Persephone the Grateful

by Joan Holub

  Startled by the nastiness of their responses, for a moment Persephone just stared at them. Maybe she did stink? At least her sandals might! After all, while Hades had dealt with the feuding shades, she’d stood around in the marshy entrance to the Underworld, which reeked of rotting plants and stagnant water. And she’d also been on the banks of Minthe’s stinky river and had droplets of muddy water flung at her!

  She automatically bent her head to sniff her salmon-colored chiton in case more than just her sandals stank, but stopped herself in time. These boys never would have let her live that action down!

  Embarrassment fueled hot anger through her veins. Persephone drew herself up, then pretended to sniff the air around both boys. “Speaking of bad smells,” she retorted, “have you guys got a skunk in your scrollbags or something? Because you don’t exactly smell like roses right now. And I should know, since I’m in charge of flowers and stuff. Take a shower once in a while, why don’t you?” With that she strode off, clutching her scrollbag to her chest.

  When she dared to glance over her shoulder a few seconds later, both boys still stood in the hallway. They appeared to be sniffing their armpits worriedly. With a triumphant feeling, she took off.

  She made a quick pit stop in the restroom, where she washed off her sandals in the mosaic-patterned fountain that stood in the middle of it. Afterward, she scrubbed her hands in one of the golden basins and checked her hair in the gold-framed oval mirror above it. Satisfied that that all was in order now, she gave her mirror image a curt, businesslike nod. Then she hurried the rest of the way to class, where she non-stinkily sailed in through the Science-ology room door.

  By the time Persephone took a seat, her earlier anger had nearly cooled. It was only then that she felt a bit of remorse for what she’d said to Kydoimos and Makhai. Truthfully, her insult had been kind of lame. Unlike the two boys, she hadn’t had much practice insulting people. She was normally nice, but even she couldn’t help being angry at their mean remarks. Still, she wished she hadn’t responded the way she had. It made her as bad as them! Next time she’d try harder to keep her temper under control and take the high road.

  Just then a boy wearing a lion-skin cape with jaws that fit his head like a helmet sat down next to her. “Hi, Heracles,” she said. One of the few mortals to attend Mount Olympus Academy, he was her friend Athena’s crush, and the strongest boy at MOA.

  “Hey.” He carried a big, heavy, knobby club with him everywhere he went, and now he swung it from his shoulder and leaned it up against his chair. She’d tried to lift it once. No way! That thing was heavy. However, to him its weight was like a bag of feathers.

  A huge godboy named Atlas appeared in the doorway. “Heracles! Save me a seat!” With that the godboy bounded over, his every step causing the floor to shake violently, as if an earthquake were happening. BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The only Titan godboy at MOA, he was Heracles’ roommate in the boys’ dorm on the fifth floor of the school and, like him, was a champion weight lifter.

  All that shaking caused Heracles’ club to topple and fall toward Persephone’s sandaled feet. She tried to move out of the way, but she wasn’t fast enough. As the club landed on the floor, its handle grazed her big toe. THONK!

  “Ow!” she yelped. For the second time in minutes, anger coursed through her. That stupid club. It was dangerous! Heracles should leave it in his room. It wasn’t like he’d need it in class or anything. And Atlas shouldn’t stomp around like he did either. She was about to scold them both, but the horrified looks on their faces stopped her.

  Anger could lead to more anger, she knew. Just because Kydoimos and Makhai had primed her angry feelings, she shouldn’t take those feelings out on others. Heracles and Atlas probably felt terrible about what had happened. The same way she would feel if she’d hurt one of them. With that thought, her anger melted away.

  “You okay?” Heracles asked her, his dark brown eyes full of concern.

  “Sorry, Persephone! My fault!” Atlas cried out, hovering over her.

  Persephone rubbed her big toe. “S’okay. I’m fine,” she told them, hoping they hadn’t sensed her initial angry thoughts. Remembering her vow to be grateful for what she had—in this case, a sore toe, not a broken one—she added kindly, “Accidents happen.”

