WINGED ₁

86

CAMP WENT LATE THAT SUMMER. Everyone was making plans. Demigods were popping up all over the country, and some in other countries as well. Grover was working overtime trying to send satyrs out to them all to get them back safely. 

The unclaimed kids in the Hermes Cabin had all been claimed. Most were the children of the major twelve Olympians, but a few, like Ethan, had to wait for their cabin to be built.

One night, when Madeleine woke up from a nightmare and she and Ethan sparred until sunrise, she said, "I'm going to miss you."

Ethan grinned. "But I'd bet the Nemesis Cabin will be pretty fucking empty."

Madeleine kissed him.

In a lot of ways, things were different. They weren't necessarily bad. Apollo was at camp more, working on Rachel's cave. Rachel had recovered, and Madeleine started dragging her to volleyball. Drew and Lee were still her best friends, but there were shadows carved out under their eyes. Every day, when Madeleine saw them, she thanked all of the gods that Connor and Travis and Chris were still alive. Her brothers.

Madeleine would hang out at the lake with Percy and Annabeth. Sometimes they would even get Ethan to join them and he would drag Madeleine underwater. It was the most free they had felt in a long time.

On the last day of camp, they had the bead ceremony. The Hephaestus Cabin had designed the bead this year. It showed the Empire State Building, and etched in tiny Greek letters, spiraling around the image, were the names of all the heroes who had died defending Olympus. Madeleine was proud to put it on her leather cord. She had four beads now, for better or worse.

Chiron gave a speech, but Madeleine wasn't listening. She leaned against Ethan's chest and he wrapped his arms around her. Something had changed between them. Intimacy was no longer a foreign concept. Luke was no longer splitting them apart. They were just Ethan and Madeleine, and they loved each other. For now, that was enough.

In the morning, Madeleine would say good-bye to her friends. She would return to California and start looking into colleges. Her and Lee had bet on going to college together in California, and she was holding him to it. Ethan would stay at her house with her, and Drew and Lee would join once they could put off their head counselor duties. 

Madeleine did not often plan for the future, and she felt the fool for doing it now. But Luke was dead, Kronos was gone, and there was sunlight on her face. Right now, nothing could go wrong.

After all, Madeleine Aetos was always the fool.

"i want to want you, baby / but you're making it so hard / i try to bite the bullet / and just take you as you are."
too close by sir chloe