Page 102 of Icarus

He understood more than ever the ghosts in Celestina and Luca’s eyes when they saw his house. He understood, now, why Luca had been shaking.

Born

The three of them went outside in the yard afterward. The night had fallen properly, the roads were blue and you could barely see the lights from the street.

Celestina sat down in the child-size swing that the whole building shared, while Luca gently pushed her. Icarus leaned against the wood beside them. He didn’t know how to start.

“Luca said you had something to tell me?” Celestina kicked her legs to get more height.

Icarus swallowed. “Yeah. I . . .”

He fell silent.

Luca and Celestina waited him out, swinging in the dark.

“There is a kid locked up in a house across from Rudy’s Diner, and I’m in love with him, I think.”

“What do you mean?” Celestina asked, carefully.

“His name is Helios,” Icarus said firmly. “His dad put a tracker on his ankle and he hasn’t been outside in three months. I’ve been breaking in to see him and I’m going to break him out. Then I’ll have to leave town for a while.”

That was it. That was the whole thing.

“Get me down, get me down,” Celestina said. She stopped kicking and dragged her feet in the dirt as Luca grabbed the chains to pull her back until the swing slowed to a stop.

“You’re leaving? Leaving school?” Celestina exclaimed.

Icarus stared at the dirt. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, you fucking idiot,” Luca said, exasperated. “Show her your phone and explain yourself properly.”

Icarus pressed his lips together grimly, then dug his phone out of his pocket. He scrolled through his pictures and handed it to her.

Celestina looked at them in silence.

“He’s already contacted the police, and they won’t get to this guy for about a month. Icarus has to get him out sooner rather than later. He’s not just leaving, he’s rescuing someone.” Luca looked up and right at him. “Someone he cares about.”

“You said you’re in love with him?” Celestina sounded angry. “You—” She looked up at Luca, then back at him. “How did you even meet?”

Icarus bit his lip. He went and sat down in front of the swing, so he was looking up at her through the gap in her knees. Looking up at both of them.

“You’re my first friends. I didn’t know how to talk to you about this or if I even should,” he started. “But Helios . . .

“Helios is like . . . He’s—” Icarus stopped, and found himself without the right words.

Celestina tilted her head to the side curiously, then kicked her feet in the dirt.

“He’s special,” Celestina finished for him. “What do you like about him?”

Icarus shrugged, a bit embarrassed. “He’s . . . beautiful. He has red hair, dark red. And he does ballet and he’s so good at it. He’s strong enough to lift me over his head. He’s funny and mean and always saying surprising things and I know it’s dangerous to break in to see him, but it’s worth it. I feel . . . meeting him feels like learning about a part of myself that I haven’t been allowed to understand until now.”

Luca sighed.

Celestina reached out with one leg and pushed at Icarus’s knee with her sneaker.

“It’s cute,” she said. “You having a crush.”

Icarus sat back, even though it made the woodchips on the ground dig into his palms.