WINGED ₁

69

MADELEINE DECIDED SHE HATED SHADOW TRAVEL RATHER QUICKLY. It was like flying, with everything good taken from it.

The world was pitch black and daringly cold. Madeleine thought that if she could have seen her breath, it would have been an icy exhalation. All she could feel was Mrs. O'Leary underneath her, Ethan's hands on her waist, and Percy's body pressed against hers. Noises whistled past, unfamiliar and unnerving. Wind whipped in Madeleine's ears, as if they were going fast.

Within a few seconds, the shadows melted away, and they were in a new place. It was a cliff in the woods of what Madeleine assumed to be Connecticut. There were plenty of trees, low stone walls, and big houses. On one side of the cliff, a highway cut through a ravine. On the other side was a backyard. The property was very large, more wilderness than tamed lawn. The house was two-story, white, and old in a charming way. Despite the fact that it had a highway rushing beneath it, it felt isolated and foreign. There was a light glowing in the kitchen window and an old, rusted swing set under an apple tree.

It was bigger than Madeleine's house. She didn't have her own property, and her neighbors tucked the building in. It was more like a townhome, with two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, and a living room. It was all she had left of her father.

Mrs. O'Leary staggered, so her three riders slid off. She yawned hugely, then turned in a circle and flopped down so hard that the ground vibrated beneath Madeleine's shoes.

Nico appeared a few seconds later, as if the shadows had darkened into the figure of a boy and created him. He stumbled, but Madeleine caught his arm and pulled him to his feet.

"I'm okay," he managed, rubbing his eyes.

"How did you do that?" Percy asked wondrously.

"Practice. A few times running into walls. A few accidental trips to China."

Mrs. O'Leary was snoring now. The traffic muffled the sound.

"Are you going to take a nap too?" Percy asked Nico.

The smaller boy shook his head. "The first time I shadow traveled, I passed out for a week. Now it just makes me a little drowsy, but I can't do it more than once or twice a night. Mrs. O'Leary won't be going anywhere for a while."

"So we've got some quality time in Connecticut." Percy gazed at the large white house. "What now?"

Nico glanced back at Madeleine. "We ring the doorbell," he said, like it should be obvious.

⎯⎯ ୨ winged ୧ ⎯⎯

Madeleine did not want to ring the doorbell. By the looks on Percy's and Ethan's faces, neither did they.

The sidewalk leading up to the house was lined with small stuffed beanbag animals. There were miniature lions, pigs, dragons, hydras, and even a Minotaur in a diaper. They were slumped and sad, as if they had been neglected to the elements for years. One of the hydras had a tree sapling sprouting between its necks.

The front porch was cluttered with wind chimes. Shiny bits of glass and metal clinked in the breeze. Brass ribbons made a sound like trickling water. 

The front door was painted turquoise. The name CASTELLAN was written in English, then below in Greek.

Nico looked back at them. "Ready?"

No one responded, but Nico was undeterred. He brushed the door with his knuckles, barely making a sound, and it swung open.

"Luke!" 

The woman had white hair that stuck out in tufts. Her pink housedress was littered with scorch marks and smears of ash, as if she had burned something. Her smile was unnaturally stretched, and there was a high, ecstatic light in her eyes.