Goddess (29 page)

“Ajax told me that Paris used to do it to all of you to sidestep Tantalus’s talent,” Daphne whispered. “Where do you think I got the idea from?” She and Castor shared a look, recalling something that they both seemed to remember.

“Well, you’re out of patsies, Mother,” Helen said bitterly. “Get up.”

“Helen,” Castor said, trying to remind her to stay calm. Helen ignored him and kept her mounting rage focused on her mother.

“Stand up and tell me
why
you did this to me.”

Daphne looked up at her, but before Helen could get an answer, they all heard a commotion coming from inside the Delos house—the sounds of gasps and shouts.

“Everyone, get in here!” Jason yelled out to them. “He’s alive! Hector’s alive!”

“He can’t be,” Daphne said, jumping up. They all sprinted inside.

Hector was laid out on the kitchen table, his armor and most of his clothes stripped away. Bowls of bloody water surrounded him, and a sponge lay next to him, stained red. Jason had already begun to wipe his brother down in preparation for the pyre. But Hector was certainly not dead. Not anymore.

He was pale and weak from blood loss. His lips were blue, and his hands shook terribly as he sat up and clutched Jason’s shoulders, trying to talk. Something clanked against his teeth, and grimacing, he spit out a gold coin. It was the obol his father had placed under his tongue to pay the Ferryman. Hector took a moment to stare at the bright disk in his hand, contemplating the Scion equivalent of his own gravestone.

“That’s a first,” he mumbled. He gave the obol to Andy. “For later,” he rasped to her, his voice weak.

“Much, much later. Don’t do that again,” she scolded, her swollen, tear-streaked face beautiful with joy.

“You got it.”

Hector’s whole body suddenly trembled as he tried to stay sitting up.

“He needs blood,” Jason said, worried, as he supported his brother and laid him back down on the table. Jason held up his hands, and they began to glow. He brought his hands over Hector to start healing him, but Hector stopped him.

“Wait, Jase,” Hector said, his voice barely above a whisper. “Don’t knock me out yet. Where’s Helen?”

“Here,” Helen replied, stepping forward from her place behind Noel so Hector could see her. “What is it?”

“Go to the Underworld. Now. Try to talk Hades out of it,” he said, his feeble tone turning urgent.

“Out of what?” Helen asked.

“Out of the trade. Don’t let Luke stay down there for me,” he said, grabbing Helen’s arm and shaking it as if to wake her. “Luke
traded
himself.”

“Impossible!” Daphne shrieked, startling them all with her vehemence. “Hades doesn’t let anyone trade themselves for another. I tried a dozen times.”

“Luke didn’t trade himself for me,” Hector gasped, his eyes rolling into his head with the effort to stay conscious.

“Shhh, don’t,” Noel said, coming forward to put a soothing hand on Hector’s shoulder. “Jason. Knock him out before he kills himself again.”

“He traded himself for
Hades
,” Hector said over Noel. He pulled on Helen’s arm until her face was inches away from his. “Lucas took Hades’ place as the lord of the dead.”

FIFTEEN

H
elen knew her mother was saying something repeatedly, but it took a moment for her overwhelmed mind to actually understand it.

“It was supposed to be Orion,” Daphne kept muttering to herself. When she locked eyes with Helen, like she was trying to explain herself, it looked like she was about to crack. “I mean—Orion
is
Hades. They look exactly the same, don’t they? Orion is the only one besides you who can go to the Underworld. He’s an Earthshaker and can ‘reduce all mortal cities to rubble’ so I thought he was the Tyrant—we all did. We all thought the Tyrant was supposed to replace Hades. All the signs were there. It was always supposed to be Orion.”

As if summoned by Daphne’s repetition of his name, Orion appeared at the kitchen door with Cassandra at his side.

“Castor,” Orion said striding in hurriedly. “The gods demand we produce Lucas, or Tantalus will send his army against us. And the Myrmidons want to kill Helen with or without Matt to lead them. I know you’re in mourning—we all are—but I need you at the front lines.”