  3

  The Competition

  PING! PING! PING! THE FINAL lyrebell rang to signal the start of fifth period. Persephone and her classmates snapped to attention as their Science-ology teacher, Muse Urania, crossed to the front of the classroom. Her long, curly brown hair was held back by a midnight-blue headband that glittered with stars—fitting, since she was a well-respected amateur astronomer in addition to being a teacher. After placing a lesson planscroll on top of her desk, she turned to face the students.

  “Today we will begin a natural Science-ology unit,” she announced. “And to make it fun, we’ll kick it off by learning about various botanical, zoological, and geographic phenomena of Greece through a team competition, to be held tomorrow.”

  An excited murmur ran through the classroom. Students at MOA, Persephone included, loved competitions of all kinds. Competitiveness came naturally to most immortals. And as the goddessgirl of spring and growing things, Persephone already knew a lot about botany since it involved the study of plants. Her knowledge would no doubt be a big help to whichever team she ended up on.

  “Ooh! Ooh!” A lizard-tailed godboy named Ascalabus (Asca for short) raised his hand. He had black hair with a natural green stripe that matched the color of his lizard tail. “How many members to a team?” he asked without being called on. “And can we choose our teammates?”

  Muse Urania smiled at him. “I’ll get to that. But first let me explain how the competition will work. You’ll be going geo-dashing. Can anyone guess from this term the nature of the competition?” She paused.

  Persephone raised her hand. When Muse Urania called on her, she said, “ ‘Geo’ means ‘earth,’ and everyone knows what ‘dash’ means. So we’ll be rushing around the Earth for some reason?”

  “Exactly,” said Muse Urania. “In this competition, teams will dash from one place to another in search of a plant, an animal, or a geological formation. A sort of scientific treasure hunt! When you’ve found what you’re looking for in each location, consider this: Sometimes we see what we want or expect to see instead of what is there.”

  Huh? What was that supposed to mean? Persephone wondered. But before she could ask, Muse Urania went on. “The first team to successfully follow the clues and find and visit all four locations wins.”

  From the left side of the room another hand shot up. “Will there be a prize?” asked Iris, the goddessgirl of rainbows. Her small, sparkly pink wings gave a flutter as she spoke. Cute as her wings were, they weren’t strong enough to actually fly her anywhere. But she didn’t need them for transportation, because she could create rainbow slides to get wherever she wanted to go!

  Muse Urania smiled brightly as Iris’s long wavy hair, turquoise at first, slowly shifted through all the colors of the rainbow. “Isn’t learning something new enough of a prize?” she asked the class.

  Hmm. Persephone thought about that. She did love to learn new things. But Muse Urania had called this a competition. Didn’t competitions usually involve prizes?

  “Just kidding,” said their teacher, as low-level grumbling began to sweep the room. “I hope you all prize learning, but yes, there will also be more traditional prizes. At that, spirits lifted, and enthusiastic murmurs replaced the grumbles.

  “Like what?” Atlas blurted out.

  Muse Urania beamed at the class. “Members of the winning team will all get trophies.”

  This brought cheers, and more questions, too. “How big?” Atlas wanted to know. “I’ll need to make room.”

  No doubt he already had an entire closetful of trophies after winning so many wrestling championships, thought Persephone. Despite having once won a laurel crown in the long-jump competition at the Girls’
Olympic Games, and ribbons at various gardening competitions, she’d never, ever gotten a trophy. It would be hot (to borrow a term from Hades) to win one!

  “Yeah, and are they silver or gold?” a voice called out from the back of the room. It was a student named Hylaeus. He was a centaur, so his upper body was that of a boy and his lower body that of a four-legged horse. Since it was nearly impossible for him to sit in a chair, he always stood at the back of the classroom.

  “Will the trophies have our names?” asked Heracles.

  Boys! Honestly. A trophy was a trophy, thought Persephone. Who cared what metal it was made of, how big it was, or if their names were engraved on them? She’d be super grateful to earn one, no matter what!

  By the time Persephone tuned in again, Muse Urania had answered everyone’s questions. Now she was explaining that the two sections of her Science-ology classes—which she taught third and fifth periods—would combine for the competition. “Teams will be randomly made up from a mix of both classes,” she told them. “Since there are twenty students in my third-period class and fifteen of you in this one, I’ve decided to divide you into seven teams of five members each,” she added.

