by Holub, Joan
Upstairs in her dorm room she slammed the door and went straight for her supercrush bulletin board. She yanked all the stuff off it and stomped on the bits and pieces, pulverizing everything she’d collected for years. Then she tossed the mashed-up remains into her trash can and just stood there feeling horrible.
When she reached up to pet her snakes, they gently curled and uncurled around her wrists. “You’re right, guys,” she told them. “He is so not worth it.” Still, her crush had been in her thoughts for so long that she felt kind of lonely all of a sudden. What would she spend her free time doing now? She couldn’t study all the time.
Hearing a commotion outside her window, Medusa glanced down at the courtyard four stories below. Hermes had just landed his chariot. As she watched, Dionysus stepped out of the back of it carrying a big mailbag over one shoulder. Something was squirming inside it.
Suddenly his face turned up, looking toward her window. She dropped to a crouch below the windowsill. Ye gods! Had he seen her? She hoped not. She was a mess—all drippy from her swim. Then she noticed that her curious snakes were standing tall, still peeking out the window glass above her. She tugged them down too.
What was in that mailbag Dionysus was carrying? she wondered. A magical wedding gift for Zeus and Hera? Hey! In all the excitement she’d practically forgotten about her necklace! Now was a good time for the ultimate test of its magic. She would use it to make her own gift—or try to. Her fingers touched the chain, then twisted it round and round, searching for the winged horse charm that dangled from it. But it was gone!
Oh, no! Could it have come off in the pool? Still in her swimsuit and towel, she retraced her steps to the gym. Head down, she searched the ground along the way, just in case. When she reached the grotto, it was empty and the pool itself had already been redesigned into a heart shape for tomorrow’s wedding.
Poseidon had filled it with floating flowers, and their delicate scent filled the air. Kneeling at the edge of the pool, Medusa pushed some of the blossoms aside and peered into the watery depths to look for the charm.
Was that a glint of gold? Yes! There it was, lying on the bottom! She dove in and recovered it. Sitting poolside, she held the charm in one fist and made up a rhyme she hoped would work. It was now or never.
“Necklace magic,
Come forth and bring
A magical gift, fit for a king.
A holder of thunderbolts, strong and true.
Wing it my way, without further ado!”
Ado? Ha! She’d stolen the MOA herald’s favorite word! But as the minutes passed and nothing happened, her dream of creating a fabulous wedding gift was slowly crushed. Just as thoroughly as the stuff from her bulletin board had been. And if the necklace magic didn’t work for making a gift, it surely wasn’t going to make her immortal.
She yanked off the necklace chain and hurled both it and the charm into the pool. Watching them sink to the bottom, she felt her heart and hopes sink with them. Along with her dreams, unrealistic or not.
11
Sisters, Enemies, and Friends
YOU OWE US FIFTEEN ROOM CLEANINGS,” Stheno announced two hours later as the triplets were finishing up their lunch in the cafeteria at their usual table.
This unjust claim jerked Medusa out of her funk. “No way! I only promised to do it one time,” she protested. She licked the lime-green nectar pop she’d chosen for dessert.
“That was before we did you a huge favor,” Euryale informed her.
“What favor?”
“We fixed things at Gods Gift,” said Stheno. “After you shoplifted.”
Medusa’s eyes widened. “How? I mean, when? I mean, I didn’t shoplift—”
“Yeah, yeah, tell it to the judge,” Euryale said, cutting her off. “We got there just after you left the store, and we used our magic to make all those freaky gift box puppets forget they’d ever met you.”
“The guards too,” added Stheno. “And so now, we figure you owe us fifteen room cleanings. That’s for two guards plus twelve puppets, plus the trip to the marketplace that day.”
After a minute Medusa nodded. Truthfully, she was mega-relieved she wouldn’t have to worry about that whole shoplifting incident anymore. Her place at MOA was secure. Still, it would have been nice if her sisters had told her sooner. How like them to make her sweat a while!
Suddenly she spied Dionysus across the cafeteria. To her surprise he waved her over.
“Dusa and Dionysus sittin’ in a tree,” Stheno teased softly.
“K-I-S-S-I-N-G,” Euryale finished.
