Castor’s eyes darted to Helen and back to Jerry and he pursed his lips as if he had set something right in his head. “Pardon me. I didn’t mean to bring up personal matters. Is there any way you and I might have a word alone?”
“NO!” Helen shouted. She lunged across the cot, grabbing her father’s arm and yanking him away from Castor.
“What is wrong with you?” Jerry shouted. He tried, and failed, to shake Helen off.
“Please don’t go anywhere with him!” she begged, tears welling up in her eyes.
Jerry made a frustrated sound, put his arms around Helen, and held her reassuringly. “She hasn’t been well,” he explained to Castor, who looked on with sympathy.
“I have a daughter,” Castor replied gently as if that explained everything.
Mrs. Crane and the principal, Dr. Hoover, rushed into the room as if they had been trying to catch up to Castor.
“Mr. Delos,” the principal began in an irritated voice, but Castor talked over him.
“I hope your daughter feels better soon, Jerry. I’ve had heatstroke myself, and I was told I did all kinds of strange things. It can make you hallucinate, you know,” he said to no one in particular.
Helen saw him glance quickly at her and then into the corner where the sobbing sister was still rocking back and forth. Did he see her, too, she wondered, and if he did, how the heck could two people share a hallucination?
“Well . . . okay. There’s no animosity then?” Dr. Hoover said uncertainly, looking from Castor to Jerry.
“Not on my part, nor on my son’s, I’m sure. I’m more concerned about you, young lady,” Castor said, turning politely to Helen. “Luke told me he had to be, well, a bit rough. Did he hurt you?” Castor inquired. On the surface, it seemed like he had extraordinarily good manners, but Helen didn’t buy it. He was just trying to gauge how strong she was.
“I’m fine,” she replied tartly. “Not a scratch.”
His eyes widened ever so slightly. She didn’t know why she was baiting a full-grown man, a very big man in the prime of his life at that, but she simply couldn’t help herself. Usually, she hated arguments so much she couldn’t even bear to watch those trashy daytime talk shows where everyone screamed at each other, and here she was for the second time in half an hour looking to mix it up with someone much bigger and stronger than she was. Thankfully, she wasn’t as desperate to kill Castor the way she had been with his son. No one had ever enraged Helen the way that Lucas had, but she still wanted to put a few dents in Castor’s fender. That urge confused her deeply.
“I’m glad you’re all right,” Castor said with a smile, diffusing the situation. He turned to the principal and made it clear that he and his family did not want Helen punished. As far as he was concerned Helen had been ill, and the whole incident should be forgotten. He left as abruptly as he had entered.
As soon as Castor’s footsteps faded away, the sobbing sister vanished and the whispering stopped. Helen no longer felt angry. She slumped down onto the cot like a balloon with a fast leak.
“You’d best take her home now, Jerry,” Mrs. Crane said with a no-nonsense voice and a comforting smile. “Lots of fluids, no direct light, and get her to take a cool bath to bring her core temperature down. All right?”
“Sure, Mrs. Crane. Thanks a lot,” Jerry replied, reverting back to the teenaged boy he had been the last time he was in Mrs. Crane’s office.
Helen kept her head down on their way out to the parking lot, but she could feel the other students staring at her as she passed. As she jumped up into the passenger seat of the Pig she saw the door by the principal’s office open and the two Delos boys leaving with Castor. Lucas’s eyes went straight to hers and held them. Castor pulled up and put his hand on the back of his son’s neck, talking to him. Finally, Lucas broke his stare contest with Helen and looked at his father briefly before nodding and looking at the ground.
It started to rain. One, then two, then three big, fat drops of summer rain splashed down, and suddenly the air was full of water. Helen slammed her door shut and glanced over at her father, who was also looking back at the Delos