staring up at the hotel windows with his reflection-defying vision.
His eyes dropped down when he saw Daphne. Then he looked at
her suitcase, squinting his eyes in concentration.
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As soon as she saw Creon, Helens senses rewound to her last encounter
with him. She could still feel his humid breath on her neck
as he whispered preciosa in her ear right before he stabbed her.
Most of all, she remembered the suffocating darkness that had left
her feeling like she was lost in space and utterly helpless. The
terror-echo she felt made her forget for a moment that both she
and her mother were protected by their borrowed shapes.
Mom! Stop! she screamed instinctively, reaching out to pull
Daphne back into the hotel.
Creon made eye contact with Helen as she shouted. Then he saw
his cousin Lucas stride up and grab the strange girl frantically.
Creon looked from the cute brunette to Lucas, noticing how they
held each other so protectively. Then he looked back at the tacky
woman with the expensive luggage and smiled. He ran across the
street, his head lowered and his shoulders rounded like a bull.
Daphne! He knows! Lucas shouted, throwing Helen behind
him and moving impossibly fast to intercept Creon.
The cousins collided in the middle of the street, both of them using
their momentum to put power into their first punches. But Lucas
could do something Creon wasnt expecting. At the last moment
he made gravity pull harder on him, and in his massive-state
he pushed his stunned opponent back into the asphalt with so
much force he fractured the surface of the street.
A split second later Lucas glanced up and saw Matts terrified
face through the windshield of his car as he slammed on his
brakes. Matt tried to stop, but it was too late. He hit the two figures
that had appeared out of thin air in the middle of the street and his
car crumpled in on itself as if it had run it onto a brick wall.
Lucas! Helen screamed as she tried to run past her mother.
Daphne grabbed Helen and restrained her just as Hectors big
SUV screeched to a halt in front of them, blocking Helens way to
the accident. Ariadne jumped out of the passenger side before
Hector had even come to a full stop and sprinted to the wreck.
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Get in the truck! Hector bellowed at Daphne as he came around
from the drivers side and stomped to the smoking front end of
Matts car.
Helen struggled, unable to see what was going on. She was still
calling Lucass name as Jason and Daphne bundled her into the
back of the SUV.
Lukes fine! Jason said to her through gritted teeth as he
wrestled with her. Helen, please! Were attracting enough attention
as it is.
Reminded where she was, Helen forced herself to calm down and
get into the backseat. She slid over to one of the tinted windows,
and sighed with relief when she saw Lucas standing up in front of
Matts destroyed car. He was uninjured and holding on to Hector
to keep him from running off somewhere. Creon was gone, so
Helen assumed that Hector was trying to follow him. For a moment,
it looked like Lucas was going to hit Hector, but then he
whispered something that seemed to convince his stubborn cousin,
and all at once Hector calmed down and nodded.
He looks just like Ajax, Daphne whispered behind her, her eyes
glued to Hector.
Helen glanced briefly at her mother, then turned her attention
back to the wreck. Ariadne was helping Matt out of his car, holding
him up. He was reeling and bleeding from the head, ash-white and
owl-eyed with astonishment, but he didnt seem to be badly hurt.
We should get you to a hospital, Cassandra insisted as she studied
Matts uneven pupils.
No, Matt said vehemently. Theres no way to explain this.
Normal people dont get up and walk away after you run them over
with a car.
They all knew he was right. Even concussed, Matt was a quick
thinker.
You hit your head, Jason warned as the Scions shot each other
uncertain looks.
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And I still know what I saw. Look, dont worry about me, Id
never rat out a friend, but we have to go now, Matt insisted. Before
the police come.
Ari? Jason asked as he met his twins eyes in an honest exchange.
Is it life threatening?
Ariadne ran her hands just over Matts skull, a faint glow coming
out of her palms. Hell be just fine, she said after a brief moment.
She started to lead Matt toward Hectors truck, but Matt giggled
and stopped dead.
Wow. What did you do to me? He gave her a goofy smile.
I healed you. Thats my gift, she answered as she smiled back at
him, suddenly looking exhausted.
Thanks, Matt said. He allowed himself to be moved toward
Hectors truck. Wait. Wheres Claire? Helen was out of the truck
and barreling down on Matt before her mother could even hold out
an arm to stop her.
What do you mean wheres Claire? Helen demanded, balling
her fists so hard her arms started shaking. Where did you last see
her?
The front seat, Matt replied weakly as he gestured toward his
car.
Jasons whole body went rigid. Moving so fast he was little more
than a blur, Jason tore the door of the car off with one hand and
tenderly scooped Claire out from underneath the dashboard with
the other. She was unconscious, bleeding, and as limp as a wet cotton
doll.
No, Jason whispered to her. You were supposed to stay away
from me. He placed his lips a hairs width away from hers and
held statue still.
How is she? Ariadne asked urgently.
Shes breathing, he said after a moment, his voice breaking. He
lifted his head up and met his twins eyes.
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Well, can you heal her or not? she asked him calmly, as though
she and her twin had prepared themselves for this.
He clenched his jaw and nodded, but didnt speak, carrying
Claire into the back of the truck and holding her carefully on his
lap while everyone else organized.
Ill take care of Matts car and meet you back at home, Lucas
said to Hector, already obscuring the particulars of the wreck by
bending the light around it.
Wait, Daphne commanded. She raised a hand like she was hailing
a cab and closed her eyes. This will draw less attention, she
said. Thick wreaths of pearl gray fog rolled off the water and down
the street, the long, ropy tendrils racing toward her delicately tilted
fingers.
