ENTRAPPED ₂

106

MADELEINE HATED WAKING UP.

After she, Annabeth, and Piper had returned from Sparta, Leo had immediately set sail in the water, which delighted Percy. Jason was not delighted, but since he was dying, nothing really delighted him. 

Madeleine knew she needed to talk to Hazel about her whole death thing, because she was feeling immensely guilty about it with every minute that passed. Unfortunately, Madeleine had had enough emotional exhaustion for one day, so instead, she took turns sparring with Percy and Piper until sunset. Neither of them matched her as well as Ethan, but Percy had also been trained by Luke, and Piper was surprisingly good. 

At sunset, Madeleine wolfed down some of Leo's leftover tacos, told him thank you (she was trying to be kinder, she was), and then immediately passed out in her bed.

It was just her luck that she woke up to the ship tilting so violently that one of her pictures of Ethan swung off of the wall and nearly hit her in the head. Madeleine just couldn't get a break.

She picked up the picture, kissed him on the mouth like the sad thing she was, and then forced herself out of her cabin.

She was halfway down the hall when Jason croaked from his room, "Madeleine?"

She stopped and sighed. "Yeah?"

"Can you help me get up?"

"Absolutely fucking not."

"Please?" Jason asked. He sounded sad and tired.

Madeleine let herself into his room. He was halfway up, halfway down. His face was pale, but he looked steadier than she had seen him in weeks.

Still, she opened her mouth to tell him to lay back down, and he exploded.

"Listen," Jason said, and he sounded more intense than Madeleine had ever heard him. "I'm tired of sitting here in this bed and listening to Michael Varus's voice on repeat screaming at me to die a Roman. I'm tired of whining and groaning and not being able to sleep like I'm a fucking baby. When I do sleep for irregular, restless stretches, I'm tired of dreaming about being a shish kebab. I'm tired of everyone muttering about how worried they are. I'm tired of Leo avoiding me. I'm tired of Piper looking like she wants to cry every time she sees me. I'm tired of being left out of guard duty and missions. I've given it enough time, okay? If this thing kills me, then it fucking kills me, but I'm not just going to lay here and die. So help me up there or I swear to all of the gods I will do it myself and probably die attempting it."

For a moment, Madeleine and Jason just stared at each other. Then she started to laugh―a full, delighted belly laugh. She actually had to lean against his doorframe so she wouldn't get thrown violently down the hall by the tilting ship.

Finally, Madeleine shook her head at Jason. "Oh, I love you." She advanced into his room and wrapped an arm around his waist, helping him to his feet. He was definitely thinner than he had been before he had gotten stabbed, or perhaps she was just finally getting the weight back that she had lost in Tartarus. "Come along. Let's go die with the rest of the crew."

Jason grinned at her. "I would die for you."

"Please don't," she told him sagely. "I do this against my better judgement, because I am a reckless Hermes kid. You're lucky."

Together, they climbed the stairs to the middle deck. Jason's legs shook. He kept stumbling. The ship pitched to port, knocking them against the opposite wall, and Jason's entire body slammed into Madeleine.

"Sorry," he grunted. 

Before Madeleine could chew him out for it, Hazel stumbled out of her cabin, hugging her stomach. "I hate the ocean."