I was having serious second thoughts about this.
Then I remembered the admiring looks on our first day back from Greek School and I multiplied it by a thousand. I imagined getting off a plane and being mobbed by hundreds of screaming girls. Sweet.
‘What about my gran?’ I asked Solomon Daisy as the limo moved through the dark streets of night-time Athens. ‘When I went back to Roman London I told her I was going on a school trip. Won’t she worry when she finds us gone?’
‘We’ll get the hotel doctor to tell her and Dinu’s mum that the two of you are in quarantine. We’ll assure them it’s for observation only,’ Daisy added quickly, ‘and we’ll tell them not to worry.’
I nodded. But I knew Gran would worry. So would Mrs Balan.
In the dark interior of the limo, Cool Jeff leaned forward. ‘There’s a slight problem with the timings,’ he said. ‘We can only turn on the palaestra portal late at night, when nobody is around. We have no idea what time of day you’ll land, but if it’s daytime at least you’ll be naked like the others.’
‘Because we can only turn on the portal once,’ said Daisy, ‘that means you’ll have to stay at least twenty-four hours. But you accomplished your last mission in a day. I’m confident you can do it again. Whatever time of day or night it is when you arrive, just make sure you’re back at the portal twenty-four hours later. Or forty-eight if it takes you longer.’
‘Staying forty-eight hours would take forty-eight months off our life expectancy, right?’ I said.
‘Yes,’ said Solomon Daisy. ‘If you have to stay two days, that will be four years off the end of your life. So you’ll live to be eighty instead of eighty-four. Not a big deal.’
Dinu frowned. ‘But what if the portal gets broken and we are stuck in the past? Would we die after only a couple of weeks?’
Jeff with a J shook his head. ‘We think it’s returning from the past that takes its toll on the body. If for some unlikely reason you get stuck in the past, you should be able to live a normal-length life.’
‘Assuming something else doesn’t kill you,’ added Geoff with a G.
I felt a bit sick. I had to put my head between my knees.
‘You all right, Wimpy?’ said Dinu.
Anger replaced nausea and I sat up and glared at him. ‘Don’t call me Wimpy!’
The glow of a street light was enough to show me his grin. I realised he was trying to make me angry, knowing it would distract me from what we were about to do.
‘Damn!’ muttered Cool Jeff as the car pulled up beside the Socrates Cafe. He was peering out the window.
At first I couldn’t see what had upset him. The cafe was dark and closed.
‘There are police all over the place!’ exclaimed Solomon Daisy.
That was when I saw the light of a torch and two policemen by the chain-link entrance to the archaeological site.
Our driver – it was Stavros again – slid back a glass panel separating us from him. ‘This is a bad place at night,’ he said over his shoulder. ‘Drug dealers come here. Also, it’s a big make-out place. Sometimes police do crack-down.’
‘There goes Plan G,’ said Cool Jeff.
‘Plan G?’ I echoed.
‘G for Gymnasium,’ said Sweaty Geoff.
Solomon Daisy turned to Cool Jeff. ‘You two were supposed to do your research!’ he said. ‘Didn’t you do a midnight recce?’
‘Yeah, but there weren’t any police here last night,’ said Sweaty Geoff.
‘It was totally deserted,’ confirmed Cool Jeff.
‘Too bad we don’t know Athens as well as we know London,’ sighed Daisy.
‘I guess we’ll have to call it off,’ I said, with a sigh of relief.
‘I didn’t get where I am today,’ said Solomon Daisy, ‘by giving up easily. There must be another place to put the portal.’
‘We need to find somewhere that is in exactly the same location as it was two and a half thousand years ago,’ said Cool Jeff. ‘Not just longitude and latitude–’
‘But altitude,’ we all said together.
‘And empty,’ Sweaty Geoff murmured. ‘So the boys don’t step into a big column or something.’
‘Hey, guys?’ said Dinu.
We all looked at him.
‘I know a place we can go where we’ll end up on the same level as in ancient times.’
We all stared at him some more.
He pointed. ‘Right up there.’
