Dreamless (Starcrossed 2)

“Helen,” Lucas said, his face masklike with fear, “no mortal can cheat him or beat him. Please listen . . .”

“Luke?” the questioning voice came from across the dark yard.

Lucas spun around to face Hector, who was striding toward them across Helen’s lawn. Whatever he was going to say to Helen was immediately forgotten. Hector stopped a few paces away from Lucas, and they stared at each other tensely, both waiting for the Furies. Who didn’t come.

“Son of a bitch,” Lucas whispered, too stunned to move for a moment. He looked at Helen, shocked. “You really did it.”

The cousins came together and clasped each other in a fierce hug, both of them apologizing at the same time. While Helen looked on, she felt Orion staring at her. She glanced over at him and found him watching her with worry.

“Princess!” Hector said as he released Lucas and scooped Helen up into one of his big hugs. “I knew you could do it.”

“I had a lot of help.” Helen giggled as Hector lifted her off her feet and squeezed her.

“I heard,” Hector said, putting her down to face Orion. He pulled Orion into one of his manly back-thumping hugs, and then turned back to Lucas. “Where’s the rest of the family?”

“Almost all of them are back at our house, but less than an hour ago I saw our fathers fighting Er

is in the riots. Looked like they had her cornered, but I didn’t see anyone fighting Terror. He could still be on the loose.” Lucas gave this report with soldierly precision.

“I just wish I knew why all these small gods are making cameos today after so many decades of silence.” Hector bit his lip. His eyes darted up and met Helen’s, and her shoulders slumped when she got his meaning. Why was everything always her fault?

“Wait. Where else have the small gods been seen today?” Orion asked, sharing a confused look with Lucas. Hector filled Orion and Lucas in on Thanatos crashing the Conclave in New York, and the fact that Automedon might have broken his contract with Tantalus.

“Where’s Daphne?” Orion asked, concerned for her.

“Last I saw she was electrocuting Skeletor. Why? You looking for a fight of your own?” Hector asked Orion with a devilish smile.

“Hell yeah,” Orion replied immediately, grinning back at Hector. Helen thought they were enjoying the prospect of a showdown with the small gods a bit too much.

Helen had to shake her head to clear it. For some reason she kept seeing Orion and Hector in armor. When Hector turned to include Lucas, her déjà vu got even worse. For a moment it looked like Lucas was wearing something that looked like a toga.

“Wait, guys. Helen’s dad was injured. And I’m not sure I like the idea of her being in the middle of riot with Automedon on the loose,” Lucas interjected before they could charge off. He glanced over at her and his brow wrinkled with concern when he saw her face. “Ah, Helen? Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” she said, shaking herself out of it and rubbing her temples. “I’m just so tired I think I’m starting to see things.” Like a marble palace lit by torches and everyone decked out in leather and bronze.

“Then go to your father,” Hector told her. “Personally, I think you can take the Myrmidon, but whatever. Stay safe. The three of us can handle this without you.”

“No, I should help.”

“Go,” Orion said, rolling his eyes at her. “If we get into trouble, you can come rescue us with your almighty lightning, okay?”

“Are you sure?” she said with a grateful smile, already taking to the air.

“That is just fricking awesome,” Orion breathed, forgetting everything to marvel at Helen as she floated above him. Acting on impulse, he reached up and ran the backs of his fingers along the back of her calf. Helen swallowed hard around the lump in her throat and looked at Lucas, who was purposely looking elsewhere. Orion followed Helen’s eyes and dropped his hand, realizing what he was doing.

“Get out of here, Princess,” Hector said knowingly. “Go take care of Jerry.”

Helen couldn’t help but glance at Lucas and mouth the words Be careful to him as Hector and Orion turned toward the center of town.

“You too,” he whispered back, his eyes warm. Her stomach was already filled with butterflies from Orion’s intimate touch, and now they grew to the size of a 747. Lucas turned and broke into a run to keep pace with Hector and Orion, leaving her hanging breathless in midair. As she watched them speed off, she couldn’t decide who she wanted to stare at more—Lucas or Orion. Her attention was so torn between the two of them that she felt like she was watching a tennis match.

Deeply confused, Helen flew to Siasconset, landed in the Delos family’s backyard, and forced herself to change gears and focus on her father. She rushed into the house and went right to Noel, who was in the kitchen, cooking up a storm.

“Helen!” she said, barely looking up from the twenty-gallon pot she was stirring. “Go downstairs, past the exercise room, and into the cellar. You’ll find three freezers. Open the short one and take out the big roast. Hurry-hurry! Everyone will be hungry.”

“Short one. Big roast. Got it,” Helen said, and bolted off to run Noel’s errand. She didn’t even try to argue. She may not have been around the Delos family for very long, but she knew enough to know that when she was in Noel’s kitchen she’d better do as she was told. She came back in half a second and put a frozen roast the size of an ox in the sink that Noel was pointing at in a hassled way.

“They’re working on Jerry in the guest room we normally put you in,” Noel said, finally turning to Helen with a sympathetic look. “Go quietly. If one or both of the twins are sleeping, don’t wake them. It could injure them.”