Matt stood over Hector, his lips trembling and his shoulders hunched with regret. Nearly out of her mind, Ariadne was screaming hateful things at Matt while Claire tried to hold her back.
Hector fell onto his side, still clutching the thick blade that had run him clean through the heart. He hit the ground and his head turned upward, his eyes staring directly at the clouded sun. He pulled in one taut breath, then another, and then no more. His mouth seemed to smile at the sky, but his eyes, which had always been so fierce and full of life, ran dry.
Hector was dead.
FOURTEEN
Staring at Hector’s body lying on the sand, Helen couldn’t help but think—I chose him as my champion because I couldn’t bear it for Lucas or Orion to be lying there. This is my fault.
“Challenge!” Lucas shouted, his deep voice piercing through the commotion.
The gods collapsed into a tight group to confer.
“How can this be?” Poseidon asked. “I thought you said the Face took him to her world.”
“She did,” Hermes answered defensively. “She must not have made him . . .”
“Wait,” Zeus said, holding up a hand to silence them before Hermes could finish. “Hecate still has to decide.”
Lucas reached the edge of the arena and strode into the ring, unhindered by the barrier that had kept everyone else out. Whatever old magic tested a challenger’s fitness, it had accepted Lucas. The gods exchanged looks of confusion.
Helen followed Lucas in a daze, unconcerned with the gods’ reaction. She knew why it was possible for Lucas to enter the ring. She just didn’t know why he would want to. It didn’t make any sense. Matt had killed her champion, and now he was supposed to challenge her.
“Lucas? What are you doing?” she asked, fear making her breath flutter. He didn’t answer or even acknowledge that he’d heard her.
“Lucas is Hector’s second, Helen. It’s his right to challenge Matt before Matt can challenge you.” Jason’s voice was breaking. Helen looked at him. Tears were falling freely down his face for his brother. She grabbed his hand and squeezed it.
“Can I stop them?” she whispered.
“No. This is what it means to be a champion’s second.”
Helen knew it was foolish of her not to have realized that, but it honestly never occurred to her that anyone could defeat Hector in the first place. And if they did, she figured it was up to her to do her own fighting. She looked at Orion pleadingly, and he shrugged, helpless.
Inside the circle, Lucas had crouched down over Hector’s body. Matt stood back respectfully as Lucas shut his dead brother’s eyes. Helen could hear Pallas and Ariadne weeping on the other side of the arena. Helen knew she was crying, too, but more important to her than her own sorrow was the guilt she saw in Lucas.
“One more second,” Lucas whispered to Hector’s body. A sob burst out of him unexpectedly, like it escaped without his permission. It was a rough and angry noise.
Lucas picked Hector up and carried him to Orion and Jason who were waiting at the edge of the barrier. As he handed Hector’s body over, Andy pushed her way into the tight circle that waited to claim the fallen hero.
“Wake up!” Andy commanded, her voice carrying that haunting note that made nerve endings strain to obey. He didn’t move. Her cheeks flushed a bright red as she concentrated every ounce of power she had.
“I said, wake up!” she repeated, grabbing him by the shoulders and shaking him.
Her siren voice echoed across the dunes and the water. Sand and spray jumped into the air like they were trying to flee from her. But still, Hector did not move. When Andy started to shout and call him all kinds of nasty names for leaving her behind, Castor was the one to finally come in and drag her away from Hector’s body.
“Enough! He’s gone, and not even you can wake him,” Castor said, trying to get through to her. She didn’t have the strength of a Scion, but she fought him for a moment before she fell apart.
Noel was there to hold her as she cried. But even as she comforted Andy, her eyes were fixed on Luca
s, who still had yet to fight. Lucas had his hand in his right pocket, his fingers worrying something he kept in there.
“Bow and arrow,” Lucas called to Jason.
A startled murmuring began to rise among the onlookers. Several of the gods laughed.
“This one doesn’t disappoint,” Apollo said excitedly to the goddess in armor. Helen assumed she was Athena. “It’s just like last time.”
“That’s what worries me,” Athena said back to Apollo. Her shrewd eyes were trained on Lucas.