by Joan Holub
“So, congratulations, Theeny!” Zeus roared abruptly.
Athena blinked at him. Did he mistakenly think she’d won the sword reenactment?
“I heard what happened,” he went on. “That you awarded the grand prize in the final competition to your friend Pallas when I was, uh, taking a nap or something.” He looked a little confused for a second, as if he’d actually remembered a bit of what had happened yesterday. But then he shook off his confusion.
“And you agree with my decision?” asked Athena, relaxing.
“You betcha!” He glanced from her to Pallas. “From what I remember, your friend scored more points.”
His gaze swung back to Athena. “Immortals like us live for the pursuit of excellence in all things, so the fact that you awarded the prize to Pallas and ruled against yourself in such a noble way showed true valor! It was the right thing to do. I couldn’t be more proud of you!” he boomed.
Athena was so delighted that she didn’t even mind that he zapped her a little when he unexpectedly swooped her into a hug.
Finally seeming convinced that Zeus was back to being a grown-up again, the boys all left the office for a javelin game on the MOA sports fields. Maybe finding out that a strong heroic guy like Heracles approved of a dad going gaga over a baby would change their attitudes, mused Athena, watching them go. She hoped so, anyway.
“Now, I just have one question,” said Zeus, drawing her gaze again. “Where’s that fountain?”
Athena and her three friends glanced at each other with wide eyes. Had he recalled everything after all?
“Athena thought it best to leave it at the acropolis,” Aphrodite volunteered.
“Another excellent decision,” Zeus told Athena. “Because I’ve decided to make that fountain an altar to your little sister.”
“In my temple?” asked Athena, unsure she liked that idea.
“No! Once the new Cynosarges Center is built for the people of Athens, Hebe’s fountain will stand there as an altar where mortals can worship her and bring gifts. What do you think?”
“Well . . . ,” began Athena. She needed to tell him the truth about that fountain, about what its waters could do.
“If you’re worried about her fountain being the Fountain of Youth, fear not,” he said, surprising them all. “As long as Hebe isn’t anywhere near it, I’m certain its waters will lose their powers.”
“How—,” Pallas began.
“How did I know?” he boomed, finishing her sentence. “I’m King of the Gods and Ruler of the Heavens. I know everything! And anyway, Pheme told me about the fountain’s magic first thing this morning. Plus I consulted a few ancient scrollbooks to determine the extent of its powers myself.”
Aha! Athena and Pallas shared a look. They’d both seen Pheme listening in on their conversation the day before. Apparently that gossipy girl had told Zeus what she’d overheard. But in this case, her gossip-spreading had helped matters rather than cause trouble. You never knew which it would be with that girl.
Athena smiled. “Your altar idea sounds perfect!”
“Yeah! Great idea!” Pallas said enthusiatically.
“Fabulous,” said Aphrodite, and Artemis nodded.
At their approval, Zeus beamed.
Just then Ms. Hydra’s impatient purple head ducked into Zeus’s office. “A chariot has arrived for Pallas of Triton,” it announced before withdrawing.
Athena looked at Pallas in dismay. “Oh no! I was hoping we’d have a little more time before Hermes came for you.” Her heart squeezed at the thought of losing Pallas again so soon.
“Me too,” said Pallas, looking crestfallen.
As they walked down the hall, Athena’s mind was racing. “Hey, I was just thinking that there could be a way that we can hang out more from now on,” she said as they neared the Academy’s bronze front doors. “Especially since you know a lot of stuff about babies from all your babysitting.”
Pallas sent her a hopeful look. “Yeah?”
Athena nodded. “Stay here. I’m going to race back to my dad’s office and ask him if you can come visit to give everybody baby care lessons and help me babysit Hebe once a week or something. That way, he and Hera can have like a date night—time to themselves. Would you want to?”
“Are you kidding?” said Pallas. “That would be awesome! Maybe you’d better wear your lucky aegis when you ask, though.”
Athena grinned. “I’ll chance it on my own. Just tell Hermes to wait, okay? I’ll be right back.” With that, she turned and practically flew back down the hall to Zeus’s office.
He was at his desk when she went in. Since she was without her aegis, she decided to cross her fingers behind her back as she quickly outlined her babysitting proposal. Zeus didn’t even hesitate before replying. “Excellent idea, Theeny. I like your levelheaded mortal friend. And Hera and I could use a night out every now and then.”
Athena was surprised at how easy it had been to convince him!
He smiled at her, his eyes twinkling. “So is that all, my favorite daughter in the whole wide world?” There was a pause, and then he added, “Guess I’d better make that my favorite older daughter.”
She wasn’t sure how she felt about him having two favorite daughters. But then her mind went to another related matter. “So, Dad? There’s something that’s been bugging me. A few days ago I heard you say I used to give you headaches. I knew my mom gave you headaches, since she was a fly buzzing in your head and all. But was I really such a pain?”
Zeus’s brow wrinkled in confusion momentarily, and then he laughed. “Oh, that! I was referring to the manner of your birth. You popped out of my head, remember? And until you got out, you did give me terrible headaches for a while!
“But I’d do it all over again, because you were definitely worth the pain.” He leaned forward to smile at her as he tapped a fingertip to the side of his head. “And besides, I figure you inherited my brains by being in there. That must be why you’re so smart. You take after me!”
“Totally,” Athena agreed, smiling at him.
As she dashed off to the courtyard to meet Pallas, she decided it would be okay for her dad to have more than one favorite daughter. Just like she could have more than one BFF. There were no limits to the amount of love one person could have, after all. A person could always find room in their heart for more.
