Persephone the Grateful

by Joan Holub

  Poseidon appeared at their side right then, twirling his trident over his head like a baton. “No, you won’t. Muse Urania said we should each choose someone to take our place. When we mentioned it in the dorm last night, Heracles volunteered his cousin Theseus and Theseus’s friend Pirithous as substitutes. Those guys are mega-excited at the idea.”

  “But they’re not MOA students,” Persephone pointed out. “They’re only visiting.” She didn’t have anything against the two boys, but if she’d been able to choose, she would’ve asked Aphrodite and Artemis to sub for Hades and Poseidon. Having two of her BFFs as substitutes on her team would’ve been much more fun. Too late now, though.

  “It’s okay,” said Poseidon, misunderstanding her concern. “I checked with Muse Urania when I came in. She’s fine with Theseus and Pirithous joining in, even though they don’t go to MOA.”

  Hades gave her hand another squeeze. “I’m sure they’ll be good team players,” he said reassuringly. “They’ll want to prove they’re up to the task of subbing for Poseidon and me.”

  Once again, he’d guessed what she was feeling. He’d understood that she hadn’t been worried Muse Urania wouldn’t approve of the two boys as replacements. No. She’d been objecting to the choice of the two boys.

  “Yes, of course. I’m sure they’ll fit right in,” she said graciously, to make up for not wanting the two mortal boys on her team. “I’ve heard Pirithous is really smart about tech stuff, so he could be a big help if we run into problems with our scroll-gadgets.”

  Some of Hades’ friends wandered over, drawing his attention away from her. Shortly afterward, Antheia entered the room. “Ooh! This is going to be so much fun!” she squealed excitedly as she came up to Persephone. The goddessgirl clasped her hands in delight and bounced on her toes, causing the cute fern-and-berry wreath that sat atop her straight brown hair to tilt sideways. She always wore an adorable circlet of some sort on her head.

  While Antheia was telling Persephone how happy she was that they were teammates, Hades broke away from his guy friends. “Good luck with the competition!” he called to Persephone. Facing her, he walked backward a half dozen or so steps. Then he wheeled around as he and Poseidon went over to Muse Urania.

  “Huh? Where are they going?” Antheia asked Persephone in confusion.

  Persephone explained about the change in team members just as Heracles ushered Team Four’s two newest members into the classroom. “There they are,” she added, pointing the two boys out to Antheia. “Theseus is the one with dreadlocks. Pirithous has the long blond hair.”

  “Whoa. They’re cute!” cooed Antheia.

  Are they? Persephone hadn’t noticed. She supposed they kind of were, though in her eyes no one could be cuter than Hades. She wasn’t the only one who saw how special he was. In the same Teen Scrollazine poll that had voted her Most Dependable, mortals had voted him Most Fascinating godboy. She agreed with that for sure, though their personalities were pretty much opposite. He was gloomy darkness, like fall and winter, while she was mostly bright and happy, like spring and summer. Yet somehow they clicked.

  Heracles brought Theseus and Pirithous over to where Persephone and Antheia were standing, introduced them, and then left to join his own team. As the four introduced themselves to one another, Pirithous kept staring at Persephone.

  What? Did I accidentally get lip gloss on my teeth or something? she wondered uncomfortably.

  Soon Muse Urania announced that it was time to begin.

  “Are we missing someone?” Theseus asked quietly, glancing around the room. “All the other teams have five members. We only have four.”

  “Makhai’s not here,” said Persephone. Although annoyed at his lateness, she also felt relieved. If he didn’t show up, she wouldn’t have to deal with him and his sometimes horrid behavior. She could ask Artemis or Aphrodite to fill in!

  “Maybe he’s sick?” Antheia suggested. She pointed across the room to where Team One was assembled. “Kydoimos is here. He and Makhai are buds, so he might know what’s up with Makhai. Want me to go ask?”

  Before Persephone could answer, Makhai burst into the classroom, his hair sticking up in all directions. Muse Urania had just begun to explain that the teams would be using “new and improved” scroll-gadgets, modeled after the devices Zeus had invented for the Temple Games not long ago. After pausing briefly to frown at Makhai, the teacher showed off the scroll-gadget she held.