“Oh, shut up,” Medusa muttered, rolling her eyes. Still licking her nectar pop, she went to see what he wanted.
“I have a present for you,” he told her, leading her outside. “Brought it up in Hermes’ chariot this morning.”
Curious, Medusa followed him out of the cafeteria and then stopped midlick. A few feet away was the big squirmy mail sack she’d seen from her dorm window earlier. Dionysus undid its drawstring, and out popped Mr. Dolos! She stared at the little round man with his slicked-back hair and stiffly curled mustache. “What are you doing here?”
“I brought him,” Dionysus replied.
“In a mail sack?” Medusa asked, feeling confused.
“Sacking him up was the only way to make him stop trying to convince Hermes to license his image for a new line of chariot-shaped footwear. For a while there I thought Hermes would toss him out midflight.”
Mr. Dolos shrugged. “What can I say? I’m a businessman.”
“No,” Medusa said. “What you are is a liar.” She gave her nectar pop a flick, pointing it at him. Little green drops accidentally splattered on the front of his yellow-and-black-checkered tunic.
“Who, me?” Mr. Dolos glanced down at the green drops in dismay, then looked back up at Medusa. “I’ve done nothing wrong.” But despite his words she could see in his eyes that he knew he wasn’t really telling the truth. He didn’t care who he hurt as long as he made money!
“Don’t blame me if you’re disappointed in our deal,” he said defensively. “Didn’t you read the fine print in your contract?”
“No,” she admitted, “but you didn’t really give me a chance to.”
Mr. Dolos twirled the ends of his mustache. “Or maybe you were in too much of a hurry to get me to hand over the thirty drachmas.”
Dionysus raised an eyebrow at that. Medusa hoped he didn’t think she was greedy. “But the shields don’t even work,” she protested. “There’s no magic in them at all.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Mr. Dolos insisted. “What matters is that my customers think they’re magic. Makes them feel like heroes. Gives them confidence. And isn’t that what we need to defeat our enemies?”
Medusa didn’t think his logic was sound, but before she could object, he went on. “Oh, I almost forgot. Here you go.” Reaching into the mail sack at his feet, he pulled out a bag of drachmas. She was so surprised, she took it. “It’s your share of the earnings. I told you you’d be a bestseller.”
Medusa felt the weight of the coins. There must be a hundred drachmas in the bag! With this she could buy a great wedding gift. But money couldn’t buy the immortality she craved. And if she took the bag, wouldn’t it be like she was agreeing that it was okay for Mr. Dolos to do whatever he wanted with her image? That it was okay to lie to his customers about the shield being magic?
“No deal.” She shoved the money back into his hands.
Yet Mr. Dolos hardly noticed. His eyes had widened at something beyond her. “Whatever. Gotta run now!” he shouted as Zeus thundered after him.
“Come back here, you thief!” yelled the principal. “That thunderbolt you sold me was about as real as a purple unicorn!” Zeus chased after him, zinging the little man with tiny bursts of electricity that made Mr. Dolos yelp.
Medusa grinned at Dionysus as they watched them go. “Who knows? Maybe this will be just the spark Mr. Dolos needs to change his business practices!”
/> Dionysus laughed, showing his dimples. “Oh, greenie girl, you crack me up like nobody else. ‘Spark’—ha-ha-ha! I love it!”
And suddenly Medusa felt a spark of something herself. A spark of joy mixed with liking that equaled crushing. Not supercrushing—not yet. But definitely crushing. “Thanks. I think,” she said casually, trying to push the feeling away. She wasn’t ready to get her heart broken again.
Bam, bam, bam!
Medusa sat up in bed. It was the next morning, and someone was knocking on her door. Out of habit she called out, “Go away!”
“Open up!” Athena called back.
“Yeah, c’mon!” said Aphrodite.
Medusa’s brows rose. What could they possibly want? Her eyes went to the trash can. Since the Poseidon stuff she’d collected was gone from the wall, there was no harm in letting them in, she supposed. But on her way to the door, she shoved the trash can into her closet, just to be on the safe side. She’d die if they saw all that supercrush junk!
“Look!” said Athena, practically dancing with excitement as she burst in. “You’re in the Greekly Weekly News!” She held the news-scroll open so they could all see it.
