"She and Lucas were checking in on Jerry, and they started fighting. I guess it was pretty bad because they went down to the fight cage to settle it. I could have sworn I felt the house shake for a second."
"That could have been an impact tremor," Matt said. "They"re strong enough to shake the house when they hit the ground."
"It was before they got downstairs. They were just walking, Matt," Jason said with a shrug. Matt paused, thinking.
"Did you see any lightning?" he asked the three girls.
"Not really," Ariadne said for them. "What we saw was definitely electrical, but I can"t figure out why that would make stuff rattle like that. The whole thing was just strange. And scary."
"Her voice was all funny," Claire added, rubbing her arms like she had a chill.
"Way too much reverb," Andy said emphatically. "I"m a siren, I know voices, and I"ve never heard anything like that before."
"She sounded like a G.o.ddess," Ariadne said, summing it up for the three of them. "Something"s happened to her, guys."
"You think?" Jason said, rolling his eyes. "After everything she"s been through, she"s bound to have changed a bit. That doesn"t mean she"s changed in a bad way. Cut her some slack. She just fought a G.o.d."
"And won," Matt added quietly. "She fought a G.o.d and won. How strong do you think she"d have to be to do that?"
"Stronger than any other Scion. Ever." Ariadne"s voice shook.
"She was tortured, you guys," Jason countered sternly.
"Exactly," Ariadne responded. "And you think an experience like that is going to change her for the better?"
"This is ridiculous," Jason said angrily. He spun around and stormed to the door.
"Jason," Claire began, but he turned back and cut her off.
"I know you and Helen have been best friends since you were little, and that she"s changing a lot and it"s scaring you. But everyone changes. Just because you don"t understand what"s happening to Helen doesn"t mean you have any reason to be afraid of her. I hope you all realize that before you go and do something stupid."
Jason left them to stand around and stare at one another.
"There"s one more thing," Claire said, her voice forcing its way through her tight throat. "I tried to talk to Helen about how she"s changing. She made it pretty clear that she didn"t care. She just wants to win." Claire rubbed her arms again like she was cold. "The Helen I knew didn"t care about winning. She never even tried to win a track meet before."
She was afraid. They all were. The worst part was that Matt had the sinking feeling that they should be.
Matt thought again about that morality question Zach asked once. Would Matt really kill someone who hadn"t done anything yet, to keep that person from possibly killing millions? What was right?
"How much longer, captain?" asked one of the Myrmidons.
"Soon," Telamon answered. "Master is still torn."
"Impossible," said another soldier. His glowing red eyes narrowed with emotion. "It can"t be him if he wavers. Achilles would never be swayed from our true mission. He died for it."
"Patience," Telamon said commandingly.
"Patience," the Myrmidons chanted back with hushed reverence, like they were reciting catechism. This was a ritual they had performed many times.
"Old loyalties from his mortal life still pull at him," Telamon continued, momentarily putting a soothing hand on a comrade"s shoulder, like a sympathetic counselor or a priest. "But loyalties that are older still are starting to surface. Courage."
"Courage," the soldiers repeated in unison as soon as Telamon fed them the word. Their soldierly version of "amen" thundered across the dunes, and the force of their combined voices lifted up swells of sand off the undulating dunes and sent it airborne like smoke over the water.
"The end of this cycle is near," Telamon continued knowingly. "And in the end our master"s heart will lead him back to us. Friends, remember. The blade chose this particular vessel because the blade knows that this vessel, above all others, shares our desire."
"Matt?" Ariadne asked.
Matt blinked hard again and focused on her. She looked worried.
"What do you think we should do?"
"First we have to find out how far she"s willing to go," he said gravely. "And then we"ll each have to decide-each of us for ourselves-how far we"re willing to go to stop her."
NINE.
That night, Lucas dressed carefully. He knew the meeting of the Houses was a semiformal affair, but that didn"t mean that he was going to wear anything that would restrict his movement. He didn"t trust any of the guests they were about to receive, and there was no way in h.e.l.l he was going to put on anything that would hinder him in a fight.
Of course, fighting was strictly forbidden at these meetings. But Lucas knew that this was going to be the first time in twenty years that most of these people had seen each other. On top of that, many of them had killed someone who someone else in the room had loved dearly. It was a grudge match waiting to happen.
Lucas went downstairs and found half his family crowded around the TV in the living room, listening to the evening news. The pictures on TV showed an intense lightning storm over what looked like a blacked-out city.
"Is that Manhattan?" Lucas asked, moving closer to the screen.
