Starcrossed (39 page)

never be able to explain it,” Helen countered.

“Better that than the alternative,” he said, gathering up the mattress.

“Look, I’m fine on the roof, Helen. I’m really not comfortable

sleeping in here with you. I think it would be a mistake.”

No matter how guilty it made her feel to make Lucas sleep on the

roof, she could tell that she wasn’t going to win this one. They

dragged the air mattress up to the widow’s walk and eventually

figured out how it was supposed to inflate, but Lucas had to read

the instructions in Spanish because the English ones were nearly

incomprehensible. Hilariously so.

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“Insert mouth to the purpose inflation,” Helen whispered, quoting

one of the stranger lines of the English instructions as she fixed

up the newly filled mattress with sheets.

“Expel lung into inflator tube,” Lucas whispered back. He stuffed

a pillow into a fresh case. “That sounds like it would hurt.”

Trying to silence their giggle fit only made it harder to stop. They

both crumpled up on top of the mattress, stifling their laughs.

Every now and again they would get control over themselves—only

to snort and stuff their hands back over their faces as soon as they

made eye contact. It went on way past the time when their throats

started stinging with the tension of holding in the sound. Finally,

they got it all out and just lay there on their backs, breathing heavily

with the exhaustion of a damn good laugh. Helen felt Lucas take

her hand and shake his head at the night sky.

“What am I doing?” he whispered to himself, digging his other

hand into his hair.

“What? We’re not allowed to laugh together now?” she

whispered, the ghost of a smile still haunting her lips.

“It’s not that,” he said, turning his face to her tenderly. “But it’s

not exactly healthy for me to enjoy your company so much that

something as stupid as blowing up a mattress is this much fun. As

soon as I think I’m in control, you make me laugh or you say

something so smart, and I feel like I lose a little bit of myself. I

thought I was prepared, but this is much harder than I imagined.”

“And what exactly is ‘this,’ Lucas? Why are you sleeping on my

roof and not in my bed?” Helen asked. She rolled over onto her

side to face him and reached out to run her fingers over the Ushaped

hollow under his Adam’s apple.

“Go downstairs,” he ordered desperately, brushing her hand

away before she made contact. “Please, Helen. Go to your own

bed.”

There was a part of Helen that knew exactly how to seduce Lucas

whether he wanted to be seduced or not, and that freaked her out

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enough to make her get up and walk on shaky legs to her own bed.

It rattled her that she could be so aggressive, so unconcerned with

what he wanted that she would consider forcing herself on him.

As she settled down under the covers she heard Lucas tossing

and turning above her. She heard him stand up with a sharp exhale

and go to the door on the widow’s walk.

Her heart started joyfully hammering away when she heard him

put his hand on the knob and turn it. Helen sat up, listening to him

listening to her.

Both of them could hear the other’s breath, the other’s blood

rushing around under the skin, and, for just a second, Helen could

have sworn that she was so aware of him that she could feel his

body heat from so far away. Finally, he seemed to win some kind of

fight, and forced himself to go lie back down on his air mattress.

Helen lay back as well. After getting control over her thumping

heart, she fell into the dreamless sleep that she was usually blessed

with when Lucas was watching over her.

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Chapter Fourteen

Just before dawn, Lucas touched her face to wake her up.

When she opened her eyes, he kissed her forehead and told

her he’d be back in a bit to take her to school. Then he

jumped out her window and flew away. Helen decided

there was no way she was going to be able to fall back

asleep, so she got up and made a big elaborate breakfast for her

dad.

“You okay?” Jerry asked between mouthfuls of pancake, syrup,

and bacon.

“Considering? I’m great,” she answered honestly as she sipped

her coffee.

“How are things with you and Lucas?” he asked cautiously.

“Weirder’n hell,” she replied with a smile. Then she shrugged and

laughed. “But what can you do?”

“What can you do?” her father repeated. His chewing slowed

down as an all-consuming thought hijacked his motor skills.

Helen knew he must be thinking about Kate, but an instinct told

her to let him be. He still needed more time, and when he was

ready he would come to her to talk about it.

Lucas picked her up as planned; they sparked and blushed at the

sight of each other. Just sitting in the same car with him put Helen

in such a good mood that when one of her favorite songs came on

the radio she danced in her seat and somehow convinced Lucas to

sing along with her as they drove to school. He would deny it later,

but he got really into it, and Helen stopped to listen to him with

her mouth hanging open.

“What?” he said, stunned when he noticed he was belting out the

refrain all by himself.

“You have a beautiful voice! Is there anything you’re not good

at?” she asked with exasperation as she hit his arm playfully.

“Apollo also happens to be the god of music. Now quit complaining

and sing along with me,” he said, turning up the volume until

the bass was rattling the car windows.

Helen’s voice was not nearly as pretty as his, but she made up for

her lack of skill with sheer enthusiasm. They finished the song together,

and even stayed in the car after they had parked to play the

instrumental ending. Lucas was on steering-wheel drums, and

Helen was lead air guitar.

“God, we sound amazing! My guitar solo was just inspired!”

Helen enthused as she hopped out of the car.

“We should tour,” Lucas agreed as he took her hand and led her

into school.

They were getting stares, but Helen didn’t care. She didn’t feel

stomach pains anymore. She could relax now that she knew the

Curse Cramps would only come as a result of her using her powers

in front of mortals and not from any other kind of attention. She

began to wonder how many of her past episodes had been real, and

how many had been brought on by the fear of them. It was a relief

to know that she had some control over the curse, and for the first

time in her life, Helen felt like it might actually be okay to be a little

bit different.