  “These newer devices will allow you to get both text and audio clues about the plants, animals, and geographic features you’ll all be searching for,” she told them. “But unlike the earlier devices you used in the Temple Games, these can’t be used for direct communication. So neither Zeus nor I will be breaking in with instructions.” She paused to smile at them. “You’ll be fine without our help, though. Learning how to use the devices won’t be hard. They’re pretty intuitive.”

  As she spoke, Poseidon and Hades began to circulate around the room to pass out the gleaming white pocket-size scroll-gadgets. “By the way,” Muse Urania said, motioning toward the two boys, “there’s been a change in the membership of Team Four. Poseidon and Hades will assist me with clues and other things, as you will be visiting their realms, plus two other places during the competition.” After a moment’s pause she added, “And no, you may not ask them to reveal what they know.”

  There was a smattering of laughter at this.

  Persephone exchanged a smile with Hades as he handed her a scroll-gadget. There was one device for each student. Some tried to unroll them right away, hoping to get a head start on figuring out how to use them, no doubt. Noticing, Muse Urania smiled and said, “Your gadgets are magically locked. You won’t be able use them until I give you the go-ahead.”

  “If I had enough time, I bet I could figure out a way to break that lock,” Persephone heard Pirithous murmur to Theseus.

  “Yeah, probably,” Theseus replied in a low voice. “But that wouldn’t be fair. Let’s just wait and start at the same time as everyone else.”

  Had Pirithous seriously been thinking of cheating? No way. That would ruin the fun of winning! thought Persephone. She was glad Theseus had advised him against it.

  “Your geo-dashing will take you to four surprising and interesting locations,” Muse Urania went on. “Some of them may be difficult to find or navigate to. Although you will not be allowed to use chariots to travel—other classes are using them today—you may use winged sandals. The first team to return here with proof of having visited all four places wins the competition.”

  “Proof?” Ares echoed.

  “What kind of proof?” Athena called out.

  “Somewhere at each location—if, based on the clues you’re given, you correctly figure out where to go—a single magical container of some sort will appear to you, with seven identical objects inside,” Muse Urania replied.

  “Seven teams. So that’s one clue for each,” Persephone heard someone whisper.

  “Just open the container and take out one of the objects,” the teacher went on. “Collect one from each of the four locations before you return to MOA. These four objects will constitute your proof.”

  After a brief scan of the room, Muse Urania added, “Now I will unlock your scroll-gadgets and you’ll all receive a clue to your first location. Good luck and have fun!” With that she unrolled her scroll-gadget, which was purple rather than white. When she gave its screen a poke, all the students’ scroll-gadgets fell open at once, each unrolling to a size of about six inches square.

  Persephone, Antheia, Theseus, and Pirithous were all examining their blank gadget screens when Makhai finally joined their group. “Never fear, I’m here!” he announced with a smile that bordered on a smirk. (Or possibly a smirk that bordered on a smile. With him it was impossible to tell.)

  As if to show it off, Makhai grabbed the front edges of the knee-length dark purple cloak he wore over his tunic and threw it wide with a flourish. It looked brand-new. Kydoimos was we
aring an identical cloak, Persephone noticed now. The boys had likely bought them at the same time.

  “Nice cloak, dude,” Theseus commented.

  Makhai ignored him, probably thinking mortals were beneath him or something. “Bet you were worried I wasn’t coming!” he said, looking at Persephone and the other immortals on their team.

  “Not sure that would have been any great loss,” Persephone muttered. The words just slipped out before she could stop them. She smacked a hand over her own mouth, but it was too late.

  Pirithous laughed loudly. “Good one, Persephone!” he said in an admiring tone. But she felt bad about what she’d said.

  To her surprise, Makhai bowed his head. “Sorry,” he said. “I overslept.” And indeed he did have a bad case of bedhead, as if he hadn’t had time to comb his hair. Noticing her staring, he tried to slick it down with his palms.

  Persephone wanted to apologize for criticizing him, but before she could think of how best to do it, the teams’ scrolls began to chime all over the classroom.