"Yes," his mother responded, her voice quiet with shock. "The whole city is dark."
Lucas could only imagine the chaos that would cause in New York. Subway lines would be stalled on the tracks with people inside, elevators would be shut down, stranding people at the tops of buildings-not to mention the lawlessness that was bound to break out in the dark.
"Why would Zeus do something like that?" Andy asked.
"To remind us he can," Hector answered, his jaw set.
There was a knock at the front door, and Lucas heard everyone inhale a tense breath.
"I"ll get it," Kate offered, but Noel put her hand on Kate"s shoulder to stop her.
"It has to be me," Noel said kindly. "It"s my hearth."
Lucas followed her to the front of the house. When Noel opened the door, Lucas felt like someone had kicked him in the gut. The man standing in the doorway had black hair, bright blue eyes, and a tall, athletic build. He looked like Lucas, aged twenty years.
"Daedalus," Noel said through a tight jaw.
"Noel," Daedalus replied. He crossed his arms in an X over his chest and bowed respectfully, but it was clear they were not on good terms.
Lucas couldn"t breathe for a moment. He"d been told many times that he looked like he was from the House of Athens, but he had no idea that he looked so much like the man who had killed his grandfather.
"Welcome," Noel said, barely meaning it. "I offer you my hospitality."
"I"m honored," Daedalus said, and entered. His eyes went directly to Lucas, and he smiled ruefully in recognition. Then his eyes darted past Lucas and hardened. "h.e.l.lo, son," he said, and for a confused moment Lucas wondered if Daedalus was speaking to him.
"Father," Orion said formally.
Lucas turned to see Orion standing right behind him with a closed look on his face. He"d been so stunned by Daedalus"s appearance that he hadn"t noticed Orion and Hector joining them.
Daedalus strode forward, his gait proud and more than a little intimidating. He offered his hand to his son, and Orion shook it without smiling.
"You look strong," Daedalus said, his eyes measuring up Orion.
"I am," Orion replied tersely. Their eyes locked, and Daedalus was the first to look away.
Lucas had never heard Orion speak so coldly, but after the way his father had abandoned him, Lucas couldn"t blame him. If Daedalus noticed that Orion was being uncharacteristically harsh, he didn"t show it. He looked right past his angry son and at Hector.
"Ajax," he said under his breath. For a moment his face looked regretful before it hardened again into a forbidding scowl.
"Come inside," Noel said. "Boys, make a hole."
A knee-jerk reaction to protect his turf welled up in Lucas. He didn"t want to let Daedalus through, and he could tell Hector and Orion felt the same way he did. They all stood their ground.
"Oh, will you just move?" Noel grumbled impatiently as she pushed past them. "It doesn"t matter that the Furies are gone-you all still act like a pack of wild dogs. Everybody"s got to sniff everybody else"s b.u.t.t."
Daedalus managed to crack a smile and followed Noel. Hector, Lucas, and Orion finally eased up and let him through.
"Awkward," Hector said after Daedalus had pa.s.sed.
"A regular ray of sunshine, isn"t he?" Orion said sarcastically, acting more like himself again. "Oh, and that"s his "happy face" by the way."
"Why didn"t you warn me I look so much like your dad?" Lucas asked, glaring at Orion.
"I thought you knew," Orion replied, shrugging.
"I knew there was supposed to some sort of resemblance, but this is ridiculous. How the h.e.l.l am I supposed to feel about this?"
"It"s no picnic for me, either. Every time I look at you I see my dad. The Fates like to mess with us, Luke. They make it so that we all look like the person it would be most ironic for us to look like." Orion suddenly grinned. "Take Hector. He looks like someone everyone liked, but he sucks."
"Thanks, buddy," Hector replied brightly, like Orion had just given him a compliment. They all chuckled, and the tension dissipated a bit.
"Don"t let it rattle you," Orion warned seriously, eyebrows lifted. "We"ve got other things to deal with tonight."
"I won"t," Lucas said firmly. "I know what I"m here for." He knew Orion understood that he was talking about protecting Helen.
Helen could hear lots of unfamiliar voices downstairs as more and more Scions arrived for the meeting of the Houses. She could feel the mounting tension through the floor like the deep thrumming of a subwoofer. Helen"s new sensitivity to emotions left her wide open to everyone else"s turmoil. She didn"t know all the details of the war twenty years ago, but she was certain that there were plenty of old scores that still needed settling. One story down, a toxic mixture of hatred, love, and loss threatened to explode into violence at any moment. It felt to Helen like she was standing on top of a bomb.
