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  “What’s that got to do with anything?”

  “Aren’t you always preaching that there can be no equality if the

  sexes objectify each other?”

  “Yeah, but damn!” Kate said, fanning herself with her hand.

  “When I was your age all of the guys were trying to prove how antiestablishment

  they were by out-uglying each other. I so got

  robbed!”

  “Keep on going and I’ll tell my dad he’s got competition,” Helen

  teased, but the joke didn’t have the effect she thought it would. The

  laughter went right out of Kate’s eyes and the smile melted off her

  face.

  “I don’t think it would make any difference to him,” she said, and

  then abruptly changed the subject. “But we’re not talking about

  me. We’re talking about you and Lucas and the importance of

  condoms.”

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  After several rounds of denial, and a few breaks to help customers,

  Kate finally accepted the fact that Helen was still as pure as the

  driven snow.

  “Is he gay?” Kate asked. “I mean, look at you, Len.”

  “I haven’t asked, but I’m pretty sure he’s straight,” Helen replied,

  and then she sighed. “I honestly don’t know what’s going on.”

  “No reason to rush, and don’t let anyone make you feel bad if you

  want to wait, either. It’s more fun if you take your time, anyway,”

  Kate said with a warm smile, changing the subject at the first sign

  of Helen’s discomfort.

  Although Kate seemed convinced that eventually she and Lucas

  would go beyond virginal hand-holding, Helen suddenly wasn’t so

  sure. The one time she had tried to kiss Lucas he had told her to go

  to sleep. Despite what everyone was saying about them, the truth

  was that she and Lucas were no more than friends. Lucas could

  have anyone he wanted, and if Kate’s response was any indication,

  that included women long out of high school.

  Knowing that didn’t do anything to help Helen’s confidence. She

  could tell that Lucas liked her—she’d caught him staring at her and

  she’d heard his heart pound when she lay down next to him—but

  for some reason Lucas didn’t seem to want to do anything about it.

  Was that the way dating always was in the beginning, or was she

  unintentionally doing something to push Lucas away? She’d never

  had a boyfriend, and she honestly didn’t know what “normal” was.

  After work, she went home and forced herself to do all of her

  school assignments before bed. By the time she switched out the

  light it was well past two. Helen was beyond tired, but she still

  couldn’t fall asleep. She felt like she was missing something, or

  maybe misunderstanding something. Lucas obviously liked her

  and felt protective of her, but neither of those things meant that he

  was attracted to her. Maybe she wasn’t his type. Maybe he even

  had a girlfriend back in Spain. Helen imagined a dark siren with

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  long black curls, olive skin, and a sexy Spanish accent waiting for

  Lucas to come back to Europe.

  She flopped over in bed and put a pillow over her head, vowing

  not to be the pathetic loser who chases after a boy she can never

  have. She needed more information about Lucas, but since he was

  new in school, and no one knew his previous history with girls,

  Helen was going to have to see what she could get out of Ariadne

  and hope she didn’t come off as too obvious.

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  Chapter Nine

  “Keep sticking your chin out like that and I’ll knock it

  off for you,” Hector yelled. He’d been doing a lot of

  yelling over the past hour and a half.

  Helen obediently tucked in her chin and lifted her

  fists up to guard her face. She kept her center of

  gravity low and moved her feet in sweeping crescents in case there

  were obstacles on the ground that she would need to brush out of

  the way. She circled Hector, watching his hips in case he shot in to

  take her to the mat. She did everything he’d told her to. Then Hector

  smirked and punched her in the face, his hands moving in a

  blurry haze. She fell on her butt for the tenth time and after a moment

  looked up at him through her ever-healing eyes.

  “That was your left again, huh?” she asked mildly.

  “What the hell is wrong with you?” he said in a voice that reminded

  Helen of Mr. Hergeshimer. “You’re faster than me. Why

  don’t you get out of my way?”

  Helen shrugged and stood up, adopting a defensive stance again.

  Hector immediately punched her in the gut, and she fell to her

  knees.

  “That’s enough, Hector,” shouted Lucas in a tight voice. Helen

  held up a hand, gesturing to Lucas that it was okay as she stood up.

  Again.

  She wanted Lucas to stay out of this. For some reason, Helen’s

  first real sparring session had turned personal for Hector, and she

  wanted him to go all the way to the end of whatever trip he was on

  so he could get it out of his system. The punishment hurt, but not

  nearly as badly as her cramps, so she could deal with it. As soon as

  she was back on her feet, Hector took them out from under her

  again with a leg sweep.

  “Easy!” yelled Jason. “She’s never fought before, you dickhead!”

  Helen looked up and saw Jason place a hand on Lucas’s

  shoulder, stopping him from jumping into the cage. “I’m fine, guys.

  Nothing to worry about,” she said as cheerfully as she could, getting

  up yet again. Hector did not appreciate her tone.

