only happened in her mind?
Youre serious, arent you? Claire asked, studying Helens
hunched-up body.
Uh-huh. He doesnt want me, Gig. He told me so himself. Can
we drop it now? Im just too tired.
Yeah. No problem, Claire said, rubbing Helens back. For a
second, Helen let herself lean against Claire in a sideways hug.
Shit. Ill kill him, Claire offered. Helen tried to laugh at that,
but what came out of her sounded more like a hacking cough.
Thanks, but no. I dont want him dead, Helen said. She shuffled
after Claire to homeroom.
Mr. Hergeshimer asked about her health as soon as he had a
chance to process how wretched she looked. Helen assured him
she was fine, and after studying her face skeptically for a moment
he gave up and went back to harassing Zach about his choice for
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the Word of the Day. Matt asked Helen in a whisper if her stomach
felt better, and then restated his opinion that she should quit track.
Youre wearing yourself too thin, he said, sounding an awful lot
like her father.
The rest of the morning went similarly. Every teacher asked if she
needed to go to the nurse, and all of her acquaintances worried
that she wasnt better yet from her fit during track the other day.
Except for Zach.
I had no idea you were so fast, Hamilton, he said as he ran to
catch up to her in the hall.
Yeah, Im pretty fast, she countered, trying to sound
disinterested.
Right before you collapsed I saw you chasing that shirtless guy
and I realized that Ive had it backward all these years. See, I always
thought you were the one that like to be chased, you being
such a tease and all, he said with a faint sneer. But its hard to believe
any guy could outrun you. I dont think Ive ever seen anyone
run that fast.
Wait, you told Gretchen? Helen asked, a sinking feeling in her
stomach. I thought it was the other way around.
I gotta admit, he said, taunting her, when you want to, you can
move so fast its, like, inhuman. The only other time Ive ever seen
anyone move that fast was when one of those Delos kids was playing
the hero during football practice and this freshman went down
on the other end of the line Zach was cut off by Helens history
teacher, who gestured for Helen to hurry up and get in the room.
For the moment, Helen was saved, but from the way Zach was
looking at her, she had the feeling that this wasnt the end of the
problem. She tried to put it out of her head by telling herself that
he could spread as many rumors as he liked, but everyone would
think he was exaggerating. Zach liked to gossip and even though
people generally listened to him, Scion speed was something that a
person had to see to believe.
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On her way to the auditorium to meet Claire and Matt, Helen got
intercepted by Cassandra and Ariadne. They asked where she was
going, and she didnt feel like lying to them, so she invited them
along.
When the coast was clear, they sneaked in the unlocked fire door
and came into the auditorium from the backstage entrance. Matt
and Claire were already sitting on the apron of the stage, their
lunches laid out on napkins like a picnic.
Good. You invited them, Matt said with a satisfied nod when he
saw that Helen wasnt alone. But dont bring anyone else along or
were going to get caught.
Well probably get caught, anyway, Claire said with a smirk.
But its totally worth it. Where else could we get such atmosphere?
She gestured to the beautiful, glittery set that was growing,
piece by piece.
Cassandra and Ariadne looked around appreciatively, especially
at the parts of the set that were to be Theseuss palace. They shared
a conspiratorial grin with Helen who managed to lift up half her
face in something sort of like a smile. The fairyland parts of the
her. The faux Doric columns were half painted and lying sideways
on the ground as if theyd been toppled, and they made Helen
think of the arduous journey shed taken the night before.
She never wanted to go back to the dry land, but if she could find
that river . . . Wait, what river? she thought. She turned her back
on the half-built columns and sat down next to Claire to eat her
lunch.
Helen tried her best to get into the conversation, but she barely
had the initiative to chew, let alone laugh and joke. She could tell
that her friends were being clever and fun by the way Cassandra
and Ariadne were reacting, but she could barely stay awake, let
alone participate in the conversation.
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She kept thinking about flying. Well, really she kept catching herself
thinking about Lucas, but as soon as her thoughts slid down
that hot knife, she shuffled her imagination over to the side and
thought about flying instead. Maybe she would try it again on her
own later, she decided, but this time she would do it inside her
house so she wouldnt be in danger of floating away. Although the
prospect of blowing away on the breeze didnt seem like such a bad
idea right about now.
