by Joan Holub
“No, really?” teased Persephone. Which made everyone laugh, including Aphrodite.
As the reindeer zoomed toward MOA, Eos put aside her worries about running into Zeus. She’d overheard several people at Nyx’s party say that he was a very busy guy. So it wasn’t likely he’d be dropping by the student dorms, even if he’d returned from his tournament by the time the students got back. She’d only be at MOA for the night, gone again before dawn. Odds were extremely low that she’d cross paths with that . . . that . . . imprisonator!
Excited about the upcoming sleepover, she turned toward Persephone and Nyx, and the three of them began to chat about this and that. When some godboys flew by on winged sandals, making funny muscle poses and showing off for them, Eos and the other four girls laughed. They flexed their arm muscles doing girl power poses in return.
“Do you hear music?” Eos asked the others a while later. With her hands cupped around her ears, she strained to hear the thin melody that floated in the air.
“It’s coming from the Heavens Above chariot,” Nyx said, pointing some distance behind them. Though the band’s purple chariot was barely a speck in the sky, it had to be moving at a good clip, since Artemis and the band members had left later than everyone else.
After listening closely for a few moments, Athena said, “I can hear a lyre.”
“Apollo, then,” Persephone said. “That boy lives to play music!”
Reminded of him, Eos promised herself again that somehow, before she went to sleep that night, she’d seek out Apollo. And she’d ask for a prophecy to determine whether she’d be able to make Tithonus immortal. There had to be a way!
6
M O A!
IT WASN’T LONG BEFORE THE silver chariot landed at MOA. Eos shouldered her backpack as she, Nyx, Persephone, Athena, and Aphrodite scrambled down from their seats.
“I’ll tend to the reindeer,” Athena offered. “The rest of you can go on ahead.”
“Okay, thanks. See you in a bit,” said Aphrodite.
Eos glanced up at the awesome five-story Academy as she, Nyx, Persephone, and Aphrodite crossed the marble courtyard. She’d never seen the building up close before. She observed its polished white stone walls. Like Artemis’s temple, these were surrounded on all sides by dozens of Ionic columns. Sculpted below the building’s peaked rooftop she could just make out some low-relief friezes.
The three girls climbed the granite steps to the Academy’s entrance. They passed through heavy bronze doors and then continued through a spectacular dome-ceilinged entryway to a marble staircase that led to the upper floors of the Academy.
“Girls’ dorm is on the fourth floor, boys’ dorm on the fifth,” Aphrodite informed Eos as the four girls began to climb the stairs. “You can take my room tonight, since I won’t be staying here. I don’t have a roommate, so you’ll have it all to yourself.”
“Aphrodite and I made plans earlier this week to sleep at my house,” Persephone explained. “Most of the time I live off campus with my mom.”
“That’s super nice of you, Aphrodite,” said Eos. “Thanks.” But then, feeling a little disappointed that the two girls wouldn’t be staying, especially since Nyx would have to go soon too, she added, “Does that mean you’ll be leaving right away?”
Persephone seemed to sense her disappointment. “Not for a while. We want to have dinner with you and Nyx first.”
“And we’ll make some time to hang out afterward, too, after Nyx leaves,” Aphrodite added as they arrived at the fourth-floor landing. After pushing through the door into the girls’ dorm, they started down the hallway, which was lined with doors. “Here we are. My room,” Aphrodite announced moments later. She flung open a door on the left.
Immediately, an adorable black-and-white kitten darted out into the hall. “Hey, little fur ball. Not trying to escape, are you?” Persephone cooed as she swept the kitten up in her arms. It gave her cheek a lick with its small pink tongue and she giggled.
Aphrodite smiled at Eos. “That’s Adonis. Persephone and I share him. We’re taking him with us to her house tonight.”
“Hello, sweetie,” Eos said to the kitten. She ran a hand over the soft fur along its back. She’d never had a pet. Mostly because she and her mom weren’t home a lot. It wouldn’t be fair to a cat or dog to be left alone so much of the time. Luckily, she could always pet Tithonus’s cat whenever she was at his house.