Medusa stared at the headlines. “‘Zeus to Wed Hera in Ceremony Today at Noon’?” she read in confusion.
“No, not that headline,” said Aphrodite. She pointed to another story a little farther down. “Here.”
Medusa sucked in her breath. “Oh!” Right below the main story about the upcoming wedding was a big, dramatic sketch showing her rescue of Andromeda! The news of Poseidon’s swimming competition was way down in one corner, and there was only a small picture of him and the nymph who’d won.
“Not everyone gets on the front page of GW!” exclaimed Aphrodite.
“Epic,” said Medusa, glowing with pleasure.
Athena glanced around the room. “Want to hang it on your bulletin board? Looks like you’ve got space for it.”
Medusa nodded. Kneeling on her spare bed, she tacked the news-scroll up. It helped fill some of the empty space where all her Poseidon stuff used to be. They all three stared at it for a few seconds, admiring it.
Finally Aphrodite nudged Athena. “C’mon. We’ve got a wedding to get ready for!” She started out the door, but Athena held back a minute. “My dad and I picked up some wedding decorations from Hera’s shop on Friday,” she said to Medusa. “And he told me you’d suggested that he ask for my help.”
“He did?” Medusa grimaced, bracing herself for Athena’s annoyance at her interference.
Athena grinned sideways at her. “Ha! I guessed right!”
Medusa stared at her, unsure. “So you’re not mad I butted in?”
“No, it’s okay,” Athena went on. “He didn’t really tell me it was your idea—he thought it was his. But I had a feeling—”
“So how did it go?” interrupted Medusa.
Athena smiled broadly now, looking lighter than she had all week. “We had a good talk, and I even hung out with Hera while we were getting the decorations. So, thanks. You kind of helped break the ice between us all.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
Aphrodite poked her head back into the room. “Sorry,” she said to Athena. “I thought you were right behind me.” Medusa wondered how much of their conversation she’d overheard.
The two goddessgirls exchanged glances, and some silent message flew between them. When Aphrodite nodded, Athena turned back to Medusa. “Listen, we promised to help Persephone and her mom with the flowers before the wedding. Want to help too?”
It was on the tip of Medusa’s tongue to say no. She had studying to do, as always. Besides, what if Athena was only asking because she thought she owed Medusa for helping her out with her dad? But then she thought about the Gray Ladies and their advice about trusting and making friends and being nice. Maybe their suggestions weren’t as lame as she’d first thought. And maybe she could take a day off from studying for once.
“Okay, sure. I think I’d be good with flowers,” she said at last. Then she held out her hands. “After all, I have two green thumbs!”
When the goddessgirls laughed, she joined in. Dionysus was right, thought Medusa. She was hilarious!
“Change out of your pj’s then, and meet us in my room,” Aphrodite told her. “We need to grab our bridesmaid gowns to put on later in the gymnasium changing rooms, just before the wedding.”
Medusa dressed quickly, donning her very best emerald-green chiton and matching sandals. Minutes later she, Athena, and Aphrodite were heading across the courtyard. Stheno and Euryale were sitting outside on one of the marble benches, reading the Greekly Weekly News. As Medusa walked by, they glanced up, looking stunned that she—a mortal—had made the front page. And now she was hanging out with two of the most popular goddessgirls at MOA!
Medusa just smiled serenely and waggled her fingers in a little wave. And, if she wasn’t mistaken, her sisters’ faces turned ever so slightly greener. Was this how it felt to be popular? If so, she loved it!
12
The Wedding Gift
WHEN MEDUSA, ATHENA, AND APHRODITE entered the gymnasium, they all gasped at the transformation. “It’s an enchanted wedding paradise,” Aphrodite cooed. Since she was the goddessgirl of love, her praise of weddings was often exaggerated. But in this case she was right. Everything was so beautiful!
The gym building, which was round, had been decorated to look like a giant wedding cake. Fluffy white swirls of plaster that resembled frosting covered the walls. Nestled in it here and there were sculpted pink hearts and orange rosettes. The circular opening in the ceiling revealed a bright blue sky dotted with happy, puffy clouds.
