Starcrossed (Starcrossed 1)

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

Midsummer set appealed to Helen, but the Greek bits disturbed

her. The faux Doric columns were half painted and lying sideways

on the ground as if they?d been toppled, and they made Helen

think of the arduous journey she?d 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 wouldn?t be in danger of floating away. Although the

prospect of blowing away on the breeze didn?t seem like such a bad

idea right about now.

?Lennie! The bell?s 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 didn?t want pity, and she didn?t want to