Eos the Lighthearted

by Joan Holub

  Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock at the door. “Theia? Eos?” someone shouted. Standing in the courtyard, Eos looked over at the terrarium sitting a few feet away and froze. Oh no! It was Tithonus’s mom outside on their front porch. And she’d be expecting to see Tithonus! As a boy, not a bug.

  “Be there in a minute!” Eos called out. Hurriedly, she reached into the pocket of her chiton and drew out the spell her dad had written down. Then she uncovered the terrarium.

  “Come out, Tithonus,” she hissed in a low voice, so his mom wouldn’t hear. Grasshopper-Tithonus didn’t budge. She looked toward their front door worriedly. “Hurry up, Bug Boy. We can’t let your mom see you like this.” No movement. Maybe he didn’t trust her. If so, who could blame him after what she’d done?

  Eos waved the slip of paper where he could see it. “Get a move on! Please! My dad gave me this spell to debug you. I can’t make you a boy while you’re in the terrarium, though. You wouldn’t fit. And your mom is about to come in our front door any minute!”

  At this grasshopper-Tithonus finally bent his hind legs. Boing! He sprang up and over the side of the terrarium, landing a mere foot or two from her. Wasting no time, she rattled off the spell:

  “From other spells you are set free.

  Including immortality.

  This new spell will spark reform

  And return you to your mortal form.”

  Instantly, in a burst of what looked like green glitter, Tithonus shed his grasshopper skin. Then he grew larger and larger, until he was his normal size again, dressed in the same clothes he’d been wearing when she’d changed him into a bug. And just in time, too!

  “Hi, you two. The door was unlocked, so I let myself in,” his mom said as she entered the courtyard. “How’s the project going?”

  When Tithonus didn’t speak up right away, Eos answered for the two of them. “Fine,” she said, smiling weakly.

  Speaking to Tithonus directly now, his mom asked, “You ready to come home? It’s nearly nine, and tomorrow’s a school day, you know.”

  “Uh, sure,” he said, sounding a little dazed. “I’ll hop on home in a few minutes.”

  Hop? Eos giggled nervously.

  “Phew! That was a close call,” she told him, once his mom was gone. “Are you hungry?” They never had had dinner, though she’d had some snacks at least.

  “Not really,” Tithonus answered. “Those blades of grass I ate as a grasshopper were surprisingly filling.”

  Suddenly remembering all the things she’d said to him when she was in love with bugs, she blushed. “I . . . um . . . Aphrodite’s spell made me say some strange things. I mean, we’re best friends and all, but not . . .” Her words stumbled to a halt when she noticed that Tithonus was blushing too.

  “S’okay,” he told her. “Understood.”

  Phew. Bracing herself to receive his wrath, she told him, “So . . . you’re not just a boy again; you’re also back to being mortal. My dad’s spell made sure of that. I won’t blame you if you’re mad at me, though. Are you?”

  To her surprise and delight, Tithonus beamed happily at her. “Mad? No way! That was the coolest experience ever! I don’t just know about grasshoppers now; I know how it actually feels to be one! Thanks, Busy Bee.”

  13

  The Science Fair

  THERE WAS A BIG CROWD around Tithonus’s science-fair display table when Eos came by after track practice the following Friday afternoon. It was one of about fifty such tables arranged in rows throughout the Oceanus Middle School gymnasium. Five days had passed since he’d been debugged. They’d worked together every day after school that week on an exhibit that featured many hand-drawn posters, including a grasshopper life-cycle chart, and the terrarium in which Melody now lived.

  The terrarium was much nicer than when Tithonus had stayed in it. He’d added lots of edible plants and climbable twigs—things he knew from personal experience that a grasshopper like Melody would enjoy.

  Eos and Tithonus had gotten to school early that morning to assemble the display. Inspired by his transformative experience, Eos had come up with a catchy title for their exhibit: Hoppy Days: My Life as a Grasshopper. These words were spelled out in sparkly green letters on a banner they’d hung from the ceiling over Tithonus’s head. Both their names were prominently printed on it. He had insisted on adding her as cocreator of the exhibit.

