by Joan Holub
“Okay, okay.” Apollo pointed to one of the café tables. “So earlier today, before Ares and I saw you girls in the atrium, we were eating breakfast over there. And then Hera came in, sat at the next table, and ordered a lettuce wrap scramble.”
“I’ve had those,” Artemis put in. “Scrambled eggs and other stuff piled on a kind of lettuce called Hebe. Yummy.”
“Yeah, so anyway,” Apollo continued, “after Hera got her order, out of nowhere she says something like, ‘I think Zeus and I are going to have a baby.’ Next thing you know, that fountain over there appeared like magic.”
He shuffled his feet and sent Athena an apologetic look. “I guess I should have said something to warn you, but I honestly wasn’t sure what was going on. Ares and I left before the baby appeared—er, was born in the fountain.”
“This is crazy,” said Athena, shaking her head. Hera had proved to be an awesome stepmom, kind and patient and full of good advice. Now in an instant, Athena felt like she had lost her, or part of her anyway, to a leafy bundle of baby.
“Well, it’s not the weirdest immortal birth ever,” Aphrodite reminded her. “You sprang right out of Zeus’s head. And I was born out of sea foam.” Aphrodite sounded pretty cool about this now, but when Athena had first come to MOA, it had been a touchy subject. Mostly because Medusa, a snake-haired MOA student, used to tease Aphrodite about it.
“Also, I’m not sure if I ever told you this,” Artemis put in, “but right after Apollo and I were born, I started helping my mom take care of him.” This was a story Athena had never heard before. And from the look on Aphrodite’s face, she’d never heard it either.
“And Aphrodite called me the overachiever? I think maybe you deserve that title instead,” Athena teased Artemis. Which made them all giggle.
WHAM! Athena and most of the crowd jumped as the café doors were abruptly shoved wide open. Zeus burst in, bright sparks of electricity crackling up and down his great muscled arms. This usually happened when he was either super-mad or super-happy. The sparkle in his blue eyes and his wide smile showed how he felt now.
“Just heard the big news!” he announced in his booming voice. “Is it true? I’m a dad again?”
“Yes! Our newborn daughter magically appeared in a lettuce wrap!” Hera called out as she beckoned him over.
The crowd parted, and Zeus rushed to her side. He leaned over her to gaze at the tiny bundle of baby in her arms as Hera explained more of what had happened. When he held out a finger and the baby grabbed it in her little fist, Zeus’s face lit with joy. “She’s magnificent! And she’s got my grip! Let’s name her Hebe after the lettuce she was born in.”
Hera smiled happily. “The perfect name for our perfect baby,” she told Zeus. They looked very proud holding their new child.
Athena tried to act happy too, but her emotions were a mixed-up mess. Sure the baby was cute, and it might be fun to be a big sister. However, she was used to being Zeus’s favorite and one and only daughter. It felt weird to be shoved aside as everyone focused on the new baby.
Suddenly, artists and reporters rushed into the café to make drawings and get the full scoop on the new baby, and Athena found herself shoved aside literally. By the next day their stories and drawings would likely appear in special issues of Teen Scrollazine and Greekly Weekly News. Within days the whole world would know about this surprise baby.
Athena slowly eased away from the center of things, backing out through the crowd. No one noticed, not even her friends. All the focus was on Hebe. When Athena finally reached the door, she quietly opened it and slipped out into the atrium.
It was for the best that no one noticed her leavetaking, because she just couldn’t pretend to be thrilled right now, and the last thing she wanted to do was spoil anyone else’s pleasure in Hera’s big news.
But what was she supposed to do with the unhappy feelings that were bubbling up inside her? She’d be too embarrassed to admit them out loud. Because the truth was, she was a teeny bit jealous. Maybe even more than a teeny bit. She couldn’t tell her BFFs. She’d look like a big meanie or a big baby herself if she said she was jealous of her own baby sister.
Jealousy was not a proper emotion for a goddessgirl to feel, in her opinion. Still, she just couldn’t help it!
