Dreamless

Ariadne’s taste. Matt had proven his loyalty to the House of Thebes many times over. Which was what made this current situation so puzzling. Matt usually made better choices and showed more sense than this.
    “You wouldn’t understand,” Matt replied sullenly.
    “Try us,” Lucas said, his internal temperature rising. He hated it when full mortals acted as if they were so different from Scions, as if they didn’t have all the same feelings.
    “If I told you what he told me, what would you have done to him? Questioned him? Beat him up?” Matt exploded. “The guy’s a compulsive liar. Most of what he says is bullshit, and that’s what I thought his warning was. He has no idea what he’s gotten himself into!”
    “And that’s supposed to make it all okay?” Jason said.
    The argument continued, getting more and more hurtful with every exchange. Lucas hadn’t been on Nantucket for very long, but he still had every single class with Matt at school. He spent more time with the guy than he did with his own father, and he couldn’t remember ever seeing him get angry before. Like Jason, Matt was levelheaded, but right now both of these usually calm individuals were so angry they could barely see straight. Everyone was riled up.
    This much discord isn’t natural , Lucas thought. Discord. The riots, the uncontrollable anger—even angelic, goody-two-shoes Helen had wanted to do something bad. It all added up.
    “Eris,” he said out loud. He felt like kicking himself. “Listen, everyone. If Ares tried to instigate some kind of conflict with Helen in the Underworld, then it only makes sense that his sister would try to do the same in the real world. The Truce doesn’t include her—she isn’t one of the Twelve. She can use her powers here on Earth.”
    “Oh, gods! Of course!” Cassandra passed a hand across her face and smiled up at him. “How did I miss that?”
    “Well, I had more to go on than you. I actually saw her,” he explained. “In the hallway with Helen while we were hiding. Eris and Ares look very similar, like they’re twins or something, except Ares is covered in blue dye. That’s what threw me.”
    “How can you know what Ares looks like?” Claire asked, her eyes drilling into Lucas. “The Greeks loathed him so much that they barely wrote any myths about him at all—let alone one that describes his appearance in an authoritative way.”
    Figures Claire would be the one to spot that , Lucas thought. He sighed and came clean.
    “I’ve seen Ares. I found a way down to the Underworld and I was there when Ares confronted Helen and Orion.”
    When everyone stared at him with dropped jaws, he went on to explain about the Getty robbery, what the obols could do, and how he had given one to Helen. He didn’t apologize for any of it.
    “And you didn’t tell us about this, why?” Ariadne asked through clenched teeth.
    “You wouldn’t have understood,” he said, consciously echoing what Matt had said a few moments ago. “All that matters is that Helen can dream again.”
    “Look, we’re all committed to protecting Helen, and if you’d come to us with this idea, you know we would have agreed to the robbery to save her life. So why’d you do it alone? Luke, what if you’d been seen?” Jason asked seriously. “The Getty is blanketed with surveillance cameras.”
    “Not an issue,” Lucas replied with certainty.
    Jason gave him a doubtful look, but Lucas shook his head once in warning. Jason knew him well enough to know that Lucas was trying to tell him something. He took the hint and dropped it for the time being, but Lucas knew his invisibility secret probably wouldn’t last the night now that Jason was suspicious. He was willing to let that one go as long as no one suspected his other, much more frightening secret.
    “Kids!” Noel shouted anxiously from the front door. Everyone reacted to the alarming tone in her voice.
    “Mom?” Lucas shouted back as he rose from his chair. A moment later, she appeared in the doorway, out of breath and looking around wildly as she counted heads. She didn’t get the number she was hoping for.
    “Where’s Helen?” she asked, her tension mounting.
    “I left her at work,” Lucas replied quickly.
    “Oh, no,” Noel whispered to herself, fumbling with her cell phone as she dialed a number. His father’s number, Lucas realized. Castor was still in Conclave with the Hundred. Leaving the meeting could be seen as a breach. Every decision