by Joan Holub
Phaeton hung his head. “I’m sorry.”
She scowled. No apology would ever be enough for what he’d done. What if the sun never returned? She’d taken Science-ology. She knew nothing could live without sunlight. Not for long anyway.
“Hey, something’s happening,” Phaeton said, looking around. “I can see the grass again. And the mountains. You’re clearer now too.”
“The sky!” Pheme whispered in awe. “It’s getting lighter.”
Just then something soared from the clouds and smoke to ride high in the sky. A brand-new sun chariot! With Helios holding its reins. Under his firm hand the four fiery steeds were calm again, crossing the easternmost heavens in their usual way.
Phaeton gaped at the sight. “Who made—”
“Athena,” said Pheme. “She’s amazing with chariots. With her skill and magic, looks like she and Helios created a whole new one in the nick of time!”
“But the horses,” Phaeton sputtered in confusion.
“They must’ve raced back to the palace stables after they were freed from the sun chariot that was destroyed.”
Crack! They both ducked low in Artemis’s chariot as a lightning bolt suddenly speared across the sky. And then another bolt, and another. Dark clouds formed in the distance.
“Look,” Phaeton said, pointing toward the hills. “It’s raining!”
“Zeus,” Pheme breathed. “He’s started a storm to put out the fires around Olympus.”
“So no harm done after all,” said Phaeton, smiling broadly. “It was just a temporary blackout. Like an eclipse! Now that it’s light, we can go back to MOA.” He took up the chariot’s reins.
Pheme let out a huge huff of annoyance. She couldn’t believe he was taking this almost-disaster so lightly! Growing brisk, she said, “Yes, time to head for MOA again. But I’ll do the driving.”
Phaeton gave up the reins without protest. Maybe deep down he really did understand that his actions had nearly brought about the end of the world.
As Artemis’s deer-drawn chariot took them into the sky again, Pheme considered heading back to Helios’s palace to pick up Athena. But they were pretty close to MOA by now. She decided to check there first to see if Athena had shape-shifted to fly back to the Academy. Or if her dad had taken her there.
On the flight home Pheme called out to the mortals below, spreading the word that disaster had been averted and everything was going to be all right. There would be no way to let Helios know that Phaeton was okay until dawn, when he returned to the palace.
Phaeton was quiet during their journey, and she didn’t press him with questions. Not that she didn’t have any. She certainly did. But she was also still mad at him. She didn’t want to hear any excuses he might offer for his behavior.
Students were all over the courtyard when their chariot—that is, Artemis’s chariot—touched down. Pheme wondered how much they knew. They might’ve seen the fires. And they surely would’ve noticed the sun’s disappearance for several minutes during daylight hours, but did they know what had caused these things?
She could tell everyone, she thought as she and Phaeton jumped down from the chariot. She wanted to tell everyone. But when she glanced at Phaeton and noted his slumped shoulders and the look of shame on his face, she hesitated. “When in doubt, don’t shout it out,” she remembered the tall Gray Lady advising.
While Pheme was thinking this over, she and Phaeton silently unhooked the deer from the chariot. Breaking through a knot of students, Artemis ran up to them. “Delta, Hypatia, Eudora, Callista,” she cried, hugging each deer in turn. “I was afraid I’d never see you again!”
After cooing over her deer, she suddenly turned on Pheme. “How dare you borrow my chariot without asking!” Her face was red with fury.
Before Pheme could even open her mouth, Phaeton came to her defense. “I took it,” he said. “Pheme only flew it back after she rescued me. I—”
Whoo! Whoo! The hoot of a large brown owl interrupted him. It swooped down toward them and landed on the edge of the chariot.
Athena! Pheme thought happily. The owl’s wings became arms, and its feathers turned to glittering skin as Athena shape-shifted back to her goddess form.
“I’m so glad you and Phaeton are okay,” Athena told her, hopping down from the chariot.
“Tell me about it! I was triple-mega-happy when I saw Helios flying that new sun chariot,” said Pheme.
Athena laughed. “Helios and I probably set a record for the fastest chariot ever built.”
As the two girls hugged each other, students began to gather around them, eager for news of the morning’s events.
