by Joan Holub
Homer considered the signatures again, looking unsure now.
Laodice had hinted that Agamemnon liked Cassandra. However, if this was his idea of flirting, he was totally bad at it! Didn’t he know he was hurting her feelings? This was not a good way to get a girl’s attention!
“Leave her alone,” said Helenus, coming in behind Agamemnon.
And suddenly Apollo appeared too. “There you are,” he called to Cassandra as he leaned through the new arched opening that led from the bakery into the bookshop. His eyes left hers to scan the other faces in the room, as if he sensed a problem in the making. Then he sniffed the air. “I smell cinnamon,” he said.
Cassandra sniffed the air too, then cocked her head uncertainly. “Maybe it’s the cookies over in the bakery?”
Artemis’s head popped up behind her brother’s. “No, it means he’s going to predict something,” she said.
Really? That was interesting! thought Cassandra. Until that moment she hadn’t realized that Apollo’s predictions were preceded by a scent too!
Squeezing his eyes shut, Apollo fell silent. Then, in a dramatic tone, he called out, “I predict that Cassandra and I are about to engage in a prophecy contest. Actually, that’s not a real prediction. What I meant to say was that I challenge her to a contest. We’ll take turns to see who can give the most predictions within seven minutes!”
“Awesome!” said Homer, perking up. He picked up his pen again, poised to write everything they did or said as it happened. And behind Apollo, Pheme appeared.
“She can’t,” said Helenus. “She’s not allowed.”
“Oh, really?” said Apollo. He looked ready to argue.
“He’s right,” said Cassandra. “My mom says—”
“Why don’t all three of you have a contest?” Agamemnon butted in. Trying to stir up more trouble, no doubt. He glanced from Helenus to Cassandra to Apollo.
Cassandra was already shaking her head when she smelled peppermints. A vision came to her in a flash. Homer must’ve guessed what was going on in her head because he immediately upended Mr. Euripedes’ hourglass, setting its timer for seven minutes.
“The sorceress Circe has sent the hero Odysseus to the Underworld!” Cassandra blurted.
Every eye turned her way. She put her hand over her mouth, startled at the words she’d spoken. Just then, Pheme dashed out into the IM, no doubt to tell everyone what was happening in there.
Homer grinned from ear to ear. “Excellent! The contest has begun! Who’ll go second? Let’s see who can best predict what will happen to Athena’s hero on his way home to Ithaca.”
“You’re on!” said Helenus, apparently deciding to join in.
“Me too. But only if Cassandra stays in,” Apollo insisted.
Helenus looked torn. Why? Cassandra wondered. Was he afraid he would lose to her as well as to Apollo? No one could expect to win in a contest if they were competing against the godboy of prophecy, but losing to her would be a blow to Helenus’s ego. Still, it would boost his reputation as a fortune-teller to simply be in a contest with Apollo!
The scrollbook store began to fill with mortals and immortals alike as Pheme spread the news about Apollo’s prophecy contest challenge.
“But I—” Cassandra began. For her this contest was likely to only bring trouble. Her mom would be mad at her for breaking her promise not to prophesy. And in the end, everyone would think she was lying, no matter what truths she spoke. Still, she longed for the chance to speak her prophecies aloud for a change.
Scanning the crowd, she glimpsed Athena and Artemis with their heads together, whispering. She caught a couple of their words: “Odysseus . . . Underworld.” Artemis had to be filling Athena in on the first prophecy Cassandra had spoken. She saw Andromache in the crowd behind them, eavesdropping.
Apollo’s voice rang out, drawing everyone’s attention. “For my first prophecy I predict that if Cassandra tells six more prophecies before the end of our contest, it will bring the Oracle-O Bakery and Scrollbooks seven years of good luck!”
Cassandra’s eyes went wide. Seven years of good luck was a lot. With that at stake she absolutely had to give this contest a try, regardless of how others (particularly her mom) might feel about her participation!
When the scent of peppermints wafted to her again, she heard herself say, “After leaving the Underworld, Odysseus will sail to the land of the Sirens.”
