“He’s everywhere that you are, lately.” Hylas gave me a shockingly frosty look. “He follows you like a bee follows honey.”
“You’re imagining things.” I did my best to sound casual. “Herakles is a great hero, but he’s still a man. He gets as bored as the rest of us. If he is dogging me, it’s only to have something to do.”
Hylas didn’t seem reassured. Why are you so unhappy? I wondered.
“Don’t worry, Hylas.” Milo spoke up. “Even if it’s not boredom making Herakles act this way, where’s the harm? Glaucus isn’t interested.”
“That doesn’t matter,” Hylas replied. “When Herakles wants something, he doesn’t stop until he gets it.” He left us without another word.
“Poor Hylas,” Milo said. “He’s in a bad way.”
“I wish he wouldn’t worry about me so much,” I said. “How can I convince him that Herakles is not going to get what he wants this time?”
“You think that’s what’s troubling him?” Milo’s voice rose sharply. “You mean you don’t know?”
“Know what? That Herakles is after me and Hylas is afraid I’ll be hurt?”
Milo shook his head. “The only person Herakles has hurt by chasing you is Hylas.”
“He—What?” My cheeks tingled as though I’d been slapped. I wasn’t shocked to learn that Hylas loved Herakles, and Herakles had certainly made it plain that he found other men attractive. The gods themselves were known to do so. There were many tales of how Apollo, Poseidon, and Zeus himself all had become infatuated with beautiful mortal youths. What shook me was how blind I’d been to something that was right before my eyes.
Only because you chose to be blind, I told myself. Because you’d rather stay blind than let go of your romantic dreams. Suddenly I felt like a complete fool. I squeezed my eyes shut. I won’t cry, I thought. I refuse to cry.
“Lady Helen…” Milo spoke my real name so softly that there was no danger at all of anyone hearing it but me. “Lady Helen, I’m sorry.”
“For what?” My voice was a ragged whisper. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I’m sorry for—for not being a better friend. I could have said something to you about Hylas before, but I didn’t, because I envied—”
I silenced him by laying a finger to my own lips. “Instead of an apology, share a promise with me: that from now on, we will be the friends we ought to be.”
“‘Friends’?” He smiled sadly, but he gave his word before the gods.
The next morning, the Argo set sail amid a chorus of moans and groans from the men who’d shared Herakles’ hospitality. I was in my usual place, aft of the mast. I couldn’t see how badly my brothers were suffering because of their spree, but I could imagine their pitiful condition after all that unwatered wine.
The crew was in such a sorry state that Argus persuaded Jason to make for land at noontime to give them a rest. They had their conversation by the ship’s steering oar, so I heard most of it.
We landed on a small, lovely island with tall cliffs rising behind a narrow arc of beach. Since we weren’t going to spend too long there, we left the Argo afloat and waded to shore. Everyone sought the shade cast by the rocks and the wind-twisted trees bordering the beach. Some of the men went right to sleep, and others tried to wash the wine out of their brains by dunking themselves in the cool shallows. Herakles strutted up and down the strand, taunting everyone he saw.
“What’s wrong, Kalais? Wine and wind don’t mix? Hey, Lynceus, how sharp’s your sight now? Nephew! Yes, you, Iolaus! Where’s the sour fig you’ve been nibbling? If you drank straight wine like a man, you wouldn’t be looking down your nose at the rest of us; you’d be trying to keep your own head from falling off! Haw!”
Then he caught sight of me. I was lying down in the shade of a pine tree, far from my brothers, nursing a sore stomach. I didn’t know what I’d eaten to cause such a bellyache. It had come over me out of nowhere and made me testy. Milo and Hylas were sitting nearby, playing a game of knucklebones. They’d invited me to join them and I’d snapped at them to leave me alone. When I noticed Herakles heading for me, I was in no mood for any of his antics. I got up and tried to evade him by stepping into the trees, but he was too fast.
“Where d’you think you’re going, lad?” He caught up with me in the shadows of the beachside grove and snagged the back of my tunic. “If you’ve got the energy for a hike, maybe you’d like to put it to better use. Tell you what, let’s go find a place where none of these fume-headed fools will bother us, and I’ll teach you how a real warrior uses his blade.”
I tugged my tunic out of his hand and eyed him stonily. “My own master teaches me all I need to know, thank you.”
“Oh, I doubt that.” Herakles grinned. “Don’t frown, Glaucus. The gods will weep if you crease that sweet face with wrinkles. Come on, I’ll teach you how to use a club like mine. It’s a surprisingly handy weapon, and one I know Iolaus never mastered.”
“What else will you teach him?” Hylas appeared from between the pines. He turned a cheerless face to me and added, “Why don’t you look happy, Glaucus? It’s not every young man who steals a hero’s heart.” With that he spun on his heel and fled into the trees.