by Joan Holub
Instinctively Zeus pulled Bolt from his belt. Was this winged horse some kind of Creature of Chaos? Eager for action, the bolt sizzled and sparked as Zeus held it high.
Instead of being scared off, the horse gave a gentle whinny and swooped down, so low that they could almost touch it! It was beautiful, its coat glossy. It locked eyes with Zeus, and for a second he got a strange feeling . . . like he knew this horse somehow. Like they had met before. But of course they hadn’t.
The horse whinnied again. Then it ducked its head and stretched its long neck toward him, so that they were almost nose to nose. It seemed friendly. However, just as Zeus reached up to pat it, the horse chomped down on Bolt and pulled it right from his hand!
“Noooo! Bolt!” Zeus yelled as the white horse flew away.
CHAPTER TEN
Where Is Pythia?
Bolt, return!” Zeus yelled. But Bolt did not.
Rising high into the sky, the horse flew quickly over the water, and then disappeared into the distance.
“Booolt!” Zeus drew out the word in a mournful voice. Then he dropped his head in defeat. What would he do without his trusty magical object?
Athena put a hand on his shoulder. “Hey. It’s okay,” she said gently. “You’ve lost Bolt before, right? But you found him again. I’m sure Bolt’s not lost forever.”
Hephaestus grabbed an oar and began paddling. “We need to get as far away from this island as possible. It’s even weirder than the one I used to live on!”
“Yeah, let’s vamoose,” said Hades. He and Athena fiddled with the sail until it caught some wind. Soon they were whipping across the sea.
Zeus grabbed Chip. “Follow that horse!” he commanded. “We need to find that winged horse and get Bolt.”
“Is-thip ay-wip!” the magic stone replied, and a green, glowing arrow appeared on its surface. This way.
“But, Zeus,” Athena said. “We’re supposed to meet the others back in the village. They might be waiting for us.”
Zeus paused. Athena was right. But that horse was getting farther and farther away with every second.
“I’ll do whatever you want,” Hades piped up. “I mean, I’m sure the other Olympians will understand if we’re delayed.”
Zeus wasn’t so sure. He could practically hear Hera’s voice in his head. Where were you, Boltbreath? We waited here for you for days. We’re supposed to be going on quests, not chasing after flying horses!
Zeus sighed. “All right,” he said. “We’ll go back to the village.” He bent over Chip again. “Which way?” he asked.
Chip’s arrow glowed.
“Hey, Chip’s still pointing in the same direction,” Hades said. “Toward where the horse went! That’s a galloping great coincidence, if you ask me.”
Zeus felt a little better. “Onward!” he cried out.
Luckily there was a good wind at their backs. They glided swiftly through the water, with Chip’s arrow guiding the way. Later, it grew darker, but there was no way to light their way without Bolt.
As a bright moon rose overhead, they spotted the island meeting place. “Almost there!” Zeus called out.
Zeus and Hephaestus rowed the rest of the way to shore. When the boat hit the sand, they all straggled out, exhausted and hungry.
“It’s too late to find the village now,” Hades said. “We should camp here.”
“But we can’t make a fire,” Zeus said sadly, remembering Bolt again.
“It’s a warm night,” Athena reassured him. “And we’ve got the bread and cheese we bought before in the village to eat. Come on. Let’s find a spot.”
They marched away from the shore for a bit, so they wouldn’t be caught when the tide came in. When they found some clear, level ground, they unpacked their food, blankets, and water. As they emptied the bags Zeus realized he was still carrying the winged sandals Perseus had given him.
“I wonder who these belong to,” he mused.
“Maybe one of us could wear them?” Hades suggested. “I mean, my helmet works on whoever wears it, so why not the sandals? I wouldn’t mind flying around instead of hiking everywhere.”
Zeus grinned and handed them to Hades. “Go for it!”
Hades kicked off his own sandals and tried to wiggle one of the winged sandals onto his foot. He got it halfway on and held up his foot. His entire heel was hanging off the back of the sandal.
“Too small,” he said with disappointment.
“Let me try,” Hephaestus said, taking the sandals from him. But he didn’t have any better luck. “Way too small.”
“Guess your new nickname should be Hephaestus Littlefoot,” Hades said, laughing. Then he yelled, “Ow!” Hephaestus’s cane had whacked him on the back of the head!
“Sorry,” Hephaestus replied earnestly. “I can’t seem to control this cane anymore.” But Zeus wasn’t totally sure if that was true this time.
“My turn!” said Athena. She was able to get both sandals onto her feet. But when she took a step, her feet slipped right out! She laughed. “They’re a little too big for me.”
