Dreamless

else was nearly finished.
    “Where’s Lucas?” Noel asked, craning her head anxiously to look behind Helen.
    “Jumped out a window,” Helen answered. She got a mug and poured herself some coffee. Lifting her head, she noticed that everyone was staring at her. “I’m not kidding. We bumped into each other in the hallway and when he saw me, he literally jumped out a window. Anyone want coffee?”
    “Did he say where he was going?” Jason asked with obvious concern.
    “Nope,” she said evenly.
    Helen’s hands were shaking, but she stirred some cream into her mug and took a drink, anyway. In the state she was in, she figured it might actually steady her. She felt like her whole body was hot and cold at the same time.
    “Helen? Are you feeling ill?” Noel asked with narrowed eyes.
    Helen shook her head uncertainly. It was impossible for a Scion to come down with a mortal sickness, yet when she ran a hand across her forehead, it came back wet with sweat. Still staring at her hand, Helen heard an electric car cruise quietly up to the house and stop.
    “Lennie! Get your butt out here and help us with these books!” Claire yelled from the driveway.
    Helen turned to look out the window behind her and saw Claire and Matt getting out of Claire’s car. Grateful for the interruption, Helen scurried out from under Noel’s piercing look to help them.
    “We hear you have an ant problem,” Claire said through a grin, and started stacking books on Helen’s outstretched arms.
    “Because that’s exactly what I need, right?” Helen laughed ruefully. “More problems.”
    “Don’t worry, Len. We’ll split up into groups and tackle this in shifts. We’ll figure it out.” Matt sounded so certain. He shouldered a backpack full of books, closed the trunk, and put an arm over Helen’s shoulders as they walked together toward the house. “Claire and I didn’t join PETA’s most wanted list for nothing, you know.”
    As Helen, Claire, and Matt were just about to go back inside, they heard Castor and Pallas saying their good-byes and decided to let the Delos family have a moment alone. From what Helen could gather, Conclave was a big deal, like a Supreme Court trial and an international summit meeting combined. Once it started, no one was allowed to leave until a course of action was decided upon, so sometimes these meetings could take weeks.
    Helen tried not to listen in too much while they hugged and said their good-byes, but she couldn’t help herself when she overheard Castor privately pulling Noel aside to ask if Lucas was coming or not.
    “I don’t know where he went. He could be in Tibet by now,” Noel replied, sounding like she was on her last nerve. “I was hoping he’d go with you to New York for a few weeks. Get him out of here and give him a chance to . . .”
    “A chance to what?” Castor asked sadly when Noel ran out of things to say. “Just leave him be.”
    “I have left him be, and it’s obviously not helping!” Noel said. “He’s so angry all the time now, Caz, and I think it’s getting worse—not better.”
    “I know. He’s changed, Noel, and I think we’re going to have to accept that it might be permanent. I was hoping he’d just hate me , but it seems like he hates the whole world,” Castor said heavily. “And I honestly don’t blame him. Could you imagine if someone had separated us like I separated them?”
    “You had no choice. They’re cousins. That’s not something that’s going to change,” Noel said emphatically. “Still, if your father did to us what you did to Lucas—”
    “I don’t know what I would have done to him,” Castor said as if he couldn’t even think about it. Helen heard them kiss and immediately switched off her Scion hearing.
    “Let’s go to the library and get to work!” she suggested loudly to Claire and Matt, and started walking around the house to use another entrance. Her mind was racing.
    Had Castor really separated her and Lucas, and if so, how? Helen thought back over the outburst at dinner, and realized that Lucas had been just as angry with Castor as he was with her—maybe more. Had Lucas hurt her because his father had ordered him to?
    “Len? You know I love you, but you really need to stop spacing,” Claire said with a cute grimace. Helen looked around and realized that she had paused in the middle of the hallway on the way to the library, like her legs had just quit or something.
    “Sorry!” she said, and rushed to