“What?” Athena exclaimed in a horrified voice. Many in the audience gasped, thinking Odysseus was doomed. The Sirens were women whose songs enchanted passing sailors into steering their ships directly into giant rocks along the coastline, where they’d crash and sink.
“All the sailors on his ship will stuff beeswax into their ears, so they won’t hear the song,” said Apollo.
“Wait! It was my turn,” said Helenus.
“Do two to catch up,” Cassandra suggested. Her eyes flicked to the hourglass. Four and a half minutes left. “And hurry.”
Helenus nodded, and then a second later he said, “The Sirens will be beautiful. And their songs will be too.”
More of his vague fortunes, thought Cassandra. And they were really descriptions more than predictions. Agamemnon’s eyebrows rose, and he shot Helenus a skeptical look that suggested even he thought what Helenus had said was pretty lame.
To Cassandra’s surprise she felt a flash of irritation toward Agamemnon on her brother’s behalf. So what if Helenus wasn’t really very good at this? It was the best he could do! It was okay for her to criticize him. She was his sister, so it went with the territory. But even though she considered some of her brother’s prophecies kind of dumb too, she didn’t want anyone else to criticize him. She sent her brother an encouraging smile.
Then she smelled peppermints again. “Uh-oh!” she said as a new vision flashed before her eyes.
“What is it?” Athena demanded. She was looking really worried for her hero by now.
“Odysseus will refuse to use the beeswax so he can hear the Siren’s glorious songs,” Cassandra explained gently. Although she was still ticked at Athena over the Trojan horse, she didn’t enjoy giving anyone bad news. Besides, her prophecies weren’t causing these things to happen to Odysseus. These events she foretold would come true whether predicted or not!
“He will tie himself to the mast instead,” said Apollo. “In hopes that being bound will stop him from steering the boat into the rocks!”
“The moon and stars will shine brightly above him,” Helenus put in.
“That fool!” an older man in the crowd whispered. Cassandra wasn’t sure if he was referring to Odysseus, or to Helenus because of his useless “prediction.”
Athena’s face had gone pale. “Oh, no!” she wailed before she dashed from the shop. There was no way she would make it back to MOA in time to advise her hero, Cassandra knew. These things were going to happen right away. Within minutes, in fact.
Her gaze met Andromache’s. She looked as uncertain as Cassandra felt. Both girls had been kind of annoyed at Athena. But now, like Cassandra, maybe Andromache was feeling bad for the goddessgirl.
The peppermint smell came again. “Odysseus will make it safely past the Sirens,” Cassandra prophesied. “Then his ship will pass between a six-headed sea monster named Scylla and a giant whirlpool named Charybdis.”
She kind of wished Athena had waited long enough to hear that Odysseus would be safe from the Sirens. Not that Athena would have believed Cassandra. Not for long, anyway. She gazed at the faces around her. Did anyone here believe her? Caught up in the moment, they seemed to have forgotten that they thought her a liar. They’d likely remember soon, she thought glumly. And the fortunes she’d spoken would get all twisted around in their heads.
“Odysseus will avoid the whirlpool, knowing it could drown his ship. But Scylla will devour six of his sailors,” Apollo announced.
There was a small silence as everyone digested this horrific prophecy. How awful! Maybe it was better t
hat Athena hadn’t stayed after all, thought Cassandra.
“His ship will stop at the island where Helios the sun god lives,” said Helenus. “While Odysseus takes a nap, his men will steal some of Helios’s prize cattle.”
Apollo gave him a high five. “Good one.”
It was a pretty good prophecy, Cassandra thought. Especially for her brother. She flashed him a smile.
Then suddenly the peppermint smell came again and she foresaw more trouble. “Helios will become so angry that he’ll threaten to never again let his sun chariot rise in the sky. As a punishment Zeus will hurl a bolt of lightning at Odysseus’s ship.”
More gasps sounded.
Quickly Apollo took his turn. “The ship will sink.”
“Odysseus will have to fight for his life,” said Helenus.