  “Same number and size of teams as in the Temple Games!” Persephone exclaimed.

  Muse Urania blinked. “Yes, I suppose so.”

  The annual Temple Games were a very big deal. The weeklong contest of skill, strength, and strategy featured competitors not only from MOA, but also from other realms, such as the Undersea, and many places outside Greece. Persephone had participated earlier in the year, but not on one of the teams. Instead she and Aphrodite had helped Principal Zeus and his nine-headed office assistant, Ms. Hydra, organize and conduct the games.

  Persephone loved being of help to others like that. Hmm, she thought. Maybe Muse Urania could use some assistance organizing this geo-dashing competition. She was about to raise her hand to ask, when another thought occurred to her. Volunteering might disqualify her from participating on a team, like it had in the Temple Games, because she’d be privy to information that team members weren’t supposed to know in advance. This time she’d really like to be on a team. Which would give her a chance at winning a trophy!

  Just then, Muse Urania announced that her third-period students would be joining them soon, at the end of class time, to draw names for each five-member team. Persephone straightened as a thrill of excited possibility zipped through her. Hades was in third-period Science-ology. So was her brainy friend Athena. With luck, she would wind up on a team with one or both of them. Woo-hoo!

  4

  Teammates

  I’VE PUT ALL YOUR NAMES on slips of papyrus inside this bowl,” Muse Urania announced to the thirty-five Science-ology students crowded together in the classroom at the very end of fifth period. She held up a beautiful, black-glazed ceramic bowl for all to see. It was decorated with reddish-orange silhouettes engaged in an archery contest.

  Persephone had exchanged smiles and waves with Athena and Hades as they’d filed into the room a few minutes ago. Now those two and others from third period stood or leaned along the walls, since there weren’t enough desks for two classes’ worth of kids.

  Pandora, a super-curious student with bangs shaped like question marks, leaned over and whispered to Persephone. “Think Mr. Phintias made the bowl?” Though Pandora was in third-period Science-ology with Athena (who was also her roommate), she’d somehow managed to snag an empty desk next to Persephone’s. Like Heracles, Pandora was one of the handful of special mortals who attended MOA.

  Nodding, Persephone whispered back to the girl. “Probably. It looks like the kind of work he does.”

  Mr. Phintias was MOA’s Crafts-ology teacher and a true artist. Many of the stunningly beautiful vases, urns, pots, and bowls that lined the shelves in his classroom were ones he’d created himself. A lot of them were decorated with reddish-orange silhouettes on glazed black backgrounds and depicted the amazing feats of the gods and goddesses of Mount Olympus.

  As the students watched, Muse Urania quickly pulled five slips of papyrus from the bowl. “Here are the names for Team One,” she announced. “Athena, Iris, Heracles, Ares, and Kydoimos.”

  Persephone hadn’t realized she’d been holding her breath, but now she released it. Phew! Being on a team with Athena would have been great, but she wouldn’t have relished having to work with Kydoimos. He and Ares were sometime friends, however, so maybe Ares could keep him in line. After all, Ares was the godboy of war (as well as Aphrodite’s crush), so he knew something about troop teamwork. Which could help them in this competition.

  Just then, she saw Athena lean out from the wall to send Heracles a delighted little wave. Since he was Athena’s crush, she was obviously really happy he would be on her team.

  It wasn’t until Muse Urania drew the names for Team Four that Persephone finally heard her own name called. “Poseidon, Persephone…” She crossed her fingers while she listened intently for the names of her last three teammates. “Antheia, Makhai, and Hades.”

  Hooray! She did a fist pump. She and her crush would get to be teammates! Twisting toward her, Hades flashed her a smile and a thumbs-up, which she returned wholeheartedly. She wished Makhai weren’t on their team, but at least he wasn’t quite as awful as his friend Kydoimos. In fact, without Kydoimos around to give him mean ideas, Makhai might prove to be an okay guy. She could hope, anyway. And she really liked Antheia. She was the goddessgirl of flowering wreaths, so they had in common a love of plants. Poseidon, godboy of the sea, was pretty cool too, most of the time.