Athena quickly turned toward Artemis. “Yesterday at breakfast Pheme noticed your chariot was missing. And she suspected Phaeton had taken it. She did try to tell us, but of course she couldn’t since she was under my anti-gossiping spell.”
Pheme glanced at the crowd of students listening in. Most of them knew she’d taken part in a challenge yesterday, but they didn’t know why she’d agreed to it. She hoped that her diary-snooping secret would remain safe among those who did know.
Artemis gave the two girls a puzzled look. “But my chariot was sitting at the side of the Academy when Apollo and I left for our archery competition yesterday after lunch. I know because just before we started down the trail to Earth, I realized I’d forgotten to feed my deer and came back to do it.”
“That first time I only borrowed it for a little while to practice,” Phaeton admitted, confirming what Pheme had suspected. “I didn’t start out for my dad’s palace until after lunch—after I saw you feed the deer and leave.” He lowered his head. “I’m sorry.”
Artemis frowned. “Well, you should be!” With a disgusted sound she turned away from him to fawn over her deer some more and to check her chariot for damage.
“Listen up, everyone,” Athena called to the crowd. “You may not know this, but Pheme is a hero! She saved me from an angry griffin, rescued Phaeton—”
“AND HELPED SAVE THE WORLD FROM DESTRUCTION!” a voice from above boomed out. Zeus!
In mere seconds he and Pegasus settled down to the courtyard’s marble tiles. After springing from the winged horse’s back, Zeus strode right up to Pheme.
“Ms. Hydra gave me your message,” he said, pulling her now crumpled-up drawing from his tunic pocket. “This is just the kind of drawing I like,” he said. “Simple. Direct. No unnecessary lines.” His blue eyes twinkled. “I understood it right away.”
He did? Pheme was amazed. “Well, you know what they say.”
Zeus cocked his head. “What’s that?”
Pheme grinned. “A doodle is worth a thousand words!”
Zeus threw back his head, and his laughter boomed out across the Academy grounds. Then, catching sight of Phaeton, he stopped midchortle. “You there!” he called out in a stern voice. “To my office, boy!”
Then he nodded to Pheme. “And you. Stop by my office in a half hour.” Glancing at Athena, he added, “You come with her, Theeny.”
Phaeton looked petrified as he trailed after Principal Zeus. Even though she was still mad at that boy, Pheme couldn’t help feeling sorry for him. She knew what it was like to fear the principal’s wrath. And what Phaeton had done was way more potentially dangerous than anything she’d ever done. He was definitely in for it.
“Hooray for Pheme!” someone in the crowd yelled. Was that Eros’s voice? She didn’t see him, but . . . “Way to go!” someone else shouted. Soon everyone was cheering for her. In their eyes she saw a new respect for her because of what she’d done.
She could hardly believe it. She’d never gotten this much attention before. Not positive attention, anyway. It was the same kind of respect she hoped the reporter job would bring her. If she got it.
And then it hit her. Now—while Zeus and everyone else was so happy with her—would be the perfect time to ask him to write that letter of recommendation! When they went to his office, she was going to ask him for sure
.
Athena gave her a thumbs-up as the cheering died down. “Meet you in Dad’s office in a few,” she said as Heracles came up to talk to her.
Pheme nodded, then looked around for Eros. She was pretty sure he’d been the one to start the cheers. And she wanted to thank him for suggesting she use her doodles to communicate while under Athena’s spell.
Other students began crowding around her. “I can’t believe you went to Helios’s palace.”
“What was Phaeton up to?”
“What was the trip like?”
“Hey, let the girl eat first,” said a voice. Eros! He came flying across the courtyard, his golden wings gently flapping. The crowd scattered as he touched down next to her. Those wings of his were so awesome. Not to mention fast.
With a flourish he handed her something wrapped in a sheet of papyrus. “A hero sandwich for a hero.”
“Food!” said Pheme, grinning. She took the foot-long sandwich he held out to her and unwrapped it. “Thanks. I’m absolutely famished!”
They sat on a nearby bench, and between bites of sandwich she told him all about the long journey with Athena.
