Starcrossed

who have found a way to be together and not see the Furies, but it’s never been proven. As far as we know for sure, you and Lucas are the first to manage it. I think it might have something to do with saving a life. I think somehow you managed to save each other, and this freed you from the cycle of vengeance, but I can’t be certain about that,” she said.
    Helen had a fleeting thought about Lucas in the dry lands—blind and lost and unable to get off his knees. She pushed the horrible image aside.
    “Vengeance?” Helen questioned. Castor saw her confusion.
    “The Trojan War was very long with many casualties. It was the worst the world had ever seen at that point, and a lot of sins were committed. No one knows where the Furies came from; all we know is that they started plaguing our kind after the end of the war. It started in Agamemnon’s family, but as the years passed it spread to all of the Four Great Houses and set them against one another. Over the years it developed into a blood feud that has left us as we are now . . . with each House set against every other House to the death.”
    Helen remembered the story of Orestes, and how he was forced to kill his own mother to avenge his father, Agamemnon, who had killed his sister. It still struck her as dreadfully unfair, like the Furies created a no-win situation where everyone ended up dead.
    “‘Houses’ are what we call the four different bloodlines of Scions,” Cassandra interjected when she saw Helen frowning. “They were royalty in ancient Greece.”
    “So, are you saying we’re Greek?” Helen asked, trying to put poor Orestes out of her head and keep up with the conversation.
    Castor smiled. “We don’t consider ourselves either Greek or Trojan anymore, but as members of four different Houses that were started by four different gods. Who was Greek and who was Trojan doesn’t matter to us. The war ended a long time ago,” he said quietly. “And the Furies have been our curse ever since.”
    “They compel members of opposing Houses to kill each other to pay a blood debt we owe our ancestors. It’s a vicious cycle. Blood for blood for more blood,” Cassandra whispered, and Helen shivered at the empty gleam in her eyes.
    “I know that part. Orestes had to kill his mother because she killed his father because he killed their daughter,” Helen said. “But I read those plays and they had happy endings. Apollo talked the Furies into forgiving Orestes.”
    “That part was pure fiction,” Castor said, shaking his head. “The Furies never forgive, and they never forget.”
    “So basically, our families have been murdering each other since the Trojan War?” Helen asked. “There can’t be many of us left.”
    “There aren’t. The House that our family belongs to is called the House of Thebes. It was thought to be the only House left—until the Furies led us to you, of course,” Castor responded.
    “What House am I from?”
    “We won’t know that until we know who your mother was,” Cassandra said.
    “Her name was Beth Smith,” Helen said, hoping Lucas was wrong and that his father would remember her somehow. But Castor shook his head kindly.
    “Whoever she was, she obviously told you and your father a fake name to protect you. You certainly look like someone I used to know, but Scions don’t always hand down physical traits the same way mortals do,” Castor spoke haltingly as he shifted in his chair. “For instance, Lucas looks nothing like me—he doesn’t even look like a typical Son of Apollo, like my brother or me. We Scions are half human, half archetype, and every now and again the way one of us looks has more to do with the historical figure the Fates destined that Scion to model his or her life after than who the parents were.”
    “So, do I look like anyone?” Helen asked.
    “We don’t want to jump to conclusions. Maybe you have some pictures, or some video of your mother? Then we might be able to confirm who she was,” Castor said eagerly, like they were close to figuring out a huge puzzle that had been troubling them.
    “I have nothing. No pictures,” Helen replied in a flat voice. Cassandra exhaled sharply and nodded her head at some internal thought.
    “To protect you, probably. If she severed all ties with you and made sure you grew up on a small island with a limited group of friends, it was less likely that a rival House would discover you,” Cassandra observed as if she was a detective gathering