at her, she had the feeling that this wasn’t the end of the problem. She tried to put it out of her head by telling herself that he could spread as many rumors as he liked, but everyone would think he was exaggerating. Zach liked to gossip and even though people generally listened to him, Scion speed was something that a person had to see to believe.
On her way to the auditorium to meet Claire and Matt, Helen got intercepted by Cassandra and Ariadne. They asked where she was going, and she didn’t feel like lying to them, so she invited them along.
When the coast was clear, they sneaked in the unlocked fire door and came into the auditorium from the backstage entrance. Matt and Claire were already sitting on the apron of the stage, their lunches laid out on napkins like a picnic.
“Good. You invited them,” Matt said with a satisfied nod when he saw that Helen wasn’t alone. “But don’t bring anyone else along or we’re going to get caught.”
“We’ll probably get caught, anyway,” Claire said with a smirk. “But it’s totally worth it. Where else could we get such atmosphere?” She gestured to the beautiful, glittery set that was growing, piece by piece.
Cassandra and Ariadne looked around appreciatively, especially at the parts of the set that were to be Theseus’s palace. They shared a conspiratorial grin with Helen, who managed to lift up half her face in something sort of like a smile. The fairyland parts of the Midsummer set appealed to Helen, but the Greek bits disturbed her. The faux Doric columns were half painted and lying sideways on the ground as if they’d been toppled, and they made Helen think of the arduous journey she’d taken the night before.
She never wanted to go back to the dry land, but if she could find that river . . . Wait, what river? she thought. She turned her back on the half-built columns and sat down next to Claire to eat her lunch.
Helen tried her best to get into the conversation, but she barely had the initiative to chew, let alone laugh and joke. She could tell that her friends were being clever and fun by the way Cassandra and Ariadne were reacting, but she could barely stay awake, let alone participate in the conversation.
She kept thinking about flying. Well, really she kept catching herself thinking about Lucas, but as soon as her thoughts slid down that hot knife, she shuffled her imagination over to the side and thought about flying instead. Maybe she would try it again on her own later, she decided, but this time she would do it inside her house so she wouldn’t be in danger of floating away. Although the prospect of blowing away on the breeze didn’t seem like such a bad idea right about now.
“Lennie! The bell’s ringing,” Claire said, her bag already over her shoulder. Helen jumped up and got her things together while her friends shot each other looks behind her back.
Claire tried to talk to Helen during track, but eventually gave up when Helen kept turning the conversation around to ask how Claire was instead. Helen didn’t want pity, and she didn’t want to talk about herself. She just wanted to switch her brain off and float.
Eventually, Claire got the hint and started talking about the bonfire party on the beach that night. She was having trouble deciding if she was going to get a ride with Ariadne or not.
“On the one hand I want to get to know her better, but it would mean I would have to go with her and Jason, and he always finds a way to start an argument with me. Are you sure you can’t take the night off from work? We could get a ride with Matt together,” Claire said optimistically.
“You know I can’t.”
“If you asked Kate, I’m sure she’d let you,” Claire coaxed
“Gig? I really don’t want to spend the night sitting on cold sand watching everyone make out,” Helen said with finality. “But you should go and have fun. And who knows? Maybe you and Jason will get along tonight, for once.”
Claire launched into a tirade about how annoying Jason was for always disagreeing with her. Only half listening, Helen finessed the air currents around her, practicing flying with the gravity on. She couldn’t wait to get home after work that night and give it a try.
Hidden behind a sand dune, Creon counted the minutes that passed while