Helen tugged nervously at her outfit. It was a bit fancier than she was used to. She"d always been a sales-rack kind of girl, but Daphne had brought her a designer getup, insisting that it would make her feel more confident. Instead, it made her more nervous. Helen was pretty sure the b.u.t.tery-soft leather boots she wore were worth more than her entire wardrobe. She wondered where her mother got the money to pay for all the clothes, but decided she didn"t want to know. Daphne had no problem stealing priceless treasures from museums. Helen was pretty sure that department store security systems didn"t even show up on her radar.
For a moment Helen pictured her mother leaving a trail of mayhem behind her as she made her way from Newfoundland to Nantucket to get from Daedalus"s house to the meeting at the Deloses"-stolen cars, robbed stores, broken hearts piling up behind her as she traveled. Her mother had been back for an hour, and all Helen could think about was how many laws Daphne had broken since they last saw each other.
"Stop fidgeting," Daphne said. She pulled the chain around Helen"s neck and fished out the heart necklace, laying the charm over Helen"s clothes. "The House of Atreus is descended from Zeus, so it"s the highest ranking. We join the group second to last," Daphne said, coaching Helen. "Last, of course, is the Oracle."
Helen pulled away from her mother, reaching for a hairbrush to hide the fact that she didn"t want to be touched by her. Daphne noticed, anyway.
"It"s time. Everyone"s here," Daphne said brusquely.
"How do you know?" Helen asked.
"I recognize all their voices." Daphne laughed mirthlessly and tucked her hair behind her ear with her pinkie finger. "Some of the people downstairs I know better than I know you."
"And whose fault is that?"
"Not fault," Daphne said gently. "Choice. It was my choice, Helen, and it was the right one. You really were better off without me."
Helen opened her mouth to argue with Daphne, but stopped. As a Falsefinder, she could hear the truth in Daphne"s voice. Daphne wasn"t feeding her a line or trying to excuse herself for bad parenting. She really believed that she"d done the right thing and, thinking about her father still asleep just down the hall, Helen agreed. She had been better off without her mother. Daphne might have abandoned her, but she"d abandoned her to a better life-a happier life-with Jerry for a dad, and Claire and Matt as best friends. It must have taken a lot of discipline for Daphne to do that. Helen started to understand how fortunate she"d been. She"d had about seventeen years of normal life that had shaped her into the person she was now. And Daphne had been the one to give that to her, by leaving.
"Thank you," Helen whispered.
"You"re welcome," Daphne said back hollowly.
Surprised at her tone, Helen looked down at Daphne"s chest and saw nothing but a dark void-a gaping hole that went on and on, like an endless well of emptiness instead of a heart. She shrank away from her mother. The gesture was not lost on Daphne.
"What, Helen? What is it?" she asked.
"Your heart"s gone," Helen answered, too overwhelmed by the unnatural hole inside Daphne to remember to conceal her new talent.
"It died the day Ajax did," Daphne replied simply.
"But there"s nothing there. Not even a broken heart," Helen said, shaking her head. "You"re not sad or angry or hurt. You feel nothing. That can"t be natural." She locked eyes with Daphne and grabbed her wrist to keep her from moving away. "What did you do, Mother?" Daphne tried to pull away from Helen, but her daughter was too strong.
"Whatever was left of my feelings I traded in order to accomplish a goal. Women do it all the time. Scion women swear it before Hecate," Daphne said, her eyes narrowing with suspicion as a thought occurred to her. "But how can you know what I don"t feel?" Daphne murmured, more to herself than to Helen.
"Helen?" Andy said as she tapped on the door. "Are you in there?"
"Yes," Helen replied. She released her mother and quickly turned to the door. "Come in."
Andy pushed the door open tentatively and peeked into the room. "Noel is getting . . . ah . . . antsy is the only polite word I come up with right now. She says you and your mom need to get your b.u.t.ts downstairs before somebody murders somebody else and gets blood all over her clean floors." She smiled and held up her hands. "I"m quoting her, by the way."
"I"ll bet." Helen chuckled. "We"re coming."
There was still so much she and Daphne needed to talk about, but as usual where her mother was concerned, Helen was going to have to wait until later to get any answers. She and Daphne followed Andy out of Ariadne"s bedroom and down the hallway toward the stairs.
"My, my," Daphne said quietly as she followed Andy"s graceful silhouette. "Aren"t you a rare fish?"
Helen saw Andy"s back stiffen at Daphne"s taunt and her gait taper off to a stop.