Cronus and the Threads of Dread

by Joan Holub

  “Well, what do you expect? There are webs everywhere,” Hera pointed out. “We can’t escape them all.”

  “Hera, I can’t see your feather anymore. It’s too far ahead,” Zeus told her.

  “No problem,” she said. “Feather, come hither!” she sang out.

  She must’ve decided she liked Apollo’s rhyme after all, thought Zeus.

  Almost instantly the feather flew back into Hera’s hand. She stopped, staring at it.

  “That’s weird,” she said. “I can see a picture in the eye. It’s a tree with webs on it.”

  Poseidon looked over her shoulder. “I don’t see any picture.”

  “Of course you don’t. It’s my feather,” Hera snapped. “I think the feather is showing me what’s up ahead.”

  “Trees and webs. Wow. How did it know that?” Poseidon asked sarcastically.

  Hera scowled. “Just wait.” They were coming up to a curve in the path.

  “Feather, go around that curve,” she told it.

  The feather didn’t move.

  “Try rhyming,” Apollo suggested.

  Hera frowned, but guessed Apollo was on to something. “Okay, feather. Eye spy!”

  The feather flew out of her hand and went around the curve.

  “Feather, come hither!” Hera called out.

  The feather returned to her hand. “Okay, now I see what’s next,” Hera said, looking into the eye again. “When we go around the curve, we’ll find a web with . . . with a square shape in the middle.”

  They followed the path, and right after the curve they saw a web blocking their way. The shape in its center was a perfect square.

  “Big deal!” said Poseidon. “Lots of these webs are like that.”

  “But not all the webs,” Hera pointed out.

  Zeus sliced through the web with Bolt. “Maybe we can experiment with your feather later, Hera? For now, let’s get moving.”

  Hera glared at him. “This feather is really going to help us. You’ll see.”

  Luckily, the next stretch of path was clear of webs. As they walked, Athena came up beside Zeus. He could see the bulk of the aegis under her cloak.

  She’s hiding it, he realized. Is it because she’s scared of that horrid snake-headed face? Or does she just not want anyone else to see it?

  Before he could ask, Athena remarked, “Hera is very proud of her feather.”

  Zeus nodded. “Well, she waited a long time to find it. Except for Apollo, everybody else already had a magical object. Hades has his helmet that makes him turn invisible. Hestia has a flaming torch that can make fire anywhere. And Demeter has these amazing Magic Seeds. One seed can bring a whole field alive with crops. And you have the aegis.”

  Athena looked down at her tunic, and her face got red. “Oh yeah. Well, it’s not very special. Hera’s feather is cooler.”

  Now is the time to ask, thought Zeus. “I saw you polishing the shield last night. There was some kind of face on it.”

  Athena looked surprised. “You must have been seeing things,” she told him, and dashed ahead.

  What’s she hiding? Zeus wondered again. But for now, he decided to let her be.

  They marched on. The path led them to an apple orchard, where they had a better view of the open sky. Webs were slung between the trees.

  Poseidon ran to the closest tree. He used his trident to pluck one of the apples, pulling it through the web. Then he brushed it on his tunic and took a bite.

  “Yum!” he said.

  Words quickly appeared on the web in the apple tree: Enjoy your last meal!

  “Says you!” Poseidon shot back.

  “Ignore those stupid messages,” Zeus said. “Let’s pick as many apples as we can.”

  They made their way through the orchard. Soon their packs were filled with apples. New messages popped up on the webs every few seconds, though!

  Surrender now!

  Just give up!

  You can’t win, losers!

  “Well!” huffed Hera. “Just because they are evil, it doesn’t mean they have to be rude about it!”

  “Like I said, ignore them,” said Zeus. “We’ve got to focus on getting to the center of that web.”

  He looked up at the sky. A new giant message was popping up, stretched between the clouds.

  All fear the Threads of Dread!

  Zeus stopped. “The Threads of Dread! That’s what Pythia told us to find.”

  “What’s so scary about threads of bread?” Athena asked, reading the writing in the sky. Or trying to, anyway.

