Dreamless

charged through the sand, his blond curls glinting gold in the first flashing rays of the dawn.
    Her beloved Ajax, a true son of the sun, had come with the dawn to rescue her.
    Daphne tried to cry out with joy and found that she could do no more than wheeze through her swollen throat. Though it made her cracked lips bleed, she smiled at the sight of her beautiful husband, who was just about to take her in his arms and carry her far away from all danger. Just like he always did, before he was murdered.
    If Daphne could have cried then, she would have. Ajax was dead, she remembered anew, and it hurt as much as it had that first moment. Why struggle so hard to live when her beloved was waiting for her by the River Styx? She thought of the terrible lie she had told her daughter and for a moment she regretted leaving Helen to believe she was Lucas’s cousin, now that she was going to die. Her wounded body relaxed, her eyes still locked on her husband’s twin.
    The man’s thick thighs hit the water, somehow resisting the normal drag. Slipping beneath the surface, she saw him jackknifing through the waves. As her ears became submerged, Daphne heard Hector, son of Pallas, call out to the sea and ask it to support her surrendering body.
    Daphne felt her face tilted back toward the air, and took a ragged, choking breath. She hacked at the vile salt water bubbling up out of her lungs, trying and failing to say the words Myrmidon and Helen . But all she could see was Hector’s worried face. At the end of her endurance, Daphne finally lost consciousness.

CHAPTER SEVEN
    H elen didn’t see Orion for the next few days. She had to descend each night whether she wanted to or not, but she told him not to waste his time meeting her there until they had a plan.
    I’m better off alone for now , she texted while Claire drove to school. After all, the monsters think you’re the delicious one.
    Smart monsters. I am tasty.
    Says who?
    Don’t believe me? See for yourself.
    Yeah? How?
    Bite me.
    Helen burst out laughing. Claire looked over at her as they walked across the parking lot.
    “What are you two texting about?” Claire asked.
    “Nothing important,” Helen mumbled, hiding her phone in her bag.
    As she and Orion texted throughout the day, cracking jokes about how exhausting it was to lead a double life, Helen started to get the feeling that he was a little too relieved to be given a break.
    You don’t have to jump for joy at the thought of NOT seeing me tonight, you know , she typed testily on her way to lunch.
    NOT happy I won’t see you. Happy b/c I need to study. Can’t pay my board w/o full scholarship, and my broke ass has no place else to go. Bad grades=homeless Orion. ☹
    Helen stared at his text, her brow pinched together. She could tell he had put the frowny face at the end to make light of what he wrote, but it didn’t work. She thought about what it meant to have no place to live but boarding school.
    Where do you go over summer break? Christmas vacation? Do you just stay in the dorms by yourself?
    Oh boy. Can of worms . . . he texted after a long pause. Summers I work. Christmas I volunteer.
    What about when you were a little kid? When you were only 10? Helen remembered that he’d told her he’d been on his own since then. You couldn’t have had a job that young.
    Not in this country. Look, just drop it, okay? Class is starting.
    “Helen?” Matt asked, repressing a smile. “Are you going to text with Orion all through lunch?”
    “Sorry,” Helen said with a grim expression. She put her phone away, wondering what country Orion meant. She pictured him as a little boy, having to work in some horrendous sweatshop that condoned the use of child labor, and started to get angry.
    “Did something happen between you two?” Ariadne asked. “You seem upset.”
    “Nope. Everything’s fine,” Helen said as cheerfully as she could. Everyone was staring at her like they didn’t believe her, but she couldn’t tell them what the text was about. It was private.
    Orion sent her a “good luck in the Underworld” text that night, but he sent it so late that Helen didn’t get it until the next morning. It was obvious he was dodging her—probably because he didn’t want to talk about his childhood. Helen decided to let it go until he trusted her better. This was not something she could rush, but she was surprised to find that she didn’t mind waiting. So what if she had to work a bit harder to gain his