We all leaned over to his side to see where he was pointing. The floodlit ruins of the Parthenon up on the Acropolis. Athens’ most famous landmark.
Solomon Daisy looked up at the Acropolis, then back at Dinu. ‘Dinu Balan,’ he said, ‘you are smarter than you look.’
I couldn’t decide whether to kiss Dinu or kick him, but it didn’t matter. I was too busy trying not to be sick.
12
Plan P for Parthenon
As we soon discovered, the problem with putting a time portal in Athens’s most famous monument was that the Parthenon was guarded by night watchmen with dogs.
But guards could be bribed.
Solomon Daisy’s wallet stuffed with euros and dollars soon meant that we were creeping across uneven rocks to the floodlit Parthenon, the temple gleaming white against the black night sky.
‘I thought of this place first,’ wheezed Solomon Daisy, stopping to rest his hands on his knees, ‘but it’s so high-profile. Also,’ he gasped, ‘it’s so high.’
We were going up the less-well-known route past the Theatre of Dionysus, in the hope that it wouldn’t be as well guarded as the famous touristy entrance. We had just passed the site of the Temple to Asclepius when Geoff with a G hissed, ‘Guard! Get down!’
All five of us hit the stony ground and froze.
‘I don’t see a guard,’ whispered Dinu a moment later.
‘I’m sure I heard footsteps behind us,’ hissed Geoff.
‘Just your imagination,’ muttered Jeff with a J.
He slowly stood up to a half-crouch and then beckoned us on. I felt as if I was in a black ops simulation game.
Even though it was a side route, it still took us through the Propylaea, the monumental entrance to the Acropolis. It was inky black in there, and a relief to emerge into the main sanctuary.
The Parthenon rose up on our right, lit by dazzling floodlights at its base.
‘We have to go round to the far side, right?’ said Dinu.
‘Correct,’ said Jeff with a J.
We were now close enough to see scaffolding, cranes and even some metal train tracks, presumably for carting huge blocks of Pentelic marble back and forth. They were obviously repairing the temple.
I don’t quite know how we did it: a fat man, two skinny nerds with backpacks and two schoolboys sneaking up the Acropolis to the Parthenon and then around to its eastern entrance and finally up the giant floodlit steps, all without being spotted. But we managed.
I had been here a few years ago with my gran, before they roped it off for repairs. I’d forgotten how massive the columns were. Inside, they cast a good shadow for us to hide in.
‘OK, Jeff and Geoff,’ wheezed Solomon Daisy. He was still breathing hard from the climb. ‘Figure out where to set it up and let’s do this.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘It’s almost two in the morning.’
Jeff looked around. ‘When we were originally thinking of putting the portal here, I figured out where the cult statue of Athena would be.’ He pointed. ‘See? That would have been the base. The ancient geographer Pausanias tells us that the temple was full of tributes and gifts. It would have been like a museum storehouse. Probably the only empty space would have been right in front of the statue.’
‘Wait!’ I said. ‘Didn’t the statue of Athena stand out there?’ I pointed outside, between two massive columns.
Before Solomon Daisy could reply, Dinu said, ‘There was another statue of her inside the temple. Made of ivory and gold. There was a shallow pool of water in front of it to kee
p the ivory from cracking. We can land there.’
We all stared at him.
‘You’re right,’ said Cool Jeff. ‘But how on earth …?’
‘Ancient Greek Assassins,’ said Dinu smugly.
‘Of course,’ I said.
‘Bravo!’ Solomon Daisy’s glasses glinted in the floodlights. ‘Ready to do this?’
Dinu and I looked at each other. I felt sick. This time I knew what I was in for. But the rewards would be awesome. Dinu mouthed the words, ‘Fame and fortune.’ We understood each other perfectly.
So we both nodded.
‘Good!’ said Solomon Daisy. ‘Guys, set it up as quickly as you can.’
Jeff with a J unslung his backpack. ‘The day and year are already programmed in,’ he said. ‘All we need to do is open it up and turn it on.’
The two of them pulled tubes out of their shoulder bags and started assembling the portal.