As she zoomed home alone in her winged sandals, a couple of tears trickled down her cheeks before being swept away by the wind. They weren’t happy tears either. She had a feeling that things were about to change big-time for her. If she’d had a few months—even a few days—to get used to the idea of a baby sister, maybe she would have felt differently. But this was just so sudden!
Well, tomorrow she would be meeting Zeus for their swordplay practice. The thought cheered her up. Hopefully their time together would calm her and make her feel more secure about her place in things. Feeling at least somewhat comforted, she touched down in the MOA courtyard.
3
Swords
Pallas
AFTER HER SWORD BROKE ONSTAGE in the IM cheer performance, Pallas froze for a few seconds. Then her many hours of Cheer Blades training kicked in. She continued to go through the motions, holding her sword’s grip and pretending its blade was still straight and true, instead of partly bent and twisted in the middle. The rest of the routine seemed to last ten times longer than normal. But finally it ended and she and her team filed offstage.
The mangled, ridiculous-looking sword bumped her leg with every step, causing her heart to sink lower and lower. This disaster had been all her fault. She’d gotten distracted, looking around for Athena instead of paying strict attention to her routine. Because she’d gotten sloppy, her dad’s sword was now totally messed up.
Even if she hadn’t thought his sword was all that great, her dad treasured it. Her stomach tightened at the thought of how upset he was going to be when he saw it. Not that he’d blame her for what had happened. He was too nice to do that. But she would still blame herself. Too bad her dad didn’t have a goddessgirl like Athena for a daughter. Because Athena probably never disappointed Zeus!
As Pallas and the rest of the Cheer Blades filed past another team, Pallas heard someone in the seats snicker. It was that snarky girl who’d spoken to her on the way over.
“Oh, be quiet,” Pallas grumbled. She wasn’t sure if the girl heard her or not, but her grumbling just made her feel worse, because she knew it was bad sportsmanship.
After they were seated, she felt Eurynome’s eyes on her. “It’s okay. We’ll fix your sword or get you another one,” her friend said kindly.
Pallas nodded, though she doubted either was possible. As final announcements were made, her eyes scanned the crowd. Athena had definitely disappeared, without bothering to watch Pallas’s team finish. Or even to say hi!
Uh-oh! The coach was coming over, and she looked displeased. Pallas slumped in her seat a little, figuring she was about to get a talking-to. A well-deserved one, given her lack of focus during the performance.
However, the coach must’ve seen how upset she was, because she only patted Pallas’s shoulder sympathetically. “You can use one of the extra swords in my office cabinet back at school for the next practice,” she told Pallas.
“Thanks, Coach,” Pallas murmured. It was a nice gesture. Nevertheless, her spirits took a nosedive. Those swords were super-banged-up, even uglier than her dad’s sword. They were the kind used by newbies for swordplay practice.
Pallas was far from being a newbie. She was ranked number one on her team. There were some teammates who thought that growing up with Athena had given her a kind of magical advantage. But that just wasn’t true. Any advantage had come from practice, not magic. She and Athena had done a lot of sparring together once upon a time, but they’d been pretty equal in skill, despite the fact that Pallas wasn’t immortal.
After her flop onstage, Pallas hoped Athena didn’t think her skill had faded. Had Athena seen and been embarrassed for her? Was that why her BFF had left the performance early? If Pallas
could find her in the marketplace, maybe she could talk to her and explain.
By now it was nearly noon, and a tasty buffet lunch for the teams had been set out on a long table in the atrium. After they’d eaten, all the students were allowed to leave their swords with their coaches and go look around the IM on their own.
“Everyone meet back at the chariots in two hours for the trip home,” one of the coaches announced. “Don’t be late!”
Once they were released, some students immediately made a dash for the fantastical carousel near the atrium. Each of them called out to claim their favorite of the painted animal rides that the immortals had created.
“Dibs on Dionysus’s leopard!”
“I want the swan one that Aphrodite made!”
“Hey! Let’s go to that Mighty Fighty store we read about in Teen Scrollazine,” Eurynome suggested to Pallas as they set off to explore.
Pallas grinned, her spirits lifting. “Sounds fun. We can drool over swords and other stuff we can’t afford to buy,” she said in a lighthearted tone.
