Starcrossed

out the obvious.
    “Yeah,” he replied with a chuckle, catching her drift. “I know I’m not exactly Secret Service material right now, but trust me. I won’t let any of them harm you—not even big, bad Hector. He isn’t as terrible as you think, you know.” He managed to tilt his head to the side enough to meet Helen’s eyes.
    “You’re his cousin. You have to think the best of him.”
    “I’ll leave it up to you, then. I can’t hide us, but I won’t call out to them if you don’t want me to,” he said, and let his head roll back out of her sight.
    They lay there listening to his family call his name over and over, but Lucas kept his word. He didn’t make a sound, although he did flinch when he heard Cassandra’s exhausted voice. She sounded desperate and frightened. They all did. And Helen was to blame. After a few more moments she couldn’t stand it any longer.
    “Here!” Helen yelled as hard as she could. “We’re over here!”
    “Are you sure?” Lucas asked carefully.
    “No.” She chuckled nervously before calling out again, this time with Lucas’s help.
    There was a lot of yelling from down the beach, and the sound of feet pounding across the sand. Then Helen felt Lucas try to reposition his head to look at someone standing above them.
    “Hi, Dad,” he said apologetically.
    Castor muttered some kind of oath that Helen didn’t recognize, but the meaning was clear enough. Then he starting giving orders, and Helen felt someone thud down next to her.
    “My gods,” Ariadne whispered to herself. “Helen? I’m going to try to roll you off, okay? But first I’m going to have to try to speed up the healing of your bones a bit. It will feel a little hot, but don’t be afraid, healing is one of my and Jason’s talents. Jase, come and do her legs,” she called up.
    Helen felt another thud, and then she felt the twins slide their hands gently down along her arms and legs. There was a burning sensation inside Helen’s bones that was nearly unbearable, and it made her wonder if she would be better off without any “healing.” Right before she begged them to stop, the burning mercifully ended. The twins counted to three and gingerly flipped her onto her back like she was a runny pancake. Helen tried to be brave, but she couldn’t stop a scream from slipping out. Every muscle, every inch of skin, every bone in her body was lit up with pain as though someone had filled her bloodstream with flaming-hot shards of glass.
    She gritted her teeth and took deep, calming breaths before she felt like she had enough control to open her eyes. When she did, she saw Ariadne’s luminous hazel eyes, fringed with the same incredibly long lashes as Jason’s, looking down at her with compassion. She studied Helen’s face carefully, and then gave her a tired smile. Helen thought Ariadne looked drained, as if what she had done for Helen had cost her. Her bow-shaped lips were ashy instead of their usual cherry red and her long, chestnut hair stuck to her perspiring cheeks.
    “Don’t worry. Your face is already going back to its right shape. You’ll be your usual, exquisite self by nightfall,” she said, smoothing Helen’s hair comfortingly. “Keep still. I’ll be right back.”
    Helen glanced around. For the first time she could see where she and Lucas had spent the night. It took a moment to register that they were in a hole in the ground that was at least five feet deep and three times that wide, and it took even longer to register that the hole had been made by their bodies when they fell. She felt water seep into her clothes as it leached up from the damp sand, and realized that Lucas must have been lying in a cold puddle all night. She rolled her head to the side so she could look at him.
    There was a faint Helen-shaped dent running down the length of his body, and his chest was nearly caved in from the weight of her head and shoulders. His face was pinched up in a grimace. He hummed to himself a little as if to try to give his vocal cords something to do other than howl. His father hovered over him, looking Lucas directly in the eye and talking softly. She saw Lucas give a tiny nod, bite his lower lip, then take a deep breath and strain. His chest expanded into a more normal shape, and then Lucas suddenly let his breath out and panted as if he had just lifted a great weight. A tear trickled out of the corner of his eye and ran into his hair.
    His father said something reassuring and then