She burst out of MOA’s front doors just in time to see Hermes’ chariot lifting off from the courtyard with Pallas inside, seated among a bunch of packages. Oh no! Pallas must not have been able to convince him to wait. That Hermes was always in such a hurry!
Athena wished there had been time to tell Pallas about her talk with Zeus. Instead she could only call up to her, “Bye! I’ll miss you! Talk soon!”
“Bye! Okay!” Pallas called back.
Athena waved at the chariot till Pallas was out of sight, just like Pallas had done that day when Athena had left Triton. She could now kind of understand how hard it must have been for her friend when she’d left. Because though Pallas had only just now departed MOA, Athena could hardly wait to see her again. And with any luck, that day would come soon!
15
Silver and Gold
Pallas
ON GUARD!”CLANK! CLANK!
It was the following Thursday after school, and Pallas and Eurynome were practicing on the Triton Junior High athletic field. Pallas wielded the sword Achilles had traded her for Briseis. She was pleased to have her very own sword at last and had decided to keep the name Agamemnon had given it, Evgenís—seeing as how it truly was a fabulous and noble sword!
When she’d returned her dad’s treasured sword to him in brand-new condition, he’d actually shed a tear. And though he’d wanted her to go on using it, he’d understood when she’d preferred to use a sword she had truly earned.
“That new sword of yours got you to the final competition, so I can see why it’s special to you. In all honesty, I think our swords choose us,” he’d told her.
BFF? Is that what they were now? Pallas wasn’t sure how to respond. Before she could think more about it, a messagescroll arrived from MOA from Athena! Pallas caught it in midair.
Inside it she found a bracelet that touched her heart. A silver charm hung from it, formed into the entwined letters P and A, for “Pallas” and “Athena.” Athena explained in her letter that she had had Hephaestus make each of them identical charms in his forge. Engraved on the back of both were these same words:
We’ve made new friends,
But we honor the old.
In the rest of the poem, old friends were the gold friends, and new friends were the silver ones. Since the charms were silver, maybe Athena had gotten the silver and gold friends mixed up. But who cared? And besides, you could say the two of them were actually new old friends, since they’d only recently renewed their friendship. And now that friendship was stronger than ever.
There was a drawing of Athena on the back of her letter, wearing her usual gold GG charm necklace. But now there was also a silver P and A charm on the bracelet at her wrist, identical to the bracelet she’d sent Pallas.
“It’s so cute! Here, let me help you clasp it,” said Eurynome. Pallas held out her wrist, and Eurynome did just that. They both gazed at it admiringly for a moment. Then Pallas read the rest of Athena’s letter aloud:
“My dad agreed that you can come to MOA one afternoon a week to teach a class in babysitting for anyone who wants to take it. And you can sleep over if your parents say it’s okay. (Hope they do!)
One last thing, Pal. To celebrate our friendship and show everyone how important you are to me, I’ve placed a statue of you called a Palladium in my temple as well.”
“Wow! What an honor,” said Eurynome. Then, looking a little anxious, she said, “I know you’re BFFs with Athena. Was it okay that I called you my BFF a while ago? If you don’t want me to, I’ll understand. I—”
“Wait! Stop!” said Pallas, shushing her. She tucked Athena’s letterscroll into the pocket of her chiton. Then she briefly touched the P charm on her necklace to the E charm Eurynome wore. Catching her friend’s gaze, she said firmly, “We are absolutely, most definitely BFFs. We can be MBFFs, as in ‘Mortal BFFs,’ and Athena can be my GGBFF!”
A smile that matched Pallas’s own spread across Eurynome’s face. “Perfect!” she said. Then they both jumped around, and even did a couple of cartwheels, feeling and acting silly with happiness. Pallas felt doubly happy, in fact. Because now she had two BFFs!
Over time she felt certain that she would be able to open her mind and heart to other new friends as well. Meanwhile, with Eurynome as her MBFF and Athena as her GGBFF, her double friendships were sure to bring her twice the joy!
Don’t miss the next adventure in the Goddess Girls series!
Coming Soon
April 2017
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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READ ALL THE BOOKS IN THE GODDESS GIRLS SERIES
ATHENA THE BRAIN
PERSEPHONE THE PHONY
APHRODITE THE BEAUTY
ARTEMIS THE BRAVE
ATHENA THE WISE
APHRODITE THE DIVA
ARTEMIS THE LOYAL
MEDUSA THE MEAN
GODDESS GIRLS SUPER SPECIAL: THE GIRL GAMES
PANDORA THE CURIOUS
PHEME THE GOSSIP
PERSEPHONE THE DARING
CASSANDRA THE LUCKY
ATHENA THE PROUD
IRIS THE COLORFUL
APHRODITE THE FAIR
MEDUSA THE RICH
AMPHITRITE THE BUBBLY
HESTIA THE INVISIBLE
ECHO THE COPYCAT
CALLIOPE THE MUSE
COMING SOON:
NYX THE MYSTERIOUS
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 author’s 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 paperback edition December 2016
Text copyright © 2016 by Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams
Cover illustration copyright © 2016 by Glen Hanson
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Book designed by Karin Paprocki
The text of this book was set in Baskerville.
Library of Congress Control Number 2016937780
ISBN 978-1-4814-5008-9 (hc)
ISBN 978-1-4814-5007-2 (pbk)
ISBN 978-1-4814-5009-6 (eBook)