“What was that about?” Helen asked in a nearly inaudible voice. She could hear her dad’s deep breathing from his bedroom. Thankfully, he was still asleep.
“My family went looking for Creon last night,” Lucas answered with downturned eyes. “We think he caught a charter flight off the island, but we aren’t sure yet.”
“He’s gone?” Helen asked, a little too hopefully.
“Maybe. But if hedidleave, it won’t be forever.” Lucas stared at Helen so intensely she had to reach out and touch him somehow just to break the tension. She stepped forward and placed her hand on his chest. He was shaking.
Straightening suddenly, Lucas crossed to the door. “Put on something warm.”
“Why? Where are we going?” she whispered.
“Up.”
As soon as they were airborne, Lucas seemed to relax a little, but not much. She asked for a flying lesson, partly because she wanted to learn, but mostly just to distract him. They worked on Helen’s air-pressure control for over an hour before they got a call from his family. Castor had called from the airport, finally confirming that Creon had left the island by private charter like they had suspected, and it was safe for Lucas to bring Helen in.
Hector took the phone andinsistedthey come in right away—he wanted her to resume her combat training that morning. The cousins got into a heated exchange. Finally, Lucas agreed to land, but he seemed put out by the request.
“What’s wrong?” Helen asked, confused that he wasn’t happier to learn that Creon was gone.
“Hector has the wrong idea about us being up here alone. I’m notkeepingyou aloft so we can... damn it, you need to learn this!” he snapped, raking a hand through his hair. “I want you to be able to fly away from trouble, rather than try to stand and fight.”
“Me too,” she replied enthusiastically, grabbing on to Lucas’s shoulders so she didn’t waft away. “Call your cousins back and tell them we’re not done. I’d rather spend the day flying with you than getting sweated on by Hector any time.”
Lucas gave Helen a sinking look, like he was thinking a painful thought. “We’d better go in,” he finally decided, his face darkening. “You need to learn both.”
Helen knew Lucas was worried, but after spending the morning soaring weightless, she couldn’t feel anything but elated. She took both his hands and swung him around her so they spun in a spiral and tumbled in the air like they were on a roller coaster. The swooping sensation in her stomach made Helen shriek, but it worked. Lucas grinned and took the bait.
He seized on her arms and brought her into a dive that had her screaming bloody murder. At the last moment he pulled up, holding Helen cradled in his arms before allowing her to float to his side. They hovered over the Delos lawn like that for a moment, holding hands and laughing hysterically. They failed to notice the worried stares they were getting from the rest of the Delos family inside the house.
“Now, before you land I’m going to teach you another skill,” Lucas said as he looped over her shoulder and put an arm around her from behind. “I’m going to teach you how to transition into the massive-state—turn up the gravity pulling on you. The best way to get the hang of it is to do it while you’re landing.”
“Is that what you did when you landed on Hector the other day in the tennis courts?” Helen guessed. “And last night?” She was thinking of how heavy he’d made his body when they were wrestling in her bed. She pinched her lips together to keep herself from smiling.
“Exactly,” he said against her ear, letting his lower lip brush against her skin. “It’s the third state of gravity for fliers, and it could save your life in a fight.”
With his arm around her waist and the two of them floating ten feet above the ground, he taught her how to warp the way the world pulled on her. Lucas guided her to reverse the impulse that made her weightless and imagine her body becoming heavier. She was able to pick up the basics right away and when Lucas told her to touch down she thudded into the lawn with a jarring blow, kicking up two great divots of grass with her heels. She was impressed with herself and looked up at Lucas for approval, but apparently, there was still a lot left for her to learn.
“You’ll get better at it,” he said encouragingly as he pounded into the lawn next to her, skidding two deep trenches with his feet.
“You are such a show-off!” she said, grinning at him.
“Hey, I’ve got to impress you as much as I can, while I can. Soon you’ll be flying circles around me,” he said. He took her hand and pulled her tight up against his side as he led her toward the house.
“I doubt that,” Helen said, shaking her head. Lucas was so graceful in the air. There was no way she’d ever fly the way he did.
“You’re stronger than me,” he said without any envy or judgment, just as a fact. “When you realize that, you’re going to be able to do things that I never dreamed of.”
“If I’m so strong, then why do I always need you to come and save my sorry ass?” she asked sarcastically.
“Because fighting is about much more than strength,” he said seriously. “Which is good, or Hector would still be able to beat the crap out of me in a fight.”
“I can still beat the crap out of you in a fight,” Hector shouted from inside the house. Lucas smirked at Helen and shook his head as they walked into the kitchen. They didn’t get far.
“Not on my clean floors!” Noel shouted, pointing to Lucas’s and Helen’s muddy shoes. Then she realized why they were so muddy. “What did you savages do to my new lawn?” she groaned.
“I had to, Mom. Helen needs to learn.” Lucas dutifully backed out of the house and took off his shoes, and Helen did the same.
“Helen, dear. You look hungry. Make sure you eat something before you leave,” Noel said kindly, before shifting right back into scolding mode. “About that lawn, you know the rules, Luke.”
