Hermes knocked on the door only twice before it opened and a tall slender woman stood in the door frame, looking hassle and wearing an apron covered in flour, she still smiled cheerfully.
"Hello Hermes, hello girls." She welcomed, acknowledging all of them.
"Hello." Mirabelle and Annabeth said politely.
"Hello Mary." Hermes eyes glazed over and he smiled foolishly. He even floated off the ground a few inches. Luckily Mary didn't notice.
"What are your names?" Mary asked, leaning forward and resting her weight on her knees.
"I'm Annabeth," Annabeth said pointing to herself. "And this is Mirabelle." Annabeth pointed to Mirabelle.
"Oh what lovely names! Daughters of Athena I hear?"
Mirabelle nodded.
"Come on in, we have beds all ready for you."
Mirabelle had been dying to hear those words all day.
Although on Annabeth's side of this, this was far from what she was expecting. Not like she was complaining but Annabeth had been prepared for nights on the streets, running from cops, and scrounging money for snacks at the supermarket. Stowing away on trains and buses, leading a fulfilling adventure across the country. She was used to not getting much attention from Dad, but mother had been more than eager to attend to Annabeth's and Mirabelle's needs.
Inside the Stolls kitchen Mirabelle noticed two young boys, the girl's age, shuffling around and whispering excitedly together. Annabeth noticed things like the black & white tiles and the fat wooden beams arching up the kitchen ceiling, making a dome. Annabeth was intrigued, and gazed around the kitchen thoughtfully, 'If there was a dome ceiling in a rectangular room, then there had to be beams in the middle of each wall' sure enough Annabeth was right and there was in fact beams between the corners of the room.
"Like the kitchen?" Mrs. Stoll asked.
"Its lovely," said Annabeth "How did you get the wood to bend that way?" Annabeth glanced back to the ceiling then back to Mrs. Stoll politely.
Mrs. Stoll shrugged "I have no idea, that sounds like a question for your mom though"
Just looking at the full happy boys across from them, the warm grilled cheese sandwiches settled in their stomachs and having sat on uncomfortable plastic chairs all day, the girls suddenly felt very tired and swayed on their feet.
"I better see them to bed" said Mrs. Stoll, "tomorrow Hermes?"
"Yes, goodnight." And with that he bowed his head and left.
Mary Stoll looked us up and down, then gestured to her sons. "Girls, these are my kids. This is Conner," She motioned to the slightly taller one. "And that's Travis. Boy's this is Mirabelle and Annabeth." Mirabelle was only a hair taller than Annabeth.
In unison both pairs of twins said "Hi." Mary laughed. "Well, I'm sure you guys will get along just fine. I'm going to check on your bath girls." Then she walked out of the kitchen. Travis smirked, the boys, Mirabelle noticed, were same. Although Conner had brown eyes, and Travis had green ones. They both had pointed elfish faces, almost attractive ones Mirabelle thought.
"Want to play?" Conner asked.
"Play what?" Mirabelle asked.
"Nerf guns." Said Travis, and he walked to the kitchen counter and pulled out four huge Nerf guns out of the pots and pans drawer. Annabeth sniffed at the toys. But Mirabelle loved them.
"O.k!" She exclaimed. Travis and Conner smiled and Travis handed her a gun. "I think I'll catch up on some reading." Said Annabeth. Then she proceeded to pull out a fat book three inches thick, from Mirabelle's backpack. Mirabelle and Annabeth had argued for days about her 'Big Book of Buildings' as Mirabelle called it. It would slow them down it was so heavy. But they might need something to keep themselves preoccpied."Where's the living room?"
"It's the purple room down the hall." Conner pointed toward the far door at the right of the kitchen.
"Thanks," Said Annabeth, then she marched off.
"Alright.." Said Conner, looking at Annabeth weirdly. "Go!" immediately he shot Travis in the leg and Mirabelle on her shoulder. Mirabelle laughed and chased after the boys, shooting at them wildly. Travis and Conner were very good, they must practice with each other a lot. Thought Mirabelle. Annabeth and herself had never used Nerf guns before. Only there little brothers would have used them, but they were still too young.
Suddenly Mirabelle had an idea. She pretended to trip and fall. "Ow! I landed on my gun!" Travis and Conner hurried over to help her up. Then she came out of her act. "Ha ha!" Mirabelle shot both of them in the forehead, and ran away. The boys laughed and ran after her. Pretty soon though they all ran out of bullets. So they searched for them all around the house. Mirabelle found one stuck to the ceiling. The bullets were quickly found and the chaos ensued for another twenty minutes.
