Starcrossed

a bit much,” she said as she leaned against Lucas.
    “You could have fried about fifty people,” Ariadne murmured distractedly, looking from Helen to the irregular sheet of glass.
    “I don’t want to fry fifty people. Fifty French fries, sure. Who wouldn’t want fifty French fries? Delicious,” Helen said. She felt herself give a goofy grin.
    “The electricity makes her a little confused,” Lucas explained to his siblings in an embarrassed tone. “I hope it isn’t bad for her.”
    “It’s not the voltage, Lucas. It’s severe dehydration!” Cassandra chastised. “Her body is built to handle electricity. It’s the drain of the fluids out of her tissues that makes her seem like an airhead. And that isn’t permanent or damaging, so stop worrying.”
    In the kitchen, Helen put her lips under the faucet. Everyone waited patiently for Helen to drink her fill while they stared at one another behind her back. She could feel their fear. It was exactly why she had suppressed her power to begin with. That power was so intense, so destructive, it was impossible for anyone to trust it.
    Helen shut off the tap and turned to face them. “Did I just freak everyone out?” she asked.
    “Yeah,” Lucas said, his face a mask. Helen’s throat closed and her whole body went still. She kept her eyes on Lucas, but she was waiting for any one of them to condemn her for going too far. Lucas looked at Helen and smiled at her. He smiled like he was proud of her.
    “But that’s our problem, not yours,” he said firmly. “There’s nothing wrong with what you can do. There’s nothing wrong with you .”
    “Plus, I bet you’re real good at making s’mores,” Ariadne added.
    “But the real question is, can she do it without liquefying the chocolate?” Jason asked, like he was some kind of s’mores guru. Helen looked from face to face, her heart aching a bit with gratitude to find nothing but acceptance and compassion wherever her eyes landed.
    After all the talk of French fries and s’mores, everyone had junk food on the brain, so they headed to a local mom-and-pop burger shack by the beach. When Helen and Lucas got up to the counter, the cashier reached out to touch Helen’s necklace.
    “It’s a sea horse! I love sea horses,” the woman enthused, raising her hand to touch it, and dropping it again in embarrassment. Helen thanked her—because she would have felt rude if she didn’t—put in her order with Lucas and then they sat down in one of the booths, where they looked at each other, confused.
    “Your necklace isn’t a sea horse, it’s a heart,” Lucas disagreed vehemently.
    “What are you talking about, Luke?” Hector said, sounding disparaging. “Helen’s necklace is a cockleshell. Always has been, although I just noticed it today. Weird,” he said, twisting up his face in confusion.
    “Nuh-uh,” Jason said with a disagreeing grimace. “It’s a strawberry. I was just looking at it this morning.”
    “Heart,” Lucas insisted.
    “Has everyone lost their minds? She’s wearing a golden key with pavé rubies on the top,” Ariadne said, reaching out to touch it. “Which, by the way, I think is so lovely.”
    Helen, still a little punch-drunk with dehydration, got up and went over to a pair of complete strangers at another booth. She smiled at the two shocked tourists, pointed to her necklace, and asked the man closest to her what he thought it looked like.
    “A rose. Of course,” he said with a hopeful smile. His friend leaned in and took a look, as if he were drawn to it.
    “That’s a locket,” he said with a faraway look in his eye. “Just like my mom used to wear.”
    “Thanks,” Helen said to them, then turned and went back to her table with a shrug. “You’re all wrong, except for Lucas. My mom gave me this charm when I was a baby. It’s a heart, and I’ve never worn anything but this heart since, like, forever.”
    “That’s what I see!” Cassandra said like she had just solved a mystery. “I’ve been wondering what everyone was talking about!”
    Helen sat back down next to Lucas. “Personally, I think you all see what you want to see.”
    Cassandra’s mouth dropped open. “Oh my gods! She’s projecting! That’s why everyone is so cheerful and suddenly started jumping on top of each other like it’s mating season at the zoo.” she said. Her eyes were wide. She looked at Hector. “I need to go home right now.”
    “But . . . our burgers,” he said,