Lennie! The bells ringing, Claire said, her bag already over her
shoulder. Helen jumped up and got her things together while her
friends shot each other looks behind her back.
Claire tried to talk to Helen during track, but eventually gave up
when Helen kept turning the conversation around to ask how
Claire was instead. Helen didnt want pity, and she didnt want to
talk about herself. She just wanted to switch her brain off and float.
Eventually, Claire got the hint and started talking about the bonfire
party on the beach that night. She was having trouble deciding
if she was going to get a ride with Ariadne or not.
On the one hand I want to get to know her better, but it would
mean I would have to go with her and Jason, and he always finds a
way to start an argument with me. Are you sure you cant take the
night off from work? We could get a ride with Matt together,
Claire said optimistically.
You know I cant.
If you asked Kate, Im sure shed let you, Claire coaxed
Gig? I really dont want to spend the night sitting on cold sand
watching everyone make out, Helen said with finality. But you
should go and have fun. And who knows? Maybe you and Jason
will get along tonight, for once.
Claire launched into a tirade about how annoying Jason was for
always disagreeing with her. Only half listening, Helen finessed the
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air currents around her, practicing flying with the gravity on. She
couldnt wait to get home after work that night and give it a try.
Hidden behind a sand dune, Creon counted the minutes that
passed while his cousins Hector and Jason stayed submerged. He
hadnt known about this talent, and he was happy that circumstance
had led him there to witness it. He had lost track of Lucas
earlier, which happened often considering his little cousin could
fly, and he had to settle for following Jason and Hector to this ridiculous
beach party. As he watched his cousins breach the waves
and stroll out of the thundering surf, he seethed with resentment.
All that talent wasted on cowards who were too frightened of the
gods to challenge them, and too interested in their own pleasure to
consider the implications that flirting with mortal girls could have
for their entire House.
Jason spent most of the evening talking to a tiny Japanese girl.
He seemed to be able to control himself around women, but Hector
was a different story. It wasnt even midnight yet, and Creon had
seen him rolling around in the sand with two different girls
already. Didnt Hector know how easy it was for Scions to impregnate
women? Did his idiot cousin really want his firstborn to be
from some foolish child with no character? Obviously, Hector
didnt care about their House, or he wouldnt waste his time with
such silly girls. It rankled so much, Creon had to look away and grit
his teeth. There was only one girl on this island that was equal to
any of them in status. Only one girl worthy of his attention.
Helen. But Lucas wouldnt leave her for a moment, and it forced
Creon to keep his distance from her. He couldnt confront his cousins
directly or his undercover mission would be spoiled, but there
had been a few times when Creon had considered it. Helens face
had stayed with him. He thought back again to their confrontation
out on the moors. The fear and anger in her eyes while she chased
him had been pure, so passionate it was almost too much to resist.
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She was powerful, and yet so unaware of her potential she was
nearly helpless. His hands shook at the thought of conquering her,
but he had to be patient.
His mother had begged him to wait until she could quietly ask
around and find out if there was a possibility someone in the family
had left a bastard in Massachusetts. Creon had reluctantly
agreed to wait a week on her reply, but he knew what the answer
would be. Even though he hadnt seen the Furies when he first encountered
her, he knew Helen wasnt his cousin.
There were rumors that a few Scions in the past had found a way
around the Furies, and Creon believed Helen was one of them. His
mother said it was impossiblethat all the other Houses had been
destroyedbut Creon had more to go on than a gut feeling. The
traitors were guarding her like she was the last enemy Scion, and
she was so untrained, so ignorant of who and what she was, it
seemed obvious to Creon that she had been purposely hidden away
from all the Houses, even her own. But above any of these other
reasons, it was Creons body that told him she was not related to
him. He had met dozens of his female cousins, all beautiful as the
daughters of Apollo should be, but not one of them kept him up at
night the way Helen did. He knew she was from another House.
He was obligated by family duty to watch and wait for a few more
days in order to remain true to the promise he had made his mother,
but very soon he would prove himself. He was up to this challenge,
and although there was an alternative for unification of the
Houses other than combat, Creon forced himself not to think about
it no matter how tempting it was. This was his one chance at the
glory he deserved, the last chance at this type of glory for any
Scion. There was another Triumph waiting to be captured, and in
his heart he knew that this Triumph would be the one to open the
gates of Atlantis.
Creon was destined to be the Scion to make his family immortal,
and for that his father would honor him above all others.