Eos’s eyes widened as the girls entered Aphrodite’s room, which had two beds, two closets, and two built-in desks. “I love how you’ve decorated!” she enthused. Aphrodite had painted pink and red hearts all over the walls of her room and covered both beds with red velvet comforters stitched with a pattern of little white hearts. Although only one of the beds had a sparkly red fabric canopy draped over it, each had exactly six puffy, heart-shaped pillows neatly arranged at the heads of the beds.
“Thanks,” said Aphrodite, sounding pleased.
Guessing that Aphrodite probably slept in the canopied bed, Eos shrugged off her backpack and placed it carefully at the foot of the other bed. Then she and Nyx sat down next to each other on that bed. Meanwhile, Persephone took a seat on Aphrodite’s bed, lowered Adonis to her lap, and went on cooing over him while she stroked his soft fur.
Aphrodite opened a tidy-looking closet on the other side of the room. “Since you planned to go home after the party, I’m guessing you didn’t pack any overnight things,” she said over her shoulder to Eos.
“No, I didn’t,” Eos confirmed. “But I can just sleep in the clothes I’m wearing.”
A horrified look flashed over Aphrodite’s face. “No way am I letting you do that! Wear one of my nightgowns,” she suggested. She pointed to a large section of them that hung neatly from the bar at the top of her closet.
Eos stepped over to take a look. Pink vapor swirled from her fingers as she riffled through the nightgowns. “Wow! They’re all gorgeous. You’re so nice to let me borrow one.” She finally chose a simple sleeveless rose-colored one with a bit of lace around its neck and hem.
Aphrodite nodded her approval as Eos slipped the nightgown from its hanger. “Good choice,” she said.
As Eos laid the nightgown out at the end of her bed, Athena poked her head into the room. “Ready to go have dinner?” she asked them.
Persephone looked up from petting Adonis. “Sure! I ate a lot of snacks at the temple, but my stomach’s on empty again.”
“So’s mine,” said Aphrodite, as Eos nodded in agreement.
“Mine, too,” said Nyx. She glanced out the window at the far side of the room. “I should have just enough time to eat before I need to go do my job.”
On the way to the cafeteria, Eos got a chance to marvel at the Academy’s many statues, golden fountains, and gleaming marble floors. She stood for a few moments to study the domed ceiling she’d only just glimpsed on the way in. It was covered with paintings illustrating the glorious exploits of the gods and goddesses.
“Impressive, isn’t it?” Nyx murmured in her ear.
“That’s for sure,” Eos replied. She shuddered at the painting of Zeus in battle, though. Driving a chariot pulled by four white horses, he was hurling thunderbolts through the clouds. It could’ve been any battle, but what if it was the Titanomachy—the war between the Olympians and the Titans? Zeus might have been aiming for her dad, for all she knew!
The roar of many voices and the clinking of plates and utensils greeted Eos’s ears as the girls entered the crowded school cafeteria. She glanced around and was pleased to note again that she didn’t stand out in the least here. Several students at MOA had wings, for example. She also spotted a boy with a lizard tail and one with the body of a horse—a centaur.
She chuckled at a couple of signs on the cafeteria walls. Signs you’d never see back home at Oceanus Middle School. One read: NO SHAPE-SHIFTING OR FLYING INSIDE THE SCHOOL. The other read: RESPECT PERSONAL SPACE. TAILS AND WINGS CAN BE DANGEROUS THINGS. IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING.
As Eos followed the other girls across the cafeteria floor, pink mist again drifted from her fingertips to float in the air behind her. Nyx had once told her that when she’d first come to MOA to visit, the black mist that sometimes swirled around her (only if she was anxious or startled) had alarmed some students. For whatever reason, a lot of immortals as well as humans were leery of darkness, however. No one at Artemis’s temple, and no one here in the cafeteria, either, paid any attention to the pink mist trailing Eos.
Unlike at her own school, here Eos was normal. It was nice. Not that she’d ever want to attend MOA, mind you. She could never leave Tithonus or her mom behind. And despite feeling like an outsider at times, she’d carved out a place for herself at her school.
The girls got plates of food and cartons of nectar (from an eight-handed cafeteria lady, no less!), then went to sit with Artemis. “So what is the school you go to like?” Athena asked Eos after everyone was seated.
