by Joan Holub
Artemis nodded. “Their funny, bubbly personalities are what keep them aloft in the rain clouds.”
Within seconds the five visitors found themselves giggling too, because giggles were catching. And when they weren’t speaking in Drizzle, these cloud nymphs were constantly telling jokes, which they quickly answered themselves!
“What happens when it rains cats and dogs?” said one. “You might step in a poodle.”
“How does a bee keep dry in the rain?” asked another nymph. “With a yellow jacket.”
“How can you gift wrap a cloud?” asked yet another nymph. “With a rainbow.”
As silly as the jokes were, they still caused Echo and the goddessgirls to laugh. And suddenly Echo found herself copying the Nephelai and contributing her own silly jokes. “What did one raindrop say to another?” she asked. “Two’s company, three’s a cloud.” Which cracked them all up anew.
The four goddessgirls seemed to catch the joke-telling bug too. “What falls but never gets hurt?” Persephone asked. “Rain.”
All the giggling, joking, and somersaulting in the clouds was really fun. However, it turned out that this was pretty much the only thing cloud nymphs did all day. They seemed to be as fluffy and lightweight as clouds themselves—in the brain department!
After motioning the other girls aside so that the Nephelai wouldn’t overhear, Aphrodite asked, “What did one goddessgirl say to her friends?” Then she answered her own joke. “Get me outta here!”
“Yeah, these airheads are not at all down to Earth,” Echo added, which sent them all into giggles again.
“Earth. Hmm. That gives me an idea,” said Persephone as the girls bid the Nephelai good-bye and whisked down from the clouds. “How about trying the Lampiades next?”
“Nymphs of the Underworld? The ones that dwell below the Earth?” Athena asked as they flew aimlessly onward for the moment.
Echo’s alarm must’ve shown on her face. “The Underworld? I don’t think that’s for me. Isn’t it where that awful place Tartarus is?”
“Everyone always thinks of Tartarus first, but there’s much more to the Underworld,” Persephone told Echo. “In fact, if I put in a good word, I’m sure Hades would let you into the Elysian Fields. It’s mega-awesome. The happiest place below Earth! Are you sure you don’t want to go see what it’s like there?”
“Well . . . ,” Echo began. She wished she could find a way to say no to this idea without hurting Persephone’s feelings.
“I’m with Echo on this one. Just thinking about the Underworld makes me feel hot and gloomy,” said Artemis.
“Then let’s go cool off. Anyone for a nice dip in a cool river?” suggested Aphrodite.
Hands went up.
“Okay,” said Persephone, grinning. “I can take a hint. No Underworld.”
The five girls dipped lower, studying the landscape below as they flew on. Ten minutes later they spotted a rocky gorge with colorful vegetation growing up its steep sides. A river rushed through its depths like a sparkling jeweled ribbon of blue. And from it sprang Naiads laughing and flowing along with the current. Unlike Syrinx, these river nymphs seemed nice.
“Come on in!” they called to Echo and the goddessgirls. “The water’s great!”
“Wait, first let me do a spell that’ll make sure we come out of this river as dry as we went in. Wouldn’t want to return to MOA looking like wet sponges,” said Aphrodite. Then she chanted:
“How dry we are,
How dry we’ll be,
When we return
From our swimming spree!”
“Woo-hoo! Let’s go with the flow!” Artemis shouted once the spell was complete. She did a cannonball into the river. Splash! One by one Echo and the other three goddessgirls dropped into the river after her. Splash! Splash! Splash! Splash!
Echo soon found herself floating along through frothing water with the goddessgirls and the nymphs. The water’s gentle force pulled them under arched bridges and past fantastic crystal-clear waterfalls flowing from steep rocks on the high sides of the gorge. From there they floated on past fir-tree-covered mountains with ancient temples on high bluffs.
Together the goddessgirls and nymphs swam and splashed each other. Occasionally a few of them got out of the water to dive from a rock. Echo corkscrewed, freestyled, and backstroked. The buoyant water seemed to wash away her cares, and she found she was happy just to bob along with the current, never questioning where it was taking her. She could get used to this. No wonder Daphne sometimes missed the river!
