Icarus worked hard with the wings as the days passed, and he began to improve quickly. He still hadn't jumped off the cliff again, but he was now able to fly from one end of the island to the other and back. The boy was also getting more comfortable around fire, and he'd sat beside a fire pit the night before and cooked with sticks over open flames. Things were going well, and when Hercules asked Phil if he could bring Cassandra to the island to see Icarus, Icarus hoped the satyr would let her come. When Phil said yes, Icarus felt the first true stirring of his old self in a couple weeks and began to recite love poetry to himself in preparation of seeing his beloved Cassie-lassie again.
That day, Hercules headed off with a wave, and Icarus set about some chores that Phil had given him. Icarus didn't mind the work, and he helped the satyr set up the afternoon's training and cleaned up the broken beams from a rather unfortunate tumble that Hercules had taken that morning.
"Ah, that kid is just too clumsy," Phil grumbled as he piled the split wood up to be burned.
"He really tries," Icarus said.
Phil puffed up with pride. "He does. And I know that's hard for him."
"Hard?"
"Yeah. When he first got here, he wanted to give up after I complained about how much he was breaking. This stuff ain't exactly expensive, but he breaks a lot of stuff and it adds up. He just about cried when I complained the first time."
"Really?" Icarus sat down and wiped his forehead.
Phil nodded. "I didn't know they used to bully him where he's from. Lots of them kids would make fun of him and wouldn't let him play with them. He's real clumsy and has been for years. The super strength didn't help." He rubbed the back of his neck. "I didn't mean to hurt him like that. So I talked to Hermes, and he and the gods help fund Herc's training now. But even that didn't make him want to get back to it."
"Well, he's going at it now. What did you do?"
Phil shrugged. "I had a real long talk with him. He told me stuff, cried a little, and I told him that he can't just give up. That I was rootin' for him, and that I just complain about stuff and I don't mean anything by it. I told him I ain't gonna give up on him, and I said I expected he wouldn't give up on himself either. He perked up after that and got back to work."
Icarus stared thoughtfully at his hands. "Was it hard to talk to him?"
"Yeah. Took a lot of nerve. I don't like getting all emotional. And it's hard to see other people like that. But I had to." Phil turned to stare curiously at Icarus. "Why?"
After a few moments, Icarus shrugged. "I need to talk to Dadalus. And Momalus. About… you know, feelings."
"About flyin' into the sun?" Phil asked.
"Yeah. But more than that. My parents are divorced. And I've always felt that if I hadn't made that mistake, if I was still normal, they would have stayed together."
"Do you still think that?"
"No. I don't. I've been thinking about everything. They were pulling apart before that. I think me almost dying was the last straw for Momalus. When she knew I'd be okay, she left. And I still want them to get back together, but I don't think they will. They're very different. But I can't stop hoping."
Icarus reached up and wiped at his eyes, brushing away the tears. Phil sat down beside him and patted his back. "Sounds rough, kid. My dad died when I was little. Me and my brother and sister only had our ma. She did good, raising two boys and a girl on her own. But there's a lot of what-ifs and might-have-beens there. Life can be so hard sometimes."
"I know." Icarus sat up and took a deep breath. "But I need to talk with them. I said some things before I left. And I know Dadalus is worried about me. Herc said he's getting antsy."
Phil nodded and looked up at the sky. "Do you think you're gonna go home soon then? Not that you're a problem. But you need to get things straightened out with your folks."
"I don't know. Today's Friday. We have the weekend." He paused and nodded. "I'll go to school on Monday. And then I'll go home with Dadalus. Sound good?"
"Yeah, Icarus. Sounds real good." Phil stood up and scanned the training area. "We're done here. Just in time to make lunch. You ready?"
Icarus smiled and nodded. "If I can pull bread out of the fire, I can do whatever's next. Lay it on me, goatman!"
Phil beamed with pride at him as they headed for the house. After lunch, Icarus prepared some baklava for Cassandra and Hercules for a snack. Then he checked the sundial and realized it was almost time. He grabbed the wings, slipped them on, and walked outside.
"I'm going to fly around. Send them over to the west side once they're here," Icarus told Phil.
"Sure, kid. Be safe," Phil replied with a dismissive wave.
Icarus stretched out the wings and flapped, immediately leaving the ground. With several pumps of his arms, he was up ten feet off the ground, and he swooped over to the west side of the island. He practiced tricks and acrobatics as he waited. Flying was as easy as breathing for him. It didn't tire his arms out like most exercises did, and the freedom he felt while soaring around was an exquisite pleasure to him. So he flew here and there until he heard Hercules and Cassandra chatting as they headed his way.
With a grin, he flapped high enough to see them walking toward him. Hercules was gesturing animatedly about something, and Cassandra nodded and shrugged, replying quietly. Neither had noticed him. So he gave an almighty whoop and dove toward them. Cassandra looked at him and gaped as he flew past her, and she spun to watch him flap into the sky and hover, grinning at her.
"Heya, my beloved Cassandra!" he crowed. "What do you think of my wings?"
