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When Helen didn’t respond right away, Matt left the arena with Ariadne following close behind. As they got a few paces out of the enclosed area, Helen heard Ariadne saying something conciliatory, and Matt cutting her off in frustration. They continued talking as they moved away, but Helen didn’t even try to eavesdrop. She was just too damn tired.
Helen sat down on the sand with her head in her hands. There wasn’t one person she could turn to, even just to chat for a few minutes before she had to face her seemingly impossible task in the Underworld.
The sun started to set. Another day was ending, and another night in the Underworld awaited her. Helen lifted her head and attempted to find the energy to fly home, but she was so wrung out she could barely focus her eyes. If she stayed there any longer, she would fall asleep, and she didn’t want to descend while she was in the Deloses’ backyard.
She hauled herself to her feet, and as she did, she felt that strange vertigo again. It was as if a part of the world broke off and turned into a picture while her body moved around it. Helen fell back down onto a knee and tried not to vomit. She saw the sand swim in front of her eyes, and for a moment, she thought she saw it actually move. She held very still and closed her eyes.
She could hear a heartbeat. And it wasn’t hers.
“Who’s there?” she whispered, her eyes darting all over the place. She summoned a globe of electricity and held it in the palm of her hand. “Come any closer, and I will kill you.”
Helen waited a few more moments, but there was no response. In fact, there was nothing but perfectly still air. It was actually quite peaceful. Flexing her hand, she allowed the electricity to dissipate, and a shower of sparks fell between her fingers and bounced harmlessly on the sand. She shook her head and laughed at herself, unable to stop a note of hysteria from creeping in. She was cracking up and she knew it.
When Helen got home she started cooking dinner for herself and her dad, but halfway through she got a call from Jerry. Helen could tell from the stiff tone of his voice that he really wanted to yell at her for breaki
ng her bedroom window, but since he was calling to tell her that there was a terrible mix-up involving a shipment of spider-shaped balloons at the store and he would be leaving her alone another night, he felt guilty enough to let the whole window thing go. Helen tried not to sound too sullen when she told him she was sorry he had to work late, then she hung up and stared at the half-prepared meal that she no longer felt like finishing or eating. She repackaged what she could and ate a bowl of cereal standing up by the kitchen sink before she went up to get ready for bed.
Throwing Orion’s jacket over her shoulders, Helen opened her bedroom door. She was about to step inside but her feet stopped where they were. Her bedroom used to be her sanctuary, her place of retreat, but it wasn’t anymore. It was a place where she suffered every single night. And on top of that, it was Eskimo cold. Standing on the threshold, Helen took a deep breath and then let it go, sending a big cloud of steam out in front of her as she did so.
“Well, Orion whatever-your-last-name-is,” she said to her empty room as she stepped inside, shut the door, and slipped her feet into a pair of rubber boots. “I hope you were serious about wanting to help me, because I’ve never needed help more than I do right now.”
Of course, Orion didn’t show. Helen spent what felt like a day’s worth of time wandering around the periphery of the Fields of Asphodel. She paced through the slippery mud of the flats around that meadow of creepy flowers, hoping he would appear at any moment, but he never did.
Helen didn’t go into the Fields because the flowers depressed her. Asphodels were pale, scentless blossoms that stuck up out of the ground, stiff and evenly spaced, like gravestones. She had read that asphodel flowers were the only nourishment for the hungry ghosts in the Underworld, and although Helen had yet to see any ghosts, she could feel them all around her, sense their eyes in the still air.
She’d focused on Orion before she went to sleep, hoping that by doing so she would appear next to him. She didn’t have the Underworld figured out by any stretch of the imagination, but she knew enough to know she would only see him if he had descended into the Underworld the same night. She paced back and forth, hoping he would appear, but she sensed that if she didn’t appear in front of him when she descended she wouldn’t see him, even if she waited forever.
And the more she thought about it, the more Helen had to admit that she wasn’t sure Orion would join her the next night, either. Maybe he’d decided that he’d had enough of the Underworld altogether.
She tried to look on the bright side. At least he’d given her the tip about dressing better before she went to sleep, and although it would be impossible to explain to Jerry why she was wearing a pair of galoshes to bed, it was still better than walking barefoot through all that nasty mud.
On Monday morning, Helen awoke and sighed, saddened by the fact that she would have nothing to look forward to when she went to sleep that night. She reminded herself that Orion had never been a part of the bargain. She’d always thought she would have to do this alone. Reluctantly, she hauled herself out of bed to clean up the night’s mess and get ready for school.
CHAPTER FIVE
Sleep well? read the text from the unknown number. Helen plowed into Claire’s back and practically knocked her down.
“What the hell, Lennie!” Claire complained loudly. Helen reeled off to the side and tried to regain her footing without stepping all over her tiny friend.
“Sorry, Gig . . .” Helen mumbled distractedly while she typed: Who is this?
“Who are you texting?” Claire asked curiously.
4-get me already? I’m 4-lorn, read the reply. Clever, Helen thought. So clever she decided to take a chance.
4-lorn? B-cuz you have 4 last names? Helen asked back, a faint smile creeping up her face and an oddly large butterfly flapping away in her tummy.
“Lennie? What’s going on?” Claire took Helen’s upper arm and pulled her along the corridor toward lunch.
“I think this might be that Orion guy—the guy I met in the Underworld. I just don’t know how. I never gave him my number,” Helen mumbled.
Claire steered Helen safely through the cafeteria while Helen stared with single-minded determination at the screen on her phone. If this was a trick, Helen knew she could possibly be outing Orion, but she had to test her mystery texter and find out for sure. If some unknown person had her number, it might not be safe for her, either. Finally, a reply came.
Ha! 4 names, but only 1 coat. Freezing! Meet me 2-night? Orion wrote, and now Helen was certain that it was Orion on the other end of the thread. No one else could possibly know about the coat she had accidentally stolen from him, and then slept in since, except Orion. Helen hadn’t even had a chance to tell Claire about it.
4-sure. 2-night. I won’t ditch you, at least, she replied. She realized that last line was snotty as she sent it, and desperately wished she could snatch it out of the air before it reached him. Helen had waited for hours. It wasn’t that she considered meeting Orion a date. It was just that it was the first time she’d ever been expecting a boy who didn’t show. It hadn’t felt great.
Hey, no fair. Couldn’t go to the caves last night. Exam today came Orion’s delayed reply.
