by Joan Holub
Finally she spoke, working out an idea as she went along. “I guess if Jason’s uncle Pelias stole his father’s kingdom, then maybe . . .” She paused, unsure, then murmured, “Maybe Jason’s goal is to get the kingdom back for—”
“I know! Jason’s goal should be to get the kingdom of Iolcus back for his dad!” Glauce shouted.
“Awesome plan!” praised Apollo.
“Thanks,” said Glauce. Quickly she took hold of Jason’s scroll, wrote down the stated goal, and dropped the scroll into the trophy. Medea just stood there, fuming. Glauce had leapfrogged over her to take credit for her idea! But it would look like sour grapes if she said so.
“Not so fast,” Poseidon challenged, crossing his arms over his chest. “King Pelias isn’t going to hand that kingdom back just because Jason asks him to.”
“Excellent!” Circe told him. “Mr. Cyclops would be pleased that you’re already thinking of roadblocks for the heroes, to test their mettle.”
Hmph! thought Medea, not one bit pleased by Poseidon’s challenge. Though if quests were easy, she supposed, they wouldn’t be quests!
“It’s magnificent! Just like I pictured,” said a delighted voice. The students looked over to see Athena examining a small ship model that had appeared on the game board off the coast of Iolcus. The ship was long and narrow, with a raised platform at the front and back, and twenty-five benches set along either side for a total of fifty. There was a big, square white sail lashed to its central masthead.
“How’d you do that?” Medea asked Athena. “Make the ship show up on the board? Is there a big one like it in actual Iolcus now too?”
Without looking up from her study of the ship, the goddessgirl smiled and nodded. “Yes. See, if an immortal sketches ideas on papyrus but doesn’t bespell them to stay put there, gravity will cause them to fall off the page as actual objects,” she explained. “I learned that the hard way my first week at MOA when I brainstormed a bunch of inventions that accidentally rained down on the heads of mortals on Earth!”
Poseidon read aloud the name painted on the model ship’s side. “Argo.”
“In honor of Argus, the shipbuilder?” guessed Pheme.
“So is the real ship down on Earth ready for its crew?” asked Apollo at the same time.
When Athena nodded yes to both questions, students began setting their heroes in place on the benches on board the ship. That must be why these statues were smaller than Odysseus and the other old ones had been, Medea decided. So they’d all fit aboard this one little model ship!
Aphrodite looked over from the mini arrows she and Eros were working on, to critically eye the unpainted wooden armor, swords, and spears carved on the hero statues. “Their armor is pretty drab,” she noted. “And bronze is trending this season.” (Trending because of Aphrodite, according to last week’s Teen Scrollazine, Medea knew.)
Momentarily abandoning her arrow project, the fashion-forward goddessgirl fetched jars of paint from the supply closet. Then, with the help of a half dozen students, the heroes were lifted one by one to have their armor, shields, and weapons painted metallic bronze with red trim. Only Jason would be painted differently, it was decided—in silver and red—so he’d stand out as the leader.
“Ye gods! That gear looks mega-amazing,” Athena commented as she watched the students work. “I just thought of something to spiff up the ship, too!” So saying, she pulled the polished wooden stick out of her updo twist, causing her hair to drift down past her shoulders in soft waves. Now it looked the way she usually wore it in drawings Medea had seen of her.
After a quick trip to the supply closet, Athena was back, hammering tiny wooden pegs into the polished hair stick to attach it to the prow (the front end of the ship). The top end of the stick was carved with the head and torso of a woman with long, flowing hair, Medea saw now.
Noticing the curious gazes around her, Athena explained, “I thought this would look cool as a nautical figurehead. Plus, it’s magic—carved from the wood of a sacred tree that grows in the forest of an oracle named Dodona. Any part of that magical tree can speak, which means this figurehead will be able to act as lookout for the crew and warn them of any dangers looming ahead of the ship.”
“Before they set sail, can we give the crew a catchy name that’ll sound good in my column?” Pheme suggested, tapping her pen on her chin in thought. “I know! How about the Argoquesters?” When no one seemed to like that nickname, she tried others. “The Argoadventurers? Argotroopers? Argonauts?” Many in the class sounded their approval for her last nickname, so she wrote it down in her notes.
