Starcrossed (Starcrossed 1)

?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