The villagers cheered their approval. The music began again, the singers sang. Food was brought out. The feast was on!
“You have a new pet, nephew?” the queen asked Geekus, looking at the dragon who was happily munching away on the potted flowers in the town’s square.
“Can I keep him, Auntie?” Geekus asked excitedly.
The queen studied the huge but gentle creature, thinking about Geekus’s question.
“He’s very friendly,” Geekus said. “His name is Cabbage.”
The queen laughed at this. “Well, how can I not want you to keep a dragon with a name like Cabbage?”
“Yes!” Geekus yelled, throwing his fist in the air.
“I think he’ll make a great watchdog for my castle,” the queen said. “And my sister Stuka will be so jealous!”
The celebration quickly went into full swing. People offered their congratulations to Hercules and Geekus, and brought bushels of fresh greens for Cabbage the dragon to eat.
Then Hercules felt a strange wind blow up. Suddenly he found Brooma and Wizza standing beside him.
“All’s well that ends well,” Brooma cackled. “Isn’t that right, Hercules?”
“Yes, well, I guess I owe you some thanks,” Hercules told her. “I mean, it wouldn’t have been half as exciting if you hadn’t come along.”
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Brooma said.
Then Hercules turned to the mysterious Wizza.
“I must thank you, too,” he told the wizard. “You came through when we needed you.”
“Well, of course I did,” came the rather huffy reply.
Hercules froze for a second, analyzing that voice again. It sounded a little higher and a little more familiar this time.
“Even though you’re new at this wizard stuff,” Hercules said.
“Kids’ stuff, you mean,” the voice from within the hood said, not nearly so deep as before.
Hercules felt a smile cross his face. He suddenly knew who this mysterious wizard was.
He reached over and pulled down the hood.
It was his half-sister Aphrodite!
“Hey!” she squealed quickly, trying to pull the hood over her head again. “You’ll wreck my disguise!”
“Well, well, baby sister,” Hercules said. “You really must have some time on your hands to go around impersonating wizards. Is your social life a little slow these days?”
“I’ll turn you into a toad if you breathe a word of this!” she hissed at him. “And besides, my social life is just fine. It’s just, that I, well, uh . . .”
“That maybe you care about Zim and the people here in Xeres?” Hercules prompted her. “That maybe they’re special to you in some way?”
Aphrodite pulled her hood back down and gave Hercules a pained look.
“Well, I wouldn’t go so far as that,” she said meekly. “But when Brooma thought I was needed, I just figured I’d pitch in.”
Hercules just shook his head, the smile never leaving his face. “Well, well,” he said, “you mean there is a soft heart in there somewhere?”
Aphrodite blushed. “You won’t tell anyone, will you?” she whispered to Hercules. “It could really wreck my reputation if anyone knew. I mean, I’ve worked hard to make people think I’m nasty.”
“Well you’ve done a good job at that,” Hercules said. “But you also did a good job today.”
He gave her a brotherly kiss on the forehead. “Thanks,” he said. “From all of us.”
Aphrodite smiled and gave him a slight punch on the shoulder. Hercules pretended that it hurt.
“Okay, big brother,” she said. “I owe you one.”
Meanwhile, a strange conversation was taking place right beside them between three unlikely subjects. Brooma was talking to Dedra and Posey.
“Well, one kiss has been known to work,” the goddess was telling the two girls. “Two kisses from two princesses, who knows what will happen?”
Hercules couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“Is she really suggesting those two kiss Geekus?” he asked Aphrodite. “Why?”
Aphrodite poked him again, this time in the ribs.
“Keep an open mind, big brother,” she said with a wide smile. “After all, you are closely related to the Goddess of Love.”
Together they watched as Brooma found Geekus in the crowd and brought him over to the two girls.
Hercules just shrugged. He’d seen many odd things in the past week. Why not another one?
So Hercules tapped Geekus on the shoulder, and said, “Be brave, my friend.”
That’s when Posey leaned over and gave Geekus a huge kiss right on the lips. Then Dedra did the exact same thing—a mighty smack right on the boy’s lips. But when both girls opened their eyes, they found that Geekus had remained unchanged.
In fact, he was very much the same old Geekus.
“What . . . what was that for?” he asked the girls, his voice not as annoying or nasal as usual.
“We were trying to turn you into a real prince,” Dedra replied.
“But it didn’t work, did it?” Geekus said, dejected.
But Dedra and Posey both smiled—and kissed him again.
“No, but that’s okay,” Posey told him.
“Yeah, Geekus,” Dedra said. “We like you just the way you are.”
About the Author
Hunter Kennedy is the author of Hercules: The Legendary Journeys: Hercules and the Geek of Greece.
Copyright
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys: Hercules and the Geek of Greece © 1999 Universal Studios Licensing LLC.
Hercules: The Legendary Journeys is a trademark and copyright of Studios USA Television Distribution LLC. Licensed by Universal Studios Licensing LLC 2015. All Rights Reserved.
A novel by Hunter Kennedy. Based upon the Universal TV television series Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, created by Christian Williams.
All rights reserved under all applicable International Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.
EPub Edition XX 2015 ISBN: 9781443445566
Published by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd, by arrangement with Universal Studios Licensing LLC.
Originally published by Berkley Jam Books in 1999. First published by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd in this ePub edition in 2015.
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