  Bling! Bling!

  The competition had well and truly begun!

  6

  The First Clue

  EAGERLY, PERSEPHONE POKED A FINGERTIP at the flashing green triangle that had appeared in the middle of her open scroll-gadget. Everyone else in the classroom was doing the same thing. Instantly, a gold-colored head-only statue of some old guy popped up where the green triangle had been. On the base of the statue head was a name: THEOPHRASTUS.

  She huddled together with her Team Four teammates. “I know this name!” she exclaimed in a hushed tone that wouldn’t be overheard by the other teams. “Theophrastus is a scientist. One of his big interests is botany. I’ve even read one of his books: Enquiry into Plants.”

  “Cool,” Pirithous piped up, again in an admiring tone.

  A moment later, the statue’s mouth began to move in a weird fashion, speaking to them. It was gadget animation! This was a nice improvement from the gadgets they’d used in the Temple Games.

  “Without further ado, here’s your first clue,” announced the on-screen golden head of Theophrastus. “A most interesting sight, a blackbird that’s white.” After a brief pause it added, “As noted by Pausanias.”

  Huh? Didn’t all blackbirds have to be black? Persephone wondered. Otherwise, why would they be called blackbirds? The classroom filled with murmurs of surprise. “I’ve never heard of a white blackbird. Have you?” she asked her teammates. They all shook their heads.

  Theseus frowned. “And who’s Pausanias?” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, his scroll blinged. “Hold on a sec. Something new just popped up!” he said excitedly. “Maybe it’s another clue!”

  Pirithous frowned. “There’s nothing new on my gadget.”

  “Or mine,” Makhai reported.

  Persephone and Antheia looked at their gadgets and then at the boys and shook their heads. Only Theseus’s scroll-gadget had blinged. “Not on ours either. So what have you got?” Persephone asked him. There was no audio this time, so she and the rest of Team Four crowded around him, trying to look at the words that had popped up on his screen. Theseus read them out in a quiet voice. “Pausanias, a geographer, is the author of the ten-book series Description of Greece.”

  Just then they heard someone from another team shout, “I bet Mr. Eratosthenes can help us!” This caused a stampede as teams rushed out the classroom door.

  Pirithous cocked his head at Persephone. “Who is Mr. Eratosthenes?” he asked. Bling! He looked down at his scroll. “Oh. I see. He’s MOA’s librarian.”

  “So maybe we should we go to the library too?” Antheia asked the others. “Pausanias must have written something about white blackbirds in one of his books. The library probably has all ten of them!”

  Persephone stared at her, thinking, then shook her head. “Even if we left now, we’d be the last team to reach the library. Last to have a turn to look through the books or talk to Mr. Eratosthenes. Besides, maybe there’s a faster way to find out what we need to know.”

  “Ha!” said Makhai, sounding frustrated. “Stop wasting time! The library is our best bet. Let’s get going before we wind up losers!”

  Pirithous scowled at him. “Calm down and let her explain. She might just have a better plan of action.”

  Persephone sent him a grateful glance. “Muse Urania told us our scroll-gadgets were ‘new and improved,’ ” she reminded her teammates. “Back during the Temple Games they could only display messages and clues. They couldn’t speak information and we also couldn’t, um, interact with them. But a minute ago when Theseus and Pirithous asked questions, their scrolls gave them the answers. So maybe to get more answers, all we need to do is—”

  “Ask!” Pirithous blurted out before Persephone could finish. He smiled at her. “Brilliant!”

  She smiled back at him. “Thanks.”

  “Let me try,” Antheia squealed. She looked at her scroll-gadget. “Can you tell us where to find the white blackbirds?” she asked Theophrastus.

  Bling!

  The scientist’s mouth moved jerkily. “Yes,” said the animated head. Then it stopped speaking.

  They all waited a few seconds for the statue head to go on, but it stayed silent. Antheia shook her scroll-gadget. “Maybe mine’s broken?”

  “We could try asking mine,” Persephone offered just as Makhai snapped his fingers.

