Amphitrite the Bubbly

by Joan Holub

  “From Iris’s team. Her last two members just arrived,” said Delphinius, hooking a thumb in the newcomers’ direction. Poseidon glanced over at them as he absently finger-combed his windblown blond hair back into its usual perfect style. Iris had apparently invited Zephyr and Boreas, two godboy winds, to be on her team. Zephyr controlled the warm west wind of spring, and his brother, the white-haired Boreas, controlled the cold winter wind.

  A few minutes later, Poseidon, Hades, and Delphinius met up with Pandora and Thetis again. “Learn anything about our enemies’ strategies?” Poseidon asked the two girls.

  “Enemies? I hope you’re only joking,” said Pandora.

  “Sure he is. Right?” Thetis asked him, shooting him an uncertain look.

  “It’s us against them. We are in this to win this,” Poseidon said, punching a fist sideways in an effort to get them pumped up and seeing things his way.

  “Uh . . . right, Captain,” Hades agreed.

  Delphinius nodded enthusiastically. “You bet!”

  “So, no, we are not joking,” said Poseidon, eyeing the two girls sternly. “Until this contest is over, our only friends are the ones on this team or those who can help us move forward in the games.” He thought he saw Pandora elbow Thetis and roll her eyes, but wasn’t sure. With an inward sigh, he hoped these girls would take this contest seriously.

  “Attention, everyone! Welcome to the official opening of the Temple Games!” Persephone and Aphrodite suddenly called out from the top of the temple’s front steps. Zeus had apparently enlisted them to give instructions, since they weren’t on any of the teams themselves.

  “First off, any new team members, listen up,” said Persephone, gazing out over the crowd. “You’ll each need to grab one of these white scrolls on your way into the temple.” She picked up a small scroll from an urn full of some like the ones all MOA students had gotten from Hermes yesterday, and waggled it high in her fingers to show everyone.

  “They state the rules, but are also magical,” Aphrodite explained. “Which means all of your scrolls can receive information. They can’t send it, however. Pheme has got the only scroll with two-way communication. So she’s the only student who can send messages to us or Principal Zeus. For now, though, all you need to know is that you’ll be visiting six other temples after this one.”

  “And at each of those other temples you’ll be given a challenge,” continued Persephone. “A task you’ll have to perform successfully in order to move on. The longer it takes you, the bigger the lead that other, faster teams will gain.”

  Aphrodite nodded, adding, “No one will be eliminated here at Delphi. But one team will be knocked out at each temple you visit after this one. Next five temples, five teams out. The games will end at the sixth temple, where the last two of our seven teams will compete in a final challenge that will result in one victor.”

  “Us!” shouted Ares, grinning.

  “No, us!” Artemis countered, a wide smile on her face.

  “You wish! Victory!” yelled Poseidon, raising his trident high. He sure hoped one or more of the temple challenges would involve water and swimming since that’s where his team would have the greatest advantage.

  “Dream on!” called Athena, laughing. More cries of good-natured joking about who would win circulated.

  Persephone and Aphrodite called for everyone’s attention again, then went on for a while longer about the minor prizes and ribbons that all participants would receive at the end of the games. However, Poseidon hadn’t been joking before about his determination to win. All he was really interested in was prize numero uno. The grand prize. His very own temple.

  Eventually, he tuned back in to see Aphrodite motioning behind her to the temple building. It had six tall stone columns across the front. The wide triangular pediment that rested atop them was made of marble and carved with sculptures of gods and goddesses. “When you go inside, the Oracle of Delphi herself will provide an important clue,” she was saying. “You’ll need to decipher that clue to figure out where to travel next to receive your first challenge in the games.”

  Creak! The temple doors swung open, pulled from the inside by guards. Teams began to push forward in their hurry to get started.

  “Good luck, everyone! Let the games begin!” Persephone and Aphrodite called out together in bright voices. Then the two goddessgirls moved to stand on either side of the temple entrance to avoid getting run over as everyone stampeded past.

