Free Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini

so she finally went inside
    alone.
    “Help?” she mumbled timidly to the admitting nurse. That didn’t
    work, so she raised her voice and hopped up and down. “Help! My
    friend is outside, and she’s unconscious!” That got people running.
    Once her dad got there and they both knew that Kate was going
    to be fine, Helen made a statement to the police. She told them
    that a woman she’d never had the chance to see had made Kate
    pass out with a blue flashy thing. When Helen saw Kate fall, she
    went out into the alley and that must have scared the woman off
    because she ran away. Of course, Helen didn’t mention anything
    about the near abduction, the wrestling match, or the fact that Lucas
    Delos had appeared out of nowhere to fight the superstrong
    woman off. The last thing she needed was to complicate this situation
    any more or tie Lucas Delos to herself in any way. What was
    he doing there, anyway?
    “What happened to your shoes?” the police officer asked. Helen’s
    heart started pounding. How could she have overlooked the fact
    that she was barefoot?
    “I didn’t have them on from before,” she stated in a rush, and
    then continued haltingly. “Before, earlier, they had torn . . . while I
    was stocking in the back. And I had taken them off. When I saw
    that Kate was hurt I just dropped them, and came straight here.”
    Worst lie ever, Helen thought. But the officer nodded.
    “We found a pair of ripped sneakers in the alley,” he said as if
    Helen had told him exactly what he expected. He went on to explain
    that Kate had been Tasered, and that since the assailant had
    used up the charge on Kate, she was forced to run off when she saw
    another person arrive.
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    “One more thing,” the officer said, just before turning away.
    “How did you lift her into the car all by yourself?” Both the officer
    and her father stared at her for a moment with puzzled looks on
    their faces.
    “Willpower?” Helen said lamely, hoping they bought it.
    “She was lucky to have you there. That was very brave of you.”
    The officer gave her an approving smile. Helen couldn’t handle being
    praised for lying. She looked down at her bare feet, and they reminded
    her of how dumb she had been not to take care of that detail
    from the start. She was going to have to learn to be more
    careful.
    When the police were done questioning Kate, Helen and Jerry
    went in to check on her. Unlike Helen, Kate had gotten a quick
    look at the woman before she got zapped.
    “She was older—in her late fifties at least. Short salt-and-pepper
    hair. She looked totally harmless, but I guess she wasn’t,” Kate said
    ruefully. “What the hell? Since when did little old ladies go around
    Tasering people?” She was trying to make a joke out of it, but
    Helen could tell she was really shaken up. Kate’s face was pale and
    her eyes were big and shiny.
    Jerry decided to stay the night with Kate and bring her to her
    house when she was discharged. The doctors told Kate she probably
    shouldn’t drive for a few days, so Helen offered to take Kate’s
    car and bring it over to her on Sunday. Kate thanked Helen for the
    favor, but Helen had her own reasons for wanting Kate’s car. There
    was one more detail she had to take care of before she headed
    home.
    She had just enough time to get scared as she drove across the island
    on Milestone Road to the Delos compound in Siasconset. The
    closer she got, the more she found herself shaking, but she had no
    choice. She had to make sure Lucas kept his mouth shut about the
    attack or she could get into serious trouble. She didn’t think he
    would tell anyone. The Delos family worked very hard to appear
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    normal when Helen knew they were anything but. No one of regular
    human strength could have stopped Helen from strangling him
    if she set her mind to it. Lucas was like her.
    The thought made her stomach heave. How could she be anything
    like someone she hated so desperately? First, she had to
    make sure he never mentioned his