The Girl Games (Goddess Girls)

by Joan Holub

  And then she found it. It was a kitten! But not just any kitten. It was the cutest kitten she’d ever seen. It had sleek black fur, a white bib, and little white feet.

  “Come here, sweetie. Are you hungry?” Aphrodite bent and reached out, wiggling her fingers in invitation.

  “Mew, Mew.” After a moment’s hesitation, the kitten scampered toward her. It began purring the instant she picked it up.

  Gazing into the kitten’s beautiful, wistful green eyes, Aphrodite’s heart melted. And she fell instantly, completely, and totally in love.

  4

  Athena

  Thursday, midafternoon.

  WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO WITH IT?” Athena asked, staring doubtfully at the kitten. All four goddessgirl friends had gathered in Aphrodite’s room to ooh and ahh over her newfound pet.

  “It’s a him,” said Artemis, who knew the most about animals. “A boy kitten.”

  Cuddling the kitten to her chest, Aphrodite answered Athena’s question, sounding just a little defensive. “I’m going to keep him, of course. Poor baby. He was abandoned.”

  “How awful,” said Persephone, lightly rubbing the kitten’s head. “He’s sooo sweet. Who would do such a mean thing?”

  “The shopkeepers around the atrium where I found him told me he’d been hanging around for days, looking hungry and lost,” Aphrodite told them. “They put up signs, but no one claimed him.”

  Athena thought it was nice that the kitten had been rescued. But she had been hoping they could talk about their cheer routine for the Games.

  The routine was one they’d done many times before and knew by heart. It was great. She just wasn’t sure it would be strong enough to win against the amazing cheer teams they’d be competing against.

  Maybe it was only that she was used to their old finale—the one where they magically sprouted wings and rose into the air holding hands. They’d had to change that part, though. To make things fair to the mortal athletes who couldn’t use magic.

  So now their routine just ended with them holding hands while doing the splits. It was an okay ending, but not spectacular. If they brainstormed ideas, maybe they could come up with something new. But everyone was too busy being excited about the kitten for that right now.

  Artemis reached out to pet it. “What are you going to name him?” she asked Aphrodite. “How about Mark, since you got him at the Marketplace?”

  “Well, I was thinking about the name Myrrh, since I found him under a myrrh tree. And myrrh rhymes with purr,” Aphrodite said thoughtfully. “But that sounds like a girl’s name. So I think maybe I’ll name him Adonis. Like in the philosopher Ovid’s stories we studied in Literature-ology class.”

  “Adonis,” Persephone repeated softly. She stuck a fingertip close to the kitten’s face and its pink tongue darted out, licking her. “I love that name.”

  Athena sat on Aphrodite’s spare bed. Most students shared a dorm room, like she and Pandora did. But though Aphrodite and Artemis had originally been roommates, Aphrodite had been a little icked out by sharing space with three dogs. So Artemis and her pooches had moved to an empty room next door.

  Brushing her hand over the bed’s plush red velvet comforter, which was stitched with a pattern of little white hearts, Athena wondered what the kitten’s claws might do to Aphrodite’s practically perfect room. But that wasn’t the biggest problem with this kitten.

  She broke the bad news in the kindest way she could. “It might be a good idea to check with my dad about keeping him. Before you get too attached.”

  Aphrodite and Persephone both looked at her in alarm. “Zeus? But what about his no-pets rule? What if he says no?” asked Aphrodite.

  Persephone nodded. “Yeah. She can’t take that chance!”

  “Principal Zeus might make an exception for Adonis,” Artemis said. “After all, he let me keep my dogs. And the deer that draw my carriage are allowed to roam the school grounds.” She paused. “And he let Orion keep his dog when he came here as a foreign exchange student. Of course, that was only for a few days.”

  Aphrodite shook her head, her long golden hair swaying. “Not good enough. Zeus hasn’t let anyone else at MOA get a new pet for ages. Like Persephone said, I can’t take the chance he might say no. I’m too in love with this little cutie!” She enfolded the kitten in both hands and touched the tip of her nose to his tiny pink one.

  Athena picked up one of Aphrodite’s puffy, heart-shaped pillows and hugged it to her chest. “So, what are you going to do then? Hide him?”

