ENTRAPPED ₂

33

SURE ENOUGH, THE BOAT BREACHED SHORE. It was somewhere between hours and minutes that Madeleine sat in the sand, body statue still.

Hazel, Frank, and Percy all looked queasy and paranoid. They also had another member of their party: a thin red harpy who was nesting in the stern, nibbling on bits of beef jerky. That was new.

Percy was crouched in the bow, steering the boat. He looked up at Madeleine, and they locked eyes. Something was different. Something had changed in both of them.

Hazel and Frank sat behind Percy on the bench, shoulders pressed together. They both looked jittery and sad.

The Pax docked on the surf, and Percy jumped out. He dragged it onto the sand so it wouldn't wash away, then advanced toward Madeleine. Wordlessly, he offered his hand. She took it.

For a moment, they just studied each other. Everything was absolutely quiet. Madeleine felt like her skull was thrumming.

Then Percy asked, "What happened?"

Madeleine's gaze slid from Percy's face to Hazel and Frank. They were her friends, but she didn't trust them. She didn't know them. Madeleine was beginning to remember her past, and if she remembered anything, it was this: she did not trust people.

"You first," she said quietly. She brushed past Percy and settled on the back bench of the boat. Hazel and Frank both looked at her, but they said nothing.

"Alright," Percy said. He resumed his place in the bow. "Off we go, then."

The three of them took turns explaining about their own outings since Madeleine had left: Frank killing Polybotes's snakes (though he refused to explain how), what Phineas had said about each of them (this only confirmed what Madeleine had already known), Ella the harpy, who Phineas had tried desperately to capture (they theorized she somehow knew prophecy, which Madeleine found vaguely interesting). Finally, they told her about Percy and Phineas drinking the gorgon's blood. Percy didn't speak or look at Madeleine the entire time.

Madeleine felt a weird shudder of anger go down her shoulders. She hadn't even been angry at Percy, as far as she could remember. Sure, he was, at times, like the irritating younger brother she'd never had. Percy Jackson, who everyone was in love with, son of the sea god, golden boy―Madeleine had never really understood his sex appeal. Sure, he was pretty, but he had always been like family to her. She couldn't believe she hadn't known him. Even now, with minimal memories, she would give her life for him in a heartbeat. They had been through too much together to hesitate.

That was trust.

So knowing Percy had taken that risk made her so furious that for a moment, she couldn't see straight. She imagined Percy convulsing, coughing up his organs. She imagined Percy dissolving, crumbling to dust.

If she had failed in her own task, Percy would have died. If she hadn't let Gaea in, Percy would have died.

She had been put in an impossible position. It wasn't Percy's fault. He was just doing what he always did―playing the hero. Saving the day. But Madeleine felt like she was back in that throne room, Ethan Nakamura and Percy Jackson staring at her. All three of their lives on the line.

"Do it, Ethan," Percy had said.

Madeleine could not watch another person she loved die, so she had done it instead.

"You're an idiot," Madeleine snapped. The heat in her tone surprised her.

Percy glanced back. "You would have done the same."

"You only did it because I wasn't there to stop you," Madeleine said. Her voice was cool and cutting, full of accusation.

"And you left us alone on your little side quest," Percy fired back. His eyes were gray and icy, the color of the river they floated down.