  “Why won’t you take this seriously?” he shouted at Helen. She

  bent down to spit out the taste of the blood in her mouth, and

  Hector reeled back and punched her again in the head.

  “Stop it!” screamed Cassandra from someplace beyond Helen’s

  vision. “She isn’t a natural fighter, okay? When are you going to get

  that through your thick skull?”

  Helen felt terrible—she knew she must be a bloody mess to get

  someone who didn’t even like her that upset.

  By the time Helen had struggled back up to her knees, Cassandra

  was no longer in the practice room where the Scions kept their

  punching bags and fight cage. Helen swallowed a mouthful of spit

  and blood and instantly regretted it when she choked on one of her

  own teeth.

  “May I have some water, please?” she asked Ariadne, who was

  standing over her with a damp cloth.

  On the other side of the cage, Helen saw Jason standing between

  Lucas and Hector. Jason’s shirt was half torn off and blood was

  running from a cut on his head, but still he fought to keep the two

  larger Delos boys from ripping each other up like wrapping paper

  on Christmas morning. Hector was yelling at Lucas, pleading his

  case.

  “She can take anything. Anything! I hit her harder than I’ve ever

  hit anyone and she stood right back up! But she won’t hit back!”

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  Hector roared, his voice cracking with passion. He saw Helen looking


  at him and pointed an accusing finger at her. “You think you

  can just stand back and let Luke do all your fighting for you?

  You’re stronger than all of us combined, but you’re too good to

  fight, Princess?”

  Jason wrapped both his arms around his brother and held on as

  Hector bucked and struggled.

  “I’m not trying to get hit!” Helen lisped through her broken and

  rapidly regrowing teeth. Ariadne put her own arms around Helen

  and held her as she stared daggers at her big brother.

  “How dare you, Hector? She wasn’t raised like we were, always at

  each other’s throats. It just isn’t in her,” she scolded.

  Hector seemed chastened by his sister’s tone and finally stopped

  struggling against Jason’s restraint. He slumped against his brother

  for a moment and then abruptly pushed him away. Then, with

  one easy leap he jumped over of the fifteen-foot-high fence surrounding

  the fight mat and landed with an intentionally loud slap.

  “She’d better get it in her. Because I don’t want any of the people

  I love to die defending her lazy ass,” he rasped. As he walked out of

  the fight room, Lucas ran to Helen.

  “I’m so sorry.” He reached out and took Helen from Ariadne’s

  arms. “You don’t ever have to fight him again.”

  “Why not?” Helen asked, pushing off his chest, her speech still

  slurred from taking too many knocks to the head. “I may not be a

  natural fighter, but he’s right. I need to learn this or someone else

  could get hurt. Someone like my father, or Claire, or Kate . . . Those

  women are still after me. They could hurt anyone I care about.”

  Lucas caught her as she fell over. He looked over her mashed-up

  face inch by inch as he carried her out of the cage and into a back

  area that served as both locker room and medical facility.

  He sat her on top of a stainless-steel table and left her for just a

  moment to gather some gauze, a basin of water, and, strangely, a

  juice box and a jar of raw honey. He didn’t say a word, but gestured

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  for her to open her mouth, which she did, and then he started

  drizzling honey onto her tongue. As soon as her taste buds registered

  the oily sweet sunshine taste, she understood. Honey was

  the perfect health food for demigods. A feral need kicked in, and

  she grabbed his wrist with both her hands and held on until she

  was licking the jar clean.

  When the honey was gone she finally caught her breath. She

  looked up and met Lucas’s eyes, and nodded at his inquisitive look,

  as if to say that she was better now. Without a word, Lucas pushed

  a plastic straw into the juice box and gave it to Helen to hold on to

  as he started in on her cuts with the gauze and some hot water.

  Helen was having a hard time seeing straight. Everything was out

  of focus, and her eyes couldn’t seem to get a hold of Lucas. It was

  strange. Her vision kept sliding off his shape, as if it was too slippery

  for her gaze. She tried to watch Lucas’s expression as he

  doctored her cuts, but it was almost impossible to see him. As the

  minutes ticked by and Helen healed on her own, Lucas became visible

  again and Helen could see that the grooves of worry dug into

  his forehead loosened and went away. He dabbed at the leftover

  blood and sighed.

  “Why didn’t you get out of Hector’s way, Helen?” he asked softly,

  breaking the long silence. “Why didn’t you block with your hands?”

  “He’s faster than me,” she replied, but they both knew that wasn’t

  the whole truth, and as she took in his skeptical look she continued.

  “I knew if I started blocking him he’d just get angrier, and

  then I would eventually have no choice but to hit him so hard he

  wouldn’t be able to hit me back.”

  “That’s sort of the point of fighting, you know,” Lucas said with a

  touch of a smile.

  “Then I don’t want any part of it,” Helen said seriously. “I don’t

  want to hurt people, Lucas. Can’t you teach me something else?”

  “Like what?” he asked, at a loss.

