“Your father’s name is Hamilton, but that’s not your House,” he said. Helen could feel the capital H in the word House just from the inflection he used. “You would normally have taken your mother’s Scion name rather than your father’s mortal one. Who was she?” he asked as though he had been meaning to ask her that question all night.
“Beth Smith.”
“Beth Smith. Right,” he said sarcastically.
“What?”
“Well, ‘Smith’ is obviously an alias.”
“You don’t know that. You don’t know anything about her. How can you say that isn’t my mother’s name?” Helen asked, getting defensive.
She had never even known her mother, and here was this stranger assuming he knew more than she did. It cut Helen a little to have to admit to herself that perhaps he did. For the first time in hours, she was also hyperaware of the fact that she was lying on top of him, and she didn’t want to be anymore. She tried to put pressure on her forearm but a searing pain informed her that there would be none of that. After a few feeble attempts to roll off of him she gave up. She could feel him smiling, and his arms tensing to hold on to her just in case she managed to get away.
“I know your mother wasn’t named Smith because you can fly, Helen, now hold still. You’re hurting me,” he said frankly.
“Sorry,” she said, suddenly realizing that he’d taken the brunt of her weight when they hit the ground. His injuries were probably far worse than hers—and hers were awful.
As she watched the sand turn gray, then pink, then coral with the rising sun, Helen thought that this was the second dawn she had seen in as many days. Of the two, she much preferred this one. She was in far more pain, but she was also alive and completely free from anger. Helen hadn’t realized how heavy the burden of hate had been until she was allowed to put it down.
She heard a voice calling for Lucas, and although she knew they were in danger lying helpless in that pit, she didn’t want to be found. What if the Furies came back with the rest of the family?
“Here!” Lucas called weakly.
“Wait,” Helen pleaded. “What if they still see the Furies when they look at me? I can’t defend myself in this state.”
“No one will hurt you,” he promised, his arms tightening slightly around her.
“Hector . . .” she began.
“. . . would have to get through me first,” he said resolutely.
“Uh, Lucas?” she said leadingly, not wanting to insult him by pointing 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