useless
Evan
Evan felt miserable. He had been treating a patient called Hestia Jones for several days now.
She is a new camper and had lost her way in the woods. Fortunately, Hestia was found by two other campers when they went for a walk. However, Hestia had eaten something that must not have been good for her. A few hours later, dark lines and rashes appeared on her skin.
She was immediately taken to the infirmary and Evan was put in charge. All of Apollo's children had a knack for medicine. They had their father to thank for that. But some of the Apollo children had real healing powers, not just medical training.
Evan wasn't one of them. Pandora was.
Evan loved his twin sister more than anything. They were inseparable and made a good team. But their skills were different.
They could both sing. Quite well, in fact. Their mum was a singer and before Evan and Pandora came to Camp Half-Blood, they sang a lot with their mum.
But Pandora had healing powers. She could sense if and what was wrong. She could soothe pain with just a touch. And she had a natural instinct for what a patient needed.
Evan didn't have any of that. He learnt what he had to do in the infirmary. Evan could doctor and heal people. But it didn't come as naturally as with Pandora.
The thing he could do, was archery. He was a very good shot. Even Minerva had congratulated him, although she was fantastic with a bow and arrow herself.
But his archery skills didn't help him in the case of Hestia Jones. It was clear from the start that she wasn't well at all. And Evan tried. He really tried to heal her. But he couldn't.
Evan didn't like asking for help, especially when it came to medical matters. Because he was supposed to know what to do. He was expected to know what to do.
And everything was going pretty well. Until this morning. Hestia's condition had deteriorated fatally overnight. She was drenched in sweat and breathing heavily.
Evan had tried everything, but he couldn't help her. So he did what he always did when he was at a loss: he called Pandora.
Evan knew from the start that he shouldn't have taken Hestia as his patient. He should have given her to Pandora. But Evan wanted to make it work. He wanted to show that he too could be a good healer. And he had failed. He couldn't help Hestia and had to let his sister save her.
Thank the gods, Pandora was able to help Hestia. She is not yet completely healthy, but her condition is no longer critical.
Evan could do nothing but watch as Pandora fixed everything. He felt so useless.
Evan would never have forgiven himself if Hestia had died because of him. He just had to get out of the infirmary.
And that was the reason why Evan had been at the archery range for an hour now. There he could clear his head and at least he didn't feel like a complete failure.
As his arrow hits the centre of the target, he suddenly hears a voice behind him.
‘Nice shot. You're really good at this.’
Evan turns round. In front of him is a boy, about his age, with curly black hair.
‘Thank you. My name is Evan Rosier.’
The boy nodded to him.
‘Regulus Black. You're not related to Pandora, by any chance?’
Evan sighed.
‘We're twins.’
Regulus nodded slowly.
‘She's treating my friend, Lily Evans.’
He looked around, no one was there but them.
‘What are you doing here all alone?’
Evan hung his bow around his shoulder.
‘Had to clear my head. Stress in the infirmary. A patient needed help. Pandora took care of it.’
Regulus looked at him studiously.
‘She's a very gifted healer.’
Evan looked away. It was true. Pandora really was very gifted. Evan felt a lot for his sister. Love. Admiration. But also envy. As if Regulus could read his mind, he began to speak.
‘You really are very talented with the bow. I've never seen such a good shot. You could be very strong in a battle.’
Evan looked at Regulus.
‘Inflicting death is easy. Keeping it away is a lot harder.’
Regulus looked at him thoughtfully.
‘I think you're right.’
With these words, Regulus walked on past Evan towards the cabins.
Evan picked up his bow and shot his last arrows at the remaining targets.
He hit every single one.