Solomon Daisy looked at us. ‘A good mentor always gives the heroes a talisman before he sends them on a quest. But as you can’t take anything, I’m giving you a phrase. A mantra. You might even call it a “talismantra”.’ He took a deep breath and spoke in ancient Greek: ‘We seek Socrates, the lover of wisdom, the wisest man in Athens.’
Dinu and I dutifully recited the Greek phrase three times: ‘We seek Socrates, the lover of wisdom, the wisest man in Athens.’
‘Good,’ said Daisy. ‘That talismantra will keep your minds focused on the quest and help you achieve your goal.’
‘I think I might need to vomit,’ I said, and hurried towards one of the massive columns. Then I saw something that made me forget to be sick: two dark shapes coming up the rocky slope, right towards the temple. They were guards.
And that wasn’t the worst thing.
‘Guards are coming!’ I gasped a few moments later. ‘And they’ve got a dog with them!’
‘Guys!’ said Solomon Daisy. ‘Is it ready?’
‘Yes, boss!’ said Jeff with a J.
‘We’re as ready as we’ll ever be,’ said Geoff with a G.
In the time it had taken me to go to the column and back, Geoff and Jeff had set up the portal and were standing either side of it with their Xbox controllers.
There it was: a big flat hoop shimmering with fire. The first time I had gone through, the flames had been a golden orange colour. Now they were a spooky lavender with blue sparks, like a gas fire.
I didn’t have time to ask why the colour of the portal was different.
‘Strip off your clothes and go!’ commanded Solomon Daisy. ‘All you have to do to get ten mil and a starring role in Back to Athens is spend a little time with Socrates and then tell me what he was really like.’
From outside the temple I heard Greek voices shouting and a dog barking.
Dinu was already half undressed so I stripped off too. I looked up just in time to see Dinu step boldly through the shimmering purple portal. For a moment it flashed blue, then it shimmered again.
A shrill whistle pierced the night.
‘Stop!’ called a voice in Greek. ‘Stop right now!’
‘Stop or we’ll set the dog on you!’ called the second voice, in accented English.
I looked at Solomon Daisy. What if the guards arrested him and his two tech guys? What if the dogs savaged them? Then we’d never get back!
Daisy grinned at me and fanned his sweating face with a dozen five-hundred-euro bills. ‘Don’t worry about us. We’ll be fine! Guards can be bribed. Now GO!’
With trembling hands I tugged off my underpants, took three shaky steps forward, offered up a silent prayer and stepped through the portal.
13
Wet Landing
Going back in time the first time had been horrible. Going back this time was worse. It was almost as if we were doing something against nature.
Which of course we were.
I was prepared to suffer the fizzing cells but now there was an added element of heat. I felt like a ping-pong ball in an oven: hollow inside and baking outside. My skin wasn’t just prickly; it felt as if it was on fire. Luckily Dinu had been right about the pool of water in the temple.
‘Argh!’ I rolled around in the shallow water and tried to muffle my screams in case any temple priests were nearby.
‘Dude!’ came Dinu’s groan. ‘Are you there?’
‘Unggh!’ I managed to grunt. The water was only about ankle-deep. I wallowed in it like a porpoise in a puddle.
But as soon as my skin was cool the wave of nausea swept over me. Thankfully I was as empty as a black hole and had nothing to expel. Beside me, I was aware of Dinu retching too, but a night of vomiting followed by a two-day fast meant dry heaves.
Groaning softly, I sat up in the shallow pool and splashed water on my glued-together eyes. Finally I managed to prise them open.
The temple was lit a deep purple by the still glowing portal but with no blinding floodlights outside.
‘I think we made it!’ I whispered. ‘It must be night here too, and the temple is closed.’
‘Oh my God!’ breathed Dinu. ‘Look behind you and up.’
Still sitting naked in the shallow pool, I twisted around. Far above us, the purple light of the portal showed us the two-storey tall statue of the goddess of wisdom, weaving and warfare: Athena.
I felt a shiver go through me.
Now that my eyes were adjusting, I began to make out shapes in the darkness. I could see the golden folds of Athena’s robes and her pale ivory arms. She held a figure about our size in her right hand and a massive shield rested against her left leg, which was slightly bent.