Great Zeus, Cloud-Gatherer, Hector said under his breath as
the scene of the accident disappeared in the fog. Then he turned to
Lucas. Where are you going to hide the car?
In the ocean. We can clean it up after dark, Lucas answered as
he plunged into the thick mist to push Matts lump of twisted metal
and leaking toxins off the dock.
Everyone else squeezed into Hectors truck. The whole incident,
from Creons attack to their getaway, had only taken a few minutes
and they were a full four blocks from the scene before they heard
the first siren sounding through the fog.
They drove in complete silence, at a completely lawful speed, out
to Siasconset, each of them stuck inside their own thought boxes of
shock and worry. As they cruised along, Helen couldnt take her
eyes off of Jason and Claire. Jason had started moving his hands
an inch above her body, his palms glowing like his sisters had
when she healed Matt. He whispered in her ear. He blew soft,
sparkling breaths against her closed eyes as if he was exhaling energy
directly into her unconscious dreams.
Whatever he was doing was helping Claire, but it was also causing
him excruciating pain. A thick, slick sweat beaded up on his
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graying skin as Claire seemed to settle with more comfort in his
arms and gather more color in her cheeks. By the time they parked
at the Delos compound, Jason was so spent Helen didnt even ask,
she just picked Claire up off his lap and carried her into the house
for him.
My room. Quickly, Jason croaked as Helen carried Claire into
the crowded kitchen.
She ducked past the startled faces of the Delos family, cradling
Claire close to her chest to shield her from prying eyes as she and
Jason made their way to the stairs. Halfway up the staircase she
felt Jason put his hand on her shoulder and lean into her for support.
He was so weak he could barely put one foot in front of the
other. Eventually, he made it the rest of the way.
How can I help you? Helen asked Jason, easing Claire down into
his bed.
You cant, he replied as he stretched his big frame out alongside
Claire. I made my choice, and were tied to each other until she recovers.
Its sort of like a Healers last stand. At this point well
either make it through that desert together or we wont.
Oh, good, Helen sighed, finally feeling hopeful. Claire would
never allow someone she cared about to just go and die, especially
not to save her own life.
She saw Jason smile and nod humorously as he remembered that
no matter how dire the situation seemed, at least he had tied his
life force to a genuinely legendary fighter.
I did everything I could to keep her out of this, to protect her
from our kind, he whispered, meeting Helens eyes.
Yeah, I know. All that arguing you two did, even though youre
obviously perfect for each other, Helen said, feeling guilty. Jason
had tried to push Claire away to keep her safe, but Helen hadnt. I
get it now.
You have other things to deal with, he said, his eyes already
starting to close. Go. Ill guide her through.
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If you lose your way, Ill follow you down, Helen told him,
already feeling the baked air of the dry lands leaching all the moisture
out of the atmosphere.
Suddenly, Helen knew what the dry lands were and why she had
always been too frightened to recognize the truth when it was staring
her in the face. The desert that she wandered into while she
slept, the land Jason now had to traverse to save Claire, was the
land of the dead. For the briefest of moments she could see Claires
fetch, confused, scared, and soundlessly calling out Jasons name.
Helen banished that disturbing image and spoke directly into
Jasons ear. I know the way through the rubble, and I promise, if
you cant make it on your own, Ill come down and carry you both
out.
Jasons eyes snapped back open in shock, but his spirit was
already following Claires, and although he tried to fight it, his eyes
closed again as he slipped into a deep comalike slumber. Helen left
the room, trusting him completely with Claires heal. Mentally, she
was already joining the battle that awaited her in the living room.
Helen picked her way down the stairs, hearing her mothers
raised voice as she neared. It was already hauntingly familiar even
though she had known the woman only a few short hours.
Daphnes voice was Helens own, coming from outside her head
like a recording played back on a crappy answering machine.
Helen hated itnot the sound, but feeling like she was stuck in
someone elses mistake, doomed to adopt the worst qualities of the
people she was supposed to love the most.
Helen paused for a moment to steel herself before she went into
the living room. In the few short minutes Helen had been upstairs,
a fight had begun.
Im to blame? Daphne shrieked at Pallas, reacting to something
hed just said. If you all had just stayed in Cádiz, away from Helen,
none of this would have happened!
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That was my fault, Hector admitted, trying to get everyone to
calm down. My family had to leave because I nearly killed one of
my own kin.
You wouldnt be the first, Daphne said out of the side of her
mouth.
Whats that supposed to mean? Pallas asked indignantly.
Are you finally ready to talk about the elephant in the room?
Daphne said bitterly. I didnt kill Ajax. Tantalus did.
Youre a liar! Pallas said, taking a menacing step toward her.
Then how come Im alive? Tantalus told all of you that he killed
me himself, didnt he?
Pallas stared at her furiously.
Just answer this one question. If I killed your brother Ajax, then
why dont you see the Furies right now? Daphne asked, throwing
her arms out as if to show she wasnt hiding them anywhere.
Everyone looked around at one another, as if they were expecting
someone else to have an explanation, but no one did.
Pallas, do you remember how Ajax and I hated each other, more
than just the rage of the Furies could account for, but at the same
time we wouldnt allow ourselves be parted? Do you remember
how we used to seek each other out, like we couldnt bear to be separated
for even a moment? Daphne asked in a softer tone.
You were his obsession, Pallas said darkly, his eyes shooting