Starcrossed (48 page)

Kate would open the doors and feed them. With the refrigerators

out, the perishable would have to be eaten or thrown out, anyway,

and Kate would much rather give food to her neighbors than watch

it spoil.

Helen thought for a moment of how she should be there with

them, but then she caught a glimpse of her new reflection in the

one window outside the Overeasy Café that wasn’t broken. She

wasn’t Helen. She was a cute brunette from the mainland, and she

and her tacky, horse-faced mother were on vacation in Nantucket.

These two tourists owed nothing to anyone.

Helen sat, put her napkin in her lap, and ordered whatever the

café could make on a gas stove—eggs, bacon, and French-pressed

coffee. As she pushed her food around, Matt walked into the diner.

Helen’s eyes widened when Matt looked right at her and, out of

habit, she pulled in a breath to call out to him, but his eyes skipped

right past her.

It was obvious that Matt had come into the café looking for her.

Helen groaned to herself and rubbed her tired eyes—Claire must

have told him that Helen was missing. Helen wondered how much

else he knew about her. Knowing Matt and how clever he was,

Helen was sure he had figured out some of her secret on his own,

like Claire had.

For a moment she wanted him to find her, but he was scanning

the room for Helen’s bright blonde hair. When his eyes didn’t immediately

spot her, he gave up. She wanted to throw her napkin at

Matt and yell that she was sitting ten feet away from him, but she

realized that it was silly of her to blame him for not recognizing

her. Still, it hurt not to be recognized by a guy she’d known since

she was in diapers. As she watched Matt walk out of the café, she

335/395

couldn’t help but feel like she was faceless, alone, and about as

substantial as a ghost.

“It’s better for him,” Daphne said consolingly as she reached

across the table to take Helen’s hand. “The mortals who love us

never last long. Scions are tragedy magnets. It’s safer for them if

we leave before the trouble starts. That’s why I didn’t give Jerry

more time . . .”

“You never loved my father, I mean Jerry,” Helen interrupted bitterly.

She snatched her hand out from underneath her mother’s.

“No, I didn’t. I’m not going to lie to you to make myself more

sympathetic,” Daphne replied, moving her rejected hand to reach

for the check. “But I would never wish harm on that man. Remember,

he’s the only person I trusted with my daughter. You hate me

for not loving Jerry? Fine. But the least you can do is respect me

for understanding how special he was and giving you the gift of

thinking he was your father.”

“Jerry is my father in every way that counts,” Helen said, wrenching

herself out from the sinking seat of the booth.

She waited with her back turned while Daphne threw down some

bills. On their way to the hotel to get their things, Helen spotted

Hector. He looked right at her and then right past her, just as Matt

had done. The twins were with him, wandering around by the

ferry. Helen heard Ariadne call out to Matt, sounding surprised to

see him, but Daphne pulled her into the hotel before she could find

out what they said to each other. Helen heard Claire’s name mentioned

right before the door shut behind her making it impossible

even to tell what they were saying about her, even with Scion

hearing.

Lucas was in the lobby. Helen didn’t see his face, but then she

didn’t need to. If she had only caught a glimpse of him as he disappeared

around a corner a half a mile away she would still have

been able to recognize him. She turned her face away, knowing she

couldn’t look at him or she would lose concentration and allow her

336/395

mask to slip away. As she hurried up the stairs behind her mother,

she both hoped and feared that he would yell her name, but of

course, he didn’t.

Back in their room, Helen grabbed what few things she had and

brought them to the entryway by the door, hiding her streaming

eyes and her red nose from her mother as best she could. She tried

to let the stranger’s dark hair fall across her face, but unfortunately

this girl had bangs. As her mother checked over the room one last

time before they left for the dock, Helen let out an incongruous

laugh, suddenly remembering the last time she had taken the ferry.

It was when Claire first told her about the new family that had

moved into the big compound out in ’Sconset. Claire had been sure

that there would be a dream boy to fall in love with each of them,

and Helen had been sure that Claire was being ridiculous. So sure

that she’d changed the subject, and wondered aloud whether she

should cut her hair.

“Well, Claire was absolutely right,” Helen said to herself, laughing

through her tears. “I do hate having bangs.”

Her breath still catching on the half-crazy laugh, Helen yanked

open the door of the hotel room to leave, and ran right into Lucas.

In a split second he registered Helen’s tears and the shocked face

of the strange woman next to her. Lucas grabbed Helen’s arm and

pulled her away from the woman, putting himself between them.

“What did you do to her?” he said, threatening Daphne.

“And just who are you?” Daphne said with a southern drawl. Lucas

gave the woman a confused look and then looked back at

Helen.

“Helen, who is this woman?” he asked.

“Come inside,” Daphne said, dropping the fake accent. “Come on,

Helen. We’ve been discovered. He can see your true face.”

“How?” Helen asked, looking down at the hands that weren’t

hers, at a body that wasn’t hers, as she followed Lucas back into

the room.

337/395

“Because he loves you.” Daphne shut the door behind them. “The

cestus can’t hide the face of a beloved, it can only reveal it. You’ll

never be anyone but yourself to him because he loves you exactly

as you are.”

Daphne rubbed her temples in frustration at this new and annoying

development. She turned to Lucas and dropped her disguise.

He gasped.

“You are all of the women,” Lucas said, remembering what Cassandra

had seen. “Helen, this is the woman that’s been attacking

you, this isn’t her real face . . .”

“I know. I even know that she was the one who hurt Kate in the

alley,” Helen said, swallowing painfully. “I thought it was me—that

I had shocked Kate by accident.”

“Helen, you aren’t to blame,” Daphne said, sounding almost annoyed

at the idea.

