I check and see how you’re healing?” Ariadne asked politely when Helen was settled back in the bed. “It would mean that I would have to lay my hands on you, and I want to make sure you’re okay with that.”
“You just watched me pee,” Helen responded with an embarrassed laugh. “So, yeah, I’m okay with a checkup. But wait—is it going to hurt?”
“Not at all. I’m just going to take a peek, not grow cells. That’s what really hurts you. If it’s any consolation, it’s no picnic for me, either. So exhausting,” Ariadne said with a smile as she pushed Helen, making her lie down.
“Okay,” Helen said uncertainly. She rested against the pillows and waited for the pain that she suspected was soon to follow, despite Ariadne’s optimistic denial.
Ariadne put her hands on Helen’s ribs and concentrated. Helen felt a faint vibrating sensation, like she was standing in front of an enormous subwoofer, but, as promised, it didn’t hurt at all. After a few moments, Ariadne lifted her hands and looked at Helen.
“I couldn’t ask for a better patient,” she said with a beaming smile. “After seeing how much damage you and Luke sustained, I had my doubts. But you’re going to be just fine.”
“Thank you,” Helen said earnestly. “For the healing and helping me . . .”
“And thank you for not peeing on me.” Ariadne laughed as a beautiful pixie of a woman in her late twenties popped her head around the half-open door.
“You two are having way too much fun to be in a sickroom,” she said with a mischievous look in her yellowish cat eyes. Helen had a feeling that those eyes were usually filled with some kind of worldly mischief, and she instantly liked her for it. It reminded her of Kate. She entered the room, tinkling like a shaken bag of loose change. She had short, spiky hair. Helen noticed that her wrists were buried under layer upon layer of glittering bangle bracelets, and although Helen couldn’t see them, she could hear that the woman’s ankles probably had a few bits of jewelry wrapped around them as well.
“Helen, this is my aunt Pandora. Dora, this is . . .” Ariadne rapped her fingertips on the bedspread like a drumroll. “The famous Helen Hamilton!”
“Ta-da,” Helen replied weakly. Pandora sat down on the end of the bed.
“Gorge-ous! I can see why she’s got Luke’s panties in a twist,” she said with a cheeky grin.
“No! That’s all done with! We haven’t heard the Furies since we woke up on the beach,” Helen said urgently. When Pandora gave her a quizzical look, Helen felt like she had to keep going. “I don’t want to kill any of you anymore. Just to be clear.”
“Well, good, ’cuz I hear you’ve got quite the arsenal,” Pandora said as if she was giving a big compliment. Helen had no idea what she was talking about so she changed the subject.
“How is Lucas?” she asked cautiously, still surprised that she could say his name without being launched into a fit of anger. Pandora and Ariadne glanced at each other.
“He’ll be okay,” Pandora said firmly. She shook her wrists and sent her bangles into a cascade of sparkles and jingles, almost as if she believed the cheerful sound would banish all dark thoughts.
“It was close, but he’s healing,” Ariadne added with an optimistic face. Helen couldn’t look at either of them. The tense moment was broken by a glugging sound in Helen’s stomach, which lasted for an inordinately long time.
“Well, you’re hungry,” Pandora said drily. “And I think you might be able to come downstairs with some help.”
Helen was outfitted with a long terry-cloth bathrobe, which bore the logo of a popular Spanish soccer team, from Ariadne’s closet. Then, with a few more jokes about how Helen could use a little fattening up, she was carried downstairs by her two new patronesses.
When they reached the kitchen, they were greeted with a heavenly scent blossoming off of the stove, and Helen’s stomach growled again. Hector heard the noise and cocked an eyebrow as she was deposited gently in a chair at the kitchen table. He said something to the woman who was orchestrating dinner, and she spun around to look at Helen.
“I didn’t think you’d be joining us,” the woman said with a startled face. “I’m so glad.”
“Thank you. And thank you again for the stuff you sent my father and me,” Helen said. She knew immediately that this was Noel Delos, and she could