“Matt, can you help me get Helen up? If you could just grab her feet...” Lucas asked in an apologetic voice.
“Sure, no problem,” Matt said as he slipped his hands behind her knees. “Jeez, Len, you smell awful! Did you have to fall into every cranberry bog on the island?” Helen chuckled briefly, but it hurt to laugh so she stopped.
Helen initially wondered why Lucas would ask Matt for help when he didn’t need it, but as she listened to them talk and work together to carry her to Hector’s SUV she realized that Lucas had to be one of the smartest people she’d ever met. Not only did asking for help make Lucas seem normal, but it also made Matt feel needed. Lucas was treating him like a partner and, more important, like a man. Helen knew that if Lucas ever asked for Matt’s loyalty, this simple gesture of inclusion made it more likely that he would get it. A fresh bout of pain gripped her so tightly that a sweat broke out on her upper lip. Helen blew out her breath slowly, trying to navigate her way through the pain.
Lucas popped the back hatch of the SUV and laid Helen down, then asked if Matt didn’t mind waiting with them until his sister and cousins came back.
“If Helen gets any worse, I’m not going to wait for them, I’m just going to take her to the hospital. If that happens, I’d really appreciate it if you stayed here to tell them where I went. It shouldn’t take long,” Lucas explained.
“I’ll stay as long as you need me,” Matt offered with his usual generosity.
“Damn, Matt. Aren’t you tired of watching over my sick ass yet?” Helen asked him with a half smile.
“You have no idea,” he said back with a smile of his own. It faded quickly. “This makes it twice this year. You never used to get sick, Len, not even that time we all got the stomach flu after Gretchen’s birthday party in fourth grade. The rest of us were puking our brains out for two days, but you were fine.”
“Oh, yeah! That was so gross! Hey, at least I brought you all Gatorade and crackers, remember?” Helen said playfully. She was trying to lighten the mood, but she was still in pain. She pressed on her belly again and Matt frowned. He was worried, and so was she. Her cramps had never lasted this long before.
“Maybe you should quit track,” Matt suggested suddenly.
“I think Matt’s right,” Lucas said, his face both surprised and pleased that Matt had suggested it. “It’s obviously not good for you. You should quit.”
Helen was too stunned to respond. She stared at Lucas with her mouth hanging open until Hector, Cassandra, and Ariadne arrived and ended the conversation. The girls got in the SUV with Lucas and Helen, and Hector took the keys to the Mercedes, saying he would wait for Jason. Ariadne offered Matt a ride home in her sweetest voice, but he demurred. Then, after a brief and very quiet exchange between Lucas and Hector, Lucas got behind the wheel and drove the three girls to the Delos compound, speeding the whole way. As they drove, Cassandra climbed into the back and perched next to Helen with a calm poise that belied her age.
“Did you get a good look at him?” she asked in a level, strangely adult voice.
“Yes,” Helen answered.
“If I showed you some pictures, would you be able to recognize him?”
“Like, mug shots? No problem,” Helen said positively. “I’m pretty sure there aren’t that many guys in the world who look exactly like a bigger, blonder version of Hector but with a scary, pockmarked face.”
She sensed the mood in the SUV shift.
“Creon,” whispered Cassandra.
“Are you sure?” Lucas asked, his head snapping up to look into the rearview mirror at Cassandra.
“Yes,” she answered with a dreamy look on her face. “And Uncle Pallas followed him here from Europe. He’s at home.” Lucas apparently didn’t need any more information. He fished his cell phone out of his jeans and hit speed dial.
“Jase, come in. Cassie can see him now,” he said in a flat, frightened voice. He listened for just a moment and then continued, talking over Jason’s questions. “When we all get back home. Your father’s waiting for us there.”
Helen felt like she had missed an important detail. “Who’s Creon?” she asked Cassandra as soon as she was able to sit up.
“A cousin of ours,” Cassandra answered unhelpfully.
“He’s the one who attacked Hector in Cádiz,” Ariadne said, her voice quivering momentarily. She glanced over at Lucas, who was just about to interrupt her, and kept going. “Okay, they attacked each other. Creon is a radical fanatic, and he’s looking for a fight with any of the moderates, not just us. But it’s Hector he’s really after. Not even you can deny that, Luke.”
“That guy, huh?” Helen asked, folding her arms over her belly as she tried to make a joke. No one laughed. Her right hand felt stiff so she flexed it. A scrap of fabric fell from her balled-up fist.
“What’s that?” Cassandra asked.
“Um. It’s Creon’s. I caught up to him, and when I tried to grab him I sort of ripped his shirt off,” Helen replied apologetically.
“Youchasedhim, caught up to him, and got close enough to rip his shirt off?” Ariadne said in disbelief. Apparently, Creon was fast, even by their standards.
“He saw me trying to fly, okay?” Helen began, sensing that she had done something very wrong. “I didn’t know who he was, I just knew that he’d seen me jump about five stories into the air and I had to get to him before he got away.”
“Great,” Cassandra said bitterly. “He came here to check on our family and maybe pick a fight with Hector, but now that you’ve exposed yourself everything has changed.”