  Once inside the temple, Poseidon gazed around in wonder. Everywhere he looked he saw baskets and urns piled high with all kinds of gifts brought by Apollo’s worshippers. Apollo was the star here because the Temple of Delphi was his temple. Earth mortals had offered him everything from beaded bracelets and woven blankets to gold vases! There were plenty of statues around the temple too, especially of Zeus and Apollo.

  “Isn’t this cool?” Pandora said from behind him.

  “I know! It’s fizztastic! I can’t believe I’m here,” Thetis replied. She sounded super excited and awed.

  This was exactly the kind of temple Poseidon longed to have. But one that was dedicated to him, of course. A place that would wow mortals and show them how important and mega-amazing he was.

  Naturally his temple would have a tremendous fountain at its center. With a statue of him in the middle riding a team of two, no, three hippocampi. As water looped and sprayed rhythmically around him, his trident would be raised high in battle. Awesome! Having his own temple would officially make him a top-tier godboy like Apollo and several of his other friends at MOA who already had their own temples.

  The walls of the other rooms they passed through after leaving the main room were covered with more paintings and carvings of Apollo doing cool stuff. There was one of him shooting his bow and arrow at monsters and another of him playing his lyre. Poseidon even noticed a small statue of himself, since he was among Apollo’s friends at Mount Olympus Academy. That was nice, but it wasn’t nearly enough.

  When the teams finally reached the inner sanctuary at the back of the temple, they found themselves in a small dim room. All thirty-five participants crowded in and formed a circle around the Oracle. She was seated in the center of the room on a high golden stool and was wearing an enormous red cloak. Its hood threw deep shadows over her face.

  Looking around the circle, Poseidon saw Apollo, Ares, Artemis, Athena, Iris, and Medusa with their teams. And Pheme. The small wings at her back were gently fluttering, carrying her around the room as she wrote rapidly on the scroll-gadget Zeus had given her. She was probably describing everything inside the temple, telling the rest of the world every detail of what happened here.

  Medusa’s two assigned MOA members were her immortal sisters, Stheno and Euryale. She’d also apparently chosen two Chinese goddessgirls that he didn’t know. He overheard her call them Wen Chi and Mazu. They were the only all-girl team.

  Artemis was carrying her bow and a quiver of her magic silver arrows, and was flanked by her MOA team members, Aglaia and a lizard-tailed boy named Ascalabus. She’d also invited two strong-looking non-MOA girls. One of them was wearing dozens of silver bracelets that jangled on her arms whenever she moved.

  Poseidon pointed the girls out to Apollo, who happened to be standing next to him. “Amazons?” he whispered.

  “Yeah,” Apollo whispered back. “Penthesilea and Hippolyta. Both archers.”

  Just then, a priest dressed in a long white robe appeared. Stepping to one side of the Oracle, he welcomed everyone in a quiet voice. “You’ve come at a very special time. One of only nine days a year during which Oracle Pythia may be visited. Please be patient. Soon she will receive a message from the mysterious depths of the earth. You’ll know this is happening when steam rises through the omphalos.”

  “The ompha-what?” joked Ares. The priest sent him a sour look. Ares took the hint and clammed up.

  “The omphalos,” the priest went on. “It is through this sacred stone that the Oracle receives informa
tion and prophecies.” He pointed at an egg-shaped stone about three feet tall that sat balanced on one end upon a little table next to the Oracle. It was carved with a pattern of crisscross lines that resembled a fishing net, and had a hole about six inches in diameter in its top.

  “Once Oracle Pythia divines the location of the first temple you are to visit, she will offer you a clue to its name. No prize will be awarded to any team for guessing the name. However, the sooner you figure it out, the better. The first teams to arrive at the temple will have the best chance at winning the first challenge.”

  At this, a silent tension filled the room, all eyes glued to the Oracle now. Yet still she sat motionless beside the egg on her high golden stool, her long cloak draped around her. Below her stool, Poseidon noticed a deep crack in the dirt floor, which also ran beneath the stone egg’s table and then disappeared into the shadows at the back of the room.

  Finally, the Oracle began to speak in a low croon. “Long ago, the mighty Zeus called upon two eagles, each perched at opposite ends of our flat earth. He bade them to rise into the sky and fly toward one another at the same swift speed.” Her arm swung out and she gestured dramatically at the stone egg. “It is here in this very spot that the noble birds met. Together, they landed upon this omphalos. And so it was that Zeus declared it to be the very center of the earth!”