Everyone groaned. Would Odysseus suffer through all these ordeals just to die in the end? Was he doomed never to make it home? All eyes swung in Cassandra’s direction, waiting to hear what she’d say now.
The smell of peppermints was stronger than ever as Cassandra began her sixth prophecy. “Odysseus will swim safely to the island of Ogygia and meet a possessive nymph named Calypso. She will try to make him immortal and keep him there forever!”
Apollo took a deep breath. Was the smell of cinnamon as strong for him as peppermint was for her whenever a prophecy filled her mind? Cassandra wondered.
“Odysseus will escape,” Apollo assured everyone who’d gathered in the store. “But Poseidon will stir up a terrible storm with his trident, and Odysseus will be forced to swim ashore.”
The immortals in the crowd murmured at this, some sounding pleased at what the god of the sea would do, and others sounding upset. It depended on who they were rooting for—Athena or Poseidon. From what she overheard, Cassandra guessed there was some kind of rivalry going on between those two immortals in their Hero-ology class that had to do with Odysseus’s travels.
“The waves will be high, the current strong from the storm,” added Helenus. It was another one of his more descriptive than predictive prophecies.
Cassandra could feel the tense excitement in the room as she spoke her seventh fortune. The one that Apollo had predicted would ensure good luck for her family for seven years! “When Odysseus gets home, he will discover that everyone believes him to be dead, and that dozens of his enemies have been vying to marry his wife, Penelope, so that they can claim his riches!”
Diiing! Cassandra glanced at the hourglass as its magic timer bell rang. She’d made it. Seven prophecies in seven minutes!
Excited murmurs filled the crowd. “How dare they! That’s not right!” someone said. Then all faces whipped Apollo’s way. Everyone was dying to hear his next prediction. But Apollo was silent.
“What happens next?” a mortal woman asked anxiously.
Apollo shook his head. “I can see no more.”
Cassandra waited for another whiff of peppermints, but it didn’t come. “I can see no further into the future either,” she said.
“Me neither,” Helenus admitted.
“Cassandra has the last prediction, then. She wins!” Apollo declared, throwing his arms wide.
Homer had been busy during the whole contest scribbling notes on his scroll, Cassandra realized now. How awesome that she’d helped him tell some of Odysseus’s adventures!
“Esrever esruc nettogrof,” said Apollo.
Huh? Cassandra looked around to see that he had come over to stand beside her. “What did you say?” she asked him.
Before he could reply, they heard shrieks. Wild magical winds came swirling through the Immortal Marketplace, whipping through the atrium and around the carousel, teasing hair, and lifting the hems of chitons and tunics alike. The winds rattled outside the scrollbook shop door until someone opened it and let them in.
We bring reports
From MOA
Of a hero’s
Troubles far away.
The winds then proceeded to tell the exact same facts that all three contestants in the contest had spoken. Now that Cassandra’s predictions were confirmed, everyone would have to believe she was telling the truth, she hoped. Right?
Wrong. Only minutes had passed since her last prediction. But even so there were rumblings of doubt from the crowd. Despite the news brought by the magic winds, which echoed what all three of the contestants had stated in their prophecies, people were already starting to mis-remember the things Cassandra had said. Some complained that they’d actually been lies!
“She said that Circe sent Odysseus up to the heavens, right? But really he went to the Underworld.”
“Yeah, and then she claimed that his enemies wanted to give away all of Odysseus’s riches.”
“She’s got to be wrong,” someone grumbled. “They’d keep his riches if they got their hands on them!”
Argh! As usual, her fortunes were being misinterpreted!
Cassandra glanced at Apollo and saw that he looked even more upset than she felt. “I’m sorry,” he told her. “I guess my plan didn’t work.”
She shrugged. “Seven years of good luck would’ve been great, but . . . well . . . easy come, easy go.” She was surprised at how well she was taking this. But she’d had pretty low expectations for the outcome of the contest anyway.
