by Holub, Joan
Facing her, Zeus took Hera’s hand and began to say his vows in a booming voice that had some guests discreetly covering their ears. “I, Zeus, promise to love and adore you forever and ever and always—even if you insist on keeping your job! But everyone here today should know that you’re only keeping your job because you like it, and not because I’m poor or a wimp or anything. And after all, look at this amazing wedding you organized here today. You’re obviously great at it!”
Hera smiled at him, then parted her lips to speak her vows more softly. “And I, Hera, promise to love and adore you forever and ever and always, and to never complain about scorch marks in the chair cushions or thunderbolt holes in the walls.”
Zeus’s smile got even wider.
Then the herald came forward to stand behind them, facing the audience. “If anyone here objects to this marriage, speak now or forever be silent.” Zeus turned to glare at the audience, his flashing eyes daring anyone to make a peep. The room went completely quiet.
Bzzzz-bzzzz.
At the sudden buzzing sound, everyone looked upward to see a fly zip into the gym through the open ceiling. They all held their breath. Medusa glanced at Athena up on the stage, wondering if this was her mom, Metis, coming to ruin Zeus’s wedding. But then the fly just buzzed merrily off, and everyone heaved a sigh of relief.
Zeus’s voice boomed out again, “Okay! By the powers vested in me, by me—I now pronounce myself still King of the Gods and Ruler of the Heavens.” Then he gazed at Hera, and his voice softened, “And I pronounce Hera to be Queen of the Gods and Co-Ruler of the Heavens. And stepmom to my favorite daughter of all time too!”
He glanced around. Finding Athena, he swept her up in a huge hug and brought her to join him and her new stepmom under the arch. Then he leaned forward and gave Hera a big smooch.
“Awesome wedding!” Zeus roared, smiling over the crowd.
A hearty cheer sounded as hundreds of lovebirds flew upward to form the words “Zeus & Hera” inside a heart shape in midair. (Aphrodite’s magical wedding gift.) Then the birds scattered, showering everyone with glittery confetti. Medusa’s snakes snapped at it and seemed disappointed when they figured out the confetti wasn’t actually snacks.
When Zeus and Hera descended from the stage, it immediately retracted to reveal the flower-filled heart-shaped pool in the grotto below. From a fountain in its center, water began to spurt high, forming intricate patterns in the air. Poseidon’s design, of course. He might be personally shallow, but Medusa couldn’t deny that his talent with water had depth!
Soon the newly married couple began slicing the wedding cake, which was almost as tall as Zeus himself. The brilliantly colored lovebirds carried numerous small plates of delicious ambrosia-flavored cake to each table. However, the guests barely had time to taste it before Zeus declared, “Let the gift opening begin!”
He and Hera took their seats on two thrones, which had magically floated down from above to settle in front of the fountain. Zeus was as excited as a little kid at a birthday party, beaming from ear to ear as he opened each new gift, then quickly shoved it aside to get to the next. But when he unwrapped a magic thunderbolt from Athena, Medusa could tell it was his favorite present so far, because he immediately decided to try it out.
“How does this thing work?” He shook it, then examined it closely from one end to the other. As he stood and drew back to hurl it, everyone ducked. Fortunately, he aimed it toward the opening in the roof.
Unfortunately, instead of zooming out of the gym, the bolt did a loop-de-loop and sailed toward Perseus’s table near the pool instead. With a valiant effort the little boy held out his shield, trying to stop it. But the bolt sliced right through it, stabbing the image of Medusa in the neck and splitting the shield in two.
Ye gods! Medusa’s hand automatically flew to her own throat, and she gulped.
Surprised, Perseus dropped the broken shield, and its two halves tumbled into the pool. Almost immediately the water began to gurgle and bubble.
Whoosh! With an upward splash a small blaze of white and gold zoomed up from the pool. Everyone gasped as it soared toward the ceiling, growing larger and larger, until it finally became a full-grown white horse with mighty golden wings. It caught the wayward thunderbolt in its teeth and winged it back to a delighted Zeus.
“Pegasus?” Medusa heard the murmurs around her, and her brows rose. She’d always thought this magical horse was a myth! Judging by the excited whispers circulating in the room, most of the wedding guests had thought so too. She wasn’t sure what strange combination of magic had freed him from her charm—for she was certain that’s where he’d come from. But however it had happened, she was just as happy as Zeus to see the beautiful winged horse come to life.
The guy from the Greekly Weekly News ran to the stage, sketching away. No doubt the story of this amazing wedding would fill an entire special edition of the GW news-scroll tomorrow. And the unexpected arrival of the mythical Pegasus was the icing on the wedding cake!
