for a moment and then abruptly pushed him away. Then, with
one easy leap he jumped over of the fifteen-foot-high fence surrounding
the fight mat and landed with an intentionally loud slap.
?She?d better get it in her. Because I don?t want any of the people
I love to die defending her lazy ass,? he rasped. As he walked out of
the fight room, Lucas ran to Helen.
?I?m so sorry.? He reached out and took Helen from Ariadne?s
arms. ?You don?t ever have to fight him again.?
?Why not?? Helen asked, pushing off his chest, her speech still
slurred from taking too many knocks to the head. ?I may not be a
natural fighter, but he?s right. I need to learn this or someone else
could get hurt. Someone like my father, or Claire, or Kate . . . Those
women are still after me. They could hurt anyone I care about.?
Lucas caught her as she fell over. He looked over her mashed-up
face inch by inch as he carried her out of the cage and into a back
area that served as both locker room and medical facility.
He sat her on top of a stainless-steel table and left her for just a
moment to gather some gauze, a basin of water, and, strangely, a
juice box and a jar of raw honey. He didn?t say a word, but gestured
150/395
for her to open her mouth, which she did, and then he started
drizzling honey onto her tongue. As soon as her taste buds registered
the oily sweet sunshine taste, she understood. Honey was
the perfect health food for demigods. A feral need kicked in, and
she grabbed his wrist with both her hands and held on until she
was licking the jar clean.
When the honey was gone she finally caught her breath. She
looked up and met Lucas?s eyes, and nodded at his inquisitive look,
as if to say that she was better now. Without a word, Lucas pushed
a plastic straw into the juice box and gave it to Helen to hold on to