“No, you don’t understand,” said Apollo. He ran his fingers through his hair, looking frustrated. “The Spell-ology teacher at MOA said that if I got you to say seven prophecies during a contest, and then I said ‘Esrever esruc nettogrof,’ which is ‘forgotten-curse reverse’ backward, it might reverse the curse I put on you.”
“Oh.” Now she really was disappointed! But how nice that he’d gone to that trouble to try to help her. “So you’ve finally remembered putting the curse on me?”
He shook his head. “If only I did. It would make the curse reversible. One good thing, though, is that your family will still have seven years of good luck. I can make that part come true.”
She brightened some. “Well, that’s good. Thanks.” Deep inside, though, it hurt to know that her prophecies were still doomed to not be believed and would forever go unheeded. She was tired of being the bearer of bad news as well as being thought a liar. Maybe she should just give up on making prophecies!
9
Going Wild!
Cassandra
FINALLY! IT WAS SATURDAY, THE day of the big author event at Oracle-O Bakery and Scrollbooks. The carousel was complete. Having just run a last-minute errand for her mom in the IM, Cassandra took time to circle around the carousel, admiring it.
Scenic paintings atop the carousel’s peaked roof depicted the glorious exploits of the gods. She could see Zeus bringing down a Titan with one of his mighty thunderbolts, and Helios driving his sun chariot across the sky. And there was Athena dressed for battle, wearing a pointy helmet and holding a shield. She also clutched a spear, while on her shoulder there perched an owl. The scenes inspired awe, which was probably what they were meant to do!
Colorful flowers, rainbows, and cute kittens had been carved around the roof’s edge. She’d seen Persephone and Iris creating those all week. And the leafy garlands Persephone and Hades had wound around nearby columns in the atrium looked so festive and pretty!
But the animal rides were Cassandra’s favorite part. All were bigger than she was and had been painted and polished till they gleamed. Stately standers, which were the rides that didn’t go up and down on their poles, stood on the platform closest to the carousel’s center. Jumpers—the rides that could pump up and down on their poles—stood along the outer edge. She stopped beside Athena’s horse, and her lips twisted.
“Hi,” said Athena, surprising her.
Cassandra had been so busy looking around at the animals that she hadn’t seen Athena sitting on the edge of the platform. She must’ve only just arrived at the IM because she was tying back the wings of her sandals so they would stop flapping, thus keeping her on the ground.
When Athena finally
stood, she gestured to her horse. “So, what do you think?”
“I hate it.” The words tumbled from Cassandra’s lips before she could think to temper them. It was one thing to grumble in private about a goddess, but it was quite unwise to speak this way to her face! She rushed to explain. “It reminds me of the war, and I’m afraid it will make everyone remember my Trojan horse prediction.” Would Athena smite her now for her audacity? Luckily, she wasn’t dressed for battle like in the carousel painting.
To Cassandra’s surprise Athena didn’t get mad at all. Instead her blue-gray eyes softened. “Oh, I’m so sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean . . . I never thought of that. I suppose we immortals get so involved with ourselves that we sometimes forget the feelings of mortals down here on Earth. I should know better, because until my dad summoned me to MOA earlier this year, I’d always thought I was mortal myself! So do you want me to take it off the carousel?”
“You’d take off the horse?” Cassandra asked, taken aback. “For me?”
Athena nodded. “I don’t want to cause you trouble.”
Hearing this kind offer, Cassandra finally realized she’d really, truly misjudged Athena.
The goddessgirl surveyed the carousel. “Hmm. Removing it will leave a big gap between animals on the carousel, though. My dad won’t be pleased.”
They both looked over at the red-and-white-striped ticket booth about ten feet away. Zeus was manning it, and he appeared to be having a blast with the little mortal and immortal kids who’d gathered around in anticipation of the carousel rides.
When he gave the signal, a whole bunch of them dashed over to drop their tickets into the ticket box at the front of the line. Then they rushed onto the carousel, quickly claiming the animals they most wanted to ride. The MOA students who’d been working on the carousel all week had been standing around the fringes of it, talking to visitors about the project, but now they moved closer to help the children onto the animals.