  “Maybe,” Aphrodite said.

  Athena frowned. “Bad idea. If my dad finds out—”

  “He won’t!” Aphrodite interrupted firmly.

  Artemis had emptied her quiver onto Aphrodite’s desk and was sitting on her chair, checking her arrow tips for sharpness. “Athena’s right,” she told Aphrodite without looking up. “I know Ares is training you to be a fast runner. But are you fast enough to dodge Zeus’s thunderbolts?”

  “Ha, ha!” said Aphrodite. Reaching out, she grabbed a pillow from one of her beds and flung it at Artemis teasingly. Then she hugged Adonis close again, stroking the soft white fur on his neck. Glancing sideways at Athena, she said, “You won’t rat me out to Zeus, will you?”

  Athena snorted. “No way! What kind of friend do you think I am?”

  “A good one,” Aphrodite said quickly.

  “The best,” Persephone said, nodding in agreement.

  “Doesn’t mean I’m not worried,” Athena added. “A secret this big won’t be easy to keep.”

  Aphrodite held up Adonis and grinned. Pretending to be the kitten speaking, she said in a high voice, “I’m not that big. I’ll be easy to hide.”

  “Just don’t let Pheme find out,” Artemis warned. “She can’t keep a secret, even when she wants to!” Pheme was the goddessgirl of gossip and rumor.

  “I know, I know,” said Aphrodite. She set the kitten down on the rug in front of a small bowl of milk. “Don’t be such worrywarts. It’ll all work out. It has to!”

  “Be practical,” Athena pressed. “Who’ll take care of him while you’re practicing for the Games?”

  “Me,” Persephone volunteered in a hurry. “I’ll be sleeping over in Aphrodite’s room for the next few nights, remember? Until the Games end.” Ordinarily, Persephone lived at home with her mom.

  Athena shrugged. “I guess that’s a plan.” But what about after the Games ended? she wondered silently. Aphrodite was a great friend, but she wasn’t the best at thinking things through sometimes.

  Gathering up her arrows, Artemis stood and announced that she had to meet Apollo for archery practice. When she also mentioned she was going to check the gym to see if Hermes had made any deliveries, Athena stood too. “I’ll do it. You go on to practice.” As she halfway expected, though, Artemis refused her help, saying, “That’s okay. Zeus gave me the key. I’d better go.”

  Whatever! thought Athena, shrugging. When it came to the Games, it was like Artemis had forgotten how to trust anyone else to do anything to help out!

  Aphrodite and Persephone were still cooing over the kitten when Artemis left. So Athena headed off too, going to her room to study.

  The minute she opened the door to her dorm room, she spotted her roommate, Pandora, sitting in the middle of her bed. With her hands held out in front of her, she moved her thumbs up and down and side to side, then around in circles. Athena shot her a questioning glance.

  “I’m practicing,” Pandora explained. “I entered the thumb-wrestling competition, remember?”

  Athena gave her a thumbs-up. “Awesome.”

  Pandora grinned. “How about you? How’s practice going for your race?”

  Athena checked the floor under their window to see if a breeze had delivered any messages from Heracles. Sadly, there was nothing.

  “Okay, I guess,” she told Pandora as she sat down at her desk and reached for her red Hero-ology textscroll. “Although I’d feel better about my chances in a cont
est of wits. Something like Apollo’s match against that Python riddler in the boys’ Olympics. But then again, if I actually had any wits, I guess I would’ve suggested such a contest for our Games back when the events list was still being decided!”

  “You’ll do okay?” said Pandora, who was doing little thumb push-ups against the wall now. Even when she said things that should end with a period, she couldn’t help making them sound like questions.

  Athena wasn’t really sure. Everyone else was practicing so hard. And getting good coaching besides. Since so many girls had signed up for the footraces, there was going to be a round of preliminary elimination races on Friday.

  If she lost out in the elims, she might not even make it to the actual championship race in the Olympic Games on Saturday. She wasn’t sure she was good enough to qualify, and it was making her anxious. She knew she shouldn’t feel this way, but she only liked to do things she was good at.