Like most of the other students, she’d brought money to spend at the IM, though her few coins didn’t amount to much. Certainly not enough to buy a replacement for her dad’s sword. So far she’d only saved forty-two obeloi from her babysitting jobs, which equaled seven drachmas. A really good sword could cost a hundred drachmas.
Still, it would be fun to visit the store they’d heard so much about. While window-shopping along the way there, Pallas kept an eye out for Athena but didn’t spot her. However, when they approached the store, Pallas saw Persephone, Aphrodite, and Artemis going in. Athena wasn’t with them. Could she be inside Mighty Fighty already?
Hoping so, Pallas sped up, and Eurynome kept pace beside her. As they entered Mighty Fighty, Pallas overheard Aphrodite speak to a mortal boy with glossy black hair. “Achilles? Have you seen Athena?” the goddessgirl asked. “We were in the café a minute ago, but she disappeared. We thought she might have come back here.” While Eurynome went over to gaze at a display of expensive swords they definitely could not afford, Pallas ducked behind a shelf of spears to listen for Achilles’ reply.
When he didn’t say anything right away, Aphrodite went on. “You remember her, right? That girl.” She pointed at a poster hanging on the wall of the store that was too far away for Pallas to see clearly.
Achilles nodded. “Sure, I remember. Everybody knows who Athena is. But—”
Now a red-haired mortal boy who’d been standing next to him butted into the conversation. “But she hasn’t been back since she was in here before with you.”
“Guess our BFF is MIA,” Aphrodite said to her friends. “As in ‘missing in action.’ ”
BFF? Pallas’s heart felt like it had been jabbed with one of the spears from the display next to her. She had known from her one and only visit to the Academy that Athena and these immortal girls had quickly become good friends. But BFFs?
Her gaze went to the golden necklaces the three goddessgirls wore. In Teen Scrollazine drawings, Pallas had seen Athena wearing an identical one. Now she wondered if the double-G charms dangling from their necklaces were a symbol of a BFF club.
“No archery practice with Apollo today?” Pallas heard the red-haired boy ask Artemis on her way out. After learning that Athena was not in the store, Artemis and the others had turned to go.
“Not that it’s any of your beeswax, Agamemnon, but nope,” Artemis said curtly. She gestured toward the poster Aphrodite had pointed out earlier. “He’s busy all week practicing for the festival with some of his friends.”
Once the goddessgirls were gone, Pallas made a beeline over to examine the poster. It was an advertisement for a celebration called Greek Fest, which was to be held at one of Athena’s temples the next Saturday. Since Athena’s picture was on the poster, maybe she was in charge of it?
According to the poster, there would be athletic games, game booths, and art events at the festival. And reenactment competitions in which pairs of swordfighters would re-create famous historic battles to entertain the audience!
“Wow! How fun is that!” she murmured to herself. The poster said there would be prizes (mostly battle equipment) for the winners of these competitions.
“I think I’ll take this one after all,” she overheard one of the mortal boys announce. She looked over to see the one named Achilles holding a sword and smoothing his fingers along the flat of its blade.
The boys had moved over to a sword display against the wall now, near where Eurynome was still examining swords that Pallas could never afford in a gazillion years. The red-haired Agamemnon quickly set the sword he had been looking at back on the shelf and gazed jealously at the one Achilles had chosen. “But that’s the one I had my eye on before!” Agamemnon complained.
Achilles laughed easily. “Too late! You had your chance. This one’s mine. Yes, this will be my Briseis.”
“Aw, c’mon,” the other boy whined. “You know I wanted it.”
Achilles hesitated, looking reluctant. Then, with a huge sigh, he handed the sword over. “Okay, but I hope you’re not thinking about using it in that festival contest. I’m sure you’d like to see Apollo humbled in a swordfight, but we’re on suspension from swordplay competition through that weekend, remember?”
