father.
Do what? he asked. He put the car in gear and drove out.
Try and talk to you, man-to-man, Helen said, relieved.
Well, in that case, Lucas said. He hit the brakes and shifted into
reverse.
What are you doing? Helen put her hand over his to stop him
from shifting.
Im going to go inside and talk to your dad. I dont want him to
feel like he cant trust me with his daughter.
Lucas, I swear to whatever god you think is holy that I will get
out of this car and walk to school if you go inside and talk to my
dad.
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Lucas smiled and shifted back into first, driving away from her
house. Who told you the gods were holy? he asked with a sinister
glint in his eyes. Helen punched him on the arm.
You just did that to see me freak out, didnt you? she asked
indignantly.
Hey, youre the one embarrassed by her own father. Youre
pretty cute when you panic, he said with a huge smile.
Helen tried to smile back at him, but it came out all mangled on
her lips. She had no idea what to think. The use of the word cute
could either encourage her hopes, or eulogize them.
Every person who recognized them honked and waved with big
smiles on their faces. Honking at passing friends was customary on
the island, and it was something that Helen had grown up with,
but it seemed to her as if everyone was leaning on their horns for
an extra-long time this morning.
So, listen, Lucas said, changing the tone from playful to
something a little more serious. Hector told me you found him on
your roof.
Yeah, Helen replied, trying to scrunch down in her seat so no
one could see her. About that . . .
I wanted to explain why we didnt tell you before. I asked to be
the one to tell you, and I meant to, he said. He glanced over at her
as if to check how Helen felt about what he was saying. I just
didnt figure out how to tell you in time. I didnt want you to think
I was some shady stalker hiding out on your roof.
Im not going to liewell, I cant lie to you, can I? Helen said
with a grin. I was a little upset, but Im fine about it now. If your
family is willing to protect mine, I guess I can put up with a little
shadiness.
Helen was forced to stop talking because someone was honking
out Shave and a Haircut in the most intrusive way possible. She
wanted to tell whomever it was to kiss off, but she couldnt. These
were her neighbors and she had to be polite. She wasnt cramping
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up, but she suspected that she might start to. She stuck a fist into
her stomach.
Whats going on? Lucas asked intently. Ive seen you do that
before. Are you in pain?
No, but I think I might be soon. Dont worry about it, theres
nothing you can do. Well, I guess you could go away and never
hang out with me again, Helen answered.
Thats not going to happen, he said with raised eyebrows. But
what are you talking about? Are you allergic to me or something?
No. Helen laughed. I think Im allergic to attention. And we
tend to draw a lot of it when were together.
But its not just me, right? You feel those pains even when Im
not around?
Yes. Ive had this all my life. I dont know exactly what causes it,
I just know that sometimes when people stare at me I get a terrible
pain in my stomach.
Allergic to attention, Lucas said to himself, absentmindedly
taking Helens hand while he thought. He had to let it go to shift as
he parked at school, but as soon as they were out of the car he
claimed her hand again and rolled her fingers around in his.
Helen watched Lucas as they stood at her locker together. He
seemed distracted. His brow was furrowed and his gaze tuned in,
but most disturbingly he seemed to be all blurry.
What is that youre doing? Its giving me a headache, Helen
said quietly while she turned the combination on her lock.
Sorry, he said as he snapped back into focus. Im bending the
light. It happens sometimes when Im concentrating.
Helen remembered from her reading that Apollo was the god of
Light, and at that moment Lucas was doing things with light that
were impossible outside of a magic show. She realized she had seen
him do this before in the locker room at his house, but she had
taken so many knocks to the head at the time she thought it was
just her vision that was off.
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Arent you worried someone will notice?
Actually, sometimes I do this to make people stop noticing me
when I want some privacy to think. People have a hard time forcing
themselves to look at things that they cant see clearly, or
things that shouldnt be possible.
Because their eyes slide right off, Helen interjected, remembering
how her gaze was diverted from Lucass face in the locker room
even though she had really tried to focus on him.
Exactly. If I look far away or too hard to see, most people just
block me out, he said, and then he gave her a knowing smile. You
slouch to get people to stop staring at you. I blur. Its useful in a
fight, too, only its nearly impossible to do when youre moving
fast.
Are you giving me all your fight secrets? Helen said cheekily as
she put her books in her bag and shut her locker. Not so smart,
Houdini.
Really? Well, come and get me, Sparky, he said with a grin as
he backed away.
Sparky? Helen thought, puzzled. But he was already through the
double doors at the end of the hall and she had to go to class.
When the bell for first lunch rang she rushed as fast as she could,
intending to get some answers, but by the time she made it to the
cafeteria, Ariadne was already seated at the geek table, surrounded
by admirers.
Helen shouldnt have been surprised that Ariadne would join
their table, considering she was in all the AP classes. Unfortunately
for Matt, Ariadnes presence usually attracted an entourage of
boysthe little lambs to her Mary. Helen tried to fight her way into
the circle, and nearly gave up before she was spotted by Ariadne.
Zach? Can you make a little room for Helen, please? Ariadne
asked as she flashed a dazzling smile.
Dont worry about it, Zach. She can have my seat, Claire said in
a caustically cheerful voice, vacating the place next to Ariadne.