His eyes widened when he heard about the griffin. “Close call.”
She nodded. “It usually takes me a while to get going when I first wake up. But not that time. Athena and I were out of that cave lickety-split!”
Eros laughed, and so did she. “Well, I’m glad you’re okay.” He shifted, and his wings fluttered.
“You’re so lucky to have those,” she said, nudging one of his wings with the side of her arm. “If I’d had some of my own, I could’ve flown after Phaeton yesterday morning when I first saw him in Artemis’s chariot.”
Eros nodded. “Wings are amazing,” he agreed. “They let you fly high and travel fast.”
Just imagine! With wings she could spread news faster and farther than ever, thought Pheme. She might even be able to eavesdrop on people from overhead. How cool would that be? She glanced wistfully at Eros’s wings again.
He noticed the direction of her gaze. “And that’s another good thing about my wings,” he said with a grin. “They attract the attention of girls.”
Pheme straightened, blushing.
“Plus, they make a nice breeze when it’s hot,” Eros added. “And I can shoo away enemies with them. Small ones at least.”
Pheme laughed. “Wings are definitely awesome.”
“Yes, but you’re awesome even without them,” he told her earnestly. Then, as if he’d just realized what he’d said, his apple-red cheeks grew even redder.
“Thanks.” Pheme smiled at him, and Eros smiled back. He had the cutest dimples, she thought. A warm feeling spread through her. It was sort of like the feeling she got from delivering an especially juicy piece of gossip. Only better. Sweeter.
“So what’s the deal with you and Phaeton, anyway?” Eros asked out of the blue.
“The deal?” Having finished her sandwich, Pheme balled up the papyrus wrapping it had come in. Then she recalled the bargain she and Phaeton had made when she’d enrolled him at MOA. “Oh, yeah we did have a deal, but—”
Eros’s feathers ruffled in annoyance as he interrupted her. “That guy’s kind of bad news, don’t you think? He’s a chariot thief, for one thing. And he almost burned down the world! You know, I wonder if Zeus really invited him to MOA. Maybe he just sneaked in on his own.”
Pheme’s hand flew to her throat. “Huh?” she asked nervously. As far as she knew, no one had guessed that Phaeton had come here as a stowaway, or that she was the one who’d enrolled him. But if Eros was wondering, others would be too. Like Zeus. Zeus could be absentminded, though. Maybe he wouldn’t realize he hadn’t actually invited Phaeton to attend MOA.
“I wonder if he really even is Helios’s son,” Eros went on.
“He is,” Pheme said. “Helios said so.” She wondered if Eros was angry at Phaeton because of the tragedy he’d almost caused, or—Wait! Was it possible he was jealous?
“If you think I’m crushing on him—or vice versa—you’re wrong,” she told him.
He stared at her. “Then I’m confused,” he told her. “What’s your connection with him? Why did you go after him?”
She guessed she’d better explain all, and tell him the truth about why she’d accepted Athena’s challenge. Before he found out from someone else. But what would he think when he knew?
“Accept your imperfections,” Pheme remembered the small Gray Lady saying. Pheme knew she wasn’t perfect. If Eros really did like her—like like her, that is—then he’d accept her imperfections too. If he couldn’t, then . . .
“If you really want to know,” said Pheme, “I’ll tell you everything.”
“Yeah, I do,” said Eros. He settled back on the bench to listen.
Pheme began with the snooping that turned her hands red, and then told him about meeting Phaeton shortly afterward as a stowaway on Hermes’ chariot. And how he’d claimed his father was a god but wouldn’t tell her his name until she helped him get into MOA.
“Wait a second,” Eros said. “Go back to the red hands. Did Athena find out about your snooping? Was that the reason for the no-gossip spell?”
“Yes,” Pheme admitted.
“Well, I still think it was wrong of her to put you through that,” said Eros. “Gossip is as essential as . . . as love!” he exclaimed. “It’s true that both can cause trouble and pain at times. But without gossip, any news—good or bad—might not get shared at all.”
Pheme smiled. “And without love no one would ever find the girl or boy of their dreams.”
He beamed at her. “Exactly!”