  “Hey, Bug Boy,” she greeted him as she joined him behind the display table and under the banner to help answer questions from students and adults who stopped by. Though Bug Boy had always been her nickname for him, now it really fit, since he’d actually been one.

  News of Tithonus’s hours-long transformation into a grasshopper had spread quickly throughout the school. Mainly because he had been so enthusiastic about the experience that he couldn’t stop talking about it. For this week, anyway, it had made the two of them famous!

  Since so many people at school knew about the transformation, they’d been worried that the story would eventually get back to their moms. So a few days after it happened, they’d confessed their tale. Both moms had been shocked, of course. But luckily, they’d calmed down quickly. “I know you meant well. And Tithonus did enjoy the experience,” his mom had said to Eos. “But I want you to promise that you’ll never cast a spell on my son ever again.”

  “Or on anyone else, for that matter,” Eos’s mom had added.

  “I promise,” she’d murmured. She would do her best to keep that promise too.

  A boy came over to their booth now and cocked his head in question at Tithonus. “Did becoming a grasshopper change you in any permanent way? Physically, that is?”

  “Sure, don’t you see the antennae poking up through my hair?” Tithonus replied.

  The boy looked startled, eyeing Tithonus’s head.

  Tithonus chuckled. “Just joking.” The boy laughed. So did Eos and all the others who’d been close enough to hear. “Actually,” Tithonus added after a pause, “there is one for-real change in me.”

  Huh? Eos swung around to look at him. “What change? You never said anything about a change!”

  Waggling his eyebrows mischievously, Tithonus informed her, “Just figured it out this morning. Want to see what I can do?”

  “Yes! Show us!” a girl called out. “Show us!” chimed in several more voices.

  “Sure. Watch this.” Tithonus came out from behind the table. “Clear the aisle!” he commanded. Immediately people moved aside to create space. Along with the others, Eos watched as, standing in the aisle now, he bent his knees.

  “I can juuuuuump!” Tithonus yelled. Then, without even taking a running start, he boinged, grasshopper style. Everyone stared in astonishment as he sailed through the air to land some thirty feet farther down the aisle. For a few seconds, a stunned silence fell. Then, as he walked back, the entire gymnasium erupted in cheers. Eos just stood there, eyes wide with surprise.

  A tall, athletic girl named Kareena from Eos’s track team sidled up to her after this demonstration of Tithonus’s extraordinary new skill. “Wait till Coach Megalos hears about this. She’ll want to recruit Tithonus for the long jump!”

  Eos laughed. “I bet you’re right!”

  “Cool!” Tithonus said, overhearing the two girls as he went to stand behind the display table again. “I always wanted to be good at some kind of sport!” He smiled at Eos. “And now, thanks to you, I am.”

  “Hmm,” Kareena said to Eos. “I don’t suppose you could cast a spell on me that would make me run faster?”

  Eos shook her head, smiling. “Sorry. I had to promise both Tithonus’s mom and mine that I wouldn’t cast any more spells on anyone.”

  Another girl called to Kareena just then. Nodding at Eos before taking off, she said, “ ’Kay. See you at Monday’s practice!”

  “Yeah! Later,” Eos called after her.

  Eventually the science fair wound down and it was time to leave. Eos had told her mom she wouldn’t be home too late, s
ince they were planning to make dinner together tonight. Catching Tithonus’s eye as he answered a student’s question about Melody, she jerked her chin toward the gymnasium door. See you, she mouthed, and he nodded back.

  She hoped that when she got home, she’d find a scroll message from her dad with a new chess move. He was teaching her to play the game, and she was already getting good at it. In addition to the one in-person game they’d played so far in the Underworld, they were also playing a “distance” game. The way this worked was she’d make a move on the at-home chessboard her mom had gotten for her. Then she’d describe the move in a messagescroll she’d send to her dad. As soon as he received the scroll, he’d make a move on his board and send a message back to her.