Here and there a few thin beams of moonlight shone through some small holes and cracks in the temple roof. The portal was still glowing lavender and the overall effect was like being on another planet.
‘I think I see a lamp,’ murmured Dinu. ‘On the base of the statue. At the goddess’s feet.’
There was the soft plop of water to my left as he got up.
I splashed my eyes again and saw a soft gold light floating towards me. Soaking-wet Dinu was holding a flickering oil lamp, and it made him look as shiny as a bronze statue of Apollo.
He held out his hand, and when I grabbed it he pulled me to my feet.
I looked down at the pool in which we were standing. It was as long and wide as a London bus, but the shallow water barely reached my ankles. The surface of the water was purple, but light from Dinu’s oil lamp made the gilded tiles at the base of the pool glint.
‘You were right about the pool,’ I said.
He nodded and held up the oil lamp. ‘Let’s find some clothes. Remember Jeff said there would be all sorts of offerings either side of Athena?’
It was a hot night and apart from my feet I was already dry. Now I could smell burning olive oil in the lamp and from somewhere else a spicy incense that made me want to sneeze.
The ancient geographer Pausanias had been right. The space either side of the cult statue was crowded with objects. I followed Dinu, open-mouthed, as the globe of yellow light from the oil lamp revealed statues large and small, bracelets, rings, earrings and necklaces, all arranged on beautiful tables and chests. There were also dozens of black-and-red vases like ones I’d seen in museums. Plus tripods: those shallow bronze bowls on three tall bronze legs that look like ancient barbecues.
‘It’s like Aladdin’s cave!’ he breathed.
‘But we’re not here for treasure,’ I reminded him. ‘We’re here to find something to wear!’
14
Getting Dressed
Dinu and I moved among the treasures in the Temple of Athena, looking for clothes.
After only a few minutes he set the lamp down on a small marble-topped table and picked up something like a crinkly sleeveless T-shirt. ‘Eureka!’ he cried and then, ‘Wait – is this for girls or boys?’
‘I think it’s called a chiton,’ I said. ‘Boys wore them.’
He gave it a sniff, nodded happily and pulled it over his head.
‘Here.’ He reached into the gloom and handed me a similar one, only longer.
‘I think this is a girl’s dress,’ I muttered. ‘But I’ll put it on until we find something better.’
I pulled it over my head.
Every Easter my gran makes a special meal and tells me to get out ‘the linen tablecloth’. It belonged to her Greek great-grandmother and was woven on a loom. Linen has a particular feel between your finger and thumb, a certain texture to the weave. When I slipped on the dress in the Parthenon I knew immediately it was also linen.
It felt nice against my skin: light and cool. But it dragged on the polished marble floor.
‘See any belts?’
‘Try this.’
I tied the cord around my waist and then pulled up some of the fabric so that it bloused around the belt and exposed my feet and ankles.
‘That’s better,’ I murmured. ‘Have you got one?’
‘Yes. I found a nice leather one with a dagger in a scabbard.’
‘Hey! No fair! I’m dressed like a girl and you get a tunic and dagger.’
‘Here.’ Dinu passed me a sword.
‘This is way too heavy. And I have nowhere to put it.’
‘Then find your own dagger.’
I put down the sword and peered into the jumble of objects lit by flickering lamplight.
Then I spotted some fancy sandals made of gilded leather. They were just my size so I slipped them on.
Deeper among the maze of treasures I found a small iron dagger with an ivory handle in a woven sheath. I stuck it in my cord belt. I also grabbed a pearl-and-emerald necklace that might come in handy. I reckoned I could sell off the jewels one by one. The easiest way to carry it was to wear it, so I slipped it over my head.
I felt a pang of guilt and looked up at Athena, still glowing in the pulsing ultraviolet light of the portal.
I had a strange mental image of her slowly turning her head to look down at us with those frighteningly realistic eyes.
‘Dinu,’ I whispered, as if her ivory ears might be able to hear me, ‘do you think it’s bad luck to take things offered to the goddess?’
Adventure in Athens Page 4
