WINGED ₁

8

MADELEINE WAS DREAMING AGAIN.

In her nine months of living with the Jacksons and going to high school, she had found no leads on her family. She had had no odd dreams, even though she slept more fitfully than she ever had at camp.

She wrote to Annabeth a lot. Although Madeleine didn't struggle with dyslexia like other demigods, she knew Annabeth did, and the fact that the girl was willing to take hours out of her day for a few words on a piece of paper meant the world to Madeleine.

Neither of them had heard a word from Grover, but that wasn't surprising. He was on his quest. All they could do was hope that he was okay.

Madeleine believed in him. That would have to be enough.

Living with Percy and Sally had proved to be some of the best months of her life. Sally Jackson was the kindest person Madeleine had ever met, and Madeleine had gotten into the habit of teasing Percy about being younger than her, even though he whined that they were only a year apart.

One time, Madeleine had slipped and called Sally mom. The woman had gotten teary-eyed.

Thus far, Madeleine had been fine. It was only now, the day before she and Percy were supposed to return to camp, that something was amiss.

In her dreams were three gods. She knew this because of their aura. She had met gods, and these were similar, although they weren't any she had met thus far, which knocked Ares, Hades, and Dionysus from the list of possibilities.

One glowed with a warm yellow light, like butter. He had hair down to his shoulders in golden ringlets and a golden halo on top of his head. His eyes were piercingly blue, and when he smiled at her, she wanted to melt.

"My dear girl," he hummed. "We will meet soon, I suppose." He smiled at Madeleine like this was great news. "Until then, try not to despair. Lord knows you will have plenty of it in the future."

Then he disappeared and was replaced by a goddess. She had auburn hair and glowed silvery. She smiled sadly at Madeleine. "Well, I guess fate was right, after all. Be kind to my girl."

Then the woman dissolved. This time, she was replaced by a man with curly light brown hair. He smiled at Madeleine, but his eyes were sad. He reached out, as if to touch her, but stopped.

Then his image dissolved into a different man with darker brown hair and a scruffy beard. He twirled Madeleine around a familiar kitchen, laughing kindly. Music, some kind of old tune by the sound of it, blared in the background.

Madeleine just caught the words heaven knows I'm miserable now before the dream ended abruptly. She opened her eyes. Percy was shaking her by the arm. "Morning, sleepyhead. Get up. We need to talk."

She blinked, rubbing her eyes. She felt like she wanted to cry. "What's going on?"

"I had a dream," Percy said grimly, "about Grover. Get dressed and meet me downstairs. Mom's cooking breakfast."

He left her there, her whole body trembling with the ache of memories and three gods. Just for a moment, she saw the shape of a person at her window. But it couldn't be possible. The apartment the Jacksons lived in was on the fifth story.

With effort, Madeleine dragged herself out of bed and began to get dressed. 

It was going to be a long day.

⎯⎯ ୨ winged ୧ ⎯⎯

After brushing her teeth, doing her hair and eyeliner, and getting dressed, Madeleine tucked the bronze and silver knives that she kept under her pillow into her backpack. Nothing had happened yet this year, but as a demigod, she could never be too careful, especially since her and Percy went to the same school. As a child of Hermes, her scent wasn't too strong, but Percy's certainly was.