“We’ll see,” Agamemnon said cockily. “There’s more than one way to beat an immortal.” He took the sword that Achilles had called Briseis over to the counter to pay for it. Pallas noticed that Achilles gazed longingly after the sword. So if he had a claim on it, why had he parted with it and caved to his friend’s wishes? After quickly choosing another sword for himself, Achilles went to buy it.
Just then Eurynome came to stand by Pallas. She must have heard the boys talking, or seen Pallas studying the poster, because now she looked it over too. “Hey! Battle reenactments. We should enter. That poster says one of the prizes is this fabulous sword. Perfect! I mean, it’s exactly what you need.”
Pallas gazed at the drawing of the prize sword. Its strong-looking blade was shiny and carved with fanciful designs. There was even a small ruby jewel embedded in its handle! “Yeah, only I’d need a new sword to win that sword. I mean, I can’t compete in a battle reenactment without one.”
“I’ll lend you mine,” offered Eurynome.
“Thanks, but you’ll need yours for Cheer Blades practice,” Pallas replied, shaking her head. “And anyway, even though we’re both good, immortals will be in the competition. Only a great, new-style sword would give us a fighting chance. Plus, that poster says there’s an entry fee to compete. I can’t pay it.”
“C’mon. Stop being so negative.” Eurynome put a hand on her hip. “Now pretend I’m you and repeat after me,” she said in a strong voice. “I am the best swordsgirl on the Cheer Blades team. Why, I’ve even won bouts against the goddessgirl Athena. So I’m going to enter this contest and give it my best shot, because I believe I can win!” She punched a fist in the air in emphasis.
“Hey, did I hear you guys say you’ve fought Athena?”
Eurynome and Pallas jumped in surprise. Turning their heads, they saw Agamemnon approaching them with his new sword. Achilles was right behind him.
“Sparred with her,” Pallas corrected.
“So do you live around here?” Agamemnon asked.
Eurynome shrugged. “Nuh-uh. We go to Triton Junior High.”
“We’re here with one of the sword exhibition teams that performed earlier,” explained Pallas.
“Oh, yeah, we watched those. Nice work,” said Achilles, smiling at her.
It was obvious he didn’t recognize her as the performer who’d messed up so badly onstage. Otherwise he wouldn’t have been at all impressed, thought Pallas.
The red-haired boy introduced himself as Agamemnon. Then he gestured to his black-haired friend. “And he’s Achilles.” Which Pallas already knew from her eavesdropping, of course. Eurynome politely supplied their names in return.
Agamemnon jerked his chin t
oward the poster. “So you want to enter that competition? We’ll pay your entry fee,” he told them. At this offer, Achilles looked as startled as Pallas felt.
“Why would you do that?” she asked. The offer was too good to be true.
“Because those dumb immortals always think they can win everything, that’s why. We’d like to see some mortals beat them this time,” Agamemnon replied smoothly. “We’ll train you both and lend you our new blades to enter the swordplay competition.”
“What’s the catch?” asked Eurynome.
“Simple. If you do win the grand prize sword, you’ll turn it over to us,” said Agamemnon.
“What?” scoffed Pallas. She noticed that he was doing most of the talking, and she had a feeling this was all his idea.
“He means that if you win, you’ll give us the prize sword in trade for one of these new swords we just bought. Right, Ag?” Achilles put in.
Agamemnon looked at him in irritation. “Thanks a lot for the lame idea, Dip. But I guess we could do that, yeah.”
Pallas scrunched her nose, wondering why he was calling Achilles “Dip.” “Why should we be your champions? If we want to enter, we’ll do it on our own.”
“Yeah, we’re already experts with swords,” boasted Eurynome.
“Thought you said you didn’t have the entry fee. And have you had the hours of training we’ve had at our school? Two hours after school every day, with competitions every weekend since kindergarten?” asked Agamemnon.
“Well, no. But if you’ve got so much training, why aren’t you competing yourselves?” asked Eurynome. She fixed her gaze on Achilles as if wanting a reply from him instead of from Agamemnon this time.
“Uh.” Achilles looked a little sheepish. His mouth opened and shut, but no explanation came forth.
Quickly Agamemnon jumped in to answer. “There’s a reason, but we’re sworn to secrecy.”