“She was trying to kidnap me to get me away from your family

before you found out who I really was,” Helen continued, ignoring

Daphne. “She knew I wouldn’t trust her, and that she would literally

have to tie me down to get me to listen to her. So that’s what

she did. But this is my true mother, and this is her true face, Lucas.

It’s our face.”

“It’s not possible,” Lucas said, looking from Helen to Daphne and

back again. “No Scion resembles another this closely.”

“The bearers of the cestus always look like the first Scion to ever

posses it,” Daphne said.

“Helen of Troy,” Lucas said quietly.

Helen nodded, then clarified while looking at her mother. “Aphrodite

and Helen were half sisters, and they loved each other very

much. When the siege of Troy began, Aphrodite gave Helen the

cestus to protect her. Since then, it’s been passed from mother to

daughter, along with the Face.”

“The Face?” Lucas asked.

338/395

“That Launched a Thousand Ships,” Daphne said, repeating the

title automatically. “It’s our curse.”

“Helen of Troy was in the House of Atreus,” Lucas said as he

slumped down into a straight-backed chair that decorated the

entryway. “So Pallas was right. You are Daphne Atreus.”

“I suppose Pallas had to be right about something eventually,”

Daphne snapped before she stopped herself and softened her tone.

“I know he’s your uncle, but we have a complicated history. Your

father was different. He was very kind to me, or at least he tried to

be. The Furies make kindness a very relative term.”

“The Furies,” Lucas said as an idea struck him. “Why don’t I see

the Furies when I’m around you?”

“For the same reason your family doesn’t see them around Helen

anymore. You two risked your lives to save each other, and that released

you from your blood debt. A long time ago I went through

something similar with another member of the House of Thebes.

But I don’t have time to explain the whole story to you,” Daphne

said not unkindly. “Helen and I have to get off this island, and we

have to do it now.”

“No,” Lucas said, looking at Helen. “Come back with me, both of

you. My family . . .”

“Your family wants me dead,” Daphne replied coldly. “And Creon

is here to hunt Helen down. I have to get her off this island, and if

you love her the way I know you do, you’ll help me do it.”

“I can protect Helen from Creon,” Lucas said defiantly, still waiting

for Helen to look at him, but she wouldn’t.

“How? Are you ready to become a kin-killer? An Outcast?”

Daphne asked harshly.

Lucas snapped his head around to look at Daphne, responding to

a phrase that he had been raised to abhor. For a moment he hated

her, but only because she was right.

“You can’t defend Helen against your own family—not to the

death. I’m the only one who can protect her now,” Daphne

339/395

continued, her tone suggesting that she was genuinely sorry for

him. “And the best way for me to do that is to get her away from

Creon.”

“I won’t let him near her. I don’t care what I have to become,”

Lucas said, preoccupied with Helen and troubled by the way she

seemed to be avoiding him. He took her hands.

“Lucas. Let me go,” Helen said quietly, pulling her hands out of

his. He went silent, sensing something very wrong was about to

happen. Again. “If you love me, you’ll let me go. Do you love me?”

Her voice was so thin and papery it crackled.

“You know I do,” he replied, confused. “If you’re frightened, run

away with me, like we planned. You know we’re meant to be together,

I know you can feel that, just like I do.”

“I want you to let me go,” she said simply as she finally met his

eyes and held them.

Instead of thinking about the way Lucas’s face fell under the

weight of his surprise and sadness, Helen imagined her heart as a

giant tub full of water. Everything she had ever felt in her life, all

the good and all bad, were just ribbons of food coloring in that water,

and the whole beautiful mess was swirling down the drain. The

only thing she needed to do was wait a few more seconds and the

basin would be empty.

“You can hear the truth in what I say, can’t you?” she continued

mercilessly. “I want you to let me go.”

Lucas caught his breath and held it for a long moment as he registered

that Helen wasn’t lying to him. Then he nodded and

breathed again, his face impassive.

“I believe that you want to get away from me right now, but I also

know what is going to happen, regardless of what anyone wants,”

he said.

“The Oracle!” Daphne exclaimed to herself, understanding Lucas’s

meaning. “She survived her first prophecy? Is she still sane?”

she asked breathlessly.

340/395

He gave a curt nod in response to her insensitive questions.

Daphne began to pace distractedly, as if a thousand thoughts had

started elbowing around in her head. Suddenly, she stopped moving

and stared at Lucas.

“What did she say about us?” she asked.

“That the beloved of Aphrodite were to find shelter in the House

of Thebes,” Lucas replied, emotionless. “So you see, you will come

back with me.”

“Obviously,” Daphne said turning her palms up in acquiescence.

“Helen, get your things.”

Helen’s jaw dropped and she stared at her mother in disbelief.

After everything Daphne had told her to get her away from the

House of Thebes, this change didn’t make any sense.

“But, we’ll miss the ferry. . . .” Helen stammered, still uncertain.

“The Oracle has spoken,” Daphne said, shouldering her bag with

a greedy look in her eyes. Helen had no idea what her mother was

up to, but lacking any reason to object, she had no choice but to

obey.

Helen and Daphne assumed their disguises and the three of them

went down to the lobby. Lucas asked them to wait a moment when

they got to the front door. He pulled out his phone and called Hector,

telling him to bring the car around to the entrance of the hotel.

“Stay here,” he said, firmly. “Let me check the street before you

go out there. Hector said that Creon was headed our way.”

“That’s not necessary, Lucas. As long as you keep your distance

from us, we’re well hidden,” Daphne said confidently as she

stepped out onto the sidewalk, rolling her fancy leather suitcase

behind her.

As Helen watched her mother walk out the door, she happened to

glance across the street. Creon was standing on the other side,