Daphne threw up her hands and turned away, blowing air through her lips noisily, just to let everyone know that even though she had been overruled, she still didn’t agree. Hector rolled his eyes and shared a look with Orion. Apparently, both of them were familiar with this little display of Daphne’s, although it was the first time Helen had ever seen it.
“Close it,” Hector said to Orion. The ground squeezed together with a grinding moan, and shut with a small boom.
“Well, looks like we’ll never know now,” Daphne said in a snippy undertone.
Helen really wanted to slap her, but she couldn’t stand up without Matt, and he had wandered off somewhere. She craned her head and found him searching the ground for something. He suddenly crouched down, sifted through Automedon’s ashes, and pulled out something shiny. The sheath to the blade, Helen realized, wondering why he wanted it.
“Hey. You okay?” Orion asked her, jarring her out of her thoughts. Orion put a finger on her chin to make her hold still and stared into her injured eye. Still staring at it, he leaned to the side and called over her shoulder. “Hey, Luke. Have you seen this?”
“Yeah,” Lucas said heavily, looking down and nodding. “Did you notice the shape?”
“Yeah. Very fitting.”
“What are you two talking about?” Helen said, her voice cracking.
“There’s a blue-white scar running down your right iris, Helen. The kind of scar Scions don’t get rid of,” Lucas said quietly. “It’s shaped like a lightning bolt.”
“Is it, like, freaky looking?” she asked Orion, paranoid that no one would ever want to look her in the right eye again. He started to laugh and then stopped abruptly, clutching his wounds and grimacing just as Lucas had moments earlier.
“Actually, I think it looks kind of awesome. Not too happy about how you got it, though,” he said in a falling tone.
“Me neither.” With or without a scar, Helen knew she would think about this night for the rest of her life. She just hoped Morpheus would be kind and not send her any nightmares about it.
“We’ll have to call a summit,” Daphne said to Castor. “Of all the Houses. Atreus, Thebes, Athens, and Rome.”
“I know,” Castor said, nodding. He looked over at Orion and shrugged. “When’s good for you?”
Helen, Lucas, and Orion all laughed at that, but the moment of levity died fast when they considered why they had to have a meeting of the Houses to begin with. They needed to tell all the Scions that the war had started and come up with a plan to deal with it.
“In the meantime, I think we should call everyone we can. Tell them to watch their backs,” Hector advised.
“Do you think the gods would really try to pick us off one at a time?” Lucas asked dubiously.
“No,” Matt said, rejoining the group. “I think they want a real war. Something big and heroic.”
“More fun that way,” Helen said remotely, thinking of Ares and his twisted idea of playtime.
“This isn’t a game,” Hector reminded Helen and Matt gently. “The gods have seen what Helen can do, and what they face is worse than dying. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather spend eternity in the Elysian Fields than in Tartarus. If I were Zeus, I’d make Helen my first target, but I don’t think Orion and Lucas are much farther down on the gods’ hit list. Like it or not, the Houses are united. We stick together from now on. No one wanders away from the fold.”
Everyone nodded at Hector’s decree. He was, and always would be, their hero.
For a moment Helen saw Hector wearing a breastplate and holding a spear as he addressed the troops. Jason stood behind him, holding Hector’s plumed helmet with pride. At the base of the castle walls, wave after wave of brave soldiers screamed Hector’s name, bathing it in glory.
“Getting the right conditions to lock Ares in Tartarus was a lucky break,” Helen said, blinking until the vision of Hector, glowing red and gold in the sunshine, went away. “It’s not something that happens all the time.”
“But it did happen,” Daphne said, turning toward Hector with a touch of excitement. “And now all the gods must know that if it could happen to Ares, it could happen to them. They should fear us. For a change.”
Helen watched her mother worrying her lower lip between her fingers as she paced, deep in thought. It was almost as if Daphne wanted this war, but why? Daphne was a lot of things, but suicidal was not one of them. Helen banished the notion, convincing herself that Daphne was happy only because there was a chance that the gods might try to avoid a war now that they were threatened with Tartarus. That had to be it. Pinching her swollen eyes shut as she tried to clear her throbbing head, Helen felt Lucas take her hand and squeeze it briefly to get her attention.
“My dad said Jerry and the twins are awake now,” he said softly. His forehead creased when he saw Helen’s eyes swim. “Are you okay?”
Helen smiled at him and shook her head. She wasn’t okay. None of them was. She held out her other hand and took Orion’s.
“Want to meet my dad?” she asked him.
“Yeah. I guess you should meet mine, too,” he said, but he didn’t look too excited about it. He looked sad. Orion’s head bobbed forward and he blinked a few times, trying to stay conscious.
“Okay. Time to go,” Castor said, his face furrowed with worry. “The three of you are in really bad shape. We need to get you back to ’Sconset. Daphne? Hector? Let’s go.”
Helen, Lucas, and Orion were still too weak to stand, and needed to be carried back to Nantucket. Helen fought it at first, but then moments after Daphne picked her up, Helen was overcome with exhaustion. She hadn’t expected it, but Daphne’s arms were much more familiar than she could have imagined.
Glancing first at Orion and then letting her eyes land on Lucas, Helen let her head rest against Daphne’s shoulder and fell asleep to the soothing rhythm of her mother’s heart.
Acknowledgments
You know the saying, “It takes a village to raise a child”? Well, that goes double for trilogies. I have a ton of people behind me, aptly known as Team Starcrossed, and they keep this traveling circus afloat. It starts with my manager, Rachel Miller, and my agent, Mollie Glick. They’ve pushed me, supported me, fought for me, and even kicked my butt when I needed it. They’ve made me a better writer, and to me, that’s what this journey is all about. Next, I have to thank Hannah Brown Gordon and Stephanie Abou. They’re like my own personal UN, and they’ve done so much for me in so many different languages I have to say danke/gracias/merci/obrigado just to cover a few of the bases. Barbara Lalicki, my editor at HarperCollins, worked so hard to help me get Dreamless in shape . . . thanks, Babs! To my two Katies, Katie McGee and Kathleen Hamblin—you’re both clutch. Alyssa Miele, den mother in training, keeps me in stitches even when I’m in stitches, which is no small feat. Amy Plum, Robyn Shwer, and Laura Arnold are just about the best beta readers a girl could ask for, and I am indebted to them for their keen insight and caring support. I have to say thank you to my foreign publishers, especially Dressler, MacMillan and Giunti, for the fantastic job they’ve done with my books overseas. Lastly, I have to thank the most important person on my team, my helpmeet and love of my life, my husband. Te quiero.
About the Author
JOSEPHINE ANGELINI is a Massachusetts native and the youngest of eight siblings. A real-live farmer’s daughter, Josie graduated from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts in theater, with a focus on the classics. She now lives in Los Angeles with her screenwriter husband.
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Credits
Cover photo 2012 by Lara Jade Photography
Cover design by Erin Fitzsimmons
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Copyright
Dreamless
Copyright © 2012 by Josephine Angelini
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fee
s, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
ISBN 978-0-06-201201-2
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12 13 14 15 16 LP/RRDH 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
FIRST EDITION
EPub Edition © MAY 2012 ISBN: 9780062114358
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Josephine Angelini, Dreamless
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