a conspiratorial grin with Helen who managed to lift up half her
face in something sort of like a smile. The fairyland parts of the
Midsummer set appealed to Helen, but the Greek bits disturbed
her. The faux Doric columns were half painted and lying sideways
on the ground as if they?d been toppled, and they made Helen
think of the arduous journey she?d taken the night before.
She never wanted to go back to the dry land, but if she could find
that river . . . Wait, what river? she thought. She turned her back
on the half-built columns and sat down next to Claire to eat her
lunch.
Helen tried her best to get into the conversation, but she barely
had the initiative to chew, let alone laugh and joke. She could tell
that her friends were being clever and fun by the way Cassandra
and Ariadne were reacting, but she could barely stay awake, let
alone participate in the conversation.
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She kept thinking about flying. Well, really she kept catching herself
thinking about Lucas, but as soon as her thoughts slid down
that hot knife, she shuffled her imagination over to the side and
thought about flying instead. Maybe she would try it again on her
own later, she decided, but this time she would do it inside her
house so she wouldn?t be in danger of floating away. Although the
prospect of blowing away on the breeze didn?t seem like such a bad
idea right about now.
?Lennie! The bell?s ringing,? Claire said, her bag already over her
shoulder. Helen jumped up and got her things together while her
friends shot each other looks behind her back.
Claire tried to talk to Helen during track, but eventually gave up
when Helen kept turning the conversation around to ask how
Claire was instead. Helen didn?t want pity, and she didn?t want to