Starcrossed

her pinkie finger,” Jason began. The truck pulled out and Lucas and Jason jumped onto it. They eased themselves inside as the truck sped off into the punishing wind and rain.
    “Then Cass said she kept seeing flashes of several different women, over and over,” Jason continued. “She didn’t know why she was having visions about women that she didn’t recognize and that didn’t seem to have anything to do with each other. It took a while, but Cass finally noticed that they all had exactly the same way of putting their hair behind their ear, like a nervous tic. Because of that, Cass realized that they were all the same person, and the most persistent vision she kept having was of one of these women waiting for Helen at her house like she lived there.”
    “The woman let herself into Helen’s house with her own key and turned on the TV like she’d done it a million times, so at first Cass didn’t think there was any danger. Probably a relative Helen never mentioned, right?” Hector interjected. “It wasn’t until just a few seconds before you walked in the door that she put it all together and knew that she had been seeing Helen’s attacker all day long. We tried to call you. . . .”
    “But I had my phone shut off,” Lucas finished for him, adding a foul curse on the end. “What did the woman waiting at Helen’s house look like?” Lucas asked urgently, trying to get a mental image of the threat. “Is she that brunette? Or the old woman who attacked Kate?”
    “Neither. Cassandra said she was unbelievably beautiful. Like Helen,” Jason replied.
    “Not just beautiful like Helen—you’re telling it wrong, dumb-ass,” Hector interrupted. He wove through traffic like a madman, blowing through red lights and passing cars illegally. “Cassie said this woman looked almost exactly like her. But whoever she is, Cass is certain this woman is not on Creon’s side. He doesn’t even know he’s being followed, which may or may not be good for us.”
    “Why the hell wasn’t someone guarding the house?” Lucas shouted in frustration, too upset to think about what Cassandra’s vision meant yet.
    “It’s my fault,” Hector said, and then continued before his little brother could argue. “Shut up, Jase, I’m the one who allowed her to go off on her own after practice. It was my call, and I made it, even though I knew in my gut it was wrong.”
    Lucas wanted to rip Hector’s face off for taking the blame when he knew whose fault it really was. He should have checked his phone, he should have checked the house, he should have paid more attention to Helen’s safety and less attention to her soft hands and warm skin. He scrubbed his hands over his face and made himself take a series of deep breaths. He needed to trust Hector to get them there, and then he needed to focus and be ready for whatever they encountered. If he was going to be at all useful, he was going to have to shut up and calm down.
    When they got to Helen’s house, the TV and the lights were off and the front door was locked. Lucas flew up to Helen’s bedroom window, which he knew she always forgot to latch. He let himself in and then went downstairs to open the front door for the others. Nothing was taken and nothing was disturbed in the entire house. It was as if Helen hadn’t even put up a fight.
    “She must have known the woman and gone with her willingly,” Hector said, tossing up his hands. “It’s the only reason this place isn’t melting.”
    “Unless whoever kidnapped her is just that good,” Jason added.
    “What are you talking about?” Hector said derisively. “Helen’s a full-on monster now with her lightning. I don’t care who this evil twin is, no one is that good.”
    “Twin,” Lucas repeated, thinking. “It could be that simple. She’d have the same lightning, the same strength, and a lot more experience.”
    The brothers looked at him as he got down on his hands and knees and examined the floor. He reached under an end table and came up with a drained hypodermic needle.
    “That rules out Helen going willingly. Whoever she was, she came prepared. And she must have known about the cestus and how it works, or she never would have been able to penetrate Helen’s skin,” Lucas said, his breath catching only slightly when he said her name.
    He handed the needle to Jason and dropped back down to examine the floor one last time, in case he missed something. When he was satisfied, he stood up and