Circe had been watching and listening to the students’ progress, and now she spoke up. “There’s not much time left in class today. Please complete any painting in the next few minutes and set all the statues on the ship. Those of you with troublemaker statues, finish deciding their goals and then place them anywhere you choose on the map.”
Excitement rippled throughout the classroom now that the quest was close to getting under way.
“Wait! There’s something you guys should know,” Poseidon announced. As soon as he had everyone’s attention, he pointed to the two statues on Iolcus. “Down on Earth, my King Pelias and Jason have been talking. And Pelias has agreed to give Jason’s dad back his throne.” He paused dramatically, then added, “On one condition.”
Pheme licked her orange-glossed lips in anticipation. “What condition?” she asked, her pen hovering over her notescroll.
“Jason must steal the famous Golden Fleece!” Poseidon declared. “Only then will King Pelias return the kingdom of Iolcus to Jason’s dad.”
Medea’s shocked gasp was drowned out when students immediately buzzed with questions. “Fleece? The one Pheme wrote about in Teen Scrollazine a few weeks ago?” “The one in Colchis?” “Doesn’t a king named Aeëtes have a dragon guarding that thing?”
Poseidon nodded yes to all, then started laughing his joking-evil laugh again. “Bwah-ha-ha!” Quickly he wrote something on the scroll that had come with his king statue and dropped it in the trophy. His king’s goal!
“I bet Pelias is expecting Jason to fail, so he’ll get to keep Iolcus for himself!” Pheme guessed.
Poseidon grinned. “My lips are sealed.”
“Ha! Our heroes pitted against a dragon? Bring it on!” cheered Apollo.
“What an awesome battle that will be!” hurrahed Ares.
“Yeah, with the dragon winning!” said Poseidon.
“You wish!” said Athena.
Of course, all of this was no joking matter to Medea. Or to Circe, either, who paled and pulled her aside. “Oh dear! I must tell you something,” her aunt began, speaking softly so no one else would hear. “Two days ago I had a vision that a thief would steal the fleece. I’ve just realized that thief will likely be Jason! There’s nothing I can do to stop him now that Poseidon has set his goal, so I can only do my best to protect you.”
Having eavesdropped on her aunt and dad talking, Medea had already guessed this about Jason the minute Poseidon mentioned the fleece. Thing was, Medea was kind of jealous of that fleece. Would it be so bad if it got stolen? she wondered for about half a second. Yes! she decided, because her dad would be really upset!
Hearing laughter over by the game board, Medea glanced toward it. Poseidon was joking around, coaxing sea monsters to jump through a hoop to entertain the students who were painting the last of the Argonaut statues. And Glauce was busy nearby, buddying up to Pheme again.
Circe went on, pulling Medea’s attention. “So anyway, I’m not sure it’s a good idea for you to guide this quest after all.”
“What? Yes it is!” Medea protested. “Poseidon made it Jason’s goal to get the fleece, not me. That means I can still try to stop Jason.” Stop him from supposedly stealing her heart, too! Her aunt hadn’t mentioned that part of the prophecy, so she didn’t either, since doing so would reveal she’d eavesdropped yesterday.
Circe shook her head. “Too risky. There’s
more you don’t know. Evidently, when the thief steals the fleece, it is foretold that he will also steal your heart and dethrone your father! No, you and Glauce will be safest far away from Jason, back at Enchantment Academy. And that’s final.”
Medea’s eyes bugged out as she focused on one part of what her aunt had just said. “Dethrone? You mean as in steal our kingdom?” she asked. Circe nodded.
Medea stood there, stunned. Why had her dad and her aunt failed to mention this plot to dethrone her dad to her? But she knew the answer. Probably her dad thought he was protecting her somehow by keeping the information secret!
Circe waved Glauce over and then touched the tip of her wand to both of the girls’ wands in turn. “There. I’ve set your wands to send you both back to Enchantment Academy, five minutes after the Argo launches. Medea, since you don’t have a room in the dorm, you’ll stay in my apartment during my absence for the rest of the week and go to classes there as usual. I’ll accompany you to Colchis to explain everything to your dad upon my return to the academy at the weekend.”
