by Joan Holub
Somehow this breeze had found her! She pressed her back to the wall and watched it approach. “Art thou a Fate?” it asked.
Even if she could escape the shop, it would probably track her down again. So, reluctantly, she admitted, “Mm-hm. Clotho.”
The breeze stilled, causing the scroll it carried to drop at her feet. “Finally! I have been looking everywhere. Zeus wasn’t sure where any of you’d be. His instructions to me were to wait until you read his message and give me a reply,” it informed her.
Left no choice, Clotho picked up the scroll. Pzzt! “Ow!” It buzzed her fingertips with an electric charge. A sure sign it had come from that thunderbolty Zeus! She unrolled it with dread and began to silently read.
Hello, Fates,
It’s your lucky day! Because you are invited to the Immortal Marketplace tomorrow at noon to help celebrate my birthday!
A smile of relief spread over Clotho’s face. This was no reprimand. It was an invitation! Hooray! She read on:
The IM will close for a few hours, so don’t worry, no chance of you rubbing elbows with any more mortals than necessary as per my Rule #3. So be there or be square.
Yours in thunder,
Zeus
P.S. Bring presents
Below his P.S., Zeus had drawn pictures of what she guessed were gift suggestions. It was hard to tell exactly what the pictures represented, however. One looked like a silly mustache and lips. Or more likely a thunderbolt with a festive bow on it? And was the drawing beside that one a birdhouse or a helmet? And what was up with the hairy bracelets below that? Wait, no. Maybe those were supposed to be olive wreaths?
Zeus was a mighty powerful guy, but he was also mighty bad at art. Which Clotho actually appreciated, because it wouldn’t be fair if he were great at everything!
“What does the messagescroll say?” Arachne demanded to know. The spider had crawled out of Clotho’s bag and up the wall to begin weaving new webs in a high corner of the stairwell next to the kitchenette. When Clotho explained about the invitation, Arachne let out an excited squeak. “Party? Tomorrow? Ooh! Take me with you, please, please, please?”
“You want to go?” Clotho asked in surprise. She set the scroll on a nearby counter, then began going around putting everything the breeze had disturbed back where it belonged. “I thought you didn’t like immortals.”
Arachne did another one of her bug shrugs—er, arachnid shrugs. “Whatever,” she replied. “But I do like parties. There’s always food, which might attract flies, which are my kind of snacks. I mean, flies are so dumb. I just have to sit on my web and wait for them to fly into it and get stuck. Instant meal. Yum-mee!” The spider rubbed two legs together in gleeful anticipation.
“Well?” the magic breeze huff-puffed at Clotho. It was still awaiting a reply to the invitation, she realized.
“Oh! Yes, please tell Zeus I’ll be at the party, thanks,” she said. Then she quickly added, “I don’t think my sisters can make it, though.”
She hated to leave out her sisters. Still, she couldn’t take the chance of Lachesis and Atropos finding out from anyone at the party that she’d been mingling with mortals. Nor did she want them to hear any talk about how Meleager’s mom had managed to trick the Fates. They’d be so upset, they’d never let her hear the end of it! She only hoped Zeus didn’t learn about any of that stuff either.
Like most everyone, Zeus thought of the Fates as a single unit, instead of as three individuals. If he did find out about her rule breaking or her Meleager mistake, it wouldn’t be fair if her sisters wound up sharing the blame. So that was another reason—an unselfish one—to keep mum about the invitation.
She knew she’d better attend, however. Because when the King of the Gods invites you and your sisters to his birthday party, at least one of you had better show up to represent the rest if you know what’s good for you.
“I will relay your message,” replied the breeze. In a swirl of magic, it departed through the shop’s open door. As soon as it was gone, Clotho dashed over to the bottom step of the stairs to grab her bag. Remembering she still wore the Game On! button, she pulled it off and set it aside. She needed to gather the wool and yarn she’d come to the IM to get, and scram before she broke any more Zeus rules!
But she screeched to a halt when she heard a new voice say, “So are you the Fate that scroll was looking for?”
9 Tantalus
CLOTHO JUMPED AROUND. JUST INSIDE the shop doorway stood the spiky-haired, green-caped mortal boy. The same one whose foot she had sort of trampled while leaving Game On!