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  “Like what you did in the hallway at school that first time we saw

  each other. How you spun me around and stood between my legs

  so I couldn’t get at you? That didn’t hurt me at all, but you still had

  me beat. Or what you did on your lawn that night. Remember? I

  was on top of you and then you did that thing with your hips?” she

  said with building optimism. He nodded and looked away.

  “It’s called jujitsu. It’s for hand-to-hand fighting and I’d rather

  you never got that close to your opponents. But I’ll teach it to you if

  you want,” he said quietly.

  Looking up at Lucas, Helen realized she was still seeing spots.

  She had to brace herself by putting her hands on his waist. As the

  spots went away she could see the color rising in Lucas’s cheeks,

  and she felt waves of heat coming off his skin. Helen could smell

  his scent and it made her feel quiet and still, almost drowsy.

  “And flying,” Helen said, suddenly breaking herself out of her

  languid mood. “You still have to teach me how to get airborne.

  Once I learn that, I can just fly away from the bad guys.”

  “I’ll teach you how to fly,” he said softly, nodding his head and

  looking down. Helen searched for his eyes, but he wouldn’t look at

  her. She wiped a hand across her face and it came back streaked

  with blood.

  “Am I really that hideous right now?” she asked as she leaned

  away from him, suddenly self-conscious. To Helen’s surprise he

  didn’t reply, he just pulled her against him and held her.

  “Promise me something,” he said into her hair. He waited for her

  to nod before continuing. “Promise me that next time you fight

  you’re not going to just stand there and let the other guy beat the

  crap out of you until he’s too tired to lift his arms.”

  “If I can avoid it, believe me, I will,” Helen said with a little laugh,

  but Lucas pulled away from her so he could look her in the eye.

  “I won’t watch that again. You understand me?” he said sternly.

  She nodded slowly and saw his face relax a little. His eyes were so

  intense she had to glance around for something else to talk about.

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  “Your shirt,” Helen said, pointing to the bloody print of her face

  on his chest. “Which reminds me. I’ve ruined these workout

  clothes Ariadne gave me. Should I change into another set, or are

  we done?”

  “We’re done. You can put your street clothes back on after you

  wash up,” he said briskly as if to banish the heavy mood he had

  fallen into. He took her face in his hands one last time and examined

  her former cuts. After a few moments he released her. “You

  certainly do heal fast. But you’ll still have some impressive bruises,

  so if I were you I’d avoid your father for the rest of the night.”

  “I’ll just tell him you abuse me,” Helen said with a shrug. She

  jumped off the examining table.

  “And I’ll tell him you like it,” he teased back, his voice rich and

  slow. Helen looked up at him, feeling drowsy again. For a moment
>
  he was just a breath away from her, but then he backed away.

  As he walked out of the locker room he stripped off his bloody

  shirt and threw it in the garbage. Helen’s vision stabilized again,

  and she watched his bare back moving away from her. The last

  cobwebs clearing from her eyes, she decided that if Lucas was gay

  then she was going to have to get a sex change operation. He would

  be so worth it.

  While she cleaned up she got a chance to examine her mouth.

  Her left front tooth was still in the process of growing back in, and

  Helen had to laugh at how ridiculous she looked. How Lucas had

  managed to keep a straight face while he looked at her when she

  was as gap-toothed as a six-year-old was beyond comprehension.

  Then she realized he must have seen it so many times that he

  barely noticed it. Helen thought about what Ariadne had said—that

  they had grown up “at each other’s throats.” As if summoned by

  Helen’s thoughts, Ariadne poked her head into the locker room to

  check in.

  “Do you need a hand healing?” she asked timidly.

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  “No, but come on in,” Helen replied. Maybe she would get a

  chance to ask if Lucas still had a girlfriend somewhere. “How’s

  Cassandra?”

  “Overly sensitive, but she’ll be okay. You’re the one that got a

  Hector beat-down, and since I know what that feels like I’m going

  to ask you honestly—is anything still broken?” Ariadne glided into

  the locker room.

  “Nothing broken. Well, not anymore,” Helen replied. Everything

  about Ariadne was so feminine and round and lovely that Helen

  simply couldn’t imagine anyone hitting her. “Do you guys do this to

  each other often? The fighting, I mean.” Ariadne was shaking her

  head before Helen had even finished talking.

  “No. We spar together to stay in shape, but only the boys really

  fight, and only when they need to get something off their chests.

  Lucas and Hector do most of the fighting, obviously.”

  “They don’t get along, do they?”

  “Yes and no,” Ariadne began carefully. “Hector is really proud in

  general, but he’s especially proud of our ancestry and our family.

  He doesn’t like that we’ve fractured the House of Thebes. Don’t get

  me wrong—he doesn’t believe all that crap that the Hundred Cousins

  do, but he hates to see our House divided. And Lucas feels like

  it’s his responsibility to keep Hector in line because, well, he’s the