Starcrossed (Starcrossed 1)

?Matt needs a ride home,? Helen announced nervously. She tried

to keep her gaze away from Lucas, but her eyes kept jumping back

to him.

?I?ll take him,? Ariadne offered, immediately coming forward and

motioning for Helen and Matt to leave the room.

?What?s going on?? Helen mouthed to Ariadne, who took her

hand and led her away. When they were a few paces from the library,

Ariadne answered.

?We?re trying to figure out what Creon?s up to,? she said.

?Why was I excluded?? Helen asked, offended.

?Come on, Helen,? Ariadne replied with a chiding look on her

face. ?Lucas can?t bear to be in the same room with you right now,

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and no offense, but he?s a much better soldier than you are. We

need him at the table and we need him focused.?

Matt shot her a confused look, but thankfully, he didn?t ask any

questions. It wouldn?t matter in a few hours, anyway. Helen would

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be gone and she would never see him or any of them again. Later,

she?d crawl into some strange bed in some strange state and then

she didn?t care if she ever got out of it or not. But she couldn?t let

herself think about that yet. First, she needed to make sure that the

people she loved were taken care of.

When they reached the kitchen, Ariadne grabbed her bag off the

back of one of the chairs and fished her keys out, looking around

like she had misplaced something. She looked out in the garage,

counted the cars, and then glanced back into the house, whispering,

?She?s back?? to herself. Before Helen could ask what was

wrong, Ariadne said good-bye and hurried Matt out to her car.

Helen waited a few moments for Ariadne?s little car to disappear