“Aren’t we old news yet?” she asked him with a sly glint in her

eye.

“I don’t know. Let me check CNN,” Lucas said, pulling out his

phone and pretending to open a browser. Helen gasped and

clapped a hand to her mouth.

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“Oh no, my phone! I forgot to tell my dad it’s broken again!” She

stopped dead in the hall as she remembered how Hector had made

her take a little swim with it.

“Hector will buy you another phone. A better one,” was all he’d

say as he kissed her forehead. “I’ll make sure of it.”

“That sounds really bad,” Helen groaned, but the bell rang and

she had to run or suffer Hergie’s wrath.

The rest of the day was as near to perfect as a day spent in high

school can get. Helen felt hugely energetic, Claire was a ninetypound

ray of sunshine, and Ariadne, too, seemed in fantastic spirits

as Matt helped her with her golf swing in the auditorium at

lunch. Matt was the captain of the golf team, and Ariadne was

thinking about joining, although first she had to learn how to play.

“No, you’re still gripping the club too tight,” Matt directed her

gently. “Think of it as a rapier, not an ax,” he said, unwittingly hitting

the metaphoric nail on the head for her. Her swing instantly

improved.

“Cassie, why don’t you put that book down and come learn how

to golf?” Ariadne called to her cousin.

In response, Cassandra opened another book.

“What are you looking for, anyway?” Matt called.

“Charms or spells in ancient Greek myth that protect against

wounds,” she said as she wiped a hand over her face. The gesture

reminded Helen of Lucas. If Matt found Cassandra’s response

strange, he let it go easily enough and focused on Ariadne and her

“stance” instead.

“How much longer do you think we have before we get caught in

here?” Claire asked.

“Who cares? This is one of the best ideas Lennie’s ever had. We

should enjoy it while we have it and not ruin the moment worrying

about losing it,” Matt answered serenely.

Claire looked at Helen and they both nodded, surprised by Matt’s

wise answer.

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“To Matt Millis. Friend. Philosopher. Golf Pro,” Helen called

back, saluting him with her thermos.

“Here, here,” called Claire. She raised her soy milk in a lazy toast.

Matt took a dignified bow and blushed when Ariadne smiled at

him.

“Hey, Len? Did you get a new necklace?” Claire asked, reaching

out to touch the charm that Helen always wore.

“No, it’s the same old same old. Are you going crazy again, Gig?”

Helen responded, trying to eye her heart charm.

“It looks like a strawberry, not a heart. Or maybe it’s just shinier.

Probably I’m crazy.”

The next few days were blissful, and Helen felt a peace she hadn’t

experienced since the Deloses had arrived on the island. It was as if

someone had put a combination of Spanish fly and Prozac in the

water. Helen kept up her training in the afternoons, but as the days

passed with no sign that Creon had returned to the island, Helen

found herself forgetting about the danger. The only person who

seemed immune to the good cheer in the air was Zach. He kept trying

to talk to Helen alone but she was avoiding him, which was

easy enough when she was being guarded by a family of demigods.

Still, each time she dodged him she could tell that he got more and

more resentful.

She was hoping that if she put the whole situation off for long

enough no one would even remember how she had collapsed as she

chased some shirtless stranger. Hoping that if she stalled him long

enough, Zach would let it go. But instead his attitude was becoming

more and more urgent. The last thing Helen wanted was to tell

Lucas and make an issue out of it. After the whole “Hector tried to

drown me and ruined my phone in the process” incident, Lucas

had happily beat the stuffing out of his cousin in the newly finished

arena, and an hour later a toothless Hector had given Helen a new

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phone that she was pretty sure had enough computing power to

put a satellite into orbit.

But Zach was making it impossible for Helen to protect him. The

more he kept trying to corner her, the more suspicious Lucas became,

until the inevitable happened. After school on Wednesday as

Lucas walked with Helen to track practice, he saw Zach wandering

around nearby. When Zach saw Lucas he changed direction and

went to the boys’ locker room, but not before his suspicious behavior

was noticed.

“Is Zach after you?” Lucas asked with wide eyes.

“Oh, not really. He wants to talk to me about something, I think,”

Helen said as if it wasn’t important. She shut her mouth before she

could say too much.

“Yeah, I’ll bet,” Lucas said with a sneer, his blue eyes turning

nearly black as he sensed her untruth. “Is there any reason for

Zach to think that you might be single?”

“No! Wait, what?” Helen stammered, not understanding Lucas’s

anger.

“Did you tell him that you and I weren’t really a couple because I

won’t . . .” he trailed off, and ripped a hand through his hair as he

paced around in a circle. “What are you telling people about us?”

The outline of his body began to smear as he scattered the light

around him in agitation.

“I haven’t told anyone anything!” Helen said, her voice pitching

up to an unnaturally high register.

“Are you trying to make me jealous or are you just so frustrated

that you’re already looking for someone else? Someone who’ll give

in to you?” He was so angry Helen could barely see him as he

began to blur himself out, but she was angry, too.

“I am NOT looking for anyone else!” she howled at him.

Lucas took an involuntary step back as he stared at the halo of

pale blue light crackling around Helen’s head and hands. Her lightning

didn’t seem to respond to Lucas’s light control, and as the

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distortions he created were thrown back by Helen’s metallic glow

he was forced to shade his eyes.

“Oh, boy,” she tittered nervously. She felt like she was going over

the top peak on a roller coaster—and she was just about to drop

down.

She threw an arm out to the side to steady herself. Lucas took a

step forward to grab on to her, but wisely stopped himself before