Starcrossed

Hundred Cousins that you exist, probably because they want the glory of killing you alone so they can have a Triumph. Creon might be thinking the same way, but if he isn’t, he will tell Tantalus. That means half of the Family is going to be here in a few days—and you can’t even hold a sword yet!”
    “Back off, Cassie!” Lucas said heatedly. “We were raised for this, and Helen’s had what? A whole week to adjust?” He looked at Cassandra through the rearview mirror, and even in reflection his eyes looked intense. Cassandra threw up her hands in surrender.
    “You’re right, Cassandra. I didn’t use my head,” Helen said, rubbing her stomach. “Maybe we could talk to him.”
    Ariadne made a strangled sound.
    “What? Why are you all so scared of him?” Helen asked.
    “He’s a Shadowmaster,” Ariadne said ominously from the front seat. “He can stop light. It’s unnatural.”
    Helen thought about the darkness that wrapped itself around Creon and she knew what Ariadne meant. The sun wouldn’t shine on him, and Helen had instinctively felt like there was something wrong about that.
    “Shadowmasters are rare,” Lucas tried to explain a bit more calmly, but Helen could still hear the fear in his voice. “There haven’t been very many of them in our House’s history, but every one of them that we know about has turned out to be, well . . . evil.”
    A few tense minutes passed with Cassandra cupping her hands over her eyes in a posture of deep concentration. Finally, she looked up at Helen, and with a determined smile she dispelled the lingering negativity.
    “Well, you’re safe for now. I don’t see any immediate threats,” she said reassuringly, watching Helen cradle her still-tender midsection. “Any idea which human saw you chasing Creon?”
    “Gretchen. Don’t worry, no one will care. She’s always saying stuff about me,” Helen said positively. “Wait a sec. How do you know someone saw me?”
    “These cramps you’re having? They’re the curse. Your mom cursed you to feel almost unendurable pain if you use your Scion powers in front of ordinary mortals,” Cassandra said with a shrug.
    “Is that what it is? It’s been driving me crazy all week!” Lucas said from the front seat as he turned down the long Delos driveway.
    “Of course you wouldn’t recognize them. You’re a boy,” Ariadne said. “Curse Cramps are sadistic, really. I haven’t even read about anyone doing it in centuries.”
    “My mother cursed me?” Helen repeated back to Cassandra, who nodded sadly.
    “Way back, hundreds of years ago, it was thought to be the only way to keep women Scions in line with the society of the time. Mothers would do it to their daughters to keep them from drawing too much attention to themselves because women weren’t supposed to be special or smart or talented.” Cassandra wrinkled her nose, like she had said something that smelled bad as it came out of her mouth.
    Helen sputtered uselessly to herself for a few seconds, unable to process what she had just learned. Cassandra took Helen’s hand and smiled kindly at her. “If it’s any consolation, the curse probably kept you hidden all these years.”
    “As much as I hate to admit anything so barbaric could be useful, I have to agree,” said Ariadne as she opened her door and got out of the car. “If you hadn’t been cursed, can you imagine what your mortal dad would have gone through when you were a toddler with all that strength? He tries to punish you, you throw him out a window. Bedtime would have been a bloodbath.”
    “Well, when you put it that way,” Helen admitted as she climbed out of the back, accepting Lucas’s politely offered hand. As she and Lucas walked side by side behind Ariadne and Cassandra toward the house, she started to laugh to herself.
    “What is it?” he asked.
    “I always knew my mother hated me, and now I find out that she literally cursed me,” she replied, hearing her voice sound matter-of-fact. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard anything that made so much sense in my whole life.”
    “Your mother was trying to protect you,” Lucas countered judiciously.
    “Oh, you are such a boy! You’ve never had cramps,” Helen muttered. They paused on the landing.
    “Maybe take your shoes off,” Lucas said, looking down at Helen’s feet. She was caked in black marsh mud all the way up to her waist.
    “Maybe get a hose,” Helen countered with a laugh.
    “I can do better than a