  “That’s Threads of Dread,” Hera corrected her.

  Athena frowned. “That sounds familiar . . . I think.”

  They kept walking all day, only stopping once to eat lunch and then quickly move on. As the sun set, Zeus stopped and looked around.

  They were very close to the center of the web now. The rings of webs were thicker here, and getting tighter and tighter. Strands of the web stretched around them as far as he could see.

  We could probably get to the center in an hour or two, he reasoned. But it would be dark by then. And if there’s another monster there . . .

  “We should set up camp,” he said reluctantly. “I see a cave on the left up ahead.”

  They set up camp just inside the cave. It was long and narrow, and Hera sent the feather to check it out before they all went inside.

  “Eye spy!” she commanded. But when the feather came back, all she could see in the eye was darkness.

  “Darkness? Really? I could have told you that,” said Poseidon. “What else would you expect to see inside a cave?”

  “He has a point,” Zeus said.

  “Zip it, Bolt Breath,” Hera warned. “Let’s eat.”

  They sat down to eat a dinner of apples and the last of the cheese the farmers had given them. When they were done, Apollo played his lyre and sang.

  “Today Hera found her magical feather.

  We are all happy that they’re back together.

  The feather’s powers are yet to be seen,

  But Hera is sure they are fit for a queen.

  Will it come to our rescue when we’re in a pickle?

  Well, maybe it won’t, but it’s good for a tickle.”

  Hera did not look amused. “Just wait,” she said. “This feather will prove to be helpful.”

  Nobody said anything. They all knew how angry Hera could get if they argued against her. Then a rustling sound outside the cave broke the silence.

  “What was that?” Zeus asked, jumping up.

  “I’ll send out the feather,” Hera said. “Feather, eye spy outside the cave!”

  The feather floated away but came back when Hera called it. She looked into the eye.

  “Spiders!” she yelled. “And one of them is coming this way!”

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Turning to Stone

  Calm down,” said Poseidon. “We already know there are spiders out there.”

  Hera shook her head. “These aren’t up in the trees. They’re crawling and close. And one of them is going to be here any second!”

  Part of Zeus wondered if Hera might be making up stuff about her feather to make it seem more important.

  But better safe than sorry, right? he thought.

  “Okay, everybody. Let’s go deeper inside the cave,” Zeus said. “If there is a spider after us and it doesn’t see us, maybe it will go away.”

  Poseidon rolled his eyes. Still, he didn’t argue, and they quickly moved farther into the dark cave. Finally stopping, they pressed their backs against the cold stone wall of the cave.

  “Be very quiet,” Zeus whispered. “Hera, keep that feather still.”

  Hera nodded but didn’t reply. They all waited, barely daring to breathe.

  For a moment everything was perfectly quiet. And then they heard a skritch, skritch, skritch sound. Right outside!

  That does sound a lot like a spider, Zeus thought.

  “Told you!” Hera whispered.

/>   The skittering sound came closer. Zeus couldn’t see anything in the darkness of the cave. Then he heard Poseidon yell out.

  “Flippin’ fangface! A spider just touched my leg!”

  Poseidon was so freaked out that he knocked the spider out and raced out of the cave as fast as he could.

  “Poseidon!” Zeus cried. “Stop! There could be spiders out there!” He and the others followed, trying to save him from being ensnared. Once outside, the Olympians gasped at what they saw. Dozens of big spiders were lined up at the edge of the woods. Suddenly they came charging at them! Like the spiders they had seen before, each one had a body as big as a melon, and long legs. Dozens of pairs of beady red eyes were fixed on the Olympians.

  “Told you!” said Hera.

  “That’s not very helpful right now,” Poseidon pointed out.

  Zeus knew they had no choice. They had to fight.

  “Bolt, large!” he yelled.

  Bolt grew large, and Zeus held it out. “Poseidon, touch your trident!” The Olympians had learned that when they joined their objects, all of the objects became more powerful.

  Now Poseidon’s trident touched Bolt, and sparks sizzled from the magical weapons.

  “I’ll add my feather!” Hera said, holding it out. “Athena, your aegis!”

