Medusa the Rich

by Joan Holub

  Athena hesitated, then nodded toward Medusa’s glove. “This golden-touch business is bad news,” she said in a more serious tone.

  “Not for me it isn’t,” Medusa replied defiantly. Athena really had heard everything! Feeling cornered, Medusa jumped up from the bench and began to pace back and forth in front of it.

  Athena raised an eyebrow. “Maybe it doesn’t seem like such a bad thing right now, but sooner or later you’ll regret it.”

  “Doubt it,” Medusa muttered stubbornly.

  “So how did it come about, anyway?” Athena asked curiously.

  Still pacing, Medusa explained, adding that Dionysus didn’t yet know that King Midas’s golden touch had been transferred to her.

  When Medusa was done, Athena pursed her lips in disapproval. “Dionysus should have known better than to grant such a wish,” she said. “He should have tried to dissuade Midas from his foolish choice.”

  “I don’t think it was so foolish,” huffed Medusa.

  “Well, if my dad finds out about it, he won’t be happy,” Athena told her. “And when word gets out, which it’s sure to do eventually, it’ll be an even bigger disruption than . . . than . . .”

  “Than the one Ares’ sister Eris caused when she came here to MOA?” Medusa finished wryly.

  Eris was the goddessgirl of strife and discord. When she’d shown up at Ares’ birthday party not long ago, she’d proceeded to divide the school in half and pit students against each other in an academic contest had raised grades for a time, but had resulted in strained friendships and major fights. As leaders of the two opposing contest teams, Athena and Aphrodite had been right in the middle of the whole mess.

  Athena had the good grace to blush at the reminder. “Point taken. But you will think about what I’ve said, won’t you?”

  Medusa nodded. Besides being the brainiest goddessgirl at the Academy, Athena was also the goddess of wisdom. So her ideas were often worth listening to.

  “So, when will Dionysus get back?” Athena asked as she and Medusa left the grove and entered the courtyard. Lots of students had finished eating breakfast by now and were standing around hanging out with friends, or sitting on benches to read or study.

  “Sometime this afternoon, I’m guessing,” Medusa replied. “He’s sailing back.” She noticed that students shied away from her as she passed by. Had Pheme spread the news about her so-called skin disease? If so, it looked like she’d forgotten to add that it wasn’t contagious.

  “Going back inside?” Athena asked when they reached the granite steps leading up to the Academy’s front doors.

  “Uh, not right now,” Medusa replied. It had just occurred to her to wonder if Poseidon had been able to fix the pool yet. Deciding to wander over and find out for herself, she said bye to Athena and started toward the gym.

  As she approached the sports fields, she realized something. Athena had issued a warning to her about the golden touch, yet she hadn’t really offered a solution—that is, a way to get rid of it. Maybe that meant there wasn’t a way to get rid of it now that the short window of time for passing the touch on to someone else had closed. No matter. Medusa didn’t want to get rid of her golden touch!

  She’d just started across the sports fields toward the gym when she nearly got clobbered by a badly thrown ball. Two godboys named Makhai and Kydoimos came running toward her as she scooped up the ball in her gloved hand.

  These godboys were occasional friends of Aphrodite’s crush, Ares, with well-deserved reputations as bullies. Instead of apologizing for almost hitting her (typical!), the beefy-looking Kydoimos merely asked, “What’s up with the glove?”

  “Haven’t you heard?” Medusa said archly as she handed the ball back. “I have—” But before she could finish telling him that she had a horribly infectious skin disease and that the two boys would be wise to keep their distance, a grinning Makhai reached over and whisked her glove off.

  “Hey, give that back!” Medusa yelled in a panicky voice. But the two boys just laughed. Immediately they began to toss her glove back and forth in a game of keep-away.

  Medusa raced after her glove, trying to catch it as it sailed between Makhai and his friend, first one way and then the other. However, the boys always managed to toss the glove just high enough to be out of her reach. Just when she was about to explode with frustration, the glove dropped lower.

  She reached overhead with both hands to nab it. Unfortunately, her snakes chose that exact moment to help out. Just as Medusa reached, they wiggled, stretching high with their mouths open to snag the glove. Her ungloved fingers brushed against one of them.

