The Shadow Archer Twins

Thankfully, getting settled into Cabin 7 didn’t take long. We had introduced ourselves after Chiron had shown us the orientation video, most of which had been explained to us already by Malcolm. Our cabin mates who were free for the afternoon greeted us after the video, and gave us each our own bunk, mine on the girls’ side, and Tox’s on the boys’ side. We had dropped the limited amount of stuff that we had and after the day that we had gone through, Tox decided to rest. But I felt energized, full of possibility and hope for this camp. I wanted to look around.

I knew that I couldn’t give myself a helpful tour of a place that I had never been to before, but I wanted to walk in the fresh air anyways. A cool summer breeze was blowing, which took some of the malice out of the July heat. It felt good to stretch my legs, and I was enjoying myself. After walking around for about a half an hour, I had made a circuit of the camp buildings, and was on my way back to the Apollo Cabin when I had noticed Malcolm talking to a guy in a plain, white cabin with a number 6 over the door.

The guy from cabin 6 looked tired, and Malcolm looked like he had been asking a question. The guy answered him and pointed towards the stables, where I had noticed a girl grooming the winged horses. Malcolm had nodded and turned, and I saw the tired guy slip Malcolm’s wallet from his back pocket. I was about to tell him when Malcolm stopped and turned around, and the guy had given it back. I smiled. They looked like two old buddies playing the same old jokes on each other.

Even though I didn’t want to look weird by following him, I decided to wait at the stables to see what Malcolm had been looking for. My heart was pounding, and I had no idea why. He probably was checking on the pegasi, or maybe he had left something there before he went on his trip to New Orleans. And from a peephole in the wood boards of the stable, I had watched his reunion with his girlfriend, Izzy. As they had kissed, I felt the same pain as when I had seen Tox after being bitten by the chimera. A ripping pain across my chest that made me want to scream in anger and betrayal. When they had set up their romantic picnic by the canoe lake, I couldn’t take it anymore. Foolishly, I let out a sob, and then covered my mouth to hide anymore sound. Izzy had left, but Malcolm stopped, standing still and listening. Slowly, he started to walk around the building, checking for hiding spots. But he could never find me. I was already walking back to the Apollo cabin, in tears. I wiped my right eye as I walked through the door. I immediately plopped on my bed and tried to stop myself from crying.

It was around 4:00 in the afternoon, and all of the remaining Apollo kids had archery practice. They had signed up for the last session of the day because it was the closest to the end of their dad’s workday, pulling the sun across the sky, as well as the fact that the archery range would be completely empty by 4:00, so everyone got their own lane. Tox was reclining in his bunk, holding one of the two chimera goat horns in his hand, twirling it around slowly. He looked like he was in a state of deep thought.

As soon as I walked in, Tox said, “What’s wrong, Katie? You’re upset.”

I hated it, but, because we were twins, he always seemed to know when I was upset, happy, angry, scared, or any major emotion. But, I didn’t hear any tone of sarcasm in his voice, so I decided not to shut him out.

“Nothing, it’s just, well, I just got some bad news. Really bad news.”

“Malcolm has a girlfriend,” He said, without emotion.

“Yeah,” I replied glumly, “How did you know?”

“Actually? Chiron told me. He noticed how red-faced you were, standing next to Malcolm, and realized that you had a crush on him. He told me in private after the video. I was going to tell you, but when I got back, you were gone walking. I decided to rest, because I didn’t think you’d find out that information by strolling through camp.”

We sat on our beds in silence for a while, and I thought about how happy Malcolm and Izzy had looked, and I started to cry. Tox walked over slowly and sat on the edge of my bed. I kept crying, and he put his hand on my leg and patted my shin, trying to comfort me.

“It’s okay, Katie. Everything’s gonna be fi—”

“No, everything is not going to be fine, Tox! My life is over! I hadn’t even told him that I liked him yet! Now everything’s going to be so messed up and awkward, and, and…”

My voice trailed off. I sounded hysterical, like one of those crazy girls from ‘Real Housewives’.
My brother took a deep breath, sighed slowly, and brought out one of the goat horns he had been looking at. He motioned the horn towards me, and said,

“You see this? To anyone else this looks like a fake horn from a novelty shop. Do you know what this horn reminds me to do, Katie? It reminds me to appreciate the things I have, and maybe wouldn’t, if things hadn’t played out exactly how they had played out. If things hadn’t happened exactly how they had happened, I might not have a leg. Or worse, I might be dead. You might be dead. Malcolm might be dead. This camp is a chance, for us, to finally be accepted as who we are. This camp is a chance to make new friends, learn new things, become new people, live new lives.”

He paused to let that sink in, and then continued, in a pleading tone,

“Promise me your life isn’t over just because a boy you liked had a girl you didn’t know about. Promise me, Katie. Please?”

I looked up at him, and I saw genuine concern in his eyes. I couldn’t say no. Reluctantly, I mumbled,

“I promise, Tox.”

“Thank you,” He replied, “And Katie?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m sorry about Malcolm, and I didn’t want to sound like I don’t care about how you feel about the guy. Personally, I knew you had a crush on him since you helped revive him after the plane crashed.”

“You did?” I asked.

“Yeah,” He replied, “The way you looked at him…is he your first crush?”

“Yeah,” I said, “The first one I’ve fallen for this hard. He just seemed so strong, so smart. I can see why he has a girlfriend. Part of me was actually worried that he would be single, because he one of those guys that girls are just naturally attracted to.”

“Fortunately for you, Katie, there are plenty of good guys at this camp. But we won’t worry about that for now, okay? Now, let’s cheer you up, eh? I happen to know that you like to receive presents. And, I also happen to have two very long, and very sharp, fire-breathing goat’s horns ready to be turned into weapons of mass destruction! So, let’s head of to the forges and see if the Hephaestus kids are in for a challenge!”

I tried for a weak smile, saying, ‘Tox, you know I don’t like violence as much as you do, right? You’re the one who plays videogames.”

“Oh, come on, Katie! I can’t stand to look at those horns anymore. I promise we’ll do whatever you want to after we’re done, okay? As a favor to me?”

“Fine,” I said, “Let’s go.”

“Yes!” He exclaimed.

And so we went, down to the forges. The Hephaestus kids said that they would be ready by tomorrow afternoon, and so we decided to walk around the camp, even though I had already been. We talked, and I noticed that we didn’t bicker or get annoyed at each other once. Even though we had lived together for 16 years, we had never had such a peaceful conversation.
At the sound of the conch horn, everyone gathered at the dining pavilion for dinner. I learned how to scrape food into the fire as an offering, and then learned how amazing the food was. After dinner, our cabin mates introduced us to the rest of camp, and helped us learn some of the traditional campfire songs as they led the sing-along. Afterwards, everyone slowly went off to bed. As I climbed under the covers, I thought about Malcolm and Izzy in the stables. The image of them kissing was such sweet sorrow that it lulled me to sleep.

Notes

This chapter isn't my best, but the next one should be better. If you think the chapter should be shorter or longer, tell me and I'll adjust. If you think they're fine as is, I'll keep writing!