  “So that you can all participate in tomorrow’s geo-dashing, Principal Zeus will excuse you from your usual Friday classes,” Muse Urania announced once all seven teams had been named. “Meet me here in the morning at eight o’clock sharp for your instructions.” She grinned at them. “And remember, if you don’t want to annoy your teammates, don’t be late!”

  There was scattered laughter at this. Persephone, who had once been voted by mortals in a Teen Scrollazine poll as Most Dependable, knew there was no chance she would be late. Although she’d been late to school today, that had been for a very good reason, and unavoidable. To not show up on time for something as important and exciting as this assignment, she’d have to be at death’s door. And since she was immortal, that would never happen!

  Moments later, Muse Urania excused everyone. As students started filing out of the classroom into the hallway, Persephone caught up to Hades. She’d hoped they could walk and talk together, but just then Muse Urania called out, “Poseidon and Hades, may I please speak with the two of you for a few minutes?”

  “Sure,” both godboys answered at the same time.

  Hades twisted his head back toward Persephone. “No idea what it’s about,” he said in a voice too quiet for their teacher to hear. “See you later, okay?”

  Persephone swallowed her disappointment. Okay, she mouthed back. It was only after she’d exited the classroom that she remembered she had Goddessgirl Squad cheer-team practice that afternoon. But she’d see Hades at dinner, and hopefully they could talk about a good geo-dashing strategy for tomorrow. Go, Team Four!

  She made her way through the halls to the Academy’s marble staircase and climbed to the girls’ dorm on the fourth floor, one floor below the boys’ dorm. Aphrodite was already wearing her blue-and-gold cheer-team outfit when Persephone entered the room they shared whenever Persephone stayed the night at the Academy instead of going home.

  Like most of the dorm rooms, theirs had two beds, two closets, and two built-in desks. Aphrodite had painted pink and red hearts all over their room’s walls and draped sparkly red fabric above the bed she slept in. (The other bed was for Persephone.) Persephone knew exactly where she’d put her trophy if her team won. Front and center on the middle shelf over the desk at the end of her bed.

  Hmm. She’d already decorated that shelf with gifts from friends and other knickknacks. There was, for example, a stuffed knitted owl Athena had given
her for her birthday last year, and a ceramic vase Aphrodite had made for her in Crafts-ology class. (Because Persephone was the goddessgirl of spring and growing things, Aphrodite had painted a border of flowers all around the vase.)

  There wasn’t a lot of space left on the shelf, Persephone noticed. Now she sort of wished she’d listened when Muse Urania was answering the boys’ questions about the trophy’s size. She hoped that if she won one, it would fit!

  “Hey, kitty, kitty,” Persephone called softly, spotting a ball of black-and-white fur on top of one of the six puffy, heart-shaped pillows that were arranged just so on Aphrodite’s neatly made bed. Adonis, the kitten they shared, jumped off the pillow, ran over to Persephone, and rubbed himself against her legs.

  Meow, meow, meow.

  She picked him up. “Are you looking for a liddle cuddle-wuddle, kitty-witty?” she cooed as she petted his soft fur.

  Meow, meow, meow.

  Aphrodite grinned and gave her long golden hair a flip. Then she grabbed her pom-poms from the top shelf of her perfectly organized closet and made up a cheer on the spot, performing stylish movements to go with it:

  “Hip hip hooray,

  Persephone’s here!

  Now we can all

  Get going to cheer.

  Two, four, six, eight!

  Hurry and dress, girl,

  Or we’ll be late!”

  Persephone laughed. “I’ll be fast.” She gently set Adonis on top of Aphrodite’s plush red velvet comforter, which was stitched with a pattern of little white hearts. He promptly padded over to the heart-shaped pillow he’d only just left, curled up on it, and began to lick his paws.

  Persephone moved to the closet at the foot of the bed that was hers whenever she slept over. Aphrodite had cleared a bit of space for her—not easy for the goddessgirl to do, because she had dozens and dozens of outfits and sometimes changed them four or five times a day! Luckily, Artemis, who roomed next door, let Aphrodite store some of her overflow clothes in her unused spare closet. Artemis had no roommate, only three dogs. And they didn’t need closet space.