?No, I haven?t lost it, Hector. I saw it,? Cassandra said, still smiling
from ear to ear. ?Helen can?t be hurt by any weapon. Try it
yourself.? She pulled a sword out of the box, offering it to him.
?Cass, just put the sword down,? Ariadne said with a hand raised
in an appeasing gesture. ?We can talk about this.?
?I?m not crazy!? Cassandra screamed, suddenly livid.
?She isn?t crazy,? Helen said with conviction. She untangled herself
from Jason and stood. ?Go ahead, Cass. Shoot me.?
Cassandra locked another arrow in her bow and shot Helen?in
the head this time. Ariadne screamed again, but the scream trailed
off lamely when they all saw the arrow bounce right off. Everyone
was silent for a moment.
?No frigging way!? Hector shouted, a touch of envy making him
sound almost angry.
?Did that hurt?? Jason asked as he turned to Helen, a look of disbelief
on his face.
?Maybe a tiny bit,? Helen said, but Jason was too excited to really
listen. He ran over to the box, pulled out a javelin, and chucked it
at Helen. It bounced right off.
?Okay, that stung,? Helen said, smiling and raising her hands to
signal in a friendly way that she?d had enough, but Hector had
already picked up a sword and was stalking toward her.
?I?ll stop as soon as you start bleeding, okay?? he said casually before
he started hacking away at her. Four strokes in, and the blade
was ruined.
Helen stumbled back with raised arms and fell down. She wasn?t
wounded, but the instinct to protect herself was still there, and
210/395
Hector was absolutely terrifying when he attacked. The rain of
blows ended abruptly when the sword fell apart. She tried to stand