“Oceanus Middle School is pretty ordinary compared to here, but I like it mostly,” Eos answered before digging into her plate of nectaroni. Mmm. Noodles made with nectar were simply nectalicious! She didn’t tell Athena that she was the only immortal at her school. She didn’t want anyone feeling sorry for her. Instead she told them about the track team, and the clubs she had started, and about her best friend, Tithonus, and how he was an expert on bugs.
When Eos talked about Tithonus, Aphrodite’s eyes lit up with interest. “You say this boy is your ‘best friend,’ ” she said. But from the way you talk about him, I’m wondering if he’s really an extra-special friend.”
“Well, I do think he’s extra special,” Eos replied. “I guess that’s why he’s my best friend.”
At this the other five girls erupted in giggles.
After a moment of confusion, Eos blushed. “Oh! I get what you’re asking now. And, uh, no. We are not crushing,” she told Aphrodite firmly.
“Yet,” the goddessgirl of love and beauty added with a smile.
Eos and Nyx exchanged a grin. Nyx had told her once that Aphrodite saw signs of love everywhere. Eos didn’t really care if Aphrodite or any of the other girls (wrongly) suspected her friendship with Tithonus would turn into a crush kind of thing. Still, she was a little relieved when Aphrodite, Athena, and Persephone started to talk about their actual crushes instead.
Neither Nyx nor Artemis was paying much attention to the crush talk, Eos noticed. Nyx had begun a side conversation with a girl at the table next to theirs, while Artemis had started sneaking bits of dinner from her plate down to her dogs under the table. However, even Artemis couldn’t help laughing with the others now and then as they teased each other about their “extra-special” friends.
Eos polished off her nectaroni, then opened her carton of nectar and took a long sip. “I am sooo thirsty. This tastes good.” She and her mom drank nectar every day at home. Gods and goddesses couldn’t stay immortal without it!
“Yes, doesn’t it?” said Athena. “The fountains here at MOA spout nectar too. I remember how surprised I was by that my first day at the Academy. Mainly at the way it made my skin shimmer.”
“Yeah, thank godness for ambrosia and nectar,” Aphrodite said, fluffing her golden hair with one hand. Her skin, and that of Eos and the other four immortal girls at their table, shimmered a little more brightly since they’d begun sipping the nectar. They looked as if they’d been dusted with a fine golden glitter.
“Hey,” Eos began casually. “Is there any way—” Just as she was starting to ask if there was any way nectar could work to change a mortal—Tithonus, to be exact—into an immortal, her hopes were shattered by a green-skinned, snaky-haired girl passing by their table.
“Too bad nectar doesn’t work on mortals,” the girl announced, having obviously overheard Aphrodite. “Otherwise I’d have shimmery skin and be Medusa the goddessgirl instead of plain ol’ Medusa the mortal.” She sounded a little grumpy about that.
“True,” Persephone commented to Eos as Medusa sailed on past. “Ambrosia and nectar have no effect on mortals.”
So that was that, thought Eos. But she wasn’t giving up yet. “Is there maybe some spell that could turn them immortal, though?” She eyed the others, hoping this possibility she’d been counting on wouldn’t also be crushed.
Nyx raised an eyebrow. Eos wondered if she’d guessed why Eos was asking. But if so, she kept that knowledge to herself. Which was sweet of her.
Athena munched a bit of ambrosia salad thoughtfully, then said, “Technically, yes. But around here only my dad has the power to cast spells to grant immortality to mortals. He did it once, for one day only, for Medusa. As a reward.”
Eos’s heart sank. Only Zeus? Even if she could put aside her anger at him long enough to go ask that he make Tithonus immortal, why would he help her? After all, her dad had fought against him in the war. What if he got mad at her for even daring to ask? She’d heard that sparks flew from his fingers whenever he became excitable. Sparks that could shock a person or singe furniture. Eos had no desire to experience those shocks firsthand, thank you very much. If only she could figure out in advance if Zeus would help her!
As she was pondering all this, Apollo, who’d been sitting with members of his band and some other godboys, came over to the girls’ table. “Hey, sis,” he said to Artemis. “I’m done eating. Want me to take your dogs for a walk?”
