by Unknown
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most persistent vision she kept having was of one of these woman
waiting for Helen at her house like she lived there.
The woman let herself into Helens house with her own key and
turned on the TV like shed done it a million times, so at first Cass
didnt think there was any danger. Probably a relative Helen never
mentioned, right? Hector interjected. It wasnt until just a few
seconds before you walked in the door that she put it all together
and knew that she had been seeing Helens attacker all day long.
We tried to call you. . . .
But I had my phone shut off, Lucas finished for him, adding a
foul curse on the end. What did the woman waiting at Helens
house look like? Lucas asked urgently, trying to get a mental image
of the threat. Is she that brunette? Or the old woman who attacked
Kate?
Neither. Cassandra said she was unbelievably beautiful. Like
Helen, Jason replied.
Not just beautiful like Helenyoure telling it wrong, dumbass,
Hector interrupted. He wove through traffic like a madman,
blowing through red lights and passing cars illegally. Cassie said
this woman looked almost exactly like her. But whoever she is,
Cass is certain this woman is not on Creons side. He doesnt even
know hes being followed, which may or may not be good for us.
Why the hell wasnt someone guarding the house? Lucas
shouted in frustration, too upset to think about what Cassandras
vision meant yet.
Its my fault, Hector said, and then continued before his little
brother could argue. Shut up, Jase, Im the one who allowed her
to go off on her own after practice. It was my call, and I made it,
even though I knew in my gut it was wrong.
Lucas wanted to rip Hectors face off for taking the blame when
he knew whose fault it really was. He should have checked his
phone, he should have checked the house, he should have paid
more attention to Helens safety and less attention to her soft
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hands and warm skin. He scrubbed his hands over his face and
made himself take a series of deep breaths. He needed to trust
Hector to get them there, and then he needed to focus and be ready
for whatever they encountered. If he was going to be at all useful,
he was going to have to shut up and calm down.
When they got to Helens house, the TV and the lights were off
and the front door was locked. Lucas flew up to Helens bedroom
window, which he knew she always forgot to latch. He let himself
in and then went downstairs to open the front door for the others.
Nothing was taken and nothing was disturbed in the entire house.
It was as if Helen hadnt even put up a fight.
She must have known the woman and gone with her willingly,
Hector said, tossing up his hands. Its the only reason this place
isnt melting.
Unless whoever kidnapped her is just that good, Jason added.
What are you talking about? Hector said derisively. Helens a
full-on monster now with her lightning. I dont care who this evil
twin is, no one is that good.
Twin, Lucas repeated, thinking. It could be that simple. Shed
have the same lightning, the same strength, and a lot more
experience.
The brothers looked at him as he got down on his hands and
knees and examined the floor. He reached under an end table and
came up with a drained hypodermic needle.
That rules out Helen going willingly. Whoever she was, she
came prepared. And she must have known about the cestus and
how it works, or she never would have been able to penetrate
Helens skin, Lucas said, his breath catching only slightly when he
said her name.
He handed the needle to Jason and dropped back down to examine
the floor one last time, in case he missed something. When he
was satisfied, he stood up and looked through his cousins instead
of at them, still thinking. Then he went to the windows by the door
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and looked out at the raging storm. Lucas watched mini mudslides
slosh down Helens driveway and out into the street and knew that
any path Helen might have left would be long gone.
Was there anything else in Cassandras vision? Lucas asked
hopefully.
The last thing she said was that she thought Helen would still be
safe tomorrow morning, Jason replied, shaking his head doubtfully.
Cass had a brief flash of Helen standing in a window that
looked like some kind of hotel on Nantucket, but she couldnt be
sure.
Maybe Cass has seen something else, Hector said as optimistically
as he could. He opened his phone and tried to dial, but a NO
SIGNAL sign was flashing on his screen. Check your phones, he said
to his brother and cousin. Neither of them could connect a call,
either.
Lucas went into Helens kitchen and checked her landline for a
dial tone, but it was dead. As he joined his cousins back in the
entryway, the power in the house went out. Jason went over to the
window and looked at the other houses in the area.
The whole block is out, he said. And massive lightning bolts
are headed this way. I guess were stuck here for a while.
You two stay here in case Helen gets free and makes her way
back, Lucas said as he turned for the door.
Where the hell do you think youre going? Hector demanded,
grabbing Lucas by the shoulder and trying to turn him around.
Dont, Lucas warned quietly. They stared at each other until
Hector finally backed down and removed his hand from Lucass
shoulder.
