hit her. All of those sounds she’d been hearing at night—sounds she’d thought were the Furies—had a much more mundane source. “You’ve been up here every night, haven’t you?”
“Almost. One of us is always up here at night to watch over you,” he said, and then grabbed Helen’s arm as she turned away from him in embarrassment. “It’s usually Lucas because he’s the only one who can fly here,” he continued. As if that made it better.
“And you never thought to ask if I wanted you here, eavesdropping on my dad and me?” she asked, furious.
Hector smiled at her, smothering a laugh. “Yeah. Because I can see how you’d want to keep all those discussions about politics and baseball to yourself. So private,” he said, rolling his eyes.
“Do you stay all night while I’m sleeping?” she asked, unable to look at him. He suddenly understood why she was so upset, and his smile switched off.
“You haven’t had a nightmare in a while,” he started to say.
“Go home, Hector,” Helen said, cutting him off and turning to leave.
“No,” he responded immediately, extending his arm across the doorway to block her exit. “I don’t care if you’re embarrassed. I don’t care if you don’t want us here. There are a lot of people who’d like to see you dead, Princess, and unfortunately my family can’t leave you unprotected until I say you can defend yourself.”
“Why do you get to decide when I’m ready?” Helen crossed her arms and rubbed her shoulders against the cold. The wind off the water had teeth.
“Because everyone knows that I’m the only one who won’t go easy on you. And just so you know, I’m not about to apologize for making sure you don’t get kidnapped by one of those batty women running around the island,” he warned. Helen’s teeth chattered. He looked at her standing there shivering and Helen could have almost sworn that he looked guilty for a second. Then he looked off to the side and cursed to himself. “But maybe we should have told you that we were sleeping up here,” he admitted finally.
“You think? I get it, Hector. I’m in a lot of danger. But you should have at least given me a heads-up about this.”
“All right! Point taken!” he said, nearly growling with frustration. “But we’re still not leaving you or your father unguarded at night.”
Suddenly, Helen wasn’t angry anymore. In fact, knowing that Hector and his family extended their protection to her father made her feel ridiculously grateful. She stood there smiling at him for a second.
“Thank you,” she said quietly.
He froze midbreath and stared at her, amazed that her mood had changed so quickly. “That’s it? No more arguing?” he asked doubtfully.
“Why, do you want to—” she began, but she was interrupted by her father’s voice from downstairs.
“Lennie?” Jerry called from the hallway in front of Helen’s bedroom. She had been so distracted by Hector she had forgotten to listen for her dad.
“Yeah!” Helen called down, motioning desperately for Hector to get away from the door. She changed places with him and made it inside just in time.
“Are you sleeping up there again?” Jerry asked when he saw Helen shutting the door to the roof and coming down the steps. “It’s way too cold out, Helen.”
“Do you have any idea how late it is? Go to sleep,” she scolded as she hurried past him.
“I know, I’m going to bed right now . . . Hey! You go to sleep,” Jerry scolded back, belatedly remembering that he was the parent.
As Helen jumped into bed and burrowed into her comforter, she could have sworn she heard Hector chuckling softly to himself up on the widow’s walk.
Chapter Ten
MAJORCA, SPAIN
Creon watched the reporter for five minutes before he decided to uncloak himself from the shadows. He appeared out of the darkness behind her, barely a step away. She spun around and inhaled a startled breath so quickly it almost sounded like a sob. There was something exhilarating about seeing a woman afraid, Creon thought, especially when that woman was a pushy bitch like this one. A little fear is good; it reminded non-Scion mortals of their place, and Creon wanted this mortal in particular to remember that she might be able to force this meeting by threatening to have the police investigate his family, but she wasn’t in control.
That’s why he picked the docks at night. He wanted to see how committed she truly was to writing a story on his family. The