Suddenly the calm, easygoing river nymphs began talking in a rush. “Squeee!” “Yahoo!” “White water downstream. Look out for the undertow!”
“Ye gods! Abandon the river! We’re headed for wild rapids and a waterfall dead ahead!” yelled Artemis. She grabbed Echo’s hand mere seconds before they would have been swept over the falls. They swam to safety alongside Aphrodite, Persephone, and Athena.
Phew! thought Echo, glad to have escaped the fall. Fortunately, Aphrodite’s spell had worked, and when they all climbed out onto the riverbank, they were dry.
Together the five girls zoomed into the air and hovered above the river momentarily, waving to the Naiads and watching them go over the falls one by one. Emerging unscathed at the bottom, the river nymphs swam merrily onward through the gorge.
“Wow! Those Naiads are daredevils!” said Echo. “Their river was fun for a while, but I’m used to the forest. Things happen more slowly there.” Then, worried that these goddessgirls might think her ungrateful, she added, “Not that I can’t change. If I have to.”
“You shouldn’t commit to a lifestyle you don’t want, though,” Aphrodite advised, turning to wing back to the Academy now.
“Yeah. Zeus is bending the rules and is unlikely to do it twice. Once you make a choice, there’s no going back,” warned Artemis as she and the others followed.
“So be sure to choose a realm you really like,” said Athena, flying backward to talk to Echo, who was flying alongside Persephone.
Persephone looked sideways at Echo, “You have a lot to think about, yes?”
“Yes,” Echo repeated. “But I really appreciate you guys showing me my options.” She put on a smile to thank them for their kindness. Inside she was all fluttery worry, though. Those places had been fun to visit, but she wouldn’t want to live in any of them. Yet without a tree of her own, she didn’t fit in to the mountain forests anymore either.
So what was she going to do?
8
Copycat
READY TO TALK TO MY dad?” Athena asked Echo as the girls landed in MOA’s courtyard a short time later. There were just four of them now—Athena, Aphrodite, Artemis, and Echo. Persephone lived off campus with her mom and had parted from them to head home after they’d left the river.
“Not yet,” said Echo as they all pushed through the bronze doors into the Academy and began trading their winged sandals for their normal ones. “I need to think some more.”
Aphrodite nodded. “You’ll know the right choice when you feel it in your heart.”
“You should sleep on it,” Artemis advised. “Like I said before, you can spend the night in my room, if you want. I don’t have a roommate, so I’ve got a spare bed.” Then she added, “And if you want to try some other nymph realms next week, I’m game.”
“Thanks. I’ll think about it,” Echo told her with real gratitude. At least she had a temporary home and some hope for the future.
“How about some food for thought?” Aphrodite suggested. “I say we hit the cafeteria for dinner.”
“Good idea,” said Athena. “After all that dancing, cloud-tumbling, and swimming, I’m starving again!”
Once inside the cafeteria, the four girls grabbed trays and went through the dinner line. An eight-armed lady served up helpings of ambrosia salad and something called nectaroni. Then Echo’s new friends invited her to eat at their table in the dining area. After she sat down, she took in the scene around her.
>
Over at a nearby table she saw Medusa, Pandora, Pheme, and another girl she didn’t recognize. Medusa was tossing small objects that looked like peas and pieces of carrot into the air around her head, and her snakes were snapping them up!
Echo took a sip of the nectar the goddessgirls were drinking, wondering if it would make her skin glitter like theirs. No such luck. She looked over at the mortals, Pandora and Medusa, and saw that the nectar was having no effect on them, either.
Apollo was back from the IM, she noticed. Narcissus and Tiresias were sitting with him and his godboy friends. She recognized Ares, Poseidon, Hades, and Heracles among them. Wow! It was hard to believe she was hanging out with all these wildly popular immortals. If only Daphne and Pan could be here too.
Apollo’s friends had finished eating already. Now, after pushing two tables together, they were entertaining everyone around them by building towers of leftovers atop their lunch trays and seeing who could carry theirs the most times around their tables before their tower collapsed.