“He’s alive!” Cassandra shouted before her father could answer, and ran to Hector.

“Stay back, Cass,” Jason said in warning as his hands glowed blue. “Let me work on him.”

“How?” Orion asked, his eyes glued to Hector’s chest as it swelled with obvious breaths. “His heart was cut in two. He was dead.”

“A trade,” Noel answered. She was so torn between feeling happy that Hector was alive and destroyed by what Lucas had done that she couldn’t finish.

“Lucas agreed to take Hades’ place in the Underworld in order to bring Hector back,” Andy finished for her.

“Why?” Cassandra asked, her face pleading. “Does he think we love him any less than we love Hector?”

Orion looked at Helen. “He did it because he thinks we’re together. Lucas thinks we . . .”

“I know,” Helen whispered, trying desperately to figure a way out of it. “I have to descend and tell him it’s not true.”

“Helen. I’m so sorry,” Daphne said, her eyes wide with panic. “You have to believe me. If I knew it was going to be Lucas, I would have left you two alone. You have to explain that to Lucas—make him understand that it wasn’t that I didn’t like him. Please.”

“What are you talking about?” Helen asked, a sinking sensation in her stomach. “Mother, what did you do?”

“That’s why I lied,” she said quickly and quietly, like she was trying to speed past it. “If Orion was going to become the new lord of the dead, why wouldn’t he want to restore life to his one true love’s father?”

“What?” Helen said, baffled.

“A dozen times now I’ve nearly died. Every time I’ve gone down to the River Styx, I’ve begged Hades, but why should he listen to me? My only hope was the prophecy that said a Scion would come to replace him,” she said, a desperate light in her eyes. “Who else could it have been but Orion? Orion is Hades’ twin!” She looked around at everyone pleadingly.

“And if I did replace Hades?” Orion asked, a horrified look on his face.

“You’d still have to agree to give me what I want, and even though you care for me, there was no guarantee. I had to ask myself, what would make
me
do anything? Love, obviously. If you fell in love with a girl, and that girl thought she had lost her father, why wouldn’t you restore her father to life for her?”

Helen shivered, like someone had walked over her grave.

“She wasn’t supposed to fall in love with Lucas,” Daphne said, turning on Helen and pointing an irrationally accusing finger at her. “You were supposed to meet Orion first and fall in love with him. It would have been perfect. You would have Orion and I would have Ajax and no one would have gotten hurt. I tried to keep you away from Lucas. I tried to get you off the island as soon as I saw the connection you two had.”

Helen remembered. When the Delos family moved to Nantucket, her mother, disguised as an older woman, had tried to kidnap her repeatedly to get her away from them. Daphne had told Helen it was to protect her from the Delos family so they wouldn’t kill her, but her mother had always known that Helen wore the cestus and was impervious to weapons. She also knew that Helen was stronger than all of them combined and didn’t need to be rescued. Daphne’s real goal had been to try to keep Helen away from Lucas.

“I meant for you to meet Orion first. I thought I had more time—you weren’t even seventeen yet, and the only boy you’d ever kissed was Matt. I thought I had more time,” she repeated, like this was what she regretted the most.

Helen half collapsed, half sat down on the bench that had been pushed back from the kitchen table and stared at the floor.

“How long have you been watching me?” Helen asked, dazed.

“All your life. Always with a different face, but I never left you for long, Helen,” Daphne said, falling on her knees in front of her daughter, and taking her hands. “One day, I was the tourist asking to take your picture, another day the customer at the News Store who chatted with you, asking questions about your day at school. Once, I was even that exchange student that came for a month. Do you remember Ingrid? She learned all the gossip, and then disappeared? They were all me. I’ve never left you for long.”

