of her had always hoped that her necklace was important—that maybe someday it would answer all her questions. In her wildest daydreams she imagined it being the talisman that would someday guide her to her mother. Cassandra and Castor studied the heart charm carefully, but there was nothing special about it.
“It’s very pretty,” Cassandra said kindly.
“It is, isn’t it? But it’s from Tiffany so there are probably thousands just like it. It’s just that this is all I have,” Helen said, the words spilling out uncensored. “My dad says she must have been planning to leave for a long time because by the time he figured out she had left us, all the pictures were gone. Every single one. Even pictures he thought she had no idea he’d taken.”
Helen stood up suddenly and started pacing around aimlessly. She walked to the far end of the library, looking at all the books that the Delos family had collected together, all of the antique furniture they probably handed down, generation to generation. It was a family legacy Helen had been denied, and she felt a sense of loss not knowing where her mother was, or where she’d come from. But she also sensed a possibility in that ignorance.
“Your family is tight, I can see that. You always know where everyone is. But my mother did something drastic, right? She ran away.” Helen struggled with the right way to phrase her thought, and decided the best thing would be to ask a question. “Why were you so sure that the House of Thebes was the only House left? How could you possibly know that?”
“We keep very close watch over our numbers, Helen,” Cassandra said.
“Yeah, but how can you know for sure?”
“It’s barbaric,” Castor said, shaking his head. When Helen gestured for him to continue he did. “When one demigod kills another from a rival House there is a traditional celebration for the champion called a Triumph. It’s considered a great honor.”
“But that doesn’t mean my mother is dead. Maybe she’s just missing! You don’t even know who she is!” Helen said. The tears tipped over the edge of her eyelids and splashed down on her shirt.
“The fact that you exist proves that anything is possible,” Cassandra said. But she wasn’t able to look Helen in the eye.
“Right around the time you were born, the Houses were going through a period of intense fighting that was thought to be the final confrontation. There were a lot of deaths,” Castor said, looking down at his hands as if he expected to find blood on them.
Helen turned her back on Castor and Cassandra and tried to breathe her way through the tears, but still it took a few moments before she knew she wasn’t going to start sobbing. She didn’t even know why she was so upset. She’d always thought she hated her mother.
“Helen, we understand that you might need some time before we continue. We still have a lot more to talk about, but we’re not going anywhere and we can finish this conversation when you’re ready. In the meantime, please know that we really do want to help you,” Castor said gently from somewhere on the other side of the room.
Helen heard them get up to leave, but she couldn’t bring herself to say good-bye. After they’d left, she opened up the French doors and went out onto the patio. The sight of the pristine beach and rolling blue water blunted the sharper edges of her emotions and before she knew it she was shuffling down the beach.
“Are you okay?” Lucas asked from behind her.
Helen just nodded, not surprised that he had appeared. They both looked down the beach, watching a big, hairy dog jump in and out of the surf with glee. After a moment Lucas moved and stood beside her.
“I’m relieved,” Helen said. She turned her head to look at him. “My whole life I thought my mother hated me so much that she didn’t even want me to know what she looked like.” A pained expression darkened Lucas’s face, but Helen continued before he could interrupt her. “I’m not saying an ancient blood feud is a good thing, but at least it’s a reason why she left me. I’ve never had one of those before.”
“She could still be alive, you know,” Lucas insisted. “Regardless of what Cass and my dad think.”
“I don’t know what to feel about that yet,” Helen replied honestly. “Kate has been more of a mother to me