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the heart charm carefully, but there was nothing special about it.

  “It’s very pretty,” Cassandra said kindly.

  “It is, isn’t it? But it’s from Tiffany so there are probably thousands

  just like it. It’s just that this is all I have,” Helen said, the

  words spilling out uncensored. “My dad says she must have been

  planning to leave for a long time because by the time he figured out

  she had left us, all the pictures were gone. Every single one. Even

  pictures he thought she had no idea he’d taken.”

  Helen stood up suddenly and started pacing around aimlessly.

  She walked to the far end of the library, looking at all the books

  that the Delos family had collected together, all of the antique furniture

  they probably handed down, generation to generation. It

  was a family legacy Helen had been denied, and she felt a sense of

  loss not knowing where her mother was, or where she’d come

  from. But she also sensed a possibility in that ignorance.

  “Your family is tight, I can see that. You always know where

  everyone is. But my mother did something drastic, right? She ran

  away.” Helen struggled with the right way to phrase her thought,

  and decided the best thing would be to ask a question. “Why were

  you so sure that the House of Thebes was the only House left? How

  could you possibly know that?”

  “We keep very close watch over our numbers, Helen,” Cassandra

  said.

  “Yeah, but how can you know for sure?”

  “It’s barbaric,” Castor said, shaking his head. When Helen gestured

  for him to continue he did. “When one demigod kills another

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  from a rival House there is a traditional celebration for the champion

  called a Triumph. It’s considered a great honor.”

  “But that doesn’t mean my mother is dead. Maybe she’s just

  missing! You don’t even know who she is!” Helen said. The tears

  tipped over the edge of her eyelids and splashed down on her shirt.

  “The fact that you exist proves that anything is possible,” Cassandra

  said. But she wasn’t able to look Helen in the eye.

  “Right around the time you were born, the Houses were going

  through a period of intense fighting that was thought to be the final

  confrontation. There were a lot of deaths,” Castor said, looking

  down at his hands.

  Helen turned her back on Castor and Cassandra and tried to

  breathe her way through the tears, but still it took a few moments

  before she knew she wasn’t going to start sobbing. She didn’t even

  know why she was so upset. She’d always thought she hated her

  mother.

  “Helen, we understand that you might need some time before we

  continue. We still have a lot more to talk about, but we’re not going

  anywhere and we can finish this conversation when you’re ready.

  In the meantime, please know that we really do want to help you,”

  Castor said gently from somewhere on the other side of the room.

  Helen heard them get up to leave, but she couldn’t bring herself

  to say good-bye. After they’d left, she opened up the French doors

  and went out onto the patio. The sight of the pristine beach and

  rolling blue water blunted the sharper edges of her emotions and

  before she knew it she was shuffling down the beach.

  “Are you okay?” Lucas asked from behind her.

  Helen just nodded, not surprised that he had appeared. They

  both looked down the beach, watching a big, hairy dog jump in and

  out of the surf with glee. After a moment Lucas moved and stood

  beside her.

  “I’m relieved,” Helen said. She turned her head to look at him.

  “My whole life I thought my mother hated me so much that she

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  didn’t even want me to know what she looked like.” A pained expression

  darkened Lucas’s face, but Helen continued before he

  could interrupt her. “I’m not saying an ancient blood feud is a good

  thing, but at least it’s a reason why she left me. I’ve never had one

  of those before.”

  “She could still be alive, you know,” Lucas insisted. “Regardless

  of what Cass and my dad think.”

  “I don’t know what to feel about that yet,” Helen replied honestly.

  “Kate has been more of a mother to me than Beth, or whatever she

  was called, ever was. I guess I’ll decide how I feel when I find out

  the truth. The whole truth.”

  “That works,” Lucas replied, smiling out at the water for a moment

  before another thought occurred to him and his face fell. “For

  now, anyway.”

  He squeezed her fingers, and Helen glanced down, surprised

  again that they had joined hands when she wasn’t paying attention.

  She didn’t know who had initiated this new habit of theirs, but she

  realized that it would be nearly impossible to stop. She had never

  held a boy’s hand before and it should have made her shy, but it

  didn’t. It felt like the most natural thing in the world for her to

  touch him. That thought made her shake her head in wonder. She

  looked up and noticed that he was looking down at their hands as

  well, probably thinking the same thing.

  “Do you want to sit down for a moment?” she asked, suddenly

  conscious of the fact that the last time she had seen him he was unable

  to walk without Jason’s help.

  “Nope. But I wouldn’t mind something else to eat.” He threw a

  distracted glance over his shoulder at the house.

  “Me too. My god, I’m a pig!” Helen said, still surprised at herself.

  “You went hours without eating during the heal,” he said, leading

  her away from the water’s edge. “That’s crazy talk.”

  “You know, if it weren’t for the whole ‘agonizing pain’ thing, I

  think I could get to like heals. People carry you around, and feed

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  you nonstop. It’s like being an infant, only you’re old enough to appreciate

  it.”