Just stay out of the sky, he cautioned. Youre no good to her
dead.
Lucas strode off into the dark storm without responding. He was
frustrated with not being able to fly and trying to think of where to
start. If he could get airborne he could see around, get his bearings
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and look for anything suspicious, but the storm had him completely
grounded. It suddenly occurred to him that if he had just
drugged a girl who was known on sight by most of the locals of a
tiny island, he would want to get off that island as soon as possible,
and if Lucas was grounded, all air travel was almost certainly canceled
as well. The only way to get Helen off island would be by
boat, and even that was a long shot. Going out on the water would
be suicide.
He ran to the dock, where he learned that the last ferry had left
over an hour earlier and that the coast guard had officially suspended
all travel in and out of the marina and airport while the storm
lasted. New England was going to get pummeled with a good oldfashioned
noreaster that night, and the impassable weather would
probably last into the next day. Lucas relaxed a little when he
heard that. Hed left Helen less than an hour earlier, after the last
ferry had already departed, so the chances were high that she was
still on isl
and. Hopefully, she was in a hotel, and relatively safe.
He wasted a few more hours wandering in and out of every motel
and bed-and-breakfast near the ferry, asking if two women had
checked in that evening. Unfortunately, although there were a lot
of people stranded on the island and filling up the hotels due to the
storm, there were none that fit Helens description. Lucas knew it
was futile. No Scion would be stupid enough to walk into a hotel
with an unconscious girl slung over her shoulder and ask for a
room. Whoever had taken Helen may have broken in someplace, or
even bribed someone at the desk, but either way, Lucas knew they
werent going to announce themselves. He was chasing his own
tail, but still, he couldnt give up. He checked back at home, found
out what Cassandra had seen in her next vision while hed been
gone, and then ran back into the storm before his father could even
start to argue.
The wind was so strong it was tearing down trees and taking
apart the stoic Nantucket architecture. Even Lucas, as strong as he
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was, had to switch over into his supermassive state to stay
anchored to the ground as bits and pieces of peoples houses
tumbled down the streets around him. His bare face was getting
lashed by the swirling debris in the air, and the sideways rain was
clawing at his eyes. All night he wandered around outside every
hotel, inn, and bed-and-breakfast he could think of, looking in the
windows with eyes that could see in even the dimmest of light,
hoping for a glimpse of Helen.
He knew he wouldnt get it. Cassandra had told him that Helen
would be standing in a hotel window the next morning, but he still
couldnt make himself stop. He wouldnt stop, because if by some
miracle he did find her, take her out of that hotel, and bring her
back to her family, he could prove Cassandra wrong. All he needed
was to beat Fate once and he would know that he was the master of
himselfnot just a prewritten story that gets reread every now and
again to amuse the cosmosbut a truly blank slate that he would
be allowed to fill with whatever future he decided to write for himself.
If he could just find Helen that night and bring her home, then
he knew that someday they would beat Fate, and that they could be
together.
He walked all night.
Helens head was pounding and there was a sour, chalky taste in
the back of her mouth, like she had chewed an aspirin and didnt
rinse afterward. Her eyes felt swollen and puffy, and the skin on
her face felt clammy and hot, but she didnt feel as dehydrated as
she usually did when she visited the dry lands. This was different.
Shed been drugged, she suddenly remembered, by a woman. A
woman that looked just like her, but older.
Take a sip, said a voice as Helen felt a straw being pressed to
her lips. Her eyes flipped open and she saw the woman again, leaning
over her and holding a glass of water.
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Who are you? Helen asked, her voice crackling. She jerked her
mouth away from the suspicious glass of liquid and felt her arms
strain against bonds. She was tied to a bed. Still unbearably weak
from whatever drug she had been given, Helen knew it would be a
while before she was strong enough to break free. She looked
around frantically. She was in a hotel room that was lit by candles.
It was still night, and she could hear wind and rain battering the
window behind the closed curtain.
Look at me, Helen! Who do you think I am? the woman asked
so forcefully it momentarily stopped Helen from panicking. Here,
I know youll need proof. I would.
The woman took out an envelope full of pictures. They were pictures
of herself, when she was in her late teens. In one picture she
was holding a tiny baby. In another she was sitting and talking to a
young Mrs. Aoki while two baby girls, one blonde, one blackhaired,
played together on the floor. In yet another she was kissing
Jerry over her swollen, pregnant belly.
