlight. We stopped walking and locked eyes, her intense grey ones looking deep into my midnight blues. She looked like she was thinking of a suitable statement, something to say that would clarify her feelings. After a while, she said,

“Tox, I’ve been waiting for us to not be in the middle of a war to get to know you. Next time, I guess I won’t wait.”

I smiled and plopped onto the sand. She sat down next to me and I took her hand again. The air was warm even though it must have been around midnight. A cool breeze swept itself from the lake which was pleasant, blowing from my back towards Emily, who was still staring into my eyes. As soon as she had my eye contact, she said, in a very orderly way,

“Okay Tox, getting to know each other…oh, I know! Three Questions!”

“What’s Three Questions?”

“Well,” She explained, “We each ask each other three questions we want to know about each other, and whoever learns the most information wins.”

“Sounds like a deal to me,” I said, “Who goes first?”

“Um…you.”

I thought of a question to ask her, and, for a scary moment, I couldn’t figure out what I wanted to know about her. Then, I decided, asking,

“Favorite feature about yourself.”

“Brains,” she replied instantly, “Like being smart enough to hold onto a dead friend’s piece of scratch paper with some random boy’s number on it.”

We locked eyes again. I loved how we did that. Her freckles were dark in the moonlight, and her mousy face just made them look even cuter.

“My turn,” She said, “Favorite camper?”

I had to think about that one. I liked Will Solace, who had brought me into the camp, but I also like Malcolm, who had helped me so much. Then, I realized Emily was staring at me angrily, and I found my answer.

“You, obviously,” I said sheepishly. Then, I added sarcastically, “I really had to think about that one.”

“Ugh, shut up, Tox, you actually were thinking!”

“Doesn’t matter,” I said playfully, “Because it’s my turn. How long have you been at Camp?”

“Five years,” she replied, “Since my twelfth birthday, which was in December. I came here shortly after Percy and Annabeth arrived, actually. Now, my turn. Do you regret it, Tox? Killing the Romans that you did?”

That one hit me right in the gut. I felt like it was a bit too soon to be asking those questions, but I went along with it.

“Honestly,” I sighed, “No, I don’t. I felt like it was a duty in some ways, but in other ways, I felt like I was protecting my friends, and you, of course, with that other Roman.”

“All right,” she said, accepting that answer, “Now, your turn. Last question, so make it good.”

I thought about what else I wanted to know about her, and one question came to mind.

“Emily, back when we were in school, back before all of…this,” I gestured in a circle, “Did you ever talk to Silena about me, about life, about anything?”

She took awhile to respond, but finally, she said, “Well, we did talk a lot about you, but that isn’t really important. We talked about life in general, and it turns out that she was a lot sadder than people realize. Yeah, she talked about going to college with Charlie, and having a life outside of Camp, but it was as if she knew she was going to have to die in the Battle of Manhattan. It hurt to see her so sad, but at the time, I had no idea of her situation.”

We both were silent after that. But, after a couple deep breaths, she said, perking up,

“But that’s ancient history. It is now my turn for my final question.” She looked nervous, but finally she took another deep breaths, she asked,

“Tox, I have to say, I really like you. I just have always been afraid of…relationships because of what happened to Silena and Charlie. I shied away from contact with anyone else after she died, and people thought it was because I was mourning. It wasn’t. It was because I was too afraid to even look at another boy again. Then, I returned to Camp, and I went on with life, becoming sadder and sadder and sadder. I was about ready to have a nervous breakdown when you showed up, and it was as if my old life had come back to me. What I’m trying to say is…have you ever had any other girlfriends?”

The question struck me as odd, because it didn’t have much to do with what she had said before. But, looking into her eyes again, I realized the answer she was looking for.

“No,” I said, and then continued, “And looking at how much we like each other, I don’t think I’m going to be having too many more girlfriends. Does that sound good to you?”

She giggled with glee and replied, “Tox, that sounds amaz—”

I didn’t wait for her answer. I pressed my lips against hers and we kissed, for the first time, as boyfriend and girlfriend. I ran my finger through her hair and she touched my face with hers, and it was probably the best moment of my entire life.

________________________________________________________________________

My name’s Otis, even though everyone who I’m able to call a friend calls me Tox. Why? Meh, I don’t know. I just told them that I thought it was a cool nickname, and they bought it. Recently, I have been in the habit of keeping friends so it doesn’t really matter. You see, my twin sister Katie and I were on the run, until we found our home, Camp Half-Blood. I died, came back to life, got a girlfriend, saved my mom from dying, killed a bunch of Romans, and still ended up in one piece. We had a war to look forward to against Gaea herself, as well as her giant offspring, but that wasn’t important right now. What was important was living for what we had right now.

After a couple weeks, campers started calling Katie and I the “Shadow Archer Twins.” Personally, I liked the nickname; I thought it fit us very well.

But it still wasn’t better than Tox.

Notes

This is the FINAL CHAPTER! Thanks so much for all the support you guys gave me throughout this story! It took a while to finish, but I finally did it, and I feel very proud of my first attempt at a cohesive story. Enjoy!