  Solemnly, she turned to face the stone egg. “Speak to me. Speak to me, sacred omphalos!” she coaxed, her voice rising with every word.

  Everyone leaned in to listen to whatever the stone egg might say.

  5

  Being Thetis

  Amphitrite

  AMPHITRITE STOOD IN THE TEMPLE sanctuary with her team, feeling totally thrilled. So far her deception seemed to be working. No one suspected she wasn’t her sister Thetis. And the fun was just beginning.

  She could hardly believe she was here in this amazing temple. Standing! On legs! But her head was still swimming with all the sights she’d seen on her travels so far. And she’d met real gods and goddesses that she and her sisters had only read about in Teen Scrollazine! Now she was gathered among them waiting for this sacred object—the omphalos—to speak to a famous oracle. It was all just so epic!

  Slowly Oracle Pythia lifted her arms. Her hood fell back slightly, revealing a hint of her face with its dark eyes, straight nose, and thin lips.

  Pssst! As if on cue, a great burst of steam hissed from the crack in the earthen floor and rose to fill the egg-shaped stone. The stone must be hollow, Amphitrite realized. Because the steam then funneled through it and out the opening at its top, mounting ever higher until it enveloped the Oracle. More steam followed in a loud gush, swirling and whooshing from the floor, through the egg, and then out into the room.

  Through the foggy steam, Amphitrite could just make out that the Oracle had closed her eyes and begun to sway from side to side on her stool. Seeming unaware of her audience, she hummed tunelessly. Her outstretched arms moved gracefully, like those of a mystical dancer, her hands causing the steam to leap and curl. For long moments, the thirty-five students waited, entranced. At last, she spoke the clue that would hint at where temple they should all visit next. It was short:

  “All . . .

  With a single eye,

  it can cry,

  but only when it rains.”

  Finished, Pythia straightened her arms, folded both hands in her lap, and went silent again. The priest made sweeping motions with his arms to dismiss all thirty-five students. As they shuffled from the room, Amphitrite wished she knew what the Oracle’s clue meant. Glancing at the others’ faces, she could tell they were pretty puzzled too.

  Pheme flitted among them, listening in as each team whispered among themselves. All were trying to figure out the answer to the riddle the Oracle had posed, so they’d know which temple to visit next and could beat the other teams to it.

  Because Amphitrite’s team had been at the far side of the sanctuary, they were last to file out. “Thoughts?” Poseidon asked her, Pandora, Hades, and Delphinius as they started back through the temple. At the same time, he unrolled his purple team leader scroll and scanned it for information that might help to decode the clue. But it seemed he saw at once that there was nothing in the scroll to help them. “So what’s our destination?” he prompted his team as he let the scroll snap shut and stuffed it back in his pocket. “Where do we go to get our first challenge in the games?”

  “Is it something to do with Mr. Cyclops?” Pandora suggested as they retraced their steps past walls lined with statues and art treasures.

  Amphitrite had read about him in Teen Scrollazine. MOA’s famed hero-ology teacher had a single big eye in the middle of his forehead.

  Delphinius cocked his head, thinking. “He does have only one eye, but has anyone ever seen him cry when it rains?”

  “I’ve never seen him cry at all,” said Poseidon.

  “Me neither,” said Hades.

  Pandora nodded her agreement. “Not a single tear, rain or shine.”

  “Besides that, there’s no temple dedicated to him that I’ve ever heard of,” said Delphinius. “So he can’t be the answer.”

  “If we’re lucky, the Oracle’s clue might mislead some teams and send them to Sicily—that island off the coast of Italy—though,” offered Hades. “That’s where Mr. Cyclops is from.”

  As they neared the temple exit, Amphitrite got an idea. She touched Pandora’s arm to get her attention. “Hey, remember what Panacea told us when we met her and Harmonia earlier? She said that—”

  Just then Amphitrite’s legs began to tremble and wobble, like seaweed in a swift undersea current. She stumbled, lost her balance, and bumped into the wall behind her. What was happening? Oh no! Was she shifting back into a mermaid? But when she looked down, she saw that her legs were still firm and strong.