  “Um, what?” Athena asked. Her expression was blank, and she made no move to help. Apparently, she didn’t understand.

  Hera’s feather touched Bolt and the trident. A huge blast shot out from the three objects. It struck a heavy tree across the clearing. The tree fell over, landing on a group of spiders as they came out of the woods.

  Bam! Boom! The spiders were crushed, their spindly legs sticking out from underneath the tree.

  “That was good timing,” said Hera. “Told you my feather would bring us good luck.”

  Another wave of spiders streamed from the woods. They were spitting something at the Olympians—and it didn’t look like harmless spider spit!

  “Wow, scary AND rude! We’re going to need all the luck we can get,” quipped Poseidon.

  Apollo was picking up rocks. He nodded to Athena. “If we start throwing, we should be able to knock them out.”

  Bolt, the trident, and the feather were all still glowing with extra power.

  Zap! Zeus’s thunderbolt hurled a lightning blast at the spiders.

  Swooooosh! Water shot from Poseidon’s trident and knocked over a bunch of them.

  Hera waved her feather. “Feather! Um . . . please be plucky, and make us lucky!” Seconds later two of the spiders charged into each other and knocked each other out.

  Bonk! Bonk! Apollo and Athena hurled rocks at the spiders.

  Working together, they took down the wave of spiders. Zeus felt like cheering.

  “There’s more!” Hera yelled. “Look up!”

  The huge sky web looked like it was covered by a black blanket. And after a moment, Zeus realized the blanket was moving.

  “I think there are a lot more,” he said, staring. Hundreds and hundreds of spiders streamed toward them from the blanket—which was actually made of spiders!

  “Bolt!” Zeus commanded, and a sizzling charge hit the web. It knocked off a few of the spiders, but the rest kept coming.

  Then . . . whoosh! A thick, sticky strand shot down, aimed right at Hera. She jumped out of the way just in time.

  “That was close!” she exclaimed.

  Whoosh! Another strand shot down and hit Apollo. He cried out and tried to tear it off, but his hands got stuck in it. The strand wrapped around him, and before anyone could stop it, the strand yanked him up to form a cocoon around him!

  “No!” yelled Athena, who was standing next to him. She leaped up and grabbed Apollo’s foot, trying to pull him back down.

  Suddenly the black wave of spiders on the web parted into two groups, leaving a path open between them.

  “What’s happening?” Poseidon asked.

  “Just keep blasting!” Zeus urged him.

  A great shadow fell over everything. Suddenly a huge spider came crawling down its web on the path toward the Olympians. Its body was as big as a barn. Its red eyes were as huge as wagon wheels. Tiny hairs covered each of its eight long legs.

  Zeus blasted the spider with Bolt, but the huge creature didn’t even flinch. Poseidon shot a powerful jet of water at it, but the water just streamed off as if Poseidon were giving the spider a shower.

  “Athena, watch out!” Zeus warned. The girl was hanging on to Apollo’s legs, still trying to get him down. Her feet dangled a foot above the ground.

  The enormous spider’s eyes had now settled on Athena. Angry, the spider quickly scrambled down the web and over to her. One of its long legs swatted Athena off Apollo.

  She landed with a thud on the grass below. The spider chased her. It loomed over Athena and bared its sharp ivory fangs.

  “Nooooooo!” Zeus yelled. He and Poseidon kept blasting the spider with their weapons, but the blasts did no good.

  Athena rolled over, trying to get away. The spider pinned her down with a leg. A leg that landed on Athena’s cloak, pulling it open.

  The aegis shield seemed to gleam. Zeus swore he saw terror in the spider’s eyes as it looked at the hideous snake-haired face on the shield.

  Then suddenly, the huge spider turned to stone!

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  The Thread of Cleverness

  Sizzling statues!” Poseidon cried. He, Hera, and Zeus stared up at the humongous stone spider in amazement.

  The smaller spiders started scrambling around the web, confused. Athena’s gray eyes narrowed. She closed her cloak again, hiding the scary-face shield. Then she grabbed the edge of the web and hauled herself up, climbing onto the stone spider statue.

