Starcrossed (56 page)

tiredly and meeting her father’s eyes.

“I’ve been through this before, you know,” Jerry said quietly.

“I’ve spent a lot of nights waiting right here on this couch for

someone to come home. And she never did. I won’t do it anymore,

Helen.”

“Good,” Helen said, seeing a spark in her father that she had never

seen before. “I don’t want you to waste one more second of your

life waiting for anyone. Not even me. My life is crazy right now and

I can’t promise that I’ll never disappear again, but I can promise

that I will always come back to you. I’m not going to leave you,

Dad. Ever.”

“I know you won’t,” he said as if he was just realizing that it was

true. He took a deep breath and sat quietly for a moment, thinking.

“Well, I always knew you were different, and I also knew that

someday you were going to realize it. That’s all the explanation I’m

going to get out of you right now, isn’t it?”

“For now.” Helen said smiling warmly at what had to be the best

father ever.

“Would it do any good to ground you?” he asked with a humorous

glint in his eyes as he stood up and stretched.

“Probably not,” Helen laughed.

She stood up and gave her father a hug. He hugged her back with

more than forgiveness. He hugged her to let her know he accepted

her exactly as she was—sleepless nights and all. As they walked to

the stairs together a happy thought occurred to Helen.

“You’re going to bed?” she asked, glancing over at him with a sly

look in her eyes. He nodded. “I saw Kate’s car outside. Is she in

your room?”

“She is,” he said with narrowed eyes and pursed lips. “That’s why

I was on the couch.”

390/395

“You’re not on the couch anymore,” Helen observed innocently.

Jerry paused at his bedroom door and turned to face her.

“Are you going to be okay with this?” he asked seriously.

Helen knew that if she said it bothered her he would turn right

around and spend the rest of the night alone.

“Dad. I’ve never been more okay with anything in my life,” Helen

said honestly. She went into her room and closed the door firmly

behind her to let him know that she was going to give him some

privacy.

Helen heard her dad wake Kate up and let her know that

everything was okay, and then turned to tear up the note she had

left on her desk. She flew out her window to meet Lucas on the

widow’s walk.

“Did you hear all that?” she asked when she saw the sympathetic

look on his face.

“Does it bother you?” He took the sleeping bag from the chest

and spread it out for both of them to sit on.

“No,” she said, shaking her head. “I would have told you, anyway.

Somehow, it’s like whatever I’m going through hasn’t happened to

me until you know about it.”

“I know what you mean,” he whispered.

They sat down next to each other on the edge of the widow’s

walk, their thighs threaded between the bars of the railing and

their feet dangling off the side of the house.

“It’s Monday. We’ve got school in a few hours,” Helen said. “I

suppose if we all stayed home it would look suspicious, huh?”

“Very suspicious,” Lucas replied. “Besides, you’re safer in a public

place. The Hundred won’t attack you in front of mortal

witnesses.”

“And what about you?” Helen asked, looking at her hands. “Are

the Hundred going to come after you and your family now?”

“I don’t know,” Lucas replied with a tired shake of his head. “But

whatever they do, they know that if they kill one of their own kin

391/395

they’ll become Outcasts, and the more Outcasts there are, the

farther they are from attaining Atlantis. I think they’ll focus their

energy on Daphne and Hector. And you.”

Helen nodded, and debated whether or not she should keep asking

questions.

“And tomorrow—what should I say about Hector if anyone asks?

Or Pandora?” Helen asked gently, knowing that every time she said

their names it hurt Lucas a little more.

“Pandora went back to Europe to study art in Paris,” Lucas said

in a hushed tone. “And Hector is home with a nasty case of the flu

for the next few days until we can coordinate a plan with your

mother.”

“I don’t trust my mother,” Helen said as she stared out at the

rising sun.

“Neither does Cassandra,” Lucas replied without looking over at

her. “She thinks Daphne is hiding something.”

“Do you think my mother is dangerous?” Helen asked. She

turned to Lucas with worried eyes.

“I think she’s entirely committed to freeing the Rogues and the

Outcasts,” he answered, choosing his words carefully. “As long as

we remember that, I don’t think there’s any reason not to trust her.

She hasn’t lied.”

Helen nodded, accepting Lucas’s interpretation. “I’ve got too

much baggage to think rationally about my mother.”

“That’s the funny thing about being a Scion,” Lucas said, smiling

in the petal-colored air of the chilly dawn. “Our fights tear the

whole world apart, but for us, they’re really just family feuds. And

no one ever acts rationally when it comes to their family.”

Helen smiled back at him, struck yet again by how perceptive he

was. Then she caught herself, and remembered how important it

was to keep her distance from him. She turned her face away and

forced herself to stand.

392/395

“Are you going to be okay?” she asked him. He didn’t answer, but

just smiled up her and nodded before turning his face back to the

horizon.

“Good morning, Lucas,” she said, her voice soft and sad as she

walked away.

“Good morning, Helen,” he replied, not allowing himself to turn

and look at her as she left him.

Helen, beloved of the goddess of love, went downstairs to crawl

into her empty bed as Lucas, the son of the sun, leaned back on his

elbows and watched his father-god brighten the bare wooden

planks of her widow’s walk.

393/395

UNCORRECTED E-PROOF—

HarperCollins Publishers

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liane19

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