In the middle of the gym floor on a raised stage stood a ten-foot-tall wedding arch draped with swags of white netting. The two goddessgirls sighed at the sight of it. Even Medusa, who usually scoffed at anything froufrou, couldn’t help being impressed. At the top of the arch and on both of its sides, the netting was gathered and tied with curly ribbons and fragrant orange blossoms. This was where Zeus and Hera would stand when they exchanged wedding vows.
Rows of white chairs had been lined up on either side of a single aisle that led from the gym door to the stage. Beyond the chairs, the bleachers had been replaced by dozens of linen-draped tables. Elaborate floral arrangements sat at the center of some of the tables, each with a glittery, decorative three-foot-long thunderbolt sticking up from the middle of the flowers at an artful angle. Seeing Persephone and her mom busily constructing more of the centerpieces for the remaining empty tables, the three girls rushed over to assist.
While they were working, the first guests began to arrive. Artemis was among them, and most of the kindergarten buddies too. Medusa slipped her stoneglasses out of her pocket and put them on. She cringed when she saw that Perseus was still carrying his toy shield with the embarrassing picture of her face. And she tried not to notice the long tables off to one side that were soon overflowing with fabulous wedding gifts—not one of them from her.
Just as the girls finished placing the last table centerpiece, trumpetlike horns called salpinxes blared. The MOA herald and several musicians had come to stand on the steps leading up to the stage. At this signal everyone scurried for the chairs on either side of the aisle.
“See you later,” Persephone told her mom. She, Athena, and Aphrodite dashed off to change into their bridesmaid dresses. Medusa went to grab a good seat.
A few minutes later the horns trumpeted again. Zeus appeared and crossed the stage, coming to stand under the arch. Wearing formal attire in MOA colors—a gold tunic with a flowing gold and blue cape—he stood gazing down the long empty aisle toward the door, waiting.
Guest musicians seated just beyond the stage began to play softly. Dionysus’s band, Heavens Above, couldn’t play because most of the members were groomsmen today. But Medusa recognized one of their songs called “I Promise.”
She couldn’t help feeling a sense of awe as each groomsman
and bridesmaid came down the aisle together, walking slowly and ceremoniously. She felt wistful too. After all, she had hoped to be in this ceremony herself! Aphrodite and Ares were first, then Persephone and Hades, followed by Athena and Heracles. All three goddessgirls looked beautiful in their long white chitons, with orange roses in their hair and golden sandals on their dainty feet.
She glanced at Artemis sitting one row over with her crush, Actaeon. Although she was the only one of the four friends who’d been left out of the wedding, she didn’t look at all bothered about it. In fact, if Medusa wasn’t mistaken, while everyone’s eyes were glued to the ceremony, she was secretly sharpening one of her arrows in her lap with a table knife!
Dionysus and little Andromeda were the sixth of the seven couples. When they passed Medusa’s chair, Andromeda waved at her, bouncing with excitement. She looked adorable in her lacy white chiton with flowers twined in her hair. Seeing Medusa, Dionysus sent her a smile, and her heart lifted.
“Ooh, that Dionysus is so cute,” she overheard a girl behind her whisper to a friend. She turned and gave the girl the stink eye. “Shhh,” she and her snakes hissed. Immediately zipping her lip, the girl nodded, glancing worriedly at Medusa’s wiggly hair.
Medusa just sniffed in a superior way and turned back around. The girl was right, though. Dionysus did look cute in his white tunic and new sandals. So cute that she hardly even noticed when Poseidon and his partner came down the aisle afterward.
It was funny how things worked out sometimes. She was glad Andromeda’s dream of being in the wedding had come true, yet a little sad that her own dream had not. She would probably never become immortal. On the bright side, she had become a bit more popular, she no longer pined for Poseidon, and she was even beginning to make a few friends. So on balance maybe that wasn’t so bad!
Now the music changed slightly, becoming more dramatic. All eyes were on Hera as she glided down the aisle alone, wearing a golden floor-length chiton with a shimmering train that stretched ten feet behind her. Her long gloves had been dyed to match, and she wore a simple gold tiara in her blond hair, which was elaborately styled. The delicate fragrance of her bouquet of lilies, orange blossoms, and pale pink roses lingered as she moved down the aisle and then up the steps to stand beside a beaming Zeus.