“Huh? You’re sending us back to EA before the quest even starts? Why?” asked Glauce. She glared at Medea. “Okay, what did you do to ruin everything this time?”
“Nothing!” exclaimed Medea.
“It’s not Medea’s fault. I have my reasons,” Circe told her. “You girls can watch the launch here in class, but afterward your wands will whisk you away. I’ll simply explain to these MOA students that you were called home.”
Glumly, Medea and Glauce trudged back to the game board. Wasn’t there any way she could fix things? Medea wondered in desperation. Maybe she should snatch the little Jason statue from the game board and throw him out the classroom window. No, someone would surely retrieve him and the quest would continue. Everyone’s goals had been committed to paper and put in the trophy by now, and so could not be undone.
“Gather around, everyone, and we’ll launch the Argo,” Circe proclaimed. “Once it sets sail, the quest will officially begin!” This announcement was greeted with class-wide cheers.
Her mind racing, Medea watched Athena guide the ship into the Aegean Sea, which was a section of the Mediterranean Sea east of Greece. With Glauce on her right and Heracles to her left, Medea looked around the circle of MOA students gathered at the game board. Athena and Aphrodite had been especially nice to her, and she didn’t really want to be a rat and ruin their chances of completing this quest. Their grades would suffer. Not only that—mortals everywhere would hear about their failure and possibly think less of them.
Still, she had to find a way to protect her dad! Think! Think! There must be some way to sabotage this mission and save my family’s kingdom! Her aunt might believe there was no way to change a prophecy, but it was worth a try!
“Aren’t you supposed to be on that ship?” Dionysus called to Heracles from across the table.
Pushing his lion cape over his shoulders, Heracles gestured to the tiny square shield he held between two fingers. “Yeah, Hylas here is supposed to take me aboard the Argo when the time is right. I hope that’s soon, so I don’t hold things up.”
Just then a volley of mini arrows trailing bronze, silver, and red streamers sailed over the game table. The other kids craned their necks to see that, with Aphrodite’s help, Eros had fired off the celebration arrows from across the room. No one except Medea noticed when one of them pricked Heracles’ forearm, leaving a small pink heart-shaped mark before it fell to the edge of the game board between him and her. She carefully picked up the arrow before it could fall to the floor and stab her foot.
Meanwhile, Eros and Aphrodite shouted, “Three cheers for our new quest!”
“Woo-hoo! Hooray!” the students called out in return.
“You okay?” Medea asked the muscular mortal boy beside her. But Heracles was too busy staring at his shield with a weird, besotted expression to reply.
The students cheered a second time. “Woot! Woot!”
Eros and Aphrodite were eyeing Heracles and whispering now. Hey! thought Medea. If you were struck by one of Eros’s mini arrows, you’d crush on the very first person you saw afterward. Did that apply to the first thing you saw as well? When that arrow struck Heracles, he had been looking at Hylas. Was he now crushing on that shield? And had Eros purposely aimed that arrow to cause trouble for one of the Argo’s heroes already? Namely, Heracles himself?
“Yay! Hooray!” the students cheered a third and final time. Everyone began calling out encouragements to their heroes or troublemakers. “Bon voyage!” “Good luck!” “Go, Argonauts!”
Noticing that the ship was moving farther out to sea, Medea panicked. Without thinking, she shoved the little arrow into the pocket of her chiton instead of returning it to Eros as she’d halfway meant to do. All she cared about right now was convincing her aunt to let her stay before it was too late! As she turned from the game board to go to her, Medea’s hand bumped Heracles’, causing him to drop his small shield and her to drop her wand. Both objects fell into the game board sea! Plop! Plop!
“No! Hylas!”
“No! My wand!”
Heracles and Medea reached out at the same time to save them from sinking. Medea rescued her wand with her right hand. Then she made a grab with her left to help Heracles. And for a moment . . . both of them held the shield in their fingers.
