Chapter Eleven #2
“It wasn’t made known to any of the ancient historians, but they did know that Apollo is the son of Zeus, and not one of the original gods. He was second generation, a kind of glorified Scion, and, like us, he was going to die eventually.” Cassandra came closer to Helen, still holding the sword.
“Then why didn’t he?” Helen asked cautiously, trying to stay calm so as not to provoke her. She circled back the other way, never taking her eyes off the bright bronze blade that Cassandra alternately lifted and let fall, as if she couldn’t entirely bring herself to raise it.
“Apollo made a deal with the Three Fates,” she said, half distracted by some darker thought.
“He offered them something they couldn’t have without him.
A baby girl. He swore on the River Styx to give them offspring, and in return they swore never to cut his string of life.
From that day on, Apollo got his immortality, and every generation one girl who is descended from him belongs to the Fates.
She’s their spiritual daughter, and occasionally she can see what her mothers have in store for the world. ”
Cassandra was stalling, Helen realized. Whatever she was planning to do unsettled her, but even though she seemed uncertain, she continued to close in.
As she did, light started to dance backward into her skin, and her eyes and teeth glowed with the vaguely purple hue of black light.
Helen knew that she was older, larger, and stronger than Cassandra, but she also knew she was still the one in danger.
Cassandra was not the only being inside that tiny body.
She was being visited and maybe even partially controlled by the Three Fates.
Helen watched as Cassandra cut off her exit.
Helen could always fly away, now that she knew how to get airborne, but she wasn’t sure if she could control her flight once she was aloft.
She also didn’t know how to land without Lucas holding her hand.
But right now she was more afraid of the Oracle with the sword than she was of falling out of the sky.
Helen was about to take her chances with flight when Cassandra’s demeanor suddenly changed.
She went from being the dark, fiery messenger of the Fates to being a very vulnerable teenager.
“I saw something, Helen,” she said desperately. “Then I saw it again, and again. I’ve been so ashamed and frightened that I haven’t told anyone else what I saw. And I am so sorry if I’m wrong—for all of our sakes. But I have to do this . . . because . . . this is what comes next.”
Her eyes were filling up with tears. She looked so tormented Helen would have done anything to make her feel better.
She smiled understandingly at Cassandra, who tried to control her hitching breath as she nodded in return and wrapped both hands around the hilt of her sword.
She swung it over her shoulder and paused, waiting for Helen to be ready.
Helen choked back the scream that was trying to climb out of her mouth.
If Cassandra, the Oracle of Delphi, had foreseen her death, was there any sense in fighting it? Did Helen really have a choice?
Cassandra swung her sword. In that millisecond Helen knew she’d had a good life, because she suddenly loved it so much that she could have wept with gratitude.
She’d had amazing friends, the best dad in the world, and a strong, healthy body.
She’d even experienced the joy of flight.
And once, just once, in the middle of the night, she’d almost kissed the only boy she’d ever wanted. . . .
Helen felt a strange, vibrating tickle, like someone had pressed a gigantic kazoo against the side of her throat and blown on it. She saw Cassandra’s eyes widen as she pulled the blade back from the side of Helen’s neck and looked at it.
The sword was totally mangled in the middle section, all crunched up on itself like a squeezed piece of tinfoil. Cassandra stared at Helen in shock for a moment. Relieved tears spilled down her cheeks.
“I was right.” She dropped the sword and grabbed Helen in a hug. Then she started jumping up and down, making Helen jump with her. “You’re not dead! This is . . . You have no idea how happy I am I didn’t just kill you!” she squealed.
“Ditto,” Helen said in a daze. She was alive.
“Hang on. We still have to test this,” Cassandra said excitedly as she ran over to a chest of weapons in the corner of the fenced-off court. She threw open the lid and grabbed a bow and arrow. Grinning, she shot Helen.
Helen heard Ariadne scream something behind her, and someone running at demigod speed to overtake the arrow, but it was too late.
The arrow struck her and bounced off her chest, making a faint twanging sound as it did so.
Too late to change course, Jason plowed into her from behind and knocked her to the ground.
They rolled over together until he was propped up on his elbows above her, staring at her chest with disbelief.
“I saw that arrow strike you,” he said vehemently as if he were swearing in front of a grand jury.
“It did,” said Cassandra from the other end of the tennis court, beaming with pleasure.