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.....................................................................
Chapter Twelve
Helen heard something up on the roof. She ran up the
stairs to the widows walk and threw the door open as
fast as she could, but the widows walk was empty. She
sighed, relieved. She didnt want any of the Delos kids
sleeping on her roof anymore. She especially didnt
want Lucas listening to her while she had nightmares, and she had
just woken up from another horrible one. She looked around at the
empty widows walk, feeling desolate and lonely, but she wasnt
sure if that was because of a dream or because of her waking life.
She went back down to her bedroom and forced herself to notice
the writing on the mirror. Then she wrote I SAW IT AGAIN in
Claires green eyeliner and made herself to stare at the words. That
was two nights in a row shed seen the river she couldnt remember.
She was racking her brain trying to picture it, but her minds
eye kept looking away. Suddenly, she spotted her own reflection in
the mirror and gasped.
Her cheeks were sunken in, her nightshirt was pulled out of
shape, and her arms and legs were covered in icky black muck.
River muck.
She had seen a river with black banks and gray water. She could
remember thirst and not being able to drink. But why was it such a
struggle to remember anything else that had happened? She focused
her thoughts to try and bring the memory back.
Her thirst was tormenting her so she had gone down to the water.
She leaned over the foul banks of black mud and saw pale,
crippled fish bumping around clumsily, as if they had forgotten
how to swim. She backed away from the river, refusing to drink
that water even if she died of thirst with the sound of its current
rushing in her ears. . . .
Helen ran to the bathroom and threw herself into the shower, rubbing
at the black mud and rinsing her mouth out with gulp after
gulp of water. She felt polluted. She scrubbed until her skin turned
red and her eyes were stinging from being open in the spray.
When she got out of the shower, she dragged her sheets and pajamas
over to the washing machine. There was no blood this time,
but Helen doubted shed be able to get out that river mud. She put
a half a cup of bleach into the washing machine and made sure the
water was hot, hoping that she would be able to salvage something.
Then she went back upstairs to clean all the dirty footprints shed
tracked through the house.
It was early Saturday morning, and usually her father would be
home during the day and working at night, but he had opted to
work a double to give Kate the day off. Helen had a feeling that the
two of them were avoiding each other. She had tried to talk to Kate
about it the night before after Claire left to go to the bonfire, but
she just didnt have the energy to push Kate to open up. Everything
felt duller to Helen. Muffled, like her feelings were in storage, buried
under mo
unds of packaging peanuts.
Helen went to her room and switched gravity off and on, alternately
floating up and thumping down until she figured out how to
swing her legs under her and land on the balls of her feet instead of
all over the damn place. She worked a bit with the air currents, but
she couldnt do anything more than finesse her position as she
floated or she risked blowing her room to pieces. After a few hours,
the constantly ringing phone drove her out of doors. The Delos
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family wanted to know why she wasnt at their house yet for practice,
and they wouldnt stop calling until she answered.
Helen had been thinking. She just couldnt see the point of learning
how to swing a sword if she couldnt be wounded by weapons,
and she didnt need to fight if she could simply fly away. She knew
that eventually Hector or Jason would come looking for her at
home, so she wandered outside with no clear destination, hoping
that a little speed would help clear her head. She was in jeans and a
sweater, not exactly running gear, but it didnt matter. As soon as
she was out of the town center she went off Polpis Road, heading
east. She didnt care where she ended up, as long as it was away
from people. As she ran she realized that she had come this way
once before, and although she didnt want to think about her first
flight and everything that came after it, she knew it was the perfect
place to find the solitude she was after.
The sun was going down and she was grateful to be numb enough
to experience something beautiful without her depressing thoughts
barging in and ruining it. Looking around, she saw a familiar lighthouse.
She glanced down at the sand under her feet and wondered
if it was the same sand that had cradled her and Lucas when they
were in so much pain. When they had died for a moment, she
realized.
As soon as the thought occurred to her, she knew it was true.
They had done more than just suffer terrible injury that night, they
had started to cross over. Or at least Lucas had. And she had followed
him down to stop him. And there was a river . . . Wait, what
river?
Hey! What the hell do you think youre doing? Hector shouted.
He was furious. He stalked up the beach, his legs eating up far
more distance than a humans could as he came toward her.
How did you find me? Helen sputtered.