When Adonis was ten-years-old; she and Achilles had snuck out of home. A sitter had been attending them while their father and Achilles' mother had attended a conference. She had convinced the lady to check the closet because she had seen a ghost in there. When the lady stepped inside, she and Achilles locked the doors on her and escaped out an open window while the sitter wrestled the knob. The poor sitter had tried to get them to open the door, with promises of candy and cookies, but she didn't know that they had already stolen some from the kitchen. A few minutes earlier, Adonis had distracted the chef and his two cooks while Achilles had packed their bags with things they needed for the hike.
The two had decided to climb a mountain. It was a test of courage Adonis had created to show her brother that she was fearless. The hike was supposed to be a five-hour roundtrip, but it took longer with her short legs and poor sense of direction. Their backpacks had chocolate bars, juice boxes, cookies, and chips— everything they pictured might be useful for a long trip. Adonis had even brought her lucky dinosaur for good luck. She didn't like Achilles. Her mother had told her the boy would take everything she had one day, and that she should hate him and fight him at every turn.
The trip meant a lot to her. Whoever got scared or tired first would chicken out and go home. The winner would have superiority over them. Back then, Achilles had been quiet and unsightly with eyes and ears that were too big for his face and long, ungainly limbs. His upper lip protruded. The two siblings stood at the bottom of the trail and looked up. The dirt trail twisted and rose, winding it's way through trees, dipping, swerving, and rising. Birds darted over their heads in a flash of soil-coloured wings.
Her brother's clammy hand reached for hers, and she batted it away, turning her nose up proudly. Achilles shrugged and put his hands into his pocket. They started uphill, struggling against the gradient. They travelled for an hour, then Adonis really wanted to pee, but she had never peed in a forest before. She didn't know what to do, and she hadn't seen a toilet since they had left home. She could ask Achilles for help, but that would mean admitting that she needed his help, and she didn't need his help. She squirmed as he drank some apple juice, squeezing the box dry. "What's wrong?" he asked. "You need to pee? You can do it in the trees, you know?"
"That's ungentlemanly."
Achilles shrugged. "When you got to go. You got to go; doesn't matter how it looks."
Adonis looked to the trees on either side of the trail. They were tall; their network of tangled leaves was far above the children's heads. Something scampered across the floor. She heard it but didn't see it. The canopy of leaves blocked sunlight, and she found her dimly lit surroundings eerie. For a moment, she pictured that it was haunted by the ghosts of men who might have died there. She might run into a headless body covered in blood. Her throat tightened, and she resumed climbing up the hill. "I don't need to go," she said.
Achilles said, "I do." He walked over to the side and unzipped his pants. She walked over to him.
"You're just going to pee like that?"
"Yep." He proudly took out his penis, not caring if anyone was watching. "You can go too if you want."
She walked a few feet away, but stayed within eyesight of him, listening to him relieve himself. She lowered her pants and squatted near the ground, face red with embarrassment. She didn't hear him creep up behind her as her pee soaked the earth. The steps she did hear brought him right next to her. "You don't have a penis," he said, a confused expression on his face.
In embarrassment, she pulled her pants up quickly and buttoned it—she had finished peeing— and slapped him across the face. "You shouldn't watch someone pee," she told him.
"You saw me pee!" he yelled.
"You peed while I was there."
"No, you weren't. You went uphill, then as I was about to pee, you came back down and watched me pee and asked if I was going to pee like that and I said, 'Yeah'."
She knew he was right, and her face flushed with embarrassment.
He stared at her like she was some strange animal. "Are you a girl, Adonis?"
"So, what if I am?"
He grinned. "Nothing. I once asked my mom if I could get a little sister. She said no, but I think little sisters are cute, and I like them." He patted her head. "You are cute."
"Did you touch me with the same hand you used to touch your penis?"
He looked at his hand, then at her. "Whoops."
She kneed him in the stomach. As he hunched over, groaning, she said, "You can't tell anyone, okay? If you do, I'll be hanged."
Fear crossed Achilles' face. "I will keep it secret till the day I die." He leaned in and whispered, "Bro."
He checked around them, made sure no one was watching, gave her a thumbs up and grinned. She groaned and put her forehead in her hands. The boy was a certified idiot. But at the same time, though her mother wanted her to hate him, she couldn't bring herself to. She held his hand—the one he didn't pee with, and a sense of relief radiated through her. It was good to have him nearby. She decided that if they met a bear, she would toss him to it and run away while it was distracted. Achilles squeezed her hand, and they resumed their ascent.
He told her about his life before her father bought the mansion for them. For nine years, he and his mother had lived in a one-bedroom apartment and used a communal bathroom with about thirty others. He saw Gus a few times a week and really loved him. For the last five years, Adonis had seen Gus once a month at most. She wasn't jealous of their closeness; she had decided long ago that she hated the man. She also found out Achilles loved his mother the most. Adonis hated her mother, but Achilles spoke about his mother like she was the most beautiful thing ever. Adonis felt a pang of jealousy.
She asked, "Am I pretty?"
Achilles nodded. "You're the prettiest girl I ever met."
"Prettier than your mom?"
Achilles pursed his lips, contemplating. "My mom's not a girl. But if she became a girl again, and I had to pick between you and her, I think I would pick you. Maybe."
Adonis smiled. "Good."
It had taken them seven hours to climb the mountain and return; they had taken a few wrong turns and had ran away from a ghost Adonis had sworn she had seen. And when they had come across a river; they had to jump into it and swim. By the time, they had gotten back to their father' house, they were best friends and loved each other to death. But all the chocolate had given them a stomach ache, and they had retired to bed feeling nauseous. Their father had been furious and had banned them from going out again, but they had been satisfied with how they had spent their day, so they planned to sneak out the next time Adonis slept over. And they did.
***
Achilles worked out in the gym below his house. There was a dummy anchored to the ground with a human torso and head. He practiced striking its vitals with his fists. 'Right hook.' The sound of the flesh clapping plastic filled the otherwise empty room. 'Left'. He slid back then struck its chin with a spinning back fist.
A line of mirrors covered the far wall, and he caught his sweaty reflection. He smiled. It was ironic, but his sister looked more handsome than he did. She resembled a handsome Greek prince with light brown skin and short, curly blonde hair. Her sly smile sometimes made his heart skip a beat. She had gained more muscle over the last few weeks, so the slight chubbiness she had before had disappeared, and her figure turned more androgynous and slender. He guessed it was the result of her training with her mysterious trainer.
But Achilles had also changed since the first time they had met. His bug eyes were gone, and the braces he wore fixed his smile, so his upper mouth protruded less. Adonis said the current him was subtly handsome; the type of handsome that appeared through conversing and spending time with someone. He liked that. He kicked the dummy's side with a loud yell, expelling air from his lungs. He practiced the ax kick, swinging his right leg up over his head quickly. The kick was powerful enough to drag his back leg forward, bringing him closer to his imaginary opponent. He brought his heel down on the dummy's ear.
In real life, he would have struck hard enough to rupture a person's eardrum and make them lose their balance. But the dummy simply jerked as he lowered his leg. He was annoyed. Adonis had changed since she had started working out with her secret personal trainer. She was still his cute little sister, but they were too many things she didn't tell him. The thing with Emmett had almost destroyed him. He had never felt so heartbroken and disappointed, and he couldn't keep her secret to himself anymore. He didn't want to face the responsibility of guarding her alone. There were too many dangerous situations she could find herself in, and she would need others to aid her.