She handed the sandals to Zeus. “How about you?” she asked.
“I’ll try, but something tells me . . .” he said, trying to slip one onto his foot. He shook his head. “Too small!”
“So, I guess we’re looking for a boy with small feet or a girl with large feet,” Athena said. “Wait, Perseus said the Olympian was a ‘him,’ didn’t he?”
“Yeah! And maybe he made a mistake about there being a thirteenth Olympian. I mean, maybe these sandals will fit Poseidon, Ares, or Apollo,” said Hades. Reminded of their missing friends, everyone suddenly got quiet.
“Pythia would tell us, if she were here,” Zeus said.
“She’ll probably appear tomorrow,” Athena said encouragingly. “Come on. We should get some rest.”
The four Olympians quickly fell asleep and woke up with the morning sun.
“Pythia?” Zeus called out once they’d eaten and were ready to move out, but she was nowhere to be seen. He frowned at the others. “The last time Pythia went missing, it was because she was captured by a huge python. I hope nothing bad has happened to her again.”
“Maybe she’s waiting to show herself until we’re all together again,” Athena suggested. “Let’s get to the village. I bet everyone beat us there already.”
“That was some crazy flying horse last night,” Hades said as they marched off together. “I hate to be a naaaysayer, but I don’t think that thing was very stable.”
Hephaestus and Athena groaned, but Zeus laughed. “Very punny,” he said. “I haven’t heard you make a bad joke in a while.”’
Hades smiled. “I’m feeling pretty good today. We destroyed the monstrous Medusa, and we’ll be seeing everybody else soon.”
“Do you always express your happiness through really bad jokes?” Hephaestus asked.
Hades grinned. “Not always. Sometimes when I’m happy I ask myself serious questions. Like, do you know why I don’t trust stairs?”
Hephaestus shrugged. “Why?”
“Because they’re always up to something,” Hades said, cracking himself up. “Get it?”
Hephaestus groaned even more loudly this time.
“Well, besides not trusting stairs, I just plain don’t like them,” Athena remarked. “They always bring me down.”
Zeus and Hades laughed so hard they almost fell down.
“I can’t take much more of this,” Hephaestus said, rolling his eyes. “How far is it to the village?”
“Not far,” Zeus said, and he found himself smiling again.
Hades was his brother, but Athena and even Hephaestus also felt like family now. So did all the other Olympians. Even if the winged white horse hadn’t been flying in the same direction, he would have chosen to return to the village, he knew. It was the right thing to do. It was important to keep all of them together.
If I ever lost my siblings and friends, I think I’d lose myself, he thought. Still, h
e couldn’t help feeling a pang when his hand touched his belt, where Bolt used to hang.
The thought that all twelve Olympians would soon be together again comforted him. Then Pythia will appear and tell us what to do next, he told himself. And I will get Bolt back, if it’s the last thing I do!
Joan Holub has authored and/or illustrated over 140 children’s books, including the New York Times bestselling picture book Mighty Dads (illustrated by James Dean) and Little Red Writing (illustrated by Melissa Sweet). She lives in North Carolina and at www.joanholub.com.
Suzanne Williams is the author of over fifty books for children, including the award-winning picture book Library Lil (illustrated by Steven Kellogg). She lives outside Seattle, Washington, and is online at www.suzanne-williams.com.
Together, Joan and Suzanne write the Goddess Girls, Heroes in Training, and Grimmtastic Girls series.
ALADDIN
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DON’T MISS THE OTHER ADVENTURES IN THE HEROES IN TRAINING SERIES!
Zeus and the Thunderbolt of Doom
Poseidon and the Sea of Fury
Hades and the Helm of Darkness
Hyperion and the Great Balls of Fire
Typhon and the Winds of Destruction
Apollo and the Battle of the Birds
Ares and the Spear of Fear
Cronus and the Threads of Dread
Crius and the Night of Fright
Hephaestus and the Island of Terror
Uranus and the Bubbles of Trouble
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 authors’ 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 hardcover edition April 2016
Text copyright © 2016 by Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams
Illustrations copyright © 2016 by Craig Phillips
Also available in an Aladdin paperback edition.
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Jacket designed by Karina Granda
Interior designed by Mike Rosamilia
The text of this book was set in Adobe Garamond Pro.
Library of Congress Control Number 2016932132
ISBN 978-1-4814-3516-1 (hc)
ISBN 978-1-4814-3515-4 (pbk)
ISBN 978-1-4814-3517-8 (eBook)