down the drive before she crept out onto the lawn. It wasn?t dark
out yet, but Helen still felt like even the shadows under the bushes
were reaching out to grab at her. As soon as she was clear of the
house she jumped up into the air, frantic to get into the sky, the
one place she knew Creon couldn?t catch her. Calmer once she was
safely airborne, Helen flew home, circling high for a few moments
to watch for random neighbors before coming in steep and fast to
avoid being seen. Touching down in her backyard, Helen listened
for the usual sounds of her father and heard that he wasn?t alone.
Kate was with him.
They were talking softly, and here and there they would laugh or
lapse into silence as one or the other gathered their thoughts to
make sure the words came out right. Helen looked in the window
and saw them sitting on the couch together, TV off, having what
looked like an important conversation. If she concentrated she
could probably make out what they were saying, but Helen didn?t
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want to intrude on such a private moment between two people who
were obviously falling in love.
She touched her heart-shaped necklace and wished them perfect
happiness together. She wasn?t sure if the cestus worked like that,
but all that mattered was that Jerry would have someone to care
for him when she was gone. Helen realized that if she left now,
without confronting him, he would never have to know about
Daphne returning to the island, and if that wound was left unopened,
then this fragile understanding between him and Kate
might stand a chance.
She stood in the window for a moment, deciding which course to
take, until finally the sharp drop in temperature and the tangerine
color staining the clouds told her she had run out of time. She flew