Starcrossed

in ‘The Face That Launched a Thousand Ships’ thing. I used to hate that part in the Iliad . I even laughed at it,” he said. Then he paused and shook his head ruefully as he raised his eyes to the sky for a moment, mentally kicking himself. “It’s ridiculous, when you think about it. A ten-year war because some selfish coward ran off with an unfaithful woman? It made me angry, and I hated Paris and Helen for being so weak. Then I did something very, very stupid. I swore I would never have made the same choices they did—that I would have been stronger. Then, two weeks later, I saw your face for the first time.”
    “Wait,” Helen said. She blinked with thirst, fatigue, and shock. “I’m not some spoiled queen who left her husband, ran off with another guy, and destroyed an entire city. I don’t care what my rotten mother named me, I’m nothing like Helen of Troy.”
    “It doesn’t matter what either of our mothers named us,” he said with an ironic laugh. “Trust me.”
    “Hamilton!” yelled Coach Tar, clutching her clipboard and marching toward them with her eyes wide. “Are you on fire ?!”
    Helen looked at where Coach was pointing and realized that the ground all around her was seared and black. The exit door looked like something out of a Dali painting.
    Luckily, Lucas was a fantastic liar. As a bevy of teachers came rushing to their aid, he explained that there had been some kind of electrical sparking from above the door, suggesting that perhaps the exit sign had shorted. He and Helen had run outside to stomp out the sparks that had drifted onto the grass. As he wove his story, Helen could hear how honest he sounded, how convincing. She nodded every time he looked at her, knowing that she needed to keep her mouth shut or she’d ruin the whole thing. Since the fire was obviously electrical and the only possible source was the exit sign, the story was believed.
    Helen and Lucas insisted they were uninjured, but as a precaution they were told to go to the nurse’s office for a quick checkup. Just before Lucas led her away, Helen spotted Zach staring at them from the crowd, his eyes frightened and resentful. He knew they’d caused the fire. Helen touched Lucas’s shoulder and pointed Zach out, and Lucas nodded, understanding her meaning perfectly.
    “So much for letting it blow over,” she murmured ruefully.
    “We’ll discuss it tonight with my family. Cassie will know what to do,” he whispered, taking her sooty hand in one of his and texting his cousins with the other as they walked down the hall to the nurse.
    Mrs. Crane checked them over, shook her head in wonder, and declared them both perfectly well enough to go home, or even back to practice if they wanted, though she gave both of them a nonsensical lecture about hanging around under electrical death traps.
    Then she looked at Helen’s necklace and smiled sweetly. “I’ve always loved butterflies,” she murmured, lightly touching Helen’s charm, before shooing them both out of her office in her stern but kindly way.
    Helen and Lucas beat everyone else back to the Delos compound, deciding once they arrived that they were entitled to a few moments of relaxation before they began what Helen had started thinking of as her superhero lessons. They stopped in the kitchen to get Helen another bottle of water and then went for a little fly.
    “Jase and Hector will call when they’re home from practice. We’ve still got about another hour or so,” Lucas said confidently when they touched down in the dunes. They walked down to the half-damp sand that was flat and firm and perfect for a stroll.
    “We’re supposed to have our first track meet next weekend,” Helen said suddenly, biting her lip with worry. “I don’t know if Coach’ll let me run after missing so many practices.”
    “Yeah, about that,” Lucas said, sighing heavily and making her stop and face him. “You need to quit track.”
    Helen stared at him for a moment. “Quit track? Are you nuts? How else am I going to get a scholarship?”
    “That doesn’t matter anymore,” Lucas said, shaking his head.
    “Doesn’t matter? Lucas, this is my life you’re talking about.”
    “Exactly. You’ve been attacked, how many times now? We still don’t know who those women are. And I don’t think you realize just how big a threat Creon is even with me standing right next to you, let alone when you go running off by yourself across the island. This is your life