“What do you want?” she asked cautiously.
Grinning at her, he said, “I followed that magic breeze over here from Game On! and snuck in. Heard everything, including what you told that spider.” Lifting his chin in Arachne’s direction, he moseyed farther into the shop. He looked around and then eyed Clotho again. “I’m Tantalus. And you’re Clotho? So are you really one of the Fates? How come your skin doesn’t shimmer like other immortals’?”
Thunk! Clotho dropped her bag on the bottom step again. It tipped on its side, causing some of her animal finger puppets to tumble out as she stared hard at him. Tantalus. His name was strangely familiar to her. But why?
“Hey, girl! Snap out of it,” Arachne prodded when Clotho didn’t reply fast enough to suit her. “Answer the boy’s questions.”
Clotho shot a frown at Arachne. “I think I’m starting to get why Athena turned you into a bug.”
“Arachnid! Arachnid! How many times do I have to tell you?” complained the spider, rolling all eight of her eyes. Pouting now, Arachne crawled to a dark corner and began spinning a new web to which she’d probably add more insults to the gods and goddesses—Clotho included!
Tantalus didn’t appear startled to hear a spider talking. Why? Because he’d been sneakily listening the whole time he’d been here, as he’d already admitted.
“Okay, yes,” Clotho told him. “I am a Fate. Our skin isn’t glittery on purpose so we won’t be recognized. We’re not allowed to draw mortals’ attention or hang out with you guys at all.”
Tantalus’s head jerked back in surprise. “But you just played a game with some mortals at Game On!” he reminded her. “Isn’t that ‘hanging out’?”
Clotho gave him a weak smile. To avoid having to answer that question, she changed the subject. “So, anyway, I don’t mean to be rude or anything, but I really need to gather some craft stuff and get going. Also, this is Arachne’s shop, so I shouldn’t be letting random people in to bother her. Which means you should probably get going too.” To emphasize her request, she made shooing motions toward the door.
“He can stay awhile. I don’t mind,” Arachne chimed in unhelpfully.
“So… does Zeus know you’re the Fate who messed up Meleager’s destiny?” Tantalus asked Clotho.
Her mouth dropped open. “How’d you know that?”
Tantalus crossed his arms and smirked. “Ha! I didn’t till you just now confirmed it. I heard some godboys talking about it back in Game On! But I figured there was no way Meleager’s mom could’ve fixed his destiny so easily by removing that burning log. Not unless one of you Fates had made a mistake in spinning his Thread of Fate to begin with. So you’re the spinner?”
Clotho hesitated, and then sighed. “Okay, yeah, you got me. My job is to read the names on the Destiny List and spin the Threads of Fate. Twelve years ago, I accidentally tangled and knotted Meleager’s thread.”
In her mind’s eye she recalled watching Meleager’s thread drift toward the heavens. Saw it come into contact with the thread of the boy whose name had come before his on the Destiny List.
Her eyes went wide. So that was why she remembered Tantalus’s name! It had been his thread that had briefly touched Meleager’s. What did it mean that both boys had come together at Game On! today? Had she caused their destinies to be bound up in some way she wasn’t aware of?
She decided to dig for information. “So how do you kn
ow Prince Meleager?” she asked, trying to sound casual.
“I don’t. I heard about Game On! opening. That’s the only reason I came to the IM.” Tantalus tapped a fingertip on his cheek. He seemed to momentarily turn deep inside his own thoughts. “A knotted, tangled thread, huh? Interesting,” he mused. “I didn’t think Fates, or any immortals, ever made mistakes.”
“Well, we try not to, and we fix the ones we make if we can,” she told him honestly.
His eyes shone with glee, and maybe a bit of spite? “Ha! Which means you do make them! So high-and-mighty immortals are not any better than mortals when it comes to mistakes?”
Clotho let out a groan. “Don’t let any other goddesses or gods hear you say that. That kind of talk makes us immortals cranky.”
“I can vouch for that!” Arachne piped up from her corner. Then she began to mumble grumpily. “Horrible Athena… turned me into a spider… said the tapestry I wove insulted the gods… some people can’t take a joke.”