  “Duh, Antheia,” he said. “You didn’t get the response you were after because your question only required a yes or no answer. Watch this.” He looked down at the golden head in the middle of his open scroll-gadget. “Where can we find white blackbirds?” he asked it.

  Bling! “On Mount Cyllene,” the head of Theophrastus replied.

  “That’s south of here on the Peloponnese peninsula,” Persephone said excitedly. “Let’s go!”

  They tried to stuff their still-open scroll-gadgets in their pockets, but they were too big to fit. “What do you suppose we need to do to get our scroll-gadgets to close?” Theseus asked.

  Snap! As soon as the word “close” left his lips, his scroll-gadget rolled itself up.

  “Close!” the other four team members said quickly. Snap! Snap! Snap! Snap!

  Seconds later they all dashed out the door of the Science-ology classroom. What a surprise that Makhai had been the one to figure out why Antheia’s question hadn’t resulted in the information they needed, Persephone thought as everyone headed toward the Academy’s front doors. She’d never given Makhai any credit for brains, she realized. If he was smarter than she’d believed him to be, might she have misjudged him in other ways as well?

  She decided that, since they’d been thrown together on the same team anyway, she would make an effort to get to know him a bit better. And act more kindly toward him. Starting now.

  “Good job with the clue, Makhai,” she called out to him as Team Four raced to the Academy’s domed entrance. Although he didn’t reply, a surprised, pleased expression flitted over his face and then was gone.

  All five members of their team skidded to a stop by the communal basket of winged sandals that sat beside the heavy bronze doors that led outside. Following Persephone’s lead, Antheia and Makhai shucked off their regular sandals and each grabbed a pair of winged ones.

  Copying the MOA students, Theseus and Pirithous did the same. “Whoa,” they chorused in surprise as the sandals’ straps magically twined around their ankles.

  As the silver wings at the heels of their sandals began to flutter, Persephone, Antheia, and Makhai rose to hover a few inches above the floor.

  “Hey, mine aren’t working,” Pirithous said in a disappointed voice when the wings at his heels failed to flap.

  Theseus frowned. “Neither are mine.”

  Makhai smiled at them smugly. “Sandals don’t work for mortals.”

  “It’s okay,” Persephone told Pirithous and Theseus while adjusting the straps of her backpack to make them a bit tighter. “You’ll each just need to hold han
ds with one of us immortals. Then your wings will fly too.”

  “Whoa! Fantastic!” Pirithous’s eyes sparkled as he grabbed Persephone’s hand. “You’re stuck with me now,” he teased, wobbling a bit as the wings at his heels finally began to work and he rose to hover beside her.

  Persephone laughed. “No problem. Important tip: Don’t let go or you’ll fall.”

  Antheia grabbed Theseus’s hand. “You can fly with me,” she told him.

  “Good,” said Makhai, watching as Theseus also rose to hover above the floor. “I’ll fly faster without some mortal dragging me down.”

  Ignoring the sour boy (she certainly hadn’t misjudged him on that trait!), Persephone smiled at Pirithous. “Ready?”

  “Ready,” he replied with a nod of his blond head.

  The two of them pushed through the bronze doors. Then, with their teammates following, they zipped over the granite steps and sped across the courtyard before their sandals’ wings took them into the bright blue sky.

  7

  Pirithous Problems

  WOW!” EXCLAIMED PIRITHOUS AS HE and Persephone circled the Academy before heading for Mount Cyllene. “I’ve never seen Mount Olympus Academy from the air before. It looks amazing!”

  “Yeah. Doesn’t it?” Persephone agreed, glancing down. Five stories high and built of polished white stone, the Academy was surrounded on all sides by dozens of Ionic columns—each one looked like a capital letter I, with a curlicue on each end of its top and bottom horizontal bars.

  Sculpted below the Academy’s peaked rooftop were finely chiseled low-relief friezes of various gods and goddesses engaged in scholarly feats. Everyone at MOA was proud to attend the school. Persephone felt sooo lucky that Zeus had invited her years ago, since not all immortals (and only very few mortals, like Heracles and Pandora) got to go here. Another thing to be grateful for!