It was obvious that she needn’t have worried about Eros judging her. What a relief! If he is crushing on me, she thought, I kind of like it.
Just then Athena waved to her from across the courtyard. “Time to go see Dad,” she called out.
“Okay,” Pheme called back. She got up from the bench. “Thanks for listening,” she told Eros.
“Sure,” he replied. He stood up, hands in his pockets. “Um, I’ll take you flying sometime if you want to see how my wings work.”
“Really?” Pheme asked, eyeing his soft golden feathers. If they went, would she need to wear a pair of winged sandals since she couldn’t fly on her own? Or maybe they would just hold hands. . . .
“Pheme!” Athena called again.
“Coming!” Pheme called back.
“Later, then,” Eros told her. “And good luck with that Teen Scrollazine job.” His wings fluttered together to form an ‘X’ behind him. “Wings crossed that you get it.”
“Thanks.” She grinned, pleased that he’d remembered about that. She turned to go. “Later,” she called over her shoulder to him as she raced to catch up with Athena. Then the two girls rushed up the granite steps to the principal’s office.
13
Wing Things
GO RIGHT IN. HE’S EXPECTING YOU,” MS. HYDRA told Pheme and Athena as they entered the outer office.
The girls passed the assistant’s desk, then hesitated outside Zeus’s open door. Phaeton had his back to them as he stood before the principal’s massive desk.
Waving a sheet of papyrus clutched in his fist, Zeus roared at the boy, “And just who gave you permission to attend Mount Olympus Academy? Because I didn’t. I’m pretty sure I’d remember if I had!”
Pheme gulped. Uh-oh. If she wasn’t mistaken, that sheet of papyrus Zeus was waving around was the enrollment form she’d filled out on Phaeton’s behalf. She’d hoped that the question of how Phaeton had come to be enrolled at MOA would just go away on its own. Apparently that wasn’t going to happen.
She held her breath, waiting to see if Phaeton would rat her out. What would Zeus do once he knew? Order her to leave the Academy and never return? And he’d been so pleased with her only minutes earlier!
Before Phaeton could respond, Zeus glanced up and saw the girls. Dropping the papyrus form on his desk, he motioned to a couple of chairs
. “Sit! I’ll be finished here in a minute.”
Both chairs bore scorch marks, Pheme noticed. Probably singed by random bolts of electricity he’d zapped toward other students who’d been seated before him at one time or another.
As the girls sat, the principal’s gaze swung back to Phaeton again. “WELL?” he boomed.
Phaeton darted a look at Pheme over one shoulder. Then he straightened determinedly and faced Zeus. “I enrolled myself,” he fibbed.
Zeus’s eyebrows shot up. “WHAT? HOW?”
“I . . . um . . . I filled out that form and—”
“Stop!” said Pheme, jumping up. There was a moment of startled silence as everyone turned to look at her. No one was more surprised at her outburst than she was. However, despite what Phaeton had done, she couldn’t let him take the rap for something he hadn’t done.
She sank back into her chair and took a deep breath for courage. “I enrolled him,” she admitted. “I erased an old form I found, filled it in, and dropped it in a stack of papers on Ms. Hydra’s desk when her heads weren’t looking.”
“Sorry, Ms. Hydra,” she called back over her shoulder when she noticed the administrative assistant’s grumpy green head lurking in the doorway.
“Humph,” groused the head, withdrawing.
Her confession meant that she could kiss the Teen Scrollazine job good-bye, Pheme knew. No way would she get a good recommendation from Zeus after this. And even if he didn’t send her packing for home immediately, she’d undoubtedly lose her job with Ms. Hydra in the front office and probably her floor monitor job too.
Zeus’s red eyebrows scrunched up, and he stared at Pheme with a look of confusion. “But why did you do it?”
“Because it was the only way Phaeton would agree to tell me who his dad was,” she told Zeus. She paused to send Phaeton an apologetic glance, then continued. “I was looking for a big story, and I—I just had to know. You see, I—” But just as she was going to explain about the recommendation she’d hoped to get from him, Athena cut her off.
“She is the goddess of gossip and rumor, Dad,” she said in Pheme’s defense. “So maybe you could cut her some slack?”