"Some bear the curse of sight better than others," the goddess said sadly. "For

a while, May Castellan had many talents. She attracted the attention of Hermes

himself. They had a beautiful baby boy. For a brief time, she was happy. And

then she went too far."

 

I remembered what Ms. Castellan had said: They offered me an important job ...

It didn't work out. I wondered what kind of job left you like that.

 

"One minute she was all happy," I said. "And then she was freaking out about her

son's fate, like she knew he'd turned into Kronos. What happened to ... to

divide her like that?"

 

The goddess's face darkened. "That is a story 1 do not like to tell. But May

Castellan saw too much. If you are to understand your enemy Luke, you must

understand his family."

 

I thought about the sad little pictures of Hermes taped above May Castellan's

sink. I wondered if Ms.

 

Castellan had been so crazy when Luke was little. That green-eyed fit could've

seriously scared a nine- year-old kid. And if Hermes never visited, if he'd left

Luke alone with his mom all those years . . .

 

"No wonder Luke ran away," I said. "I mean, it wasn't right to leave his mom

like that, but still — he was just a kid. Hermes shouldn't have abandoned them."