  “What’s going on?” said Delphinius, his eyes worried.

  Pandora let go of a statue she’d been hugging for balance and shrugged uncertainly. “Earthquake?”

  Amphitrite pushed off from the wall. “So you all felt that too?”

  “Yeah! Are you kidding?” said Hades. “The whole building was shaking.”

  “Maybe we’re under some kind of attack!” Poseidon exclaimed.

  He and Hades moved to stand protectively at either side of their team, alert for danger. Their muscles were tense, their fists bunched. They looked ready to fend off any enemy who might suddenly appear.

  None came, however. But the whole temple shuddered again, rocking back and forth so hard that everyone went flying. A fluted white column near Amphitrite cracked. Small bits of marble chipped from the ceiling and crumbled to the ground.

  A cry came from over in the Oracle’s sanctuary. Without thinking of the danger from falling chunks of stone, Amphitrite turned and rushed back through the temple. The rest of her team was close on her heels. They reached the small room that housed the omphalos just in time to hear a loud crunching sound. All five of them stopped short, eyes going wide at the sight that greeted them.

  Boom! A giant fist, five times the size of any godboy’s, punched its way up through the crack in the floor, ripping a huge hole in it. The fist’s beefy fingers wrapped around the omphalos. Then the hand quickly withdrew back down into the hole it had made, taking the three-foot-tall stone egg with it.

  Amphitrite gasped. Dashing over, she gazed down into the hole. The golden stool the Oracle had sat upon now lay on its side a short distance away.

  “Not so close, Thetis,” said Poseidon, taking her arm.

  “Huh? Thetis? Where is she?” Startled, Amphitrite looked around for her sister. She was so stunned and shaken up that she’d momentarily forgotten everyone thought that she was Thetis.

  “I mean, where is . . . the Oracle?” she quickly clarified. “And who took the omphalos!” She tried to look into the hole again, but Poseidon pulled her away from the crack. Just in time, too, because a large column tore itself loose from the wall and slammed down
right where she’d been standing. Bam! Everyone drew back.

  “What happened?” asked Athena, rushing into the small room. Her teammates, Heracles, Dionysus, Harmonia, and Panacea were right behind her. They all gaped at the new humongous hole in the floor. Heracles gripped his massive club and held it at the ready as his eyes surveyed the sanctuary for possible danger.

  Words burst from Amphitrite. “The omphalos is gone! A big fist punched up through the crack in the floor and stole it just now!”

  Catching her eye, Poseidon frowned at her and shook his head. Did that mean he didn’t like her sharing this information with Athena’s team? Well, too bad! This was a crisis, unrelated to the competition. Hmm. Or was it related?

  “Ye gods! My dad’s sacred stone?” Athena rushed over to the table where the stone had so recently rested to look for clues regarding the thief.

  “I don’t get it,” said Amphitrite. “Only the Oracle can make the omphalos tell prophecies. So why would anyone want to steal it?”

  Poseidon swung around to Athena. “What do you know about that stone? Anything helpful?”

  She shrugged. “Dad told me the two eagles he released to find the center of the world just found it sitting here when they met and settled on this spot. Oh, and he calls the omphalos the bellybutton of the world.”

  Despite the gravity of the situation, the students on both teams chuckled at this. Athena grinned and smoothed her long wavy brown hair to hang over one shoulder. “Dad does have a quirky sense of humor,” she acknowledged. But then she grew serious again. “As for who the thief might be, I guess it’s someone who wants to start trouble. I mean, my dad will be furious when he finds out it’s gone.”

  “Finds out what’s gone? What are you talking about? Where is the stone?” The Oracle had suddenly appeared from the shadows of the room, where she’d apparently been cowering. She tugged her hood back down, and Amphitrite could see that her dark eyes were terrified.

  Righting her stool, she sat up on it and began to rock gently. While they tried to explain what had happened, she stared into the distance as if in a trance. “I see a great battle,” she interrupted in an eerie voice. “This one will test the Olympians even more than the Titan war. A hundred fighters will soon come. Beware.”