A bunch of giggly girls at an adjacent table were rooting for Narcissus to win. Who could blame them? He was fantastically cute and also proving to be a good athlete! The girls clapped after he made it around the tables five times. Then he posed, holding his tray on the flat of one hand. When his blue eyes flicked to Echo, she quickly looked away, a little embarrassed to be caught staring.
Noticing the direction of Echo’s gaze, Aphrodite smiled at her. “So, is Narcissus a special friend of yours?” the goddessgirl asked casually as she stacked empty dishes onto her tray.
“Better watch it. Aphrodite is the goddessgirl of love, you know,” Athena teased Echo. “She’s always trying to make matches.”
Echo took a sip of nectar, feeling her cheeks turn as red as an autumn leaf. “No, he’s not my crush or anything. Like I told Artemis, I met him just before I met you guys. And he seems to have more than enough admirers already.” She glanced over to see that those giggly girls were now at the godboys’ table, talking to him.
“Only trying to help,” Aphrodite said gently. “I enjoy guiding friends toward happiness.”
“Are you saying Narcissus and I might be good together?” Echo asked eagerly.
“Possibly. But I’m not yet sure of . . .” Aphrodite started to say.
“What’s been up, Echo? Where have you guys been?” a voice suddenly interrupted.
Echo whipped around to see that Narcissus had come over. Surprised by his sudden arrival, she fumbled around for a reply. The three goddessgirls bailed her out by saying they’d simply gone exploring.
Then Aphrodite stood up with her tray. “We’d better get moving, goddessgirls. We’ve got that, um, stuff to go do,” she said with a meaningful glance in Artemis’s and Athena’s direction.
“What stuff? I wasn’t finished eating,” Artemis began, totally missing the hint.
Athena elbowed her and stood too. “C’mon. We should save room for snacks later, Artemis. It’s Friday night, after all. And, um, we had plans to go to the Supernatural Market later, remember?”
“No, but okay,” Artemis said reluctantly. Then she looked at Echo. “Coming?”
“You can meet us in the dorm hall later,” Aphrodite quickly told Echo. Then the three girls headed off to the tray return, leaving Echo with Narcissus.
Echo’s heart beat fast. Were those goddessgirls purposely trying to give the two of them a chance to talk because they thought Narcissus might be starting to crush on her? He hadn’t seemed to even notice her in the cafeteria till now, but he had broken away from his admirers at last and singled her out.
“So you and those immortals are friends now?” Narcissus asked, nodding after the three departing goddessgirls. “They’re the most popular girls at this school. Good work.”
“Work?” Echo repeated, standing with her tray. He made it sound like she’d purposely set out to make friends with Aphrodite, Athena, and Artemis. And it hadn’t been like that at all. If anything, they’d befriended her. “They were just helping me with a problem,” she said. “See, Zeus told me to—”
“You met Zeus? The big guy himself?” Narcissus interrupted, sounding impressed. “Did you tell him about me?”
“Well, no. You didn’t come up,” said Echo, surprised.
At this news Narcissus wilted like a flower denied water and sunlight. As he followed her to the tray return, Echo tried to explain. “I’m sorry I didn’t mention you. I was in Hera’s shop, and she was there so—”
“You met Hera, too?” he said in an awed tone. “Perfect! Your friendship with that power couple could be an asset to us.”
“Us?” And what did he mean by an asset? She wasn’t exactly friends with them. She’d only met the . . . um . . . power couple once.
Narcissus beamed at her, showing his beautiful white teeth. “Sure. You and me—we’re a team. You’re the only nymph I’d ever trust to be my fashion designer.”
Pleased, Echo smiled back. She hadn’t known he valued her so much!
Tiresias sidled up to Narcissus just then. “Don’t forget me. Your team needs a stylist,” he said, sounding like he was feeling a little left out.
When Narcissus only nodded at him distractedly, Echo gave the stylist an encouraging smile. “Right, we’re a three-person team.”
“I only wish we’d been able to bring our artist along,” Narcissus mused. “We’re missing some great ops for modeling shots, posing with some of these immortals we’ve been meeting.”
“There’ll be other opportunities,” Echo said mildly as she set her tray in the return. When it came to his desired career, Narcissus had a one-track mind. But focus and determination were good character traits, right?