  Instantly her snakes went still. A heavy weight settled on top of her head.

  “Oh no!” she wailed. Stoneglasses still in place, she ran to a nearby fountain and stared in horror at her reflection in the water at the base of the fountain. All twelve of her snakes had frozen mid-wiggle. And they’d turned to gold!

  Makhai’s usually squinty eyes widened. “Whoa!” He pointed to the top of her head. “Your snakey hair just became a snakey gold crown!”

  “Awesome,” said Kydoimos. He reached to pick up Medusa’s glove, which had fallen to the ground between him and Makhai.

  “It’s not awesome!” snapped Medusa. She wondered why she hadn’t been turned to gold too, but for some reason the change had only come over her snakes. Maybe because they weren’t exactly part of her? They were themselves, her pets. At least they had been.

  Now she truly, deeply understood how King Midas must’ve felt when his roses had turned to gold. He’d loved them just as she did her snakes! Feeling sick at heart, she burst into tears. Then, unable to help herself, she sank to the ground, sobbing.

  Makhai and Kydoimos exchanged looks of horrified discomfort. Though skilled at bullying and, in certain classroom situations, at cheating, too, a crying girl was apparently more than they could handle.

  Despite it being much too late to matter now, Kydoimos handed Medusa her glove. “Sorry,” he said.

  Without a word Medusa pulled it on. Brushing tears from her face, she rose and started back to the school, still sniffling. Her feet felt like they were encased in heavy lead. And bowed down with grief and a permanent golden crown, her head felt like it weighed a ton. Her original mission to check on the pool was totally forgotten.

  Makhai grabbed the ball he and Kydoimos had been tossing around earlier, and the two boys trailed along after her.

  She whirled around. “Stop following me! I’m dangerous. Don’t you get it? One touch of my finger, and I can turn you to gold too!”

  The boys flinched back for a moment. Then, as complete understanding dawned, they caught up to her again. Makhai squinted at her and held out their ball. “How about turning this to gold for us, huh? There are a couple of things I’ve been wanting to buy at Mighty Fighty, but I’m kind of short on funds, and—”

  With a strangled cry Medusa raced away from the boys. Ignoring the stares of other students, whose eyes fastened in wonder on her golden snake crown, she ran up the granite steps of the school, pushed through the bronze doors, and practically flew up the marble staircase despite her heavy head.

  Luckily, no one was in the dorm hall as she dashed to her room. Once inside, she flung herself onto her bed and wept for her poor snakes, who were now quite unable to comfort her.

  As Medusa lay there sobbing, she was startled by a rapping at her window. Tap. Tap. Tap. For the second time that morning, a breeze had brought her a letterscroll. She untied the ominous black ribbon around it and fumbled to unroll it with her gloved hand. Finally she got it open:

  YO HO HO!

  IF YE WANT TO SEE DIONYSUS AGAIN, BRING A HUNDRED PIECES OF GO-HO-HOLD TO OUR SHIP RIGHT AWAY, HEY, HEY! I’M SURE KING MIDAS WILL SUPPLY IT!

  —THE PIRATE KING OF MELOS

  P.S. TELL NO-HO-HO ONE ELSE.

  P.P.S. COME ALO-HO-HONE.

  On the back was a rough drawing of a map marking the location of the pirate ship in the midd
le of the Aegean Sea.

  Medusa stood there for a few seconds, totally stunned. Could this day possibly get any worse? Only now did she remember the pirate ship Dionysus and Zeus had flown over in the Aegean Sea on their way to Phrygia. Were these the same pirates Zeus had thrown a thunderbolt at? Who knew? There were lots of pirate ships plying the Aegean.

  Well, whatever this pirate king’s fame and power, he was definitely behind in his news. King Midas wouldn’t be able to meet their demand for gold because she was the one with the golden touch now, not him.

  Did Dionysus know that somehow? Is that why he’d apparently told the pirate king to send this ransom letterscroll to her? Nearly crazed with fear for Dionysus and grief for her snakes, Medusa thrust the letterscroll into her pocket. Knowing she had to try to rescue her crush, but having no plan for how to do that, she raced down the hall toward Athena’s room.