“Yeah, well, as jokes go, insults are not particularly funny to immortals,” Clotho informed both the spider and Tantalus.
Her gaze narrowed on the boy. “Please promise me you won’t tell anyone what I’ve told you or what you overheard. It could get my sisters and me in big trouble with Zeus. In fact, just forget you ever met me and that we ever had this discussion, okay?”
Before Tantalus had a chance to answer, Clotho heard Athena’s voice. “The door’s open,” that goddessgirl said to whoever was with her. She sounded surprised by this as she stepped inside the shop. Aphrodite, Artemis, and Medusa entered behind her. “Told you I saw that magic breeze fly toward this shop,” Medusa said.
Noticing Clotho and Tantalus, the four girls moved their way. Athena spied Zeus’s messagescroll on the counter and put two and two together. “You’re the Fate the magic breeze was looking for?” she asked Clotho in surprise.
Ye gods! They didn’t call Athena a brain for nothing. With a groan, Clotho nodded and then dropped her head into the palm of her hand. So much for keeping her true identity secret from these girls.
“And who are you?” Aphrodite asked Tantalus. Bedazzled by her beauty, as boys often were, he went speechless for a few moments. By the time he finally recovered and was introducing himself, Clotho looked up to see that the dozen snakes on Medusa’s head had begun flicking their tongues at Arachne. The spider let out a shriek and zoomed up a silky web strand to hide on the ceiling out of their reach.
Abruptly remembering the THEENY IS A MEANIE! and ZEUS IS A GOOSE! insults woven into Arachne’s webs, Clotho leaped into action. She grabbed a broom and swept any offensively worded cobwebs away before anyone—especially Athena—could read them. Although Arachne could be annoying, Clotho didn’t really want her to get in so much trouble that she wound up banished to the real Tartarus!
Once the webs were gone, she saw that the girls and Tantalus were looking at her a little oddly. Somewhat embarrassed, she set the broom aside. “Um. Just cleaning up a little. I, er, have never been to the Immortal Marketplace, but I saw this shop and wandered in hoping to find some wool and yarn. Don’t want to leave a mess.”
“Hey! You were on Atalanta’s team in Game On!, weren’t you?” Artemis realized just then. “Clotho, right? You and Atalanta did good work. Go, girl power!” she added, punching a fist in the air.
“Thanks, it was fun,” said Clotho, pleased by the compliment. Kneeling by the steps, she began gathering her scattered finger puppets and stuffing them back in her bag. She’d just grab some yarn and wool and get going.
“Hey! Those look a lot like the finger puppets we saw at Cassandra’s,” noted Aphrodite, pointing at the puppets clutched in Clotho’s arms.
She and the other girls came closer. “Did you make them? And leave some of them in the Oracle-O Bakery?” asked Athena. She picked up an owl puppet Clotho had missed from the stair, popped it on her finger, and wiggled it close to her own face, grinning.
Clotho nodded. “Yeah, I did. You can keep that one if you want. Because owls are kind of your symbol, right?”
“Wow, thanks!” said Athena, looking delighted. “Hey! You know who would love these?” she added, glancing at her friends.
“Meow, meow… Zeus?” Aphrodite asked in a high squeaky voice. She had nabbed a kitten puppet from the floor and was wiggling it on her index finger. Hearing her pretend meows, the shop kitten popped its head up from the basket where it had hidden.
“Exactly!” said Athena. Looking over at Clotho, she explained, “My dad is always playing with my baby sister Hebe’s toys.” Her eyes turned affectionate. “He’s like a little kid sometimes. It’s his birthday tomorrow, and he’s giving a big, festive luncheon here at the Immortal Marketplace.”
“I know, I’m going. That messagescroll I got from him was an invitation,” said Clotho.
“Nice! I was just thinking that these puppets would make great party favors,” said Athena, her blue-gray eyes sparkling. “I really like knitting, but I don’t know these patterns. Could you possibly show us how to make some for him and all the guests?”
Clotho blinked at her, really wanting to agree. But she made herself shake her head no to avoid any more rule-breaking mingling. “Sorry, gotta go. You’re welcome to just take all the puppets I’ve already made, though. You could add little decorations to personalize them and make them special. There are all kinds of sequins and beads and other things like that in this shop you could use.”