"You can really fly?!" she yelped as the same revelation that Hercules and Phil received the other day hit her like a speeding chariot.
Hercules laughed. "Surprise!"
Icarus beamed at her and flapped higher, showing off his tricks for Cassandra. She watched with wide eyes as he played in the sky like an actual bird, dancing with the wind and diving down only to swoop up at the last second to soar into the sky again.
"Icarus, that's enough!" Hercules finally called, still grinning. "I need to tell you something!"
Icarus came down and landed on light feet, settling the wings into place on the pack. He shrugged out of it and skipped over, his eyes dancing.
"What did you think?" he asked Cassandra, bouncing on the balls of his feet.
"You can fly," she muttered. "You can really fly!"
"How else would I hit the sun?" Icarus asked. He turned to Hercules. "What's up, Herc?"
"Your dad asked me if I knew where you were," Hercules admitted. "I didn't know what to say. So I kinda skittered away. I think he suspects you're with me."
Icarus nodded. "Me being gone is a problem. He's been trying to solve it. Of course he'd go to you."
"But why wait for so long?" Cassandra asked. "And why not come to me?"
Icarus looked down and kicked a pebble with his sandal. "Because he doesn't think you're a real friend," he admitted quietly. "You or Herc. He only asked Herc because he's getting desperate. And he'd go to Herc first because he's a guy. I'm more likely to stay with him than you, Cassie."
"So what do we do?" Hercules asked.
"I've already decided to go home on Monday," Icarus said, his voice stronger. "I need to talk to Dadalus. We need to get on the same scroll. I've made a lot of progress here. I've faced some of my biggest fears. I can fly without losing my mind. I can get near fire. It's time to go home."
Hercules studied him then smiled and clapped his hand on Icarus's shoulder. "That's a good idea, Icarus. But you're welcome here anytime."
Icarus nodded. "Thanks, Herc. I mean it. Now, I made baklava! Let's go have some. And tell me about Adonis. What's going on with him?"
As they ate their snack, Cassandra and Hercules talked about the non-scholarly part of school. It turned out the whole student body was speculating about Icarus and wondering what had happened. Nobody had seen how the fight started, but everybody knew that Adonis had lost big time. He had nasty bruises and his nose was still healing. He had been very loud and angry, and his guards had returned in full force once his parents had heard what had happened.
"Of course they don't blame him at all," Cassandra said, sipping some goat's milk.
"What happened, Icarus? What did he do? Why did you hit him?" Hercules asked.
Icarus finished chewing his food very slowly. He needed to talk about it. It was just difficult now that he was feeling better. He had more energy every day, and he was way more positive than when he'd gotten to Phil's island. Still, there were no highs without lows. And he needed to set things straight with his friends. So he swallowed and took a deep breath, allowing the manic clouds to part as he recalled the fight.
"He was just being Adonis," Icarus said slowly. "But it was a bad day coming off a bad week coming off a bad month. And I didn't feel happy or spacey like usual. I was hurting and confused. So when he nipped at me, I finally bit him back."
"Why were you having such a hard time?" Hercules asked. "Problems at home?"
"No." Icarus looked shyly up at Hercules. "You confused me, Herc. I expected you to leave like everybody else did. Everybody but Cassandra moved on to different tables within a couple weeks, most of the time a few days. I didn't expect you to stay. And when you showed no signs of leaving, I started to wonder what you saw in me. And I started looking at who I am, who I became after the incident, and I didn't recognize myself. I was scared of what I saw. I didn't like myself anymore. And the longer you stayed, the more I wondered, and the more I wondered, the more I saw. And it's… it's hard to see what I've lost because of one stupid mistake."
Icarus looked down and bit his bottom lip as tears slipped from his eyes, a blessed relief that he appreciated more than words could ever say. "What do you see in me, Herc? Why did you stay? Because I'm so broken I don't deserve friends."
Hercules and Cassandra stared at him, and Phil stopped cutting up vegetables for dinner, turning to look at Icarus with sharp eyes. He sounded so sincere, so sure that there was nothing in him worth loving. Hercules scooted his chair closer and wrapped an arm around his friend.
"I can't say you're not broken, Icarus," he said sincerely. "There's a lot you've been through, a lot that you can't do and a lot you'll never be able to do. But I don't see that as a problem. Everybody has things that are difficult, that they can't do. When I look at you, I don't see all the stuff you can't do. I see all the stuff you can do. You're a brilliant inventist like your dad. You're a genuinely nice person. You're smart and funny and most of the time you don't care what people think of you. I envy that about you. I'm always afraid of what other people think of me. But you? You announce your geeky interests to the world and don't give a flying discus about what others say. I admire that about you."
Icarus looked up and wiped at his eyes. "Really? You see all that? In me?"
Hercules nodded, a wide, beaming smile on his face. "I do. You're a good friend, Icarus. Flaws and all."
"You, too, Herc," Icarus said. "What about you, Cassandra?"
"You're annoying," she said playfully, a smirk hovering on her lips.
"Ah, such wit," Icarus purred, leaning forward to grin at her. She rolled her eyes, and Hercules laughed. Things were finally back to normal.