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Claire brushed close to Helen as she passed, whispering
something about the old friends not being cool enough to sit at
the same lunch table when someone suddenly has a popular boyfriend.
Before Helen could get into a well-deserved fight with
Claire, Ariadne pulled Helen down next to her to stop one of the
hormone-infested boys from getting any closer to her.
By the time the bell rang for classes, all of Helens normal friends
had been driven away from the tablea table that had been theirs
since freshmen year. Matts sad look made Helen wonder how long
it had been since the two of them had been able to talk. It must
have been months.
Claire wasnt waiting for her at the trail when track practice started.
It was silly for her to try to avoid Helen by leaving without her,
because they both knew that she could catch up with Claire no
matter how far behind she was, but the intent was clear. When
Helen came jogging up, Claire didnt even turn to look at her.
Just keep running, Hamilton. I am so not into you right now,
Claire said as she veered away and raised her arm in a talk to the
hand gesture.
From many years of experience Helen knew that Claire needed to
punish her a little before shed be ready to move forward. Then
theyd talk on the phone, make up, and the next day everything
would be back to normal. Just this one time, Helen wished they
could skip to the end of the fight, especially since she hadnt done
anything, but she knew better than to rush Claire. Instead, Helen
dutifully ran past her.
After a few minutes of running alone, Helen started to get bored
with the mortal pace. She looked at her watch to calculate exactly
how much time she would need to kill before making her way back
to the trailhead, and took off across the moors at an impossible
speed. She knew Lucas could simply step up into the air and start
flying, but so far that approach hadnt worked for her. Maybe she
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needed to be running to get airborne, kind of like an airplane. Here
was a chance to test that theory.
As Helen struck out off the trail and through the marshy land
surrounding Miacomet Pond, she began to sense the lightness she
associated with flight. There was a fluttery feeling in her stomach,
a barely contained wildness that she assumed was an expression of
Scion power. She felt static energy running over her skin. It was as
if she had rubbed a balloon over her entire body and then held it
just far enough away so that her whole surface felt the outward tug
of an electrical field.
Taking an experimental leap, Helen soared up into the air. At
first she thought she had done it, that she was flying, but she soon
felt herself reach the top of a very large arc and begin to descend.
She had merely jumped higher than ever beforetoo highand
her brain was still hardwired to believe that when she hit the
ground she would go splat and die.
She tried to grab at the air, and although there was a part of her
that knew how to make it hold her, she was either too scared or not
scared enough to do the trick in time. She hit the ground at an
angle and went into a skid, her feet digging up two loamy troughs
in the mud.
She was fine, of course, but still deeply shaken. Her knees were
wobbly and she had to laugh to let out the crazy feeling flapping
around inside her chest. After she had calmed down a bit she
hauled herself up off her butt. She pulled her feet out of the mud
and started to walk back toward the school, feeling like a jackass.
She was covered in smelly muck up to her waist, and in her head
she pictured how she must have looked as she came down from her
leap, her arms pinwheeling frantically like a cartoon character falling
off a cliff.
She glanced around to make sure no one had spotted her in her
moment of foolishness, just out of habit, but she wasnt expecting
anyone to be near. Her heart turned over when she saw a dark
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smudge turn into a mans shape. Then he suddenly stopped and
changed direction just over the next rise. He had seen her get up
and walk away laughing after falling from fifty feet high. Worse
than that, Helen could see there was something wrong with the
way he moved. He was going much too fast to be human.
Her entire body tensed instinctively. Without even thinking
about it she took off after the dark shape. Whoever he was, he was
headed back toward the high schoolback toward Claire, who was
probably huffing and puffing along, slow and small and human.
The image of Kate lying unconscious on the ground flashed
through her head and spurred Helen to run faster. She skipped
over massive swaths of landscape, bounding recklessly over hillocks
and cranberry bogs, unable to think of anything but catching
him.
She noticed that she was having a hard time finding him in the
strange shadowy light, but as she got closer, the darkness that
seemed to swath itself around him abated a little and she was able
to pinpoint his location. It looked like he was sucking light out of
the air. There was something creepy about the way the dark shadows
radiated out from him like a sinister halohe was definitely
controlling the light. That meant he was another descendant of
Apolloone of the Hundred Cousins from the House of Thebes,
and therefore a threat.
From what she could see, the shadowy man was a few years older
than she was, but still barely out of his teens. When she was only a
few paces behind him she could see that he had fair hair and skin.
With a fresh burst of speed she reached out, trying to grab on to
him, and ripped off his shirt. Finally, he allowed the last of the
darkness clinging to him to be swept away by the sun glowing on
his huge, bare shoulders. Up close, he looked so similar to Hector
in both coloring and build that they could have been twins.
Before she could digest that fact, a horrendous cramp crumpled
up her torso like origami, and Helen tumbled to the ground with a
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scream. She curled up on the ground in fetal position, unable move
or even take a breath. Through the long blades of grass that partially
obscured her vision she could see the blond, shirtless Cousin
trot back toward her with an inquisitive look on his face.
Interesting, he said with cocky smile. Something behind Helen
caught his eye and he started to back away. Ill see you sooner
rather than later, preciosa, he promised as he ran off, a dark,
ominous mist collecting to obscure his outline.