  Well, there was one thing she was definitely good at. Studying. It relaxed her. Maybe too much. Because after a few minutes of it, she was feeling sort of tired. She laid her head on her desk for just a minute.

  A half hour later, she woke up with a kink in her neck.

  What a strange dream she’d been having, she thought as she turned her head side to side to work out the kink. Now that the dream was starting to fade, however, she could only remember snatches of it.

  It had been something about Pegasus—the winged horse Zeus had gotten as a wedding present to carry his thunderbolts when he went sky-riding. There’d been a black-haired boy in her dream, too, riding the horse. Heracles, maybe? She hadn’t seen his face. But he had black hair. And it made sense she’d dream about him since she was missing him.

  There’d also been a magnificent and magical golden bridle for the horse in her dream. Of that part she was sure, because she could still see it in her mind. She could even picture herself casting the spell that created it. Weird!

  But what had happened after that was a mystery. Before it ended, her dream had drifted away like smoke in the aftermath of one of her dad’s infamous lightning-bolt strikes. Pfft!

  5

  Artemis

  Thursday, late afternoon.

  COME ON, GUYS!” ARTEMIS CALLED TO HER dogs. She held her dorm room door open, letting them dash into the hall. She’d left them cooped up while she was next door at Aphrodite’s, afraid they might chase the kitten. So now the three of them—Suez, her bloodhound; Amby, her beagle; and Nectar, her greyhound—were full of energy. They romped happily around her as she went to meet Apollo at the archery range.

  That new kitten was pretty sweet, she mused, as she crossed the courtyard and started downhill to the sports fields. But she hoped Aphrodite wouldn’t wait too long before asking Principal Zeus if she could keep him.

  Like Athena, she didn’t think little Adonis was going to be all that easy to hide. Sooner or later someone would hear him meowing. Or he’d escape from Aphrodite’s room somehow. Kittens were curious and always getting into mischief.

  She broke into a run and her dogs went wild with joy, loping after her. Though she had a special affection for all animals, dogs were her forever favorite.

  Since the archery field was behind the gymnasium, she cut past the delivery entrance at the side of the gym. There was a beautiful silver chariot with mighty white wings parked near the doors. The Hermes’ Delivery Service chariot! A god in a winged cap—Hermes himself—was busily lifting boxes out of the back of the chariot.

  “Are those what I think they are?” she called out. Hermes sent her a thumbs-up.

  “Good!” she called to him. “Let me help.” She hurried over to unlock the storage room door with the silver key Zeus had given her. After the storage room was open, she and Hermes began carrying in the boxes, which he’d stacked on the ground next to his chariot.

  There were more boxes than she’d thought there would be, but what a relief that the targets and stuffed animals had arrived at last. One less thing to worry about. Everything would still need to be unpacked before Saturday’s competitions, though. She’d do it herself, just to be sure everything was as it should be.

  “So much to do, so little time,” she murmured. After Hermes left, she patted the pocket of her chiton and felt the hard edge of the key inside. Phew. She hadn’t lost it. She’d need it to get at the boxes again later.

  When she reached the range, she spotted Apollo. He was sitting in the stands, watching the Amazons practice. When he saw her, he climbed down. “You’re late,” he said, frowning.

  “I stopped to help Hermes unload some Game supplies,” Artemis explained. Her dogs leaped around her brother, overjoyed to see him.

  Apollo grunted. “Well, I can’t stay long.”

  “Why not?” Artemis asked.

  “Something else I need to do,” Apollo mumbled. Before she could ask him what that was, he said, “Show me your arrows.”

  She dumped them out of her quiver. As he inspected them closely, checking to see how well she’d sharpened them, she glanced toward the Amazons. Four of them had lined up together. In perfect synchrony they fired off a volley of arrows.

  Zzing! Zzing! Zzing! Zzing! All four arrows struck the bull’s-eye. Amazons had a reputation as fierce warriors, and Artemis had to admire their skill. When they turned to nock another round of arrows, she recognized two of them—Penthe and Hippolyta.

  “They’re good,” she said, hearing the envy in her voice. They were going to be tough competition for sure!

  “No they aren’t.”

