ENTRAPPED ₂

99

MADELEINE HAD ABSOLUTELY NO DESIRE TO LEAVE HER CABIN.

It had been a day since the incident with Hera, and literally no one had spoken to her. She felt like the Argo II's community pariah. Annabeth and Piper seemed to be avoiding her. Jason was too wounded to really pursue her for a conversation. Everyone else seemed like they just wanted to mind their own business, which was absolutely fine with Madeleine.

She was just about debating jumping into the ocean and going for a swim and never returning when Hazel paid her a visit.

"Knock, knock," the younger girl chimed, pushing Madeleine's door open with her foot. "Can I talk to you?"

Madeleine sighed. Of course they would send Hazel. Of all of the crew, Madeleine had the biggest soft spots for Hazel and Percy.

"Yeah," Madeleine said, putting down the book she had been pretending to read. "Yeah, come on in. Just close the door behind you."

Hazel obliged. For a moment, they just stared at each other. Hazel's hair seemed to shimmer in the morning sunlight that filtered through Madeleine's window.

"I heard about what happened," Hazel said.

"Shocker," Madeleine snapped. But it wasn't Hazel she was angry at. She needed to get a grip on herself. Hazel was like the little sister that Madeleine had always wanted but had never gotten, and she wasn't going to yell at her.

Hazel seemed undeterred, though. She moved across the room and sat on the edge of Madeleine's bed. "I know what it feels like to be possessed by Gaea, you know," Hazel said gently. "We could talk about it."

Madeleine winced. In her mixture of self-pity and anger, she had completely forgotten about Hazel's first life. "Fuck, Hazel, I'm sorry. I didn't... I didn't even think of that."

Hazel's smile had a slightly bitter tinge. "Lucky you." She blinked out of the window, her eyes luminescent. Of all the demigods on the ship, Hazel seemed the most otherworldly, which was perhaps a side effect of having been dead for so many years. "Look, Madeleine, I just want to ask you a question. Do you remember it? When you're using Gaea's powers, do you remember doing it?"

Madeleine thought about this, then nodded. "Yeah, I do."

"You remember all of it?" Hazel verified, her eyes shifting to Madeleine's face. "And you're doing it voluntarily?"

Madeleine nodded again. "I am."

"Alright, then," Hazel said, and her shoulders relaxed a little. "Then you're not possessed."

Madeleine tilted her head at Hazel, regarding the younger girl. She was so small that it was hard to remember how much longer she had existed than the rest of them. "How do you know?"

"It's simple," Hazel said, though it didn't feel very simple to Madeleine. "When Gaea was using me, she blackmailed me. My participation was involuntary, for one. And I don't remember large parts of it. I would black out in my house and I would wake up in a rowboat."

Madeleine tried to imagine how horrifying that must've been, especially for a fourteen-year-old.

"Jesus, Hazel," she said. "That's―"

Hazel waved her off. "I didn't come in here to collect pity points, Mads. I'm just saying. For some reason, Gaea has chosen you to give a small part of her powers to. That means that she has power over you, but that also means that you now have power over her. You're a pawn in her game, the same way she saved Percy over Phineas. That doesn't make you evil or dangerous to us. It's just something you have to be careful with. You have to play your cards right. I trust that you will."