Dreamless

could think himself hot—really hot—almost as if he were on fire. But he didn’t have time to deal with that odd new talent right now. It only took him a second before he was landing in his backyard.
    The guilt hit him as soon as he touched down, and he started looking around for his little sister. He shouldn’t have left her alone at school for Helen. Now that the Fates plagued her nearly every day, Cassandra was even more fragile than a fully mortal child. It took all of her strength to just survive each possession, and the fact that she did survive when so many past Oracles had died made Lucas suspect she was probably stronger than he was. But as strong as she was, after a possession she barely had enough strength left to breathe.
    The other day he had found Cassandra sitting halfway up the stairs, slumped over and panting. After half a dozen steps, she’d been so worn out that she’d had to rest a minute and catch her breath. Lucas had carried her to her room, but it had been a struggle for him to go near her. She still had the aura of the Fates clinging to her, and although Lucas loved his little sister dearly, the Fates sent a chill down his spine.
    Even Cassandra was scared of them, and she had to suffer their presence inside of her several times a week now. Lucas couldn’t know exactly what that kind of physical and mental intrusion felt like, but from the way she looked afterward, he assumed it had to be like rape.
    The fact that this was happening to his baby sister, and that there was nothing he could do to stop it, made him very angry.
    Striding across the back lawn toward the house, Lucas struggled to control his rage, reminding himself that he needed to be more careful. So many things made him angry these days. Since that disastrous dinner when he’d struck his father, he had developed a “side effect” that was tied to his anger.
    He discovered it in full at Helen’s track meet when he saw her surrounded by the Hundred, but it didn’t start there. It had started with his father, just a small seed at first. But it was growing.
    Part of him wondered if it would be easier if he talked to Jason or Cassandra about it, but he couldn’t bring himself to do that just yet. It would only worry his family more if they knew. Hell, it worried him .
    Lucas had almost told Helen in the hallway earlier that day, but he couldn’t spit the words out for the life of him. Helen had been so afraid of Creon, and Lucas didn’t know if he could bear it if Helen started looking at him like that. He still hadn’t decided if he should talk about it with anyone, even though the reality was that eventually his all-knowing, all-seeing little sister would find out.
    “Cassandra?” Lucas called out as he entered the kitchen. “Jase?”
    “We’re in here,” Jason called from the library.
    Jason’s voice didn’t sound right. He was tense, but Lucas assumed it was because he was still angry with Claire for disappearing with Helen all day and making them worry. The way Jason was handling the situation with Claire really frustrated Lucas. He wanted his cousin to wake up and realize that he’d been given a gift. He’d fallen for someone he could actually have.
    The heavy double doors to the library were tilted open, and even before Lucas entered the room he could feel the tension and hear the barely controlled anger in everyone’s polite voices.
    “Where were you?” Cassandra asked with narrowed eyes. She’d been grilling him about his whereabouts a lot lately, even though half the time she already knew the answer.
    “What’s going on?” Lucas asked instead of answering her.
    “Matt finally decided to share something with us,” Jason said tightly. He was so furious his cheekbones were flushed. Lucas had seen that particular shade of red before, and he knew firsthand how hard it was to get Jason that angry. He looked at Matt and raised his eyebrows questioningly.
    “I’ve been in touch with Zach. He called me the night before last, and warned me that something was going to happen today, but he didn’t know what, exactly,” Matt replied heavily.
    “Why didn’t you say anything, Matt?” Ariadne asked in a hurt voice. “Even if Zach didn’t know the specifics, why didn’t you warn us?”
    There’s another problem just waiting to happen , Lucas thought. But there was no way around it. Scions tended to fall in love young because they tended to die young. At least Lucas couldn’t find any fault in