“Wowza! A living, breathing thunderbolt holder. One that even fetches. What an awesome gift!” Zeus boomed as he stroked the horse’s glossy mane. “Who’s it from?” His gaze roved over the crowd.
Medusa said nothing. It would be lying to claim that she’d bought the horse for Zeus and Hera. She’d only bought a necklace. For herself. Of course, she’d hoped and had sort of believed in its magical powers, but they hadn’t turned out as she’d originally planned.
When no one spoke up, the horse’s wings began flapping again. It flew once around the domed ceiling and then came straight to Medusa. Gently coming to land before her, Pegasus nuzzled her cheek with his nose. He truly was a magical gift fit for a king, just as she’d wished for yesterday. Noticing something shiny on his wing, she looked closer. It was the golden chain from her necklace, caught on one of his feathers! Carefully she tugged it loose.
“You! Come forth!” Zeus called to her. “You shall be rewarded for this fabulous gift.”
“But I didn’t—,” Medusa started to say. Before she could continue, Pegasus nudged her arm, and then tossed his head toward Zeus. It was like he was telling her to go ahead and claim the reward! Tucking the chain into her pocket, she left her seat and walked over to the thrones. Behind her the kindergarten buddies began swarming around the horse, standing on chairs to pet its muzzle and mane.
When Medusa stood before Zeus, he asked, “Well, mortal, what reward do you choose?”
She didn’t have to think about it for even half a second. “I choose immortality!” she replied in a clear voice.
“Done!” Zeus declared just as fast. “I hereby proclaim that tomorrow, for one entire day, you shall be immortal.”
Medusa blinked. “I only get one measly day?”
“Is there a problem?” Zeus asked, lifting a bushy red eyebrow.
From beside her she heard Athena murmur, “Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”
Ha! she thought. The real gift horse was Pegasus. But remembering that Athena was the goddessgirl of wisdom, Medusa wisely decided to take her advice. “All right. I accept,” she told Principal Zeus. One day was better than nothing!
The band struck up a song then, and Hera and Zeus headed for the dance floor. Hera must’ve gotten Zeus to take some lessons before the wedding, because he actually didn’t look half bad. The other times Medusa had seen him dance, he’d jerked around like a puppet on a string doing something that could only be generously described as a cross between the hula, the tango, and the bunny hop. Soon the wedding guests, young and old, joined in the dancing too. And Pegasus began giving rides to the kids, swooping overhead.
Aphrodite bumped Medusa’s arm. “C’mon. Some of us girls are going to dance.” Medusa followed her onto the dance floor and wound up next to Dionysus, who was with little Andromeda.
“Did you see me in the wedding?” Andromeda asked, sounding excited.
Medusa nodded. “Mm-hmm. Good job!”
Dionysus grin
ned at her, dimpling. “Want to join us?”
“Sure.” Medusa offered her hand, and he took it in his free one. Holding on to both girls, he twirled them around expertly. A minute later Andromeda ran off for a ride on Pegasus. Artemis and Actaeon seemed to be having a great time organizing the rides and helping kids mount and dismount the magical horse.
Some of the other godboys were dancing now too—Ares with Aphrodite, Heracles with Athena, and Hades with Persephone. Suddenly the music changed and a slow dance began.
Without missing a beat Dionysus pulled Medusa closer. When he put one hand on her waist and took her other hand in his, she didn’t object. This was turning out to be the best day of her life! As he whirled her around the floor, someone shouted, “Hey! Hera’s going to throw her bouquet.”
Pulling away from Dionysus, Medusa watched as Hera tossed her bouquet in a high arc toward a bunch of girls. Keeping her eyes pinned on it, Medusa leaped over chairs, knocking them down, and pushed her way through the crowd. She made a dramatic dive for the bouquet. Catching it midair, she crashed to the ground, hugging it to her chest. Yes! Victory!
There was a moment of astonished silence. Sitting up, Medusa realized she had probably just embarrassed herself. But she’d so wanted a bouquet of her very own to remember this magical day. This one would go on her bulletin board for sure.
The silence was broken when Aphrodite and Athena punched their fists in the air and yelled, “Woo-hoo! You go, girl!” From their spots nearby, Artemis and Persephone joined in the cheering. And suddenly other wedding guests were cheering her too.
“Good catch, greenie girl,” Dionysus said, appearing at her side to help her up. Another slow song started, and they began to dance again. Medusa held the bouquet in her hand at his shoulder. And when her snakes began to munch on the flowers, she was pleased to note that he didn’t seem the least bit weirded out. It made her like him even more.