Soon the fighters found themselves in the living room. Where they found Annabeth, laying on her stomach on the leather couch, engrossed into her Big Book of Buildings. "Shhhh..." Hushed Conner. Then in a frenzy of hooting and shooting, Annabeth was bombarded with Nerf gun bullets.
"What the" She said. "Hey!" Then she ran out down the carpeted hallway into the kitchen, where she awaited us with her own Nerf gun. "Game on!" She said. Everyone laughed and started the war again.
...
Nearly fifteen minutes later Ms. Stoll had come down to announce that the tubs were ready and we all needed a bath. Twelve bubbly minutes later Both twins had been carted off to separate rooms and tucked in under mountains of quilts.
After that, she let us read a little before bed. Annabeth read her Big Book of Buildings and Mirabelle read her own story. A series she was reading called Harry Potter. She was now on 'Harry Potter and the Chamber of secrets'.
"Can you believe it!" Mirabelle said to Annabeth once the lights had been turned off.
"Believe what?"
"That were demigods! Daughters of Athena." Mirabelle stared at the ceiling. Imagining what Camp-Half-Blood might look like. Mirabelle pictured wooden cabins surrounded by forest. She pictured herself and Annabeth attempting archery, laughing and joking when one of them missed the target.
"Yeah." Annabeth said softly; lulling into a uncontrollable sleep. "Our new family... " She hushed before falling asleep.
Mirabelle yawned and did the same.
..
"Morning!" Ms. Stoll said brightly the next morning.
"Morning." The girls said in unison. They were still really tired from yesterday. If Ms. Stoll hadn't of woken them up, they could have slept till 3:00.
"Are you girls ready for the museum?"
"What?" Said Annabeth. "I thought Hermes was going to take us to Camp-Half-Blood today?"
"Sorry girls, Hermes had other obligations, so I'm taking you two and Travis and Conner to the museum in town. Hermes will pick you up tomorrow." Ms. Stoll scooped the eggs she was frying onto their plates, then forked out some smoked sausages. Mirabelle and Annabeth sat at the table contemplating what to do next.
Travis and Conner walked into the kitchen and sat down opposite Mirabelle and Annabeth.
"Morning" They said together.
"Morning." The girls said.
"Oh my goodness..." Ms. Stoll was standing at the stove giggling into her apron.
"Mom!" Groaned Travis.
"What?" Ms. Stoll asked, "I can't help it. You guys are just so adorable!"
Annabeth and Mirabelle laughed, they never got treated like their company was a gift at home. More like a pest.
Travis and Conner rolled their eyes. "Oh, mother."
"What?" She said guiltily. "O.k," She took of her apron and set it on the back of Annabeth's chair. "I'm going upstairs to change. Don't get into trouble!" Then she looked meaningfully at her sons.
"We promise!" They said defensively. But the moment she disappeared down the hallway, Conner whispered forcefully. "Want to get into some trouble?"
Mirabelle didn't miss a beat. "What kind of trouble?"
"Pranking our grouch of a neighbor Mr. Sills." Said Travis.
Mirabelle nodded but Annabeth frowned. "I'm not so sure Mirabelle... "
"Oh, C'mon Annabeth! Just come and watch." Conner pleaded, and Mirabelle looked at her hopefully.
"O.k," Annabeth smiled.
Everyone smirked, as expected, and they crept out of the kitchen.
...
"You go first!"
"O.k."
Conner had been nominated to push Mr. Sills door bell first. As he sneaked onto the porch he kept looking back at the others for support. Mirabelle, Annabeth and Travis sent him thumbs ups. Quickly Conner pushed the button and dove behind the bush to safety.
"What? Who did that?" An old man in his underwear stormed onto the porch waving a spatula. "I'll get you!" Huffing, he went back inside.
"O.k," Said Conner. "Your turn Mir!"
"What?" Mirabelle asked. "Me?"
"Yeah, go on, its easy."
Slowly Mirabelle crawled away and climbed onto the porch. Even though she was pretty much risking her skin here. (that man didn't look friendly at all). All she could think about was when Travis called her 'Mir'. Mirabelle never had a nickname, Annabeth always called her by her full name. Annabeth was all the friend Mirabelle ever needed, and Mirabelle seemed to have made one in less than twenty four hours.
"Ha! Gotcha!" Mr. Sills had opened the door and caught Mirabelle in the act. She screamed and ran away from the house. Conner, Travis and Annabeth followed, all of us howling with laughter. In the distance they could hear Mr. Sills throw his spatula hit a stop sign. They dashed across the road and slammed the kitchen door behind themselves.