  What is she doing? Zeus wondered. Then he saw a shiny chain with a charm dangling from one of the spider’s stone fangs. Athena reached out and grabbed the chain. She slipped it around her neck and then jumped down from the web.

  “What’s that?” Zeus asked, pointing to the charm on the chain.

  “It’s my locket,” Athena said. She opened it and uncurled a long strand of web that was wound inside it.

  “It’s my magical object,” she said proudly. “The Thread of Cleverness!”

  “I thought we were looking for the Threads of Dread?” Zeus asked.

  “I have a theory about that,” Athena said, nodding up at the stone spider. “I’ll explain in a minute. First you guys need to all turn around. Apollo, close your eyes!”

  “Mmmmfff!” Apollo replied, his mouth still covered in a spiderweb cocoon.

  Zeus, Poseidon, and Hera turned around. Behind them Athena opened her cloak.

  “Get a good look, spiders!” she yelled. “Come on, look over here!”

  The spiders on the web all focused their eyes toward Athena. As soon as they gazed upon the aegis, they turned to stone just like the big spider had. The web dipped low under their new heavier weight.

  “All right. We’re good,” Athena said. She closed the cloak and called to the Olympians. “Let’s get Apollo down.”

  Together they pulled Apollo down from the web and tore the sticky strands of cocoon off him. As he brushed stray pieces from his cloak, Athena told her story.

  “The Thread of Cleverness has always belonged to me,” she began. “Its magic lets it twist itself to spell words and send messages.”

  “So that’s how the spiders did it,” Hera said, and Athena nodded.

  “It can also become as long as it needs to be, and weave itself into whatever I ask,” she said. “Oh, and it holds all of my cleverness. When I didn’t have it, I was kind of an airhead.”

  “You can say that again,” said Poseidon.

  “So how did that enormous spider get it?” Zeus asked.

  “The spider’s name is Arachne,” Athena answered. “She’s one of those Creatures of Chaos you talked about. She was trying to take over this village for King Cronus, and I went to stop her. She challenged me to a
weaving contest. If I won, she would leave the village alone. I’m an excellent weaver, so I agreed.”

  “I’m guessing you lost?” Poseidon said.

  “Correct,” Athena replied. “Before the contest Arachne sent a small spider to steal the locket from me. Without it I didn’t have the skills to weave even a place mat. So she won the contest, and then the Cronies came. And then I ended up in that giant urn, and well . . . you know the rest.”

  Zeus nodded. “So what’s your theory about the Thread of Cleverness? Do you think Arachne turned it into the Threads of Dread?”

  Athena nodded. “Exactly. With her poison. And then she used the thread’s magic to weave this big sky web. Why, I’m still not sure.”

  Zeus looked up at the web and the stone spiders. “We still need to find Hestia, Demeter, Hades, and Ares. The spiders captured them and stashed them somewhere.”

  “I think I know what’ll help,” Athena said. She reached into her pack and took out the instrument that she had made from the reed. This time she kept her fingers away from the top and bottom openings. She held the reed up to her lips and began to blow. A super high note came out. She put her fingers on and off the holes along the reed to play a tune.

  As she played, the web began to vibrate and grumble. The stone spiders started to break apart, turning to dust. The pieces of stone started to rain down on the Olympians. It was like stone spider snow! Except it wasn’t nice and fluffy like actual snow. In fact, it kinda hurt!

  “We should take shelter!” Zeus called out, and everyone ran back into the cave.

  Athena kept playing, and the spiders kept crumbling. The web broke apart and turned to dust too. More and more dust fell from the sky.

  As the Olympians waited for the dust to clear, they heard four thumps.

  Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!

  They all looked at one another. What in Bolt’s name could those noises have been? After checking to be sure the coast had cleared of spiders and dust, they ventured outside the cave.

  “Hades!” Hera cried, and broke into a run.

  The others gasped. There, sprawled on the ground and covered in web dust, were the missing Olympians: Hades, Hestia, Demeter, and Ares!