A week ago she couldn’t have dreamed she’d be having so much fun tonight. But now she knew that unrealistic or even impossible dreams could come true, just maybe not in the way you expected. That was okay, though, because sometimes you wound up with something even better. Like a crush named Dionysus instead of one named Poseidon. Or an unimaginably great gift for the King of the Gods. Or the chance to be immortal, if only for a day.
Sighing happily, she began to imagine what tomorrow would be like. And slowly, a new episode of the Queen of Mean began to spin itself in her head . . .
The Queen of Mean (episode # 25)
Immortal for a Day!
In this episode the Queen of Mean gets to be a goddessgirl for a whole day. Suddenly she can make the winged sandals fly without any help. So she laces them on and buzzes around the courtyard, doing awesome flips and tricks in midair that no one at MOA has ever seen before!
Then the Queen zooms home to Greece to use her amazing powers to fight evil. (And also to show them off of course!) When she gets there, a seal-herder named Proteus is terrorizing her poor parents. No problem! She whips out her magic cheese and shouts, “Gorgonzola!”
And poof!, Proteus is vaporized. Afterward her mom says, “Thank you for saving us, Queen of Mean. You rock!” Her dad grunts in a happy way for once too. And guess what? Turns out that they even hang a picture of the Queen on their wall, bigger than all the others of her sisters.
When the Queen returns to Mount Olympus Academy that night, she is exhausted from her crime fighting. But the four most popular goddessgirls at MOA—Athena, Persephone, Aphrodite, and Artemis—beg her to hang out at the Supernatural Market. Of course she goes! And that cute godboy Dionysus just happens to be there. And he just happens to save her a seat by him.
Later the Queen does one last thing before her epic day of being immortal is over. She asks the godboy of blacksmithing, Hephaestus, to forge a sparkly new charm for her Immortalizer necklace chain. Not a GG charm as she has so often longed for. No—this is a very special one-of-a-kind charm. One with the letters: QoM.
And only she will ever know what that stands for! Ha-ha-ha!
WE ARE STANDING IN THE COURTYARD OF Mount Olympus Academy,” a goddessgirl named Artemis announced to the tour group gathered around her. The seven girls in her group, who were visiting MOA for the next few days, followed her gaze. The majestic academy—built of gleaming white stone and surrounded on all sides by dozens of Ionic columns—stood right behind her at the top of the granite staircase.
Pointing down, Artemis continued. “The white marble tiles beneath your feet were brought here from a quarry in—” Hesitating, she brushed back the dark curls that had fallen across her forehead, and glanced at the official MOA Tour Guide scroll she held in her hands. “Thassos.”
“Wherever that is,” she heard one of the Amazon girls in her group whisper. Her name was Penthesilea and she wore dozens of silver bracelets on both arms. Hippolyta, another Amazon girl, smacked the pine gum she was chewing and gave a big yawn.
All around the courtyard other MOA students were leading other groups of girls on tours too.
It’s just my luck to get these two mean Amazon girls in my group, thought Artemis. They wore platform sandals, stood ten inches taller than any of the other girls here, and were known for being bold and brash. Still, they didn’t have to be rude!
Artemis’s goddessgirl friend Persephone sent her an encouraging smile. She was helping Artemis lead the group, and was always trying to make sure everyone got along.
In truth, Artemis couldn’t really blame the Amazons for being bored. These girls had come a long way from schools down on Earth and other realms. And they certainly hadn’t traveled here for this lame tour of the academy. They’d come to take part in this weekend’s Olympic Games. The very first girls-only games to be exact! A thrill of excitement shot up her spine at the thought of the upcoming competitions.
Although everybody was calling them the Girl Games, their official name was the Heraean Games. Zeus, the principal of MOA, had named them after his new wife, Hera. And it was Hera’s bright idea to have MOA students give these tours to visiting girl athletes.
It was a good idea, Artemis supposed, but she didn’t have time to play tour guide. She had too much other stuff to do to get ready for the games. Like her, these girls would probably rather be off practicing for their own athletic events right now. After all, the games would take place this Saturday—only two days away!
Noticing how stressed Artemis was, Persephone took over as tour guide. “Note the friezes sculpted below the Academy’s peaked roof,” she said, reading from her scroll. Her slim, pale arm brushed past her long, curly red hair as she lifted her hand overhead, drawing their group’s attention to the friezes. Then she led them up the granite staircase and through the academy’s enormous bronze front doors.
Artemis followed, thinking of the mega-zillion tasks she still needed to do to make sure that every event would go off without a hitch. These girls-only Olympics had been her idea, and she didn’t want them to bomb. How awful would that be? Her stomach tightened just thinking about the possibility.