Goddess (Starcrossed)

replied, dumbfounded.
    “You’re the sea-god guy!” Lucas yelled.
    “It doesn’t have a central heart or a brain!” Orion yelled back. “Maybe try boiling it?”
    “Son of a . . . ,” Lucas swore, and jumped off of the struggling creature. Lucas wanted to end its misery, but he didn’t know how. He scrambled away, and turned his attention to his little sister.
    “Orion!” Cassandra sobbed against his chest.
    “It’s all right, Kitty,” Orion said soothingly, running his hands over her to make sure nothing was broken or bleeding.
    Cassandra quieted down, and he checked every limb and every joint on her body. Then she reached up to put her fingers in his thick hair and turned her mouth up to his like a shy flower opening for the first time. In a daze, Orion lowered his lips and kissed her.
    Lucas’s foot connected with the side of Orion’s head before Lucas was even aware that he was angry.
    “She’s just a child!” Lucas growled, jumping on top of Orion’s sprawled body and hitting him as hard and as fast as he could.
    “I am not !” Cassandra screamed.
    Lucas was vaguely aware that Cassandra was scratching his face and trying to claw him off of Orion. She kept repeating that she loved him, but it didn’t matter much to Lucas. His little sister really was like a kitten. Her claws stung, but they didn’t have the strength to injure.
    “I know!” Orion hollered. “I shouldn’t have—I’m sorry!”
    Orion was holding up his arms to shield himself, and Lucas noticed he wasn’t even trying to fight back.
    “You better kill me now, Lucas, because I’m not going to stay away from her. I can’t .” Orion’s voice was breaking with emotion.
    “What the hell are you two morons doing?” Hector bellowed, pulling Lucas off of Orion.
    Before Lucas had a chance to tell Hector what Orion had done, Helen’s voice boomed out across the island issuing a challenge to Zeus. Lucas realized that as a full immortal, she could meet him in single combat, and none of her partially mortal champions could step in to stop it, not even him. Clever girl , Lucas thought. I could strangle her right about now.
    They all looked up and saw the clouds flash with lightning. The waves stilled like time had stopped and the aurora borealis appeared, sending eerie neon colors dancing across the sky.
    The chaotic battle on the beach paused for a moment as man and beast craned their heads to watch the impossible spectacle.
    Thunder rolled. Orange fire erupted in midair as Hecate set the battleground in the sky. Lucas thought about flying to Helen.
    “She can handle it, Luke,” Hector said urgently. “I need you here.”
    The Myrmidons took that particular moment to regroup into their precise phalanx, shields front and top, spears sticking out like a porcupine. A full unit again, they surged forward like an ancient war machine.
    “Form the line!” Hector commanded, holding his bloody sword aloft.
    Lucas, Orion, and Jason jumped up like a chip in their heads made them automatically respond to their general. They spread out across the front line, each of them taking a battalion to lead, and their infantry fell into ranks behind them.
    The Myrmidons charged.
     
    Helen and Zeus appeared in the middle of the field of wildflowers. Zeus looked around, taking in the purple mountains, and the half-modern, half-ancient metropolis that worked like a counterbalance in the distance across from the alpine range. He stared at every flower, every bug, every gust of wind, measuring them all.
    “Well done,” he said approvingly. “Alive in every detail. Hades taught you a lot about life by making you slog through that barren hellscape of his, didn’t he?”
    “He did. As hard as it was, I love him for the training he gave me. I can see more clearly because of it.”
    Zeus breathed in the air, letting his head drop to the side in pleasure, appreciating every nuance of Helen’s world, like a foodie would a fine wine. “You learned well. You are truly gifted, sweet girl. Pity you can’t do more with Everyland. It’s still unfinished.”
    “No it isn’t. It served its purpose,” Helen said quietly. “And I give it to you without reservation. You are the sole ruler of Everyland.”
    Zeus tested Helen’s commandment by turning a white flower red and then white again with a thought.
    “Thank you,” he said, smiling at her. He held out a hand gallantly. “Shall we to Tartarus?”
    Helen looked at his offered hand and shook