Remembering that it wasn’t her place to make this offer, Clotho glanced over at Arachne to get her reaction. Surprisingly, Arachne nodded yes. She was getting the feeling this spider was lonely. So lonely that she was willing to keep her nemesis Athena and her friends here decorating party favors if only for their company.
“You’re going to give finger puppets to everyone at Zeus’s party?” scoffed a new voice. It sounded like Poseidon. The girls whirled around to see that he, Ares, and Apollo had entered the shop too, and overheard.
“Sure, why not?” said Aphrodite.
Ares came over to study the puppets Clotho held. To her surprise he said, “I want to decorate some. Will you show me how?”
“Dude,” said Poseidon, shaking his head. “You have no talent for doing creative stuff. Remember that scabbard you tried to sew for your sword that one time? It looked like a very, very sad boa constrictor. Sorry, but no. Just no.”
“Hey, it’s for Zeus! I’m up for trying. With a little effort, I think we could transform these puppets into some killer hero-type creatures,” argued Ares.
Poseidon just sighed.
Finally Tantalus spoke up, introducing himself to the godboys and adding, “You know what would be mega-cool? If we put on a finger-puppet show for Zeus. A battle or something awesome like that. Are ya with me?”
Huh? thought Clotho. Judging from Tantalus’s delight in immortal mistakes, she wouldn’t have thought he’d be interested in helping them do something nice for Zeus’s birthday. Seemed she was wrong.
“Yeah! Maybe reenact the Titan-Olympian war with animal puppets,” enthused Apollo. “We could make it super exciting. Plus we could add some humor, and maybe some songs from Heavens Above, too!” That was the name of his band, Clotho knew.
“But mostly lots of battles and pillaging!” said Ares, fist-bumping with Apollo and Artemis.
Though Poseidon had pooh-poohed the idea of Ares decorating puppets, he’d perked up at Tantalus’s show suggestion. “Now you’re talking. I’m in,” he told the others.
“Ooh! Olympian puppets battling Titan puppets? My dad will go crazy for that. So perfect!” said Athena, bouncing on her toes and clapping.
“I’m not that good at sewing and crafty stuff,” Medusa told Clotho, wrinkling her nose. “So maybe you and Athena could help the rest of us? Since you’re both good at that kind of thing?”
When Athena nodded, Clotho found herself doing the same. “Well, okay, I guess maybe I could stay and get you started.” Zeus had invited her to his p
arty, right? she reasoned. He must know she’d meet some of these other kids there anyway, so… She glanced through the kitchenette window at a sundial outside the IM. “It’s only one o’clock, and I just remembered I don’t have to be anywhere till nightfall.”
“Mega-cool,” Athena went on. “Since many of us here fought in the war, I’m thinking some of the puppets should probably be representations of us, only in cute animal form.”
“Ooh! That’s clever!” said Clotho.
Aphrodite nodded enthusiastically. “We’ll need twenty-four combatants—twelve Olympians and twelve Titans.”
“Can you show me how to turn one of those puppets into a shark-shaped version of me?” Poseidon asked Clotho eagerly.
“Oh! I love dogs! Can you help me turn these into Titans for our play?” added Artemis, holding up three cute little dog puppets Clotho had made a while ago.
Clotho grinned at her. “Sure!” Quickly she gathered up all the little puppets that had spilled on the steps, plus the ones that remained in her bag. As she set them out on a worktable, her enthusiasm for the idea of sharing her skills grew.
“You guys can pick any of these to decorate or alter however you want,” she went on. “I don’t have a pattern for my puppets, but I promised a, uh, friend in Colchis that I’d drop off some serpent puppets one day soon. So I’ll make one of those now to show you some puppet-knitting basics, in case you want to make your own new characters for tomorrow’s show.”
Quickly she gave knitting lessons to those who wanted to add arms, legs, hair, little outfits, battle gear, and other stuff to their already-made animal puppets. The others watched carefully as she showed them how to create a puppet from scratch, using serpents as her example. Then everyone set to work. There was much laughter as the goddessgirls, godboys, and Tantalus and Medusa knitted, wove, glued, and got creative. Now and then they slid puppets onto their fingers and made them have silly conversations.