  The few girls she passed in the hall nudged each other and pointed at her head, staring wide-eyed, but she ignored them. When Athena came out of the bathroom just then, her hand flew to her mouth as she stared at Medusa’s golden snake crown. “Oh no!”

  “Oh yes,” said Medusa, panic gripping her. “And it gets worse.”

  Athena tugged her across the hall into her dorm room, then closed the door behind them. “Sit!” she ordered, pointing to Pandora’s bed. So Medusa sat. “Pandora’s hanging out with Pheme, so we can talk freely. Now, take a deep breath, then tell me everything.”

  Medusa’s panic eased some after the deep breath, but her heart was still pounding as she pulled out the pirate king’s letterscroll. Her hands shook as she passed it to Athena without another word.

  Athena scanned the letterscroll quickly, frowned, then handed it back. “Melos is the name of an Aegean island famed as the refuge of pirates. So the Pirate King of Melos is probably pretty powerful. But I still don’t get how he could keep an immortal like Dionysus a prisoner. Pirates are mortals. That godboy can do magic. He should be able to escape.”

  “I know,” said Medusa. “I don’t understand it either. Should I use my golden touch to pay the pirates’ ransom? You know, turn a bunch of stuff to gold that they could then sell?” she suggested anxiously.

  “Let’s ask my dad,” Athena said right away, as Medusa had supposed she might. But then the brainy girl clicked her tongue in annoyance. “Only, he’s not here. I just remembered that he and Hera went off to another temple celebration this morning. And I don’t even know where they were going!”

  A teeny part of Medusa was relieved that she wouldn’t have to face Zeus with all this. Not yet, anyway. But mostly she was upset that he was gone, because she was sure she’d need his help to rescue Dionysus. “Well, I have to do something. Maybe I can pay Hermes to take me to Melos in his chariot. That is, if I can find him.”

  Knock, knock. Athena’s door opened, and Artemis and Aphrodite stuck their heads in. “We were just going down to the—” Aphrodite started to say, but she fell silent when she caught sight of Medusa’s golden snake crown.

  “What’s going on? How did that happen? Is it permanent?” Artemis spluttered. With all her questions, she sounded like Pandora! As the two girls came inside, Medusa and Athena quickly filled them in on everything.

  “I can’t sit around and wait for Principal Zeus to get back.” Medusa dashed for the door they’d left open. “I’ve got to go to Dionysus’s rescue. Now!”

  “Stop!” Athena exchanged a meaningful glance with Aphrodite and Artemis. Then Aphrodite came over and touched Medusa lightly on the shoulder. “You shouldn’t go all by yourself. Let us come with you.”

  “All right,” Medusa agreed.

  “We can take my chariot,” Artemis said as the four girls started up the hall.

  “Or my swan cart,” offered Aphrodite as they made their way down the marble staircase together. “It’s smaller than the chariot, but it’s actually faster for long-distance travel.”

  “Then let’s take the swan cart, please,” said Medusa. Although she still felt low, their support was buoying her spirits a little.

  While Aphrodite ran back upstairs to her room to grab her cart, the other three girls continued on down. The students they passed all turned to stare at Medusa’s golden snake crown. Out in the courtyard Makhai and Kydoimos had apparently wasted no time in informing everyone—with or without Pheme’s help—about Medusa’s golden touch. A few students crowded around her now, holding out objects they wanted her to turn to gold.

  “Go away,” Athena scolded them. “Shoo! This is a tragedy, not a moneymaking opportunity.”

  “Yeah,” said Artemis. “Medusa loved her snakes as much as I love my dogs.”

  Medusa gulped. Loved her snakes. Past tense. Could her snakes ever be brought back to life again? she wondered. Her heart felt broken in two. Or in twelfths. One sad part per snake.

  Athena and Artemis linked their arms through Medusa’s and powered their way past everyone—the curious, the sympathetic, and those asking Medusa for favors. When the girls came upon Apollo, Artemis hurriedly asked him to feed and walk her dogs while she hung out with her friends for the rest of the day.

  “No problem. Glad to,” Apollo replied. Then, looking at Medusa, he said, “Sorry about your snakes. I know how close you are . . . I mean, uh, were . . . to them.”