  “Not so much fun when you have to go to the bathroom, though.”

  “No! Especially not when you’re around strangers,” Helen said,

  expecting a laugh or a witty response from Luke, and not getting

  either.

  “We’re not strangers,” he said quietly, slowing down so he could

  look her in the eye.

  “Well, not anymore,” she agreed. She felt a hot blush stinging her

  cheeks and had to look down. His eyes were so honest and so blue

  that Helen felt if she didn’t force herself to look away right from

  the start that she’d get stuck and never stop staring at him.

  They held hands as they walked back. When they got close to the

  house, Helen noticed Cassandra staring down at them from one of

  the second-story balconies. She didn’t look happy.

  When they went into the kitchen, they found Noel already hard at

  work over half a dozen pots and pans. She set them up with a pint

  of ice cream, cookies, nuts, and caramel sauce and told them they

  were strong enough to make their own darned sundaes before she

  went back to snarling at the ox-sized roast she was wrangling into

  the oven. After a decadent snack that tempted the rest of the house

  into the kitchen to spoil their appetites, Noel told everyone that

  they mi
ght as well just stay in their seats because dinner would be

  ready in another twenty minutes.

  “I can’t. I have to go home,” Helen admitted in a disappointed

  tone as she pushed a few soggy pecans around the bottom of her

  bowl.

  “Ridiculous. You’re not going anywhere,” Lucas responded.

  “No, really. I have to go home, get the Jeep, and then pick Kate

  and my dad up at the airport.”

  “One of us can get them for you,” Ariadne said, rising from the

  seat on the bench to Helen’s right.

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  “Sit, Ari, you’re still drained from healing. And don’t think for a

  second all that blush you’re wearing is fooling me,” Pandora said

  with a twinkle in her eye and a snarky finger wag that set her

  bracelets dancing and tinkling. “I’d love to go and meet your dad,

  Helen.”

  “No, you can’t!” Helen said a little too forcefully before she got a

  hold of herself and continued in a steadier tone. “My dad doesn’t

  know about any of this. Please. It’s very kind of you to offer, but if

  you could just give me a ride back to my house, I’d really appreciate

  it.” She couldn’t look up, but she knew everyone was shooting

  each other meaningful looks over her head. Ariadne touched

  Helen’s hand and opened her mouth to say something, but Lucas

  spoke first.

  “I’ll drive you home,” he said as he slid out from his seat on the

  bench and pulled Helen along with him by the hand. “Let’s go.”

  “You’re in no shape to travel,” Noel said, shaking her head, but

  Lucas was already walking toward her and smiling mischievously.

  “I’m driving her home, not flying her there,” he said, suddenly

  grabbing his mom faster than she could move and kissing the top

  of her head with an exaggerated smooching sound. It couldn’t have

  been too comfortable, but it was funny enough to get Noel to laugh

  and admit that Lucas was strong enough to drive.

  Helen tried to give everyone a heartfelt thank-you but Lucas

  made a snoring sound, grabbed her hand, and dragged her across

  the room, saying, “Yeah, yeah. You’ll be back tomorrow, anyway.”

  “What?” Helen said in a flustered daze as Lucas pulled her

  through the kitchen door that led to a huge garage packed with

  fancy cars. He bundled her in a little, classic convertible Mercedes

  and started the car as he hit the door opener.

  “You’ll be back here tomorrow afternoon,” he said, finally answering

  her question as he pulled out and headed off the compound

  toward Milestone Road.

  “I can’t. I have track,” Helen reminded him.

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  “I have football. I’ll drive you back here after we’re both done.

  And I can pick you up for school in the morning if you’d like.”

  “I thought you weren’t allowed to do sports anymore.”

  “That’s mostly cleared up,” he said with a huge grin. “Look, all

  I’m going to say is I’ve seen the football team. And believe me, they

  need my cousins and me.”

  “I should probably be offended by that, but I’ve seen the football

  team, too,” Helen said, mirroring his grin. “But regardless, I can’t

  come over after tomorrow. I have to work on Monday nights.”

  “Tuesday then,” Lucas said.

  “I can’t. I have to cook dinner for my dad,” she said in a rushed

  voice.

  “He can come, too. My mom wants to meet him,” Lucas said with

  growing uncertainty. He glanced over at Helen. “Don’t you want to

  come?”

  “It’s not that,” she said, feeling cornered and frustrated and not

  knowing why. “My dad won’t allow it, okay?” Helen looked out her

  window at the golf course and felt Lucas take her hand and shake it

  a little to get her to look at him.

  “No one will tell your father about you if you don’t want them to,”

  he said, glancing from her to the road and back again.

  “It’s not that. He doesn’t let me go out on school nights,” she

  said, looking back at him, but he was frowning deeply and staring

  at the road. As the minutes ticked by silently, Helen could feel Lucas’s

  mood getting worse and worse.