She drew a quick, surprised breath and heard him do the same. A dizzy, tingly feeling was enveloping her. And the classroom looked strangely fuzzy, like it was fading away around her. In the excitement, no one else in the classroom seemed to notice something odd was happening. Except Glauce. She clasped Medea by the elbow, giving her arm a hard shake. “You okay?” she asked.
“Whah?” Medea replied woozily. Was this Circe’s travel magic she was experiencing? No, this magic felt different somehow. Why did the other students look so far away and hazy all of a sudden, when Glauce and Heracles did not? Maybe because she, Heracles, and Glauce were connected by touch?
“Good-bye, Medea! Glauce! I’ll see you girls back at Enchantment Academy on Saturday,” Medea heard her aunt call out. And then abruptly the world around Medea morphed into blue sea and sky.
Splash!
5
The Argo
GLUB, GLUB. MEDEA WAS ALONE, sopping wet and treading water.
“Where am I?” she wondered aloud. Still clenching her wand in one fist, she fought the cold waves that were seesawing her high and then low. She’d made a splash, all right, but not the fabulous kind she’d dreamed of making to impress everyone at MOA. She was in the sea!
Hearing the creak of timber, the rumble of voices, and the sound of beautiful lyre music, she whirled around in the water. Then she gasped. There was a huge wooden ship alongside her! It was long and narrow, with the name Argo painted on its side.
Splash! In the very next second Glauce dropped into the sea beside her, then came up sputtering. “Hey! Are we where I think we are? Smack in the middle of the Hero-ology quest? No offense, but you’ve really messed up this time!” she snapped at Medea. “And your wand’s in fifth position, by the way. I’d change to first, since it looks like we’ll be traveling.” Glauce hooked a thumb toward the ship.
Fifth position had Medea pinching her wand between the tips of her index finger and thumb. It was the way the EA band director held her baton while conducting a musical performance, and also used for doing quick, precisely directed magic. Some people accidentally dropped their wands in this position, but Medea never had. She liked fifth!
Ignoring the wand position suggestion, she concentrated on figuring out their situation. “The last thing I remember from class is trying to help Heracles keep Hylas from sinking, and you asking me if I was okay. That little shield’s magic must’ve transported all three of us here!”
Glauce nodded. “But where’s Heracles?”
“Intruder alert! Intruder alert!”
Both girls glanced up at the ship in surprise. The carved figurehead on its prow had spotted
them and was sounding an alarm. It was the figurehead Athena had made from the polished stick in her hair updo, only now it was way bigger and curved tightly along the full-size ship’s prow. Unfortunately, Athena had been right that it would be able to speak. In fact, it was kind of being a blabbermouth!
Before the girls could think what to do, a net fell over them and they were hoisted onto the Argo.
Thunk! The net hit the ship’s deck and both girls rolled out of it. Medea sat up, combing seaweed out of her hair and looking around.
Just like Athena’s little ship model on the MOA game board, this ship had one huge, square white mainsail at its center, a raised platform at either end, and benches on both sides. One hero sat on each bench, clutching an oar. But the fifty or so crew members had all stopped rowing to stare suspiciously at the two girls.
“Spies!” “King Pelias must’ve sent ’em!” the sailors roared.
Medea and Glauce scrambled to their feet, totally soaked and dripping water. “We’re not working with King Pelias,” Medea protested as the girls did their best to wring out the hems of their chitons. However, she was a spy! A spy who had just now decided she might be able to use this unexpected opportunity to somehow stop Jason from stealing her dad’s Golden Fleece!
“Then what are you doing here?” asked a new voice. Both girls swung around to behold the boy who’d spoken. He had brown hair and eyes, and wore only one sandal. And he was the only member of the crew wearing silver armor with red trim instead of bronze.
“Jason?” both girls asked.
His eyes narrowed at this, and he planted his fists at his hips. “Only spies would know my name.”
He looked like his carved statue stand-in, only cuter, Medea thought grudgingly. Still, she did not feel the slightest bit of a crush on him. So if the part of the prophecy about him stealing her heart was wrong, her fingers were crossed that the part about him stealing the fleece would turn out to be wrong too!