Dreamless

crossed her mind. Blurry vision, disrupted balance, and hot and cold flashes were all known side effects of sleep deprivation. So was dementia. It was possible that she had imagined the whole thing, including the voice.
    Helen knew she couldn’t afford to panic. She shook off the fear. Jogging a ways down the street, she made sure no one was watching and then took to the air. Moments later, she landed in the Deloses’ arena, right next to Ariadne and Matt, who were already in the middle of a training session. Matt screamed like a little girl.
    “What the hell, Lennie!” He scrambled through the sand to regain his lost footing. “You just fell out of the frigging sky!”
    “Sorry! I didn’t think,” Helen apologized.
    She’d forgotten that Matt had never really seen her fly, but she had been so surprised that Matt and Ariadne were practicing openly that she had forgotten to come in for an easy landing. She was about to ask if Matt had somehow convinced Ariadne’s father that he should be trained when she heard Claire cracking up in the corner.
    “Jeez, Matt! I haven’t heard you hit a note that high since the fifth grade.” Claire cradled the leather-bound book she was reading to her chest as she shook with laughter.
    “Ha. Ha.” Apparently, Matt was not up to being teased just then. He turned to Helen with a stern face. “What are you doing out here, Len? Aren’t you supposed to be in the library with Cassandra?”
    “What’s the point? Claire is ten times the researcher I am. I’d just get in her way, taking books out of the library that I don’t understand half as well as she could.” Helen made an expressive gesture toward Claire, who somehow managed to bow magnanimously while she was still sitting down. “Right now, studying isn’t what I need. I need Ariadne to train me.”
    Ariadne looked at Helen doubtfully. “Helen? You know I adore you and all, but I’m so not about to get electrocuted. Why don’t you fly to the mainland and find a nice, big tree to set on fire and we’ll call it even?”
    “You’re not understanding me,” Helen said forcefully.
    All eyes turned to her and she froze. Helen fleetingly realized that she could sound too strong, maybe even a bit scary when she lost her temper. She looked down and saw her hands were blue with static and extinguished the growing bolt immediately. Shaking her head to clear it, Helen redirected her wandering attention and calmed herself. She knew her mind was not entirely grounded anymore and that she needed to be careful.
    “Then explain it to me. What don’t we understand?” Ariadne said reasonably.
    “I need to learn how to fight hand to hand without my powers. I need to be able to beat someone at least as big and as strong as Matt without using an ounce of my Scion strength or any of my other talents.”
    “Is there a reason why?” Claire asked bluntly.
    “Last night in the Underworld, Orion and I ran into Ares.”
    Dumbstruck looks bounced around the arena. Helen’s fuzzy brain registered a few hours too late that she probably should have called someone or given someone a heads-up about the whole Ares thing. Meeting a god was a really big deal. She had been so preoccupied with what had happened between her and Orion in the cave that she hadn’t even considered the ramifications of what had happened before that, when the two of them were still in the Underworld.
    What had happened between them was more important to Helen than a god, especially now that she was beginning to suspect Orion was purposely avoiding her. Still, she should have remembered to tell someone about Ares. Why can’t I control my thoughts anymore? Helen wondered blearily.
    Because you need me. Come. I can give you the sweetest of dreams .
    Helen spun around in a circle and looked for the source of the voice. After one rotation, it became clear that the voice was in her mind again. She took a few breaths and shook her head to clear it of all the skittering cobwebs that were tracing bright, ghostly paths across her eyes.
    “Helen? Are you okay?” Ariadne asked, touching Helen’s elbow gently with her Healer hands. Helen smiled at Ariadne’s kindness but pulled her arm away.
    “Ares ran from Orion because it’s obvious that with or without his powers, Orion knows how to fight. But I don’t,” Helen said, reining in her focus by sheer force of will. “I need to learn how to stand up to Ares on my own.”
    Especially if Orion hated her now and never