Faces seemed to flash in front of Helen’s eyes. Dozens of people who had struck up conversations with her over the years were all Daphne to Helen now, and she had the creepy feeling that most of her life had been staged. She glanced up at Orion and saw a matching look of disbelief on his face.

But even through the shock, Helen realized that Daphne hadn’t been that far off the mark. Orion was the only guy Helen had ever really considered being with apart from Lucas. And she knew that Orion would do anything for her—even raise the dead “father” she never got a chance to know for her—if he had the power to do it.

Her mother’s plan, as crazy as it seemed, might have actually worked. Except for the fact that it didn’t, and in the process, it had broken all their hearts.

“You’re insane,” Helen whispered.

“No. Just willing to do
anything
for the man I love.”

Helen saw Andy, Noel, and Cassandra all startle at this admission, like it was too close for comfort.

“So we all have something in common, then,” Helen said calmly as she stood.

She looked at Orion. Lucas had traded himself, but it wasn’t a fair trade because he had been tricked. Who could she go to if she wanted to object to the trade? Who would even listen to her case in the Underworld? Helen had an idea—she just hoped it would work.

“Stay close to Cassandra,” she told Orion. “Even if the Fates will be able to see me in the Underworld, they won’t be able to speak through her and maybe I can pull this off.”

He nodded once in understanding.

“Ask Lucas to give me Ajax. Please, Helen. I’m begging you!” Daphne sobbed, grabbing Helen’s arm. All her plans were ruined, but she was still trying to get him back. Helen wondered if she would act any different if it were Lucas. She could only hope she would, but she doubted it.

Helen yanked her arm away from her mother and vanished in a puff of air that was so cold it left a disk of frost on Noel’s kitchen floor.

The spiky crust of frost had barely started to melt when Daphne realized what she needed to do, and bolted for the kitchen door.

“Where are you going?” Orion demanded, blocking her path to stop her.

“To find out what’s going on at the other camp, and to try and buy Helen some time to get Lucas back.” She dodged around him to run outside.

She heard Castor say, “Let her go,” and continued unhindered to the beach.

As she ran to the front lines she changed her appearance to hide herself. Remembering that there were Myrmidons on Tantalus’s side, she altered her body’s scent as well.

She crested a tall rise and looked down to suss out the situation. There were far too many people massing on the beach—many hundreds of men and women. As Daphne looked closer, she realized that more than just Scions were joining the line. Regular mortals were streaming in from the center of town and from all kinds of boats gathering out on the water to swell the ranks of the gods.

Some of the god’s soldiers were even beginning to flank Orion’s soldiers to the south and west. Out on the water, Daphne saw all kinds of boats coming in to shore. Yachts, fishing vessels, even little rowboats were joining Tantalus to fight for Olympus. Sure, most of the new recruits were full mortals, and scores of them could be easily mowed down by a handful of armored Scions, but the loss of life would be staggering. Why would a full mortal even consider fighting in this war? It didn’t make sense.

Daphne got closer and noticed that the mortals all moved in a stiff and unnatural way, like puppets. When she got closer still, she saw open eyes and dead looks on all their faces. Daphne cringed. It was like they were all zombies.

Or hypnotized.

“Hypnos,” Daphne mumbled to herself. Hypnos, the god of the trancelike state in which people can be easily controlled—was obviously working with the Olympians.

It didn’t surprise her that the Olympians were making the small gods like Hypnos help the Twelve. The small gods couldn’t fight and kill mortals, but they still could use their talents to help Olympus win. Now that Olympus was open, the small gods would have to deal with the Olympians for the rest of eternity unless Helen managed to send them all to Tartarus. Helen had managed it with Ares, but Daphne could see that the small gods were not so certain Helen could do it with Zeus. They were hedging their bets by supporting Olympus.

The army of hypnotized humans coming by land and by sea was just the start. Daphne thought through all the different small gods and knew that bigger horrors awaited Helen’s loyal defenders. There were true monsters left in the world. Daphne had seen a few of them in her lifetime, and she knew that Zeus wouldn’t hesitate to unleash them.