“Yeah, like at the IM tomorrow,” said Narcissus, perking up. “It’s our big chance.”
“Big chance for what?” Lifting an eyebrow in confusion, Echo looked between the two boys.
“He’s talking about the parade,” Tiresias informed her as the three of them headed out of the cafeteria.
“It’s the chance of a lifetime,” Narcissus enthused. “Because guess what? I will be starring on the main float—the final and grandest one of the entire parade!”
“Really?” breathed Echo. “How did—”
“Really!” Narcissus confirmed before she could finish asking how the invitation had come about. “And I want you to be at my side,” he said, dramatically swinging an arm wide.
“Huh? Really?” Echo said again, hardly able to believe it.
“Yup! This parade is shaping up to be the social event of the season!” Narcissus positively glowed with pleasure. “And that final float is the one that’ll get the most attention,” he went on. “I’m told that Zeus and his two nannies will be on it.”
“Evergreen!” said Echo. His enthusiasm was catching, she thought as he and Tiresias led her toward the front doors of the Academy.
“Before the parade tomorrow I’ll scout out reporters covering the event at the IM and make sure they know you’re going to be Zeus’s special parade guests,” Tiresias said now. “I want you guys to be drawn by dozens of artists and pictured in every publication. Teen Scrollazine, Greekly Weekly News—you name it.” For emphasis he used the thumbs and forefingers of both his hands to form a box-shaped frame, through which he viewed them as he hoped the artists would the following day.
Echo cocked her head at Narcissus. “But I don’t get it. Why were we invited onto Zeus’s float?”
“You’re a nymph! Like those nannies of his, Melissa and Amalthea. You’ll fit right in,” he told her, as if that explained all. Then he went on dreamily, “Just think! That fashion designer Moda is bound to see drawings of me in the news after this, and he’ll want to hire me as a model.” Glancing at her, he added magnanimously, “Oh, and of course I’ll tell Moda about you, so you can get into the fashion world too.”
“Wow, you’d do that for me?” Narcissus must really like her, since he was ambitious for her as well as for himself. She nodde
d toward his stylist. “And you’ll talk to Moda about Tiresias, too?”
“Natch!” Narcissus said, pausing inside MOA’s bronze front doors. “Only thing is, none of this will work unless we have the right clothes.” He looked at her appraisingly. “We need showstoppers to wear in that parade. Lots of bling.”
“I could sew outfits!” Echo exclaimed. “I’ll just rush home and . . .” Her voice trailed off. What kind of welcome would she get back in the forest? She kind of wondered if some of her old friends might secretly be glad to be rid of her. Because maybe they didn’t want to think about the problem of what to do with her now that she didn’t have a tree. Was she ready to find out? Maybe not, she decided.
She did miss FirHeart, though, and Daphne and Pan. A little ache formed in her heart. Eager to chase it away, she pounced on Narcissus’s parade costume idea. “I’ll scout around for materials to sew something here at MOA. Artemis and her friends might—” she began.
“No time for that,” Narcissus interrupted. He walked over to the basket of winged sandals, grabbed a pair, and handed them to her. “You’ll need to borrow some outfits from Hera’s shop instead.”
“Me? Borrow?” Echo repeated. How would showcasing outfits from that shop help her get noticed as a fashion designer? But he was right that there wasn’t enough time to gather materials and decide on a design for his and hers outfits. So there wasn’t really any other option. “Okay. I’ll ask her. Since we’re in the parade, I bet she’ll be up for it.”
“No, don’t ask!” Narcissus said quickly.
“We want this to be a total surprise for Hera,” Tiresias put in. “Showcasing her outfits on the main float will be great promo for her shop. She’ll love it!”
Echo sent him an uncertain look as the two boys ushered her outside. “But won’t her shop already have a float of its own in the parade?”
“Rumor has it that she and her staff have been too busy with the upcoming wedding to prepare a float. You don’t want her shop to be left out, do you?” Narcissus asked her earnestly. “You’ll be doing her a favor!”
“Well, when you put it that way . . . ,” said Echo.