Madisyn had not left her house for three days. After returning home, the first thing she did was collapse on her bed and in the morning went shopping for food. Since then, she had not moved. Her friends would swing by, trying to cheer her up and convince her to go out, but none of them succeeded. Cwryen Caster even threw a welcome home party, but that only brought her to tears.
Finally, she emerged from her house, but only went as far as her yard. It was mostly empty, since she had let most of her critters go, and the flowers were almost dead from lack of water.
As she watered them, she did not notice she was being watched.
Her house was on the very edge of the Buckeye Forest and she made an effort not to look at it. Perched on one of the trees was the very Frost Giant she was trying to forget.
He had done nothing but watch her the past few days, when he was not sulking. It had all been through the mirror until now. It ached to see her, and up close was even worse. Why did he torture himself then? He could not stay away from her.
He wished he could do more than just worship her from afar. He wanted to take her in his arms and apologize for everything and tell her how much he loved her. Then he would hold her close to his heart with no intention of ever letting go.
But he had already done enough.
"Madisyn!"
At the sound of Vahl Dragonborn's voice, Loki vanished from his hiding place. The dark elf approached her marcher friend, carrying a bag of books.
"Nice to see that you're out and about," she said with a smile. "I brought some books that might cheer you up."
"Thanks," Madisyn muttered. "But I don't think reading's going to make me feel better."
"Well, you have to do something. Maybe what you need is a break, to get your mind off..." She did not dare say it. "Anyway, I'm returning to Columbus tomorrow. You want to come along?"
She did not take time to think about it and nodded.
The next day, Vahl, Madisyn and their four friends were on a train to Columbus. The others had decided to come as well for Madisyn's sake, though it took a while for Nichole Price to convince Diana into letting her have a vacation. Since she had started going out with Chris, Diana had been a little edgy with her. Boise had to stay in Newark and mind the library. Each girl tried to engage Madisyn into a conversation, but she hardly spoke a word.
"And then he said: I'm just a little girl!" Nichole burst out laughing.
"I don't get it," Cwryen said.
"Well, if you heard Chris tell it, you'd think it was funny."
Tatum rolled eyes. "I've heard of love being blind, but deaf?"
"I'm not in love with Chris! We haven't even been going out that long!"
Madisyn let out a whimper that only Alyssa had heard, because she was in the bunk next to her. She patted the tan marcher on the back.
"Hang on, Sugar," she murmured. "We're almost there."
Auer greeted the group at the castle and surprised Madisyn with a hug.
"I never had a chance to thank you," the prince explained. "What you did was very brave."
She did not need to ask what he was referring to.
Madisyn remained in her room until dinner, though she could barely eat. As she fiddled with her fork, she thought of her many mealtimes with Loki. He would always give her what she asked, or surprise her with her favorites. She remembered one time when he made the candles dance and the gravy boat come to life. Those little harmless magic tricks would make her giggle. Somehow, he always managed to put a smile on her face.