Daphne sprinted past the hypnotized throngs, moving too fast for their dazed eyes to see even in broad daylight. She had to know if the gods were planning a war of mythical proportions, and if they were, she had to find a way to either slow it down or to at least warn Helen about what was coming.

Changing her face to match one of the Hundred Cousins, Daphne strode through the rapidly growing camp, searching the tents as quickly as she could for the only people she could ask for information. Finally, she heard the familiar voice she sought and rushed toward it.

“The gods couldn’t be happier about both Hector and Matt being dead,” Claire said, her tone heavy with bitterness. Daphne edged closer to the side of the tent and listened.

“They want this. They want us to kill each other until we’re all gone,” Ariadne sniffled. “This can’t be right. Matt couldn’t have known about this part. It’s like the gods are getting off on watching people who love each other fight to the death.”

“This is all wrong. We have to go, Ari. Now,” Claire whispered fearfully. “Matt got duped by the gods. And so did we.”

Daphne had heard enough. She hurried through the front flap of the tent, and saw the two girls looking at her, amazed. She allowed her face to shift back to her real one.

“I can get Claire out of here,” Daphne said quickly as they both gasped at her revealed identity. Daphne ignored their protests and talked over them. “Claire is just a mortal to them and not a threat. But Ariadne, I’m sorry. You’re a Healer, which makes you far too valuable. They can’t afford to let you stand with Helen, so you have to stay here.”

“Why should we trust you?” Claire said, a look of disgust on her face. “You drugged Mr. Hamilton!”

“Oh, that’s right, I forgot. Because neither of you have ever betrayed the people you love.” Daphne’s cold words made Claire and Ariadne shrink back.

“It’s not like that,” Ariadne said in a hushed tone. Daphne ignored her, knowing that everything Ariadne said from that point on would just be an excuse for her behavior, not a solution to the problem.

“What have you learned to help Helen’s cause since you joined the wrong side?” Daphne asked impatiently.

Claire and Ariadne looked at each other, conferring with their eyes. Claire was the first one to speak.

“A lot,” Claire admitted. “But I don’t think I should tell you any of it.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to confide in me, Claire. But if I brought you to Orion, would you tell him what you’ve learned?” Daphne held her hands out plaintively.

“Yes,” Claire said, nodding her head in a definite motion. “What about Ariadne?”

“Don’t worry about me, Claire. My father is here with me. Tell Jason . . .” Ariadne paused as her eyes dredged up another round of tears. “I don’t know. Make something up for me.”

“Okay,” Claire responded with a defeated shrug. “But I doubt he’ll listen to me ever again.”

The two girls embraced, whispering encouragement to each other, and then Claire turned and looked at Daphne with a level gaze, as determined as Daphne remembered her to be when she was a baby girl.

“Do you need me to do anything to sell this?” she asked.

“Just look like a prisoner,” Daphne replied as she grabbed Claire by the neck and shoved her roughly out of the tent.

Daphne instantly changed her face to look like one of the girls from the House of Rome—one of the few from the House who had turned against Orion, Daphne recalled—and made a bit of a show about how she had taken Claire hostage as she dragged her through the camp.

The Myrmidons noticed immediately, as they always did.

“Why do you abuse her?” asked the one they called Telamon. “She was loyal to my master all the way to the end.”

“Up to the end and no further, it appears. Since your master’s death, her heart shows signs of doubt,” Daphne answered, staring at Claire’s chest like she had the Roman talent to read emotions. “Ask anyone else from the House of Rome. This girl has doubt. She is not committed to killing the Tyrant anymore.”

“Then she must die,” Telamon answered with a sad nod of his head. Claire trembled under Daphne’s hands, but she didn’t try to run away.

Daphne had often wished that she had had a daughter who didn’t remind her so much of herself. Claire was everything a girl should be. Smart, strong, brave, and she didn’t have the damned Face.