“Yeah,” Artemis replied. “That would be great. Then I could finally eat without them snitching food.”
Huh? thought Eos. Maybe the dogs had been begging, but Artemis hadn’t seemed to mind. She had readily fed them tidbits as the others talked around her. Eos decided Artemis must have been joking. Or at least half-joking.
Apollo whistled to the dogs, and they scrambled from under the table to join him. As he started across the cafeteria with them, Eos panicked. Apollo was her last hope. She couldn’t let him leave without talking to him! She guzzled the remainder of her nectar and then abruptly stood. Holding up her empty carton, she said, “Be right back. I need more nectar.”
Instead of fetching another carton, though, she hurried to catch up with Apollo. Before he could reach the door, she kneeled to pet Amby, so that he would have to stop. Immediately the beagle lay down on the floor and rolled over onto its back.
“Hey, um, there’s something I’ve been wanting to ask you,” she began, looking up at the godboy as she stroked Amby’s belly.
Apollo raised his eyebrows. “Yeah? What’s that?”
Quickly, Eos explained how she wanted to ask Zeus to help her make a mortal friend of hers immortal.
Apollo’s eyes went wide in surprise. “That’s a big ask. And probably not something Zeus would agree to, at least not without a very good reason.” He paused, and then corrected himself. “Make that a mega-dozen good reasons.”
“Uh-huh,” she said earnestly. “So that’s where you come in.”
“Me?” His eyes widened even farther.
She paused to gather her argument before speaking. She needed to hurry, though. From the corner of her eye, she could see that Nyx and the other girls at their table had finished eating. They were stacking all the trays to take to the tray return and were beginning to stand up. Soon they’d be heading toward her and Apollo.
Eos jumped up from her crouch. “I . . . um . . . I was wondering—hoping, really—if you could summon a prophecy to reveal whether or not Zeus will grant my request. Before I bother to ask him and risk incurring his thunderbolty wrath.”
“I can answer that one, easy-peasy,” Apollo said at once. “Because I don’t need to foresee anything to predict that he won’t grant it.”
“But couldn’t you maybe do an official prophecy for me?” Eos begged. “I’ll dedicate a dawn to you,” she offered. “I know it’s not much, but it’s all
I—”
“Not necessary, but thanks,” Apollo told her. Beyond him, Nyx and the other goddessgirls were now moving toward the tray return. And Artemis’s three dogs were getting a little antsy, pacing around her and Apollo’s feet. After a few moments’ hesitation, he finally let out a long sigh. “I can see this is very important to you, so I’ll try.”
“Thanks,” Eos said eagerly.
“Don’t thank me yet,” Apollo cautioned her. “You probably won’t like what I’m able to see.”
Before she could assure him she’d be grateful for whatever he could tell her, Apollo squeezed his eyes shut. His face went expressionless. After a few seconds of silence, his eyes popped open. With a surprised look on his face he told her, “It seems that Zeus will grant your request!”
“He will?” Joy flooded over Eos, and she did a little happy dance right then and there that set the dogs to bouncing excitedly with her. “This is the best news ever! I—and, uh, my friend—can’t thank you enough!”
“No problem,” said Apollo. The dogs had begun to paw at his legs in their eagerness to get going. “Good luck!” he told her as he started toward the door again. But after just a couple of steps, he turned back. Cocking his head at her, he said, “I’m curious about something, though.”
“What’s that?” Eos asked distractedly. The other goddessgirls had dropped off their trays and were coming toward her.
Apollo gave her a long look. “Are you sure your friend wants to be immortal?”
The question startled Eos. “Sure, why wouldn’t he? Medusa does,” she blurted. She’d never actually asked Tithonus, but it seemed like a no-brainer that he’d want to be a godboy. After all, if he became one, in addition to them getting to be friends forever, he’d have all the time in the world to study his precious bugs!
Apollo shrugged. “You’re probably right. I just thought it was a question worth asking.” He hesitated before adding, “Please don’t tell any other students around here about my prophecy. I don’t want them all coming to me for prophecies of their own.”