Beth, Helen whispered, her eyes darting over the pictures that
she had spent a hefty portion of her childhood searching for.
My real name is Daphne. Daphne Atreus. I guess it would be too
much to ask for you to call me Mom, huh? Daphne said with a
wry smile.
Helen gestured to her bound wrists. You guessed right, she
replied, starting to get angry. You want to tell me why you
knocked me out and tied me up?
Because we are out of time, and if I were you I would hate me so
much I wouldnt even give me a second to explain, Daphne replied
with a loving look on her face. Unless I had been knocked out and
tied down first.
Helen glared at her, furious and still groggy from the drug. What
do you want from me?
Daphnes face and body began to shift, not just changed in mood,
but in shape. One moment Helen was looking at an older version of
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herself, and the next moment she was looking at a woman in her
sixties with salt-and-pepper hair. Before Helen could even gasp,
the dowdy woman disappeared and was replaced by a brunette in
her late thirties. Then that woman disappeared and Helen was
looking at her mother again. She held up Helens heart-shaped
necklace in one hand and touched her own identical necklace with
the other.
There are a lot of things I need to tell you about who you are and
where you come from. Things that are going to hurt you, Daphne
said in a direct, almost brutal way. But I dont have any choice.
Creon is on this island right now, and he is coming for you.
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UNCORRECTED E-PROOFNOT FOR SALE
HarperCollins Publishers
.....................................................................
Chapter Sixteen
At around eight oclock in the morning, Lucas finally accepted
the fact that he had run out of time. The sun was
up. It was the next day, and Helen was probably already
standing in a hotel window somewhere, in fulfillment of
Cassandras prophecy. He knew his best bet would be to
give up, go home, and wait for his little sister to see something else,
even if it half killed him to admit that. He hadnt beaten Fate.
Again.
Lucas saw the Pig still parked out in front of his house, and had
to sneak in. It looked like Jerry, Kate, and Claire had all been
forced to spend the night to wait out the storm, and that meant
Jerry and Kate still didnt know that Helen was missing. As far as
they knew, Helen was safe at home and stranded there with all
three Delos boys on the other side of the island. Lucas knew that lie
wouldnt hold up much longer, but he decided someone else was
going to have to think up a new cover story to tell Jerry. He
couldnt control his emotions about Helen long enough to convince
anyone she was still safe, let alone her father.
Lucas flew in through his window and paced around his r
oom for
another hour. He was vaguely aware of the fact that he should eat
or rest or dry off, but the only thought he could keep in his head
was the thought of Helen. Cass would know it if she was injured,
wouldnt she?
The houseguests woke and went downstairs. Lucas heard Claires
phone buzzing with text alerts, and knew that the phones were
back on. He listened from his room while Jerry and Kate tried to
call Helen. When she didnt answer either her cell or the phone at
the Hamilton household, they got worried and decided to go back
home to see if she was there. The roads were a mess, but even
though that would slow them down, Lucas knew he only had a few
more hours tops to find Helen before her dad realized she was
missing and called the police. As soon as Jerry and Kate departed,
Lucas met Hector and Jason on the stairs as all three of them came
out from hiding in their rooms at the same time.
Bro, put a clean shirt on, at least! Hector admonished as soon
as he saw Lucas.
Leave it, Lucas mumbled, shaking his head and trying to pass
his cousins, but Jason stepped in front of him.
Dont you think your mom is worried enough as it is? Go clean
up before you come downstairs, Jason said quietly.
It was a guilt trip, pure and simple, but Jason was still right. Lucas
nodded and pulled his shirt off over his head on his way to the
bathroom. He washed, dressed, and met the rest of his family
down in the kitchen. Even so, everyone stared at him when he
walked in the room, and his mother looked like she had seen a
ghost. Lucas checked his edges and realized that he was blurring
himself. His mom always got upset when he did that because she
knew that meant that he was upset. He made a conscious effort to
let the light do what it wanted, and sat down in a corner, his eyes
on Cassandra. Then the sound of bickering made him realize that
Claire was there.
What are you still doing here? Jason was saying in a dismayed
voice. Why didnt you go back with them?
Im not going anywhere until we find Lennie, Claire huffed
back at him.
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We? Jason sputtered, but Claire held up an imperious hand
and fished her vibrating phone out of her back pocket.
Guys? Claire said, looking at the incoming number. Its
Helen.
Let me talk to her, Lucas demanded as he jumped up out of his