  “Nope. This isn’t going to work,” he said suddenly, pulling the car

  over to the side of the road, yanking on the parking break, and

  turning in his seat to face Helen. When he saw Helen’s startled face

  he took a shaky breath to control himself before he started. “I don’t

  know if my dad explained this to you, but the different Houses are

  the descendants of different gods,” he began.

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  “Yes, he said something like that,” Helen responded quietly. She

  felt like a kid in the principal’s office and she had no idea why. He

  tried to smile at her, but gave up.

  “My family’s House, the House of Thebes, are the descendants of

  Apollo. He’s primarily known as the god of Light, but he was also

  the god of Music, Healing, and of Truth. Falsefinders—Scions who

  can feel lies—are very rare, but I’m one of them. I always know a lie

  when I hear it, and if it comes from someone close to me I can’t

  stand it. So you can’t lie to me, Helen. Ever. If you don’t want to

  tell me the truth, please, for my sake, don’t say anything all,” he

  pleaded.

  “Does it hurt?” Helen asked, her curiosity piqued.

  “I’ve tried to explain to Jase how it feels, but I’ve never been able

  to get it right. It’s almost like that feeling you get when you’ve lost

  something really important and you can’t find it, but it’s much

  worse. The longer the lie hangs there, the more frantic I get to find

  the truth. I’ll dig and dig for it . . .”

  “I just need a little bit of time to adjust,” Helen admitted in a

  rush. “I’m not ready to tell my dad about me, or about my mom,

  because I don’t know what it would do to him. To be honest, I don’t

  know if I’ll ever tell him. But I know I need a minute to get used to

  all of this. A few days at least.”

  Lucas’s face relaxed immediately and he let out a held breath.

  “Why didn’t you just say that to begin with?”

  “Because it’s, it’s too . . .” she trailed off, not knowing why it was

  so hard.

  “Too raw. Like being naked,” Lucas said for her. Helen nodded

  her head. “Well, sorry. But with me you have to be either honest or

  silent.” He released the break, put the car in gear, and merged back

  into traffic.

  As soon as he could stop shifting, he grabbed her hand and held

  it on his leg, and when the fading sunlight forced him to turn on

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  the headlights, he let go of the steering wheel rather than let go of

  her hand.

  Lucas pulled into Helen’s driveway behind the Pig, then killed

  the lights and engine. “Stay here for a sec,” he said before hopping

  out of the car and disappearing around the back of the house.

  Helen craned her head to look for him as she waited, but she

  didn’t hear anything—not even the sound of his footsteps. Annoyed

  that he would just run off like that, she got out of the car and

  walked up to the Pig to get a better view. She noticed her purse lying

 
on the ground behind the front tire. Oops. She picked it up and

  fished out her phone. There were over a dozen missed calls.

  She remembered that her purse was lying on the ground because

  she had been attacked, and she suddenly realized that her attacker

  was not Hector or Lucas, as she had assumed the other night.

  Now that she could look back on it without the Furies there to

  warp her judgment, she figured out that there had been someone

  else here waiting for her when she came home. Someone with wiry

  arms—a woman, she thought, recalling the smell of cosmetics—had

  grabbed her from behind, then been scared off by the arrival of the

  Delos family. Lucas had sent Ariadne and Jason to chase after her,

  but the woman must have gotten away because there was no mention

  of her this weekend. In the shock of the past few days, Helen

  had completely forgotten about the attack.

  “Lucas?” she called, heading toward the shadows off to the side of

  her house. He had been gone too long. She heard a muffled thud

  behind her.

  “I asked you to stay in the car. It’s for your safety, Helen,” Lucas

  said with frustration. She spun around to face him, gesturing

  wildly with her cell phone still in her hand.

  “That woman! You’re looking for that woman who jumped Kate

  and me,” Helen said, finally understanding it all. “She’s a Scion,

  too. She has to be!”

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  “Yes, of course she is. . . .” he interrupted her. “But listen to me.

  There are two of them—two different women are after you, and we

  haven’t caught either of them yet.”

  A pair of lights flashed across the house and driveway. A car was

  pulling up. Lucas stood in front of Helen and looked easily through

  the lights that were blinding her from seeing the people in the car.

  “It’s your father,” he told her.

  “Helen? There you are! Where the hell have you been?” Jerry

  shouted as he climbed out of the cab before the driver had even

  come to a full stop. He was angrier than she’d seen him in years. “I

  called over and over. You’re never late! I thought something had

  happened to you!”

  “Why are you here?” Helen screeched.

  “We got an earlier flight. Didn’t you get any of my messages?”

  “I . . .” Helen trailed off, holding up her cell phone stupidly. She

  knew she had to make something up, but she also knew she was a

  terrible liar. She started to panic. Lucas grabbed her phone from