Starcrossed

combat is not something she ever has to fear.”
    “So no more chaperone?” Helen asked, raising her eyes from her empty water bottle. The Delos kids looked at each other, shrugging.
    “I guess not,” Hector finally concluded. “At least not until Cassandra foresees a threat. Then, I don’t care how lethal you are, one of us will be with you at all times again.”
    “May I go until then?” Helen asked, looking at Hector and waiting politely for permission. He nodded. She bowed to him and then jumped into the air.
    “Wait, Lennie!” Claire shouted up at her. “We were going to throw you a party. Kate made you a cake!”
    Helen saw Claire, saw how worried she was, but she couldn’t do what Claire wanted. She couldn’t pretend to be cheerful. Not for a few hours while everyone threw her a party, not for half an hour to let them at least sing “Happy Birthday” and scarf down some cake, and not even for the five minutes it would take to explain to Claire why she couldn’t do any of those things.
    “Love you,” she called out to her best friend before she flew away. She thought she heard Jason say something like “Lucas is the same” while she pulled open the door and soared out, but she might have imagined it.
    She didn’t have a destination or a time limit—she only knew that she wasn’t allowed off island. She’d given Lucas her word, and she wasn’t about to break it now. Helen needed so desperately for their promises to be true, she wasn’t willing to break any of them—not even the one that might bring her some comfort. She might never get to go to Patagonia with Lucas, but the least she could do to keep faith between them was to not fly over the ocean until he told her it was okay.
    She could, however, go right to the edge. She’d avoided Great Point for the past week—not because she was worried she’d break down and cry if she went there, but because she was worried she wouldn’t. She was starting to get frightened that she would never going to feel anything again. That she would become as sterile and lifeless as one of those pale flowers she saw in her nighttime wandering. She had enough sense to ask herself why she was reacting the way she was, but not enough clarity to discover the answer. Until she saw Lucas sitting on top of the lighthouse.
    He was perched right on the edge of the catwalk that wrapped around the glass dome at the top of the lighthouse, watching the last bit of the day drag itself down behind the horizon. A storm was gathering over the water, and the fruit-punch colors of the sunset seemed to be trying to claw their way out of the rain clouds. His skin was painted with that dying light and he was, as always, beautiful.
    Then Helen understood why she was pent up like a dam instead of bawling like a waterfall. She wasn’t sad. She was furious.
    As she flew toward him, he saw her and stood. Helen didn’t land on the catwalk. Instead, she floated in front of him, claiming the air for herself. For a moment, they just stared at each other, both of them too overwhelmed to break the silence with speech.
    “What are you doing here?” Lucas said at last, his sunken eyes wide and hungry for the sight of her. Helen ignored his stupid question and said the first thing that came to mind.
    “Why didn’t you tell me?” she demanded, angry and hurt and not sure what she wanted to hear from him. “Right from the start. Why couldn’t you at least explain to me why we couldn’t be together?”
    “If you wanted to know, why didn’t you just answer the phone one of the thousand times I’ve called you this past week?” he demanded in return, just as angry and hurt as she was.
    “Stop it! Stop asking me questions when you’re the one with all the answers!” she bellowed at him, finally feeling the hitch and sting of tears in her throat.
    The dam was about to burst, and she knew that what was going to come out would be ugly, red-faced sobbing. She had to get as far away from Lucas as possible. She summoned one of the turbulent storm winds to yank her body away and take her wherever it chose, but Lucas felt her recklessness. He dove into the air and caught her before she could be chewed up by the storm she was so drastically underestimating. As soon as he had her safe again in his arms he broke down and kissed her.
    Helen was so stunned she stopped crying before she had a chance to start and nearly fell out of the sky. Still the better flyer, Lucas caught her and