“I think Cassie’s finally lost it,” Hector whispered sadly, but without surprise, to Ariadne.
“No, I haven’t lost it, Hector. I saw it,” Cassandra said, still smiling from ear to ear. “Helen can’t be hurt by any weapon. Try it yourself.” She pulled a sword out of the box, offering it to him.
“Cass, just put the sword down,” Ariadne said with a hand raised in an appeasing gesture. “We can talk about this.”
“I’m not crazy!” Cassandra screamed, suddenly livid.
“She isn’t crazy,” Helen said with conviction. She untangled herself from Jason and stood. “Go ahead, Cass. Shoot me.”
Cassandra locked another arrow in her bow and shot Helen—in the head this time. Ariadne screamed again, but the scream trailed off lamely when they all saw the arrow bounce right off. Everyone was silent for a moment.
“No frigging way!” Hector shouted, a touch of envy making him sound almost angry.
“Did that hurt?” Jason asked as he turned to Helen, a look of disbelief on his face.
“Maybe a tiny bit,” Helen said, but Jason was too excited to really listen. He ran over to the box, pulled out a javelin, and chucked it at Helen. It bounced right off.
“Okay, that stung,” Helen said, smiling and raising her hands to signal in a friendly way that she’d had enough, but Hector had already picked up a sword and was stalking toward her.
“I’ll stop as soon as you start bleeding, okay?” he said casually before he started hacking away at her. Four strokes in, and the blade was ruined.
Helen stumbled back with raised arms and fell down.
She wasn’t wounded, but the instinct to protect herself was still there, and Hector was absolutely terrifying when he attacked.
The rain of blows ended abruptly when the sword fell apart.
She tried to stand back up, but as soon as she did she was thrown down again as something fell from the sky and landed violently on top of Hector.
Lucas had rammed into Hector from above, driving his cousin two feet into the dirt before he reared back on his knees to hit him.
“Lucas, stop!” Helen screamed in concert with Cassandra and Ariadne.
Jason didn’t yell, but as usual, he dove on top of the other two to put himself between them.
In his rage, Lucas hit Jason accidentally, and that misguided blow made him stop and look at his cousins more clearly.
Hector lay at the bottom of the pile, covered in layers of dirt, his hands held up in a surrendering gesture.
Jason lay across his brother’s body, bleeding from the mouth and pushing on Lucas’s shoulders to keep him back. Lucas blinked and looked up at Helen.
“He was trying to kill you.” Lucas lowered his raised fist. He forced his eyes to focus on Hector and his voice frayed at the edges, like he was a young boy. “I saw it. You had a sword.”
“I’m okay. Look at me, Lucas. No blood. I’m fine,” Helen said gently as she moved to the side of the trench. She put her hands on his shoulders and tried to coax him off his frightened, panting cousins. Lucas allowed himself to be led up out of the trench, docile with regret and confusion.
Cassandra briefly explained Helen’s imperviousness to her brother as Helen, Ariadne, and Jason pulled Hector up out of the collapsing ditch.
He was injured—not too seriously, but badly enough that he couldn’t walk on his own.
Ariadne and Jason took Hector into the house, having to hold him up as he walked.
Lucas watched his cousin half limp, half drag himself across the yard.
He had to sit down in the sand at the sight.
Three fast-moving shapes came rushing out of the house to see what was wrong. Pallas helped his children the rest of the way into the house while Castor and Pandora briefly conferred with Ariadne and then moved toward the tennis court.
“Why didn’t you warn me, Cassie?” Lucas pleaded quietly while Castor shouted questions as he and Pandora entered the tennis court. Cassandra shrugged, avoiding everyone’s eyes.
“She was afraid,” Helen answered defensively, cutting off Castor’s questions.
She took Cassandra’s hand and pulled her close, a little angry that they would try to blame Cassandra for Lucas’s actions.
“She had a vision of herself swinging a sword at me and she thought she was going to kill me. She thought she had to kill me. Would you have told anyone if you were in her shoes?”
Pandora looked at Helen questioningly as if to ask if she was okay. Helen gave her an uncertain smile in response, relieved that Pandora had been sensitive enough to keep this exchange silent. Then they both turned their attention back to Lucas, who was still shell-shocked.
“If you were scared, why didn’t you tell me, Cassie? You know you can always come to me,” Lucas said firmly, but she shook her head.