  “Huh?” Artemis glanced at Apollo and realized he was talking about her arrow tips. Dissatisfied with the job she’d done, he pulled a sharpening stone from the pocket of his tunic and went to work on them.

  “Artemis!” a voice called out to her. Her face lit up. Actaeon! As he came toward her, her dogs ran to greet him. Suez reached him first. Leaping up, the bloodhound planted his front paws in the middle of Actaeon’s chest and proceeded to lick his face.

  “Down, boy!” Artemis called out, rushing over. But Suez was too excited to obey.

  “It’s okay,” said Actaeon. He ruffled the fur on the hound’s neck and then stooped to pet Nectar and Amby, too. She was glad her dogs liked him. They were good judges of character.

  Finally, Actaeon straightened. Brushing his light-brown hair away from his face, he smiled at her. “I came to help with your practice. What can I do?”

  You could act like you like me in front of those dumb Amazons, she wanted to say. But all she said was, “Could you maybe watch my dogs while I shoot?”

  “Sure,” he said.

  As he rounded the dogs up and herded them toward the stands, Artemis allowed herself to imagine that she’d actually said what she’d been thinking. And that he’d given her the same response as he had to her actual question.

  In your dreams, she chided herself. Goopy stuff like that was for girls like Aphrodite. Actaeon considered Artemis a girl pal. They’d held hands together exactly three times, and it had been a while since the last time.

  It was a few seconds before she noticed that Apollo had finished sharpening her arrows and was holding them out to her. “I know you’re goddess of the moon as well as the hunt,” he said. “But do you think you could stop mooning over Actaeon long enough to practice now?”

  “Shut up!” Artemis whispered, elbowing him. She glanced worriedly toward Actaeon, hoping he hadn’t heard. He was too far away, but still. Apollo should know better.

  Snatching the arrows, she slipped them into her quiver. Apollo just grinned. She wished he’d stop teasing her for having a crush. Maybe he’d stop if he knew how much it bothered her. Or, knowing him, he’d probably just do it more!

  She spotted a free target over by the Amazons, and started toward it. But just as she reached the firing line, Penthe spoke up in a snotty voice, “Cute outfit today, Artemis.”

  “Yeah,” agreed Hippolyta. Then both girls put their heads together and giggled.

 
Artemis looked down at her red chiton. It was wrinkled and there was a little tear near the hem. She never paid much attention to fashion, but now she put her hand over the rip to hide it. Although they’d embarrassed her, she made herself pretend they hadn’t. Straightening, she forced a smile. “Hey, thanks for the compliment!” she called out to them.

  Penthe just narrowed her eyes. Her silver bracelets jangled as she smoothed her dress. It was a violet-colored peplos with gold, leaf-shaped clasps at each shoulder. She looked pretty. Had Actaeon noticed?

  Before Artemis could look over at him to check, two Egyptian goddessgirls walked by carrying archery bows. Their kohl-lined eyes were exotic looking, and they wore tall crowns that made them appear to be almost as tall as the Amazons.

  “You’re Artemis, right?” one of them asked. When Artemis nodded, the girl flashed a smile. “Want to come shoot with us?” she asked. Her crown was bright red, and it had a curly wire poking out of it that resembled the proboscis of a bee.

  “There are three free targets down at the end,” the other Egyptian goddess added. Antelope horns stuck out from either side of her crown. “I’m Neith, by the way. Satet and I are huge fans of yours. We thought we could get some tips by watching you shoot.”

  “Okay. Sure,” said Artemis. Feeling flattered, she turned to go with them.

  Penthe’s eyes bugged out at them. “Are you all crazy? You’re competitors! You shouldn’t help each other. Sharing your shooting secrets is a big mistake, if you ask me.”

  Hippolyta smacked her gum, looking back and forth between the Egyptian goddesses and Artemis. “Yeah. Don’t you want to win?”

  “Yes, but we also believe in good sportsmanship,” said Satet.

  Artemis nodded. “The Girl Games are supposed to be about cultural exchange. That means sharing. We’ll all get better at our sports if we learn from one another.”

  Suddenly Penthe looked worried and a little jealous, like maybe she wanted to change her mind and share tips too. But the Egyptian girls had already linked arms on either side of Artemis and begun to lead her away.