Goddess (Starcrossed)

unarmed and half-naked, Hector did not flinch or show the least bit of fear. After a moment, the godly nimbus of light surrounding Apollo died down and the vision of armor vanished.
    “You really are him,” Apollo said, impressed. “Hector reborn. And I should know. I rode with him in his chariot at Troy.”
    Hector didn’t answer. He stared at his adversary, every muscle awake under his skin. Standing just inches away from his bare back, Andy could feel a storm churning inside of Hector. He wanted to fight this god, she realized.
    Apollo’s face twitched. He was afraid of Hector. For the first time in what seemed like ages, Andy felt something close to relief.
    “Soon, little son,” Apollo said, speaking about the confrontation that Hector so obviously wanted. “Soon we’ll be back on the battlefield, but this time I fight for Olympus, and you for your newly made Atlantis. And if Zeus doesn’t force us to resort to tricks like he did the last time, we’ll finally complete the Fates’ cycle and prove who is superior—the parents or their Scions.”
    Apollo leapt into the sky and flew away. Hector watched him go, thinking about what Apollo had just revealed. Andy knew she should be thinking about what the god had said as well, but all she could do was watch Hector. She was wondering how she could have ever mistaken him for Apollo.
    Sure, their features and build were the same, but Hector’s eyes were alive and full of emotion while Apollo’s were missing something crucial. Something human, she supposed. The god’s eyes had the dead-smooth quality of a marble sculpture while Hector’s were quick and fierce . . . so full of feeling they seemed to burn with it.
    “Thank you,” she whispered, her whole life owed to him in those two words.
    He glanced at her and nodded once, then abruptly turned to leave. He walked over to his shirt and shoes, heaped in a pile a ways up the beach. Andy followed his silent figure, stunned.
    “That’s it ?” she said, her voice pitching up incredulously at the end. “You aren’t even going to say one word to me? Just save my life, nod, and off you go like you do this every Tuesday or something?”
    Hector didn’t look at her. Angling his face away, he pulled his shirt over his head and reached down to grab his shoes.
    “Hey!” she shouted. He ignored her. “Hey!” She ran up to him, and pushed him as hard as she could.
    “What?” he said, frustrated, as he stumbled away from her.
    “What do you mean, what ?” she yelled back at him sarcastically.
    “I mean, what do you want from me, Andy? Do you want me to go, or stay, or drop dead? What? ”
    His eyes searched hers. They bounced back and forth, looking for something inside of her. Andy shrugged. She had no idea what he was looking for. He sat down in the sand with his shoes in his hand, like he was giving up.
    “I can’t do this with you. Not tonight,” he said quietly. “I just watched my brother get burned to a crisp right in front of me—”
    He stopped and looked away from her, his shoulders swelling with a deep breath. He caught and held it before it turned into tears. Andy knelt down on the sand next to him while he struggled, feeling horrible. He was barely keeping it together, but still he’d put all his other feelings aside and risked his life to save hers. And then she’d yelled at him. Not her classiest moment.
    “I’m sorry, Hector.” Andy touched his arm with the tips of her fingers. He leaned a tiny bit closer.
    “The worst part is not knowing where they went or how he’s doing,” he confided. “I hate that I can’t help them. You know?”
    She did. Hector was good at saving people. She had just seen for herself that Hector was the type of guy who would rather fight a god than feel useless. Not being able to do anything was probably the worst kind of torture for him.
    “Can Orion find them in the Underworld? Oh! Maybe he could even bring you with him? You could go get them,” she said, trying to be helpful.
    “Orion can’t find Helen. She’s the one who finds him when they meet in the Underworld,” Hector replied, shaking his head.
    “They spent all that time down there together, and they don’t have a set meeting place?”
    “Time and space aren’t like they are here, and Helen is the Descender, not Orion. He could look for her, but unless she knew that he was looking for her, and she went to him, they’d never meet up.” Hector pushed some sand around with his