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“No. She left a few minutes ago. Said she had some things to take care of,” Kate said through tight lips.
Helen could see about a dozen different shapes swirling around inside of Kate. Anger, sadness, worry, and resentment—a blinding kaleidoscope of emotion that kept moving and changing until Helen had to squeeze her eyes shut and look away for a moment. This was not normal, and it was really freaking her out.
“Helen?” Noel’s ever-watchful eyes regarded Helen sharply. “Are you feeling okay?”
“Yeah,” Helen replied, shaking it off. When she looked at Kate again, the colors had dimmed and Helen found she could ignore them. “Just woozy. What’s up with those muffins?”
Noel finished transferring the sticky, molasses-and-raisin-laden treats into a basket and brought them to the table. “Don’t burn yourselves,” she warned uselessly as all three girls grabbed one.
Ariadne and Andy began juggling the scalding muffins from hand to hand until they both dropped their too-hot muffins onto their plates. Helen simply bit into hers and started chewing smugly. Andy stared at her, openmouthed.
“I’m fireproof,” Helen mumbled around her purposely over-full mouth, rubbing it in. “I thought sirens had wings.”
“Some do,” Andy admitted sheepishly. “My mom’s kind don’t, though. We’re more the aquatic, singing type.”
; “Can you breathe underwater?” Kate asked excitedly. Andy blushed and nodded. “Awesome.”
“And where is your mother, Andy?” Noel asked delicately.
“I’m not sure.” Andy looked down at her plate. An uncomfortable silence followed.
“So. Ever get the urge to drown anyone?” Ariadne asked.
“No!” Andy replied, horrified.
“She’s just messing with you,” Helen assured her. Her face dropped. “Seriously, though. What’s your stance on strangling?”
“You mean apart from wanting to strangle both of you right now?” Andy asked, a smile tugging at her lips as she played along.
“You’re going to fit in just fine around here, Andy,” Noel said as they all cracked up.
“Women laughing,” Hector drawled as he sauntered into the kitchen. “My favorite sound.”
The reaction from Andy was immediate and frantic. She threw her fork at Hector’s head with a startled gasp. Hector caught the fork easily and placed it back on the table with a shocked look on his face. Then he caught the muffin, the empty water glass, and the napkin that immediately followed. Andy snatched anything and everything within reach and hurled it at him with all her might as she scrambled to get up from the table.
“What the hell?” Hector said, placing everything he had caught back on the table and then holding his hands up in a placating gesture as he came toward Andy.
Pinned by the bench, she slammed the backs of her legs against the wood, toppled over it, and then scrabbled on hands and knees across the kitchen floor to get away from him. Hector reached out to try to help her up.
“No, no, no, oh please, no, not again!” she mumbled hysterically as she clawed her way across the floor.
“Hector, stop,” Helen said, spinning around on the bench and standing up between the two of them. Still confused, Hector kept moving toward Andy. Helen put her hands on his shoulders and shoved him back. “She thinks you’re Apollo, you big dummy!” Helen screamed in his face. “You’re scaring the life out of her!”
Hector suddenly seemed to register what Helen was saying, stiffened, and stopped moving forward. Ariadne helped Andy off the ground and then struggled to keep her from bolting out the side door while Hector watched with a frozen look on his face.
“You have to calm down, Andy! You’re still healing, and your body can’t take this,” Ariadne said as she captured Andy’s wrists to keep her from hurting her abused limbs anymore.
Panting and wild-eyed, Andy finally stopped struggling and went still in Ariadne’s arms.
“It’s okay! That’s not Apollo. It’s just my brother, Hector. He’s not going to hurt you,” Ariadne promised. Andy glared over Ariadne’s shoulder at Hector, her sides still swelling with terrified breaths.
“I’m sorry,” Hector called gently across the room to Andy. “I didn’t mean to frighten you.”
A deep red throbbing inside Hector’s chest captured Helen’s gaze and she stared at it, dumbstruck, as a red-gold web of light illuminated Hector from the inside out. It was the most enchanting thing Helen had ever seen.
“Stay away from me, Hector,” Andy snarled, almost like she was mocking him. “Got it?”
