Dreamless

body, felt him brace himself for one brief moment, and then she felt shafts of pain shoot from her temple to her toes.
    Orion was murmuring to her as he carried her out of the cold zone and into someplace slightly warmer, but Helen had no idea what he was saying. She was too busy trying not to throw up. The whole world was tilting and reeling, and she was desperate for Orion’s jarring steps to stop. Every time he planted a foot it felt like he was stepping on her head. Finally, he crouched down, cradling her across his lap, and she heard the snap of his lighter again.
    She could feel a warm glow from behind her closed eyelids as Orion lit a candle. Helen felt him brush her hair back from her temple and try his best to wrap her up inside his jacket, close to his skin. After a moment she started to feel a bit better.
    “Why do I feel so sick?” she asked when her voice had grown stronger.
    “Never had a concussion?” he asked in return, sounding almost amused. He squeezed her tighter in a brief hug. “It’s okay. You’re healing fast now that we’re away from the portal. You have your Scion powers back in this part of the cave, so you’ll be all better soon.”
    “Good,” she said with complete faith. If Orion said she was going to be okay, Helen knew she would be. After just a few more seconds, she felt nearly back to normal and she relaxed in his arms. But as she did, she felt him stiffen.
    “I have to leave you now,” he said in a gentle voice.
    “Huh?” Helen said, lifting her eyes to Orion’s. He looked at her sadly.
    “We’re back in the living world, Helen. They’re going to come for us.”
    As soon as he finished speaking, a pitiful sobbing came from everywhere at once. Orion dropped his head with a pained look and sighed heavily. In a sudden, violent motion, he kicked over the candle next to them, putting it out. He tried to push Helen out of his lap so he could stand and throw her off him in the sudden dark.
    Every muscle in Helen’s body went rigid, stopping him from bending forward and standing up. She put a firm hand against Orion’s chest, pushed him back, and threw a leg over him to pin him to the ground. A wave of rage broke over her as she squeezed his hips between her thighs.
    “You’re not going anywhere,” she said. Her voice was low and it cracked with hate.
    “No, Helen. Don’t,” Orion pleaded, but he knew it was too late.
    The Furies had Helen, and they were commanding her to kill Orion.

CHAPTER NINE
    Z ach drove around the island one final time just to make sure that Hector wasn’t following him, and then returned to his master’s ship. Hector might be an Outcast, but he was still funneling information to the Delos family, and Zach couldn’t afford to slip up. Automedon would do far worse than kill him if he accidentally led Hector to their base on the ship with the red sails.
    Killing the engine, Zach stared at the dock that led to the graceful yacht, bobbing gently on the night swells. His palms started to sweat and his stomach fluttered at the thought of walking down that row of planks and delivering his full report to Automedon. The face-to-face report was just a formality—Zach had emailed the entire text thread to his master as soon as he had stolen it—but Automedon liked reminding his minion that every second of his day belonged to his master.
    There was no way out of this for Zach. And it was all Helen’s fault. That bitch.
    He had just wanted to know what she had been hiding for all those years. He had tried to talk to her about it in private, but no matter how caring he had acted, she wouldn’t let him in. If she had just paid attention to him, maybe gone out with him a few times, none of this would have happened.
    Zach ended up getting all the answers he wanted—and much more that he didn’t. Automedon came from an era where the only difference between a free man and a slave was timing, and Zach was in the wrong place at the wrong time.
    Zach got out of his car and started down the gangplank, reminding himself that at least his master had respected him enough to be honest. He had even been given an important job. He was to spy on his former friends, especially Helen, and give his master any information he could gather about her quest in the Underworld. Dishonorable, but hey, it was a way in to this world, at least. Helen was a snob. And the Delos boys? They were all too busy buffing their pretty muscles and sleeping with every hot girl on the