  An unexpected side benefit of playing chess was that it seemed to calm her flighty mind and help her to focus better. To Eos’s surprise, after only a few days of play she was developing a real passion for the game. Her dad was convinced that one day she would beat him. And that was something even the King of the Gods and Ruler of the Heavens couldn’t do!

  As she neared the gymnasium doors, she thought about the spell Kareena had requested. Probably a good thing she’d promised not to cast any more of them on anyone, she realized. Otherwise, she might be swamped by requests.

  Being the only goddessgirl among mortals would always make her different and an outsider to some extent, Eos thought. That was just the way it was. Tithonus had told her it was a waste of time to wish for things that couldn’t be. So, instead of downplaying her differentness, maybe she’d try being herself from now on. Only she would try to be smart about it and not use her powers in anger.

  Everyone at this school would just have to get used to the real her. After all, if she could excuse Pheme for acting according to her nature as the goddessgirl of gossip and excuse Aphrodite for being jealous as was part of her nature, surely her fellow classmates could cut her some slack. This decision made, she smiled to herself, feeling freer and, well, more lighthearted than she had in quite a while!

  Usually she kept her wings folded till she was out of sight of the school. But now, even before she was completely out of the gymnasium doors, she began to unfurl them. And as soon as she was outside, she let them flap. Some of the kids from her book club were standing nearby and looked up in surprise as she soared into the air. Eos just kept flying like it was no big deal. “Have a good weekend!” she yelled down to them, waving.

  “You too!” they yelled, waving back.

  She smiled to herself and flew onward. Pink!

  ABOUT THE AUTHORS

  JOAN HOLUB is the New York Times bestselling author of over 150 books for young readers, including Little Red Writing, Zero the Hero, Mighty Dads, This Little Trailblazer: A Girl Power Primer, and What Is the Statue of Liberty? She also coauthors the Thunder Girls series with the amazing Suzanne. Visit her at joanholub.com.

  SUZANNE WILLIAMS is a former elementary school librarian and the author of over seventy books for children, including the award-winning picture books Library Lil (illustrated by Steven Kellogg) and My Dog Never Says Please (illustrated by Tedd Arnold) and several chapter book and middlegrade series. She also coauthors the Thunder Girls series with the fantastic Joan. Visit her at suzanne-williams.com.

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  READ ALL THE BOOKS IN THE GODDESS GIRLS SERIES

  ATHENA THE BRAIN

  PERSEPHONE THE PHONY

  APHRODITE THE BEAUTY

  ARTEMIS THE BRAVE

  ATHENA THE WISE

  APHRODITE THE DIVA

  ARTEMIS THE LOYAL

  MEDUSA THE MEAN

  GODDESS GIRLS SUPER SPECIAL:

  THE GIRL GAMES

  PANDORA THE CURIOUS

  PHEME THE GOSSIP

  PERSEPHONE THE DARING

  CASSANDRA THE LUCKY

  ATHENA THE PROUD

  IRIS THE COLORFUL

  APHRODITE THE FAIR

  MEDUSA THE RICH

  AMPHITRITE THE BUBBLY

  HESTIA THE INVISIBLE

  ECHO THE COPYCAT

  CALLIOPE THE MUSE

  PALLAS THE PAL

  NYX THE MYSTERIOUS

  MEDEA THE ENCHANTRESS

  COMING SOON:

  CLOTHO THE FATE

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division

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  First Aladdin paperback edition December 2018

  Text copyright © 2018 Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams

  Cover illustration copyright © 2018 by Glen Hanson

  Also available in an Aladdin hardcover edition.

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  Book designed by Karin Paprocki

  Library of Congress Control Number 2018947644

  ISBN 978-1-4814-7021-6 (hc)

  ISBN 978-1-4814-7020-9 (pbk)

  ISBN 978-1-4814-7022-3 (eBook)