  “Thanks,” murmured Medusa. Of course she and her snakes had been close. The snakes had grown from the top of her head, so she didn’t see how they could have been any closer. There just had to be a way for them to return to life. If not, she didn’t know how she would bear it!

  Once Aphrodite caught up with the rest of them, she stooped to place a small ceramic figurine on a marble tile in the middle of the courtyard. The intricately designed figurine showed two swans side by side, pulling a golden cart behind them. The swans’ faces were turned toward each other. With their orange beaks pressed together and their necks gracefully curved, they formed the shape of a perfect heart between them.

  After stroking a fingertip over the swans’ snowy white backs, Aphrodite stepped back, chanting:

  “Feathered swans, wild at heart,

  Spread your wings to fly my cart!”

  The two swans fluttered, shaking their heads as if awakening from a deep sleep. Then slowly they began to unfurl their wings while growing larger and larger. By the time their wings were fully spread, the swans had become ten feet tall! Each with a wingspan of twenty feet. The small golden cart had grown along with the swans and was encrusted with splendid jewels that sparkled in the sun. It was now big enough to comfortably seat all four girls.

  Was there a chant that could bring her snakes back to life in the same way that Aphrodite’s chant had made her swans come alive? If so, then Medusa silently vowed she would search to the ends of the Earth and Mount Olympus to find it!

  Aphrodite petted her swans’ long, curved throats. “Ready?” she asked the others. They all nodded, then hopped aboard.

  “To the Aegean. Up and away!” Aphrodite called out. Immediately the swans’ brilliant white wings began to flap, and they rose gracefully above the courtyard, pulling the golden cart behind them. After gliding smoothly over the top of the five-story Academy, the swans stretched their necks straight out in front of them and sailed southeast, setting a course for the coastline.

  Thinking about all that had happened that morning, and what might lie ahead, Medusa’s head bowed under the weight of her sorrows and worries, not to mention the weight of her golden snake crown.

  She desperately hoped that if they were able to rescue Dionysus, he’d somehow be able to take away this golden curse and restore her snakes to life. Because now she had to admit that Athena had been right. The golden touch was very bad news, and Medusa had come to utterly regret making that deal with King Midas!

  11

  Searching for Pirates

  APHRODITE’S SWANS SAILED OVER THE coast and were soon flying above an expanse of shining blue water. The girls peered over the sides of the cart at the
little islands that dotted the waters of the Aegean Sea here and there. In and around the islands were lots of ships. From high in the air they looked as tiny as the thumb-size model ships MOA students sometimes moved around a three-dimensional game board in Mr. Cyclops’s Hero-ology classes.

  Medusa pulled her stoneglasses from the pocket of her chiton and put them on. She also withdrew the ransom letterscroll. Flipping it over, she and Artemis, who were sitting together in the backseat of the cart, consulted the sketched map the Pirate King of Melos had made to mark the location of his ship.

  “If the pirate ship is still in the same area this map shows, it should be a little ways past that group of islands we’re passing on the left,” noted Artemis.

  “Can you get your swans to go lower?” Medusa shouted to Aphrodite, who sat in the front seat of the cart by Athena.

  “Sure.” Aphrodite called back. Moments later the swans swooped closer to the water. Several ships were sailing nearby. The first one the girls flew alongside proved to be a trade ship, however. The sailors aboard it stared in awe at the goddessgirls—and at Medusa’s golden snake crown. Meanwhile, the captain informed the girls that the ship was carrying wares such as woven cloth, pottery, and olives.

  “Ye gods! I never imagined that my invention of the olive would become so popular that it’s now an item of trade!” Athena said with excitement as they flew on.

  The next ship they came to was a tour ship ferrying a group of sightseers from island to island. A man with a megaphone was speaking to the tourists on board. “And if you’ll look up and slightly to our right,” he told them, “you’ll see a swan cart carrying a group of goddessgirls off the starboard side of the ship.”

  “Ooh! Aah!” chorused the awestruck passengers. A few of them whipped out pens and pads of papyrus to quickly sketch drawings of the swan cart and its illustrious occupants. Aphrodite laughed, but Medusa was taken aback by the attention. They weren’t some pod of dolphins frolicking in the sea for people to gawk at, for godness sake!