“Huh.” Hector chuffed. “They aren’t taking any chances.”
“No. Not this time,” Matt replied.
“What do you mean?” Ariadne asked.
“In every single one of the stories about a god appearing to a woman as a bull or a swan or a shower of gold, nine months later a Scion was born,” Hector said, spreading his hands to indicate all of them. “It’s like they never miss.”
Lucas tactfully ignored Hector’s off-color comment and looked at Helen. “What else have you seen in these flashes?”
“What other animals, you mean?” Helen said haltingly. She’d very nearly blurted out, “I keep seeing us, and we’re married!” but stopped herself just in time.
Lucas narrowed his eyes at her, sensing Helen’s odd fumble, and opened his mouth to begin what she was sure would be an embarrassing interrogation.
“I’ve seen an eagle, a dolphin, and a stallion,” she continued before he could start. Knowing Lucas the way she did, Helen was certain that she had only delayed his questions. He wouldn’t forget, and since he was a Falsefinder she had the choice of either telling the truth or staying silent. Lying to Lucas was not an option—which was a giant pain in the butt.
“And the dolphin is Apollo, right?” Claire asked sharply, looking up from the iPad.
“The dolphin, the wolf, the mouse, and the crow were all Apollo’s animal avatars,” Ariadne answered.
Claire showed them the article she’d been reading about a strange attack at Wellesley College. They all leaned their heads together to read. A girl, whose name was left out of the paper, had been terribly injured by a young blond man the previous night. She fought off his savage attack long enough for campus security to respond to the silent alarm she managed to activate. The young man got away under “suspicious” circumstances. The Wellesley police were looking for leads from the public. They considered her attacker extremely dangerous.
Apparently, more than one eyewitness on the responding security team reported seeing the young man fly away when he realized he was surrounded. The girl was recovering from her injuries at a local hospital.
“And now for the real kicker.” Claire scrolled down to show a pencil drawing of someone who looked almost exactly like Hector.
“Oh. That’s just great,” Hector deadpanned.
“What does this mean?” Ariadne asked, fear widening her eyes as she looked around at everyone. “They’re not going to come looking for Hector, are they?”
No one had an answer.
“I know a few places where you can lay low for a while,” Orion offered quietly. “They’re not exactly nice, but the people in them have a hard time remembering faces.”
Momentarily stunned, Helen studied Orion, wondering
what kind of place he was talking about. All kinds of squalid images flashed through her head. For the life of her, Helen couldn’t picture Orion in some seedy flophouse or den of thieves. But she had to admit to herself that he was much more familiar with that world than anyone she’d come in contact with before. Again, she wondered about Orion’s awful childhood and whether he would ever tell her about it—and about how he got those scars.
“Thanks, bro. But I’m not leaving my family again,” Hector said, giving Orion a grateful look.
Orion nodded, but Ariadne started shaking her head vehemently. “No, Hector. No,” she said, her voice getting panicky. “We just got you back. I don’t want someone coming here and dragging you off to jail.”
“It’s all right,” he said, pulling his sister close and patting her shoulder with one of his thick hands. “No one knows I’m on the island. They all think I’m still studying in Europe. I’ll hide here in the house. It’ll be fine.”
Believing him, Ariadne calmed down and squeezed her brother’s chest in a fierce hug. Over her head Matt and Hector exchanged a look, Matt silently promising to look after Ariadne if anything happened to Hector. Somehow, Helen could see these emotions pass between the two young men as clearly as she could see colors painted on a canvass. She blinked her eyes furiously, hoping like crazy it stopped.
“What the . . . ,” Orion exclaimed suddenly, jerking up and breaking Helen’s train of thought. He twisted around to reveal Cassandra, who had crept up behind him on the bed. He relaxed as soon as he recognized her.
“Were you here the whole time?” Claire asked, incredulous.
Cassandra shrugged in a noncommittal way, but she didn’t say anything.
“She startles the hell out of me, like, five times a day. I swear, she makes no noise when she moves,” Orion said to Claire. He turned to Cassandra. “Keep it up and I’ll put a bell on you. Like a bad kitty,” he threatened with a stern look on his face, but he didn’t push her away. Instead he scooped her up and placed her on top of his pillows, bringing her inside the circle of conversation.
“So, we all know that someone needs to find that girl and bring her back here as soon as possible,” Orion said, pointing to the article. All the guys nodded.
“Wait. Why?” Helen asked, surprised.
“She’s not safe in the mortal world anymore. Apollo didn’t get her yet,” Jason answered, his voice trailing off at the end. Helen looked at Claire for an answer but Claire shrugged, stumped.