Starcrossed (Starcrossed 1)

echoed in Helen, her face was pale and empty. She looked away.

?Four Houses in Three Heirs,? the many voices continued to

chant. ?The Star-Crossed Lovers have preserved the bloodlines.

And the Three shall raise Atlantis.?

A strange hush overtook the room, like the pause between a

blinding flash of lightning and the deafening roar of thunder that

inevitably follows.

?Sibyl!? Daphne said suddenly, addressing Cassandra by the

most ancient title of her office. ?I beg you to answer me! How can

the Scions rid themselves of the Furies??

?She can?t control them yet!? Castor gasped at Daphne, whose

face had grown greedy and desperate. Helen?s mind flashed back to

Daphne?s sudden decision to come back to the House of Thebes

with Lucas, and she knew that this was what her mother had

wanted all along.

Castor grabbed Daphne?s arm, pulling her away from his daughter,

but it was too late. The Three Fates had been officially

summoned into the body of the Oracle to answer a direct question,

and they would not be stopped. Cassandra?s mouth glowed, her

351/395

hair writhed, and her head snapped back. Her eyes grew rheumy

with cataracts and her skin wrinkled. An old woman forcibly

pushed her way through a young girl?s shell like she was tearing

through a piece of paper. Convulsing, the old woman turned into

another woman, and then a third, as the many voices chimed out of

her.

?The Descender must go down to those who cannot forgive and

cannot forget. The Descender and her Shield will free the Three

from their suffering as she will free the Houses from the cycle of

blood for blood,? they said, and then went silent.