ENTRAPPED ₂

51

AFTER DINNER, MADELEINE AND ETHAN CAME TO THE SAME SILENT UNDERSTANDING: IT WAS TIME FOR THEM TO BE ALONE. Despite all that had happened today and all that would happen in the close future, Madeleine thought they deserved to be a little selfish.

Ethan, who had never done anything gentlemanly in his life, walked her to her cabin. When he opened the door, Madeleine was expecting the same blank, clean room that Jason owned.

It was not that at all.

In many ways, it was the same. The bed, chest, desk, and window were all set up in the same places. But Madeleine's sheets were decorated in different shades of green. Her walls were crammed with polaroids. Pressed right next to the desk, built of wood, was a small bookshelf filled with novels.

On the desk itself were envelopes. Madeleine wandered over. The papers were all different: one was golden and shimmery and warm to the touch, with the name Lee written in rushed cursive; the next was pastel pink and smelled like cherries and roses and lip gloss, with Drew written in looping letters; another crinkled and tan with the name Connor written messily. There were at least half a dozen, and Madeleine sifted through them with the utmost care.

When she finally looked at Ethan, she was blinking back tears. Though the room didn't compare to all she had at her house or even her cabin back at Camp Half-Blood, it was clear that it had been decorated with the utmost care. The books, she could see, had all been hand-picked titles that she and Ethan had read together.

"I packed your clothes in the chest," Ethan said, gesturing. He pointed to a backpack resting on the floor by her bed―Madeleine's backpack. "I used that when I went on the quest. Thought it might come in handy." His eye moved to the desk crowded with letters. "Everyone wanted to see you. I figured... I didn't know what communication was going to look like once we were on the ship. So I thought letters were the best way to do things. I had Drew and Annabeth write most of them for the others, so they're a mix of Greek and English and Japanese―I'll translate, of course, but..."

He kept talking. He pointed at the bookshelf. "I asked Leo to build that for you. He didn't hesitate. Those three, they had to deal with me at my absolute worst when they met me. They're all kind of obsessed with you now."

Madeleine was staring at him, watching him trail throughout the small room. Softly, she said, "Ethan..."

Ethan walked toward her desk now and opened a drawer. Inside of it was a small glass object―Lee's pipe. Madeleine knew it immediately from the smiley faces and sun designs on it. "They told me to take this, too, in case the others got too annoying. Lee said he'd get another one."

Madeleine had forgotten how gentle Ethan could be when his guard was down. She hadn't had that side of him for eight months. She had been walking on eggshells, hesitant and unsure. She was so used to losing good things.

She wrapped her arms around him and held him tight. He pressed a hand to the top of her head, stroking her hair.

"I missed you," she whispered. "More than anything."

He circled an arm around her body. "I missed you, too," he agreed. "More than anything."

They stood in silence for what felt like a long time. Finally, Ethan said, "You would like them. Jason and Piper and Leo."

"Oh, yeah?" Madeleine asked. She pressed her ear to his chest, listening to his heart. "Why?"

"Well, Jason is very soft around the edges," Ethan told her. "He kind of reminds me of you, because he tries to be cruel but he just wants to be seen. He's lost a lot of people. You can see it in the way he carries himself."