ENTRAPPED ₂

56

MADELEINE DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO THINK OF ETHAN'S FRIENDS.

Against her better judgement, she liked all of them. She liked Piper's brashness and fierce attitude. She liked Jason's soft edges and the blonde in his eyelashes. She liked Leo's quick hands and shitty jokes.

She had felt a little bad when Ethan had been going off on Jason and Leo. The look in their eyes had almost made her flinch.

She didn't fault Ethan. She was glad he had said something, because she probably would have hit his friends if he hadn't. But maybe that would have been preferable.

After Ethan, Frank, and Percy left, Madeleine couldn't help being a little worried. She had never seen Ethan act this way, so erratic and displeased. He had always had a clear goal in the time she had known him.

He was breaking apart. Madeleine knew that.

She tried to get her bearings. Hazel was still down in her cabin. Madeleine was tempted to go check on her, but she figured Piper and Annabeth would handle it.

Except for the fact that they were both staring at Madeleine, unmoving.

"What was that?" Piper asked.

"I don't know," Madeleine snarled. "I'm not Ethan's keeper."

She hadn't meant to sound so harsh, but Piper winced away. Madeleine softened a little. Lowering her voice, she said, "I think he's just... he..." she glanced away from Piper, toward Atlanta, as though it would give her answers. "He doesn't know what to do when he's scared. And he's scared."

"He's used to running away," Piper guessed.

Madeleine sort of jerked her head, an attempt at a nod. Annabeth was frowning at them. Jason was nowhere to be seen; but Leo was still on deck, staring straight ahead, his jaw set.

"I'm going to go check on Hazel," Annabeth said gently. She gave Madeleine a significant look, then retreated down the stairs.

The silence on deck was heavy. Madeleine didn't really want to hit Leo anymore. She felt like all of the violence had been drained from her body. She needed to sit down.

"I think it's time we talked," she decided. "The three of us." She looked significantly at Leo's back. "Valdez, grab your boyfriend."

She didn't give them the room to protest. When Madeleine wanted something of someone, she usually got it.

⎯⎯ ୨ entrapped ୧ ⎯⎯

They crowded into her cabin, the four of them. It was far too small a space, a fact emphasized by Jason's and Madeleine's lanky frames. Madeleine resented the fact that Jason was at least a head taller than her.

She sat on her bed. "Make yourselves comfortable."

They didn't. Jason and Leo were both pale in the face and unspeaking. They looked like they wanted to cry.

Piper, however, sat down carefully on the adjacent chair in the room. Then they all looked at Madeleine expectantly.

"So," Madeleine said. Her throat felt dry. She sort of felt like the walls were closing in around her, crushing her.

Something softened in Piper's eyes, like she understood. She cleared her throat. "Leo and I went to school together, before Coach Hedge found us and we were escorted to Camp Half-Blood. It was only for a few months, but we were each other's first real friends in a long time."

Madeleine knew this, but she didn't know the gritty details. They had passed beneath her focus, unimportant. Now, she sort of regretted that.

"It was a school for troubled kids," Piper continued. "A survivalist camp. Leo got sent there because he had run away for the umpteenth time, and his social workers didn't know what the hell else to do with him. I was sent there because I charmspoke my way into stealing a car, and my rich daddy was done with me."