Cassandra the Lucky

by Joan Holub

  Of course, she couldn’t really argue with Ares’ choice. She didn’t own the idea of owls or anything, and apparently Ares liked owls too.

  All around her, other students were rushing to decide on animals, each naming the one they liked best. Dionysus decided on leopard, Hephaestus chose donkey, and Apollo went with raven.

  “I’m going to do a swan ride,” said Aphrodite. Which was perfect, since she actually had a magical swan cart that could fly. Artemis chose deer, since she had golden-horned deer that led her chariot. And Poseidon, who was godboy of the sea, went with dolphin. Another student named Pan, who was the godboy of shepherding, chose a sheep.

  Iris was having trouble coming up with an animal, so she volunteered to help decorate the carousel with the colors of the rainbow, which was her goddess symbol.

  “And I’ll make carved swags of flowers and greenery along the top and bottom of the carousel,” said Persephone. “Maybe I’ll paint a black-and-white kitten here and there too.” She and Aphrodite shared a kitten named Adonis, so Athena knew Persephone must have been thinking of him when she’d added that last.

  Athena overheard Heracles saying he’d do a lion statue. Figures, she thought fondly. He’d saved many mortals from a rampaging lion once. And now he wore its skin like a cloak. Medusa, who had snakes for hair, chose to do—what else but a big serpent! She’d need help instilling magic into her statue, though. Since she was a mortal, she had no magical powers of her own.

  Persephone, Aphrodite, and Artemis gathered around Athena, looking concerned.

  “I think Ares should change his choice. He’s not being fair to choose the one animal that everyone knows you like best,” Artemis said to Athena.

  “Want me to talk to him?” Aphrodite offered. “I know he likes vultures, too. Maybe I could get him to change his mind.”

  “No, it’s okay,” said Athena. Aphrodite was Ares’ crush, so she might be able to persuade him. But Athena didn’t want to be a bad sport.

  “Then what are you going to do?” asked Persephone.

  Suddenly an idea came to Athena, and she heard herself say, “A horse, of course.”

  “The Trojan horse? Why, that’s perfect!” said Aphrodite. She clapped her hands together in delight. “It goes so nicely with the theme of Homer’s new book.”

  Athena hadn’t exactly meant that. But what Aphrodite said made sense, so she nodded, feeling herself becoming more enthusiastic. She’d use Woody, a toy wooden horse she’d brought from home when she’d first come to MOA, as a model for the horse on the carousel.

  “Hey, wait a minute,” she said suddenly. She pulled the cookie fortune from her tray and smoothed it out. “ ‘A horse, of course,’ ” she read aloud.

  She looked at the others in surprise. “I think my fortune just came true!”

  4

  Hero-ology

  Athena

  ATHENA HAD ONLY JUST SAT down in her first period Hero-ology class the next morning when Medusa, who sat across the aisle, sent her a mischievous grin. “Better check the game board. Your Greek hero headed north from Troy and raided the island of the Cicones for supplies last night.”

  “Oh, no! After ten years of war he must be so anxious to get home that he’s taking foolish chances,” said Athena. She made a beeline for the giant game board that stood in the center of the room, so she could check on her mortal hero.

  She immediately spotted Odysseus’s twelve ships in the Aegean Sea on the far side of the board, which covered the top of a table about the size of two Ping-Pong tables set side by side. The game board’s three-dimensional world map showed colorful countries dotted with turreted castles, cozy villages, winding roads, and green hills. The countries were surrounded by oceans filled with little sea monsters, mermaids, and scaly dragons that really moved!

  Dozens of three-inch-tall hero statues stood atop the board here and there as moveable game pieces. Each hero was always working toward a goal, but also trying to outdo the others. Immortal students were supposed to guide their mortal figures and were graded on how well they did it.

  But like other students, Athena had four other classes at MOA plus homework. And Cheer as an extracurricular too. So she couldn’t watch over her hero day and night. Which meant that sometimes he got himself into trouble when she wasn’t looking. It was her job to get him back out of it!

  Now that the Trojan War was over—the brave Odysseus had won it earlier in the year with the help of her Trojan horse trick—he and his soldiers were traveling home to the city of Ithaca in Greece. The trouble he was in now was her fault, she decided. She should’ve provided the things he and his men required for their voyage, like food, drink, rope, tools, and sailcloth, yesterday before they’d left. Then he and his men wouldn’t have needed  to raid the Cicones for supplies.

  Thunk! As Athena studied Odysseus’s position on the board, something struck the ground by her feet, spraying her with a mist of water. “What the—”

  She looked over to see that Poseidon had slammed the handle end of his pitchforklike trident on the floor, its three sharp prongs pointed up. Water was dribbling down it to puddle at his feet. He pulled the pointy prong end back and then gave it a shove. It whipped toward the board, striking the edge of it. On the game board map the Aegean Sea suddenly turned choppy.

  “Oops!” he said, not looking at all sorry. He’d obviously done that on purpose just to make trouble.

  Odysseus’s ships bounced around crazily, water sloshing over their decks. Poseidon, who pretty much ruled the seas, had stirred the waters with a mere whack of his trident.

  “Stop it!” Athena told him. Since whatever happened to a hero on the board actually happened to the real-life hero down on Earth, Poseidon’s actions were creating an actual storm and swamping Odysseus’s real ships!

  Poseidon just grinned at her, unrepentant.

  Athena bent toward the board and cupped her hands and forearms around the dozen ships. She scooted the whole fleet farther southwest into the Mediterranean Sea.

  “Nice save,” said Poseidon in a snarky voice.

  Athena sighed. What was his problem? She really didn’t want to fight him every class. “Look, I know it bugs you that I made an A plus on our last project. But just because I did, that doesn’t mean you can’t make one too. It’s not like Mr. Cyclops only hands out one top grade per project. If we work together, maybe we’ll both make A pluses!”

  “Hmph!” muttered Poseidon. “Not gonna happen. Because my new assignment, now that the war is over, is to stop your hero from reaching Ithaca! So only one of us can win. And I’m going to beat you this time.” With that, he slung his drippy trident over one shoulder and ambled off.

  Aphrodite came to stand beside her. “I heard that,” she said in a low voice. “And it’s not just your high grades that are the problem, you know. Ever since your olive bested his water park in the Invention Fair and the people of Athens named their city for you instead of calling it Poseidonville, he hasn’t been able to get over it.”

  “I know. He’s sooo competitive,” Athena replied. She leaned over the board to study her hero’s new situation, then whisked his ships to an island in northern Africa inhabited by the lotus-eaters. Odysseus and his crew could rest there while checking their ships for damage.

  “Poseidon’s going to keep making trouble for us,” Aphrodite warned.

  Still surveying the game board, Athena nodded. “I know.”

  During the Trojan War, she and Aphrodite had been on opposite sides. Not anymore, though. Now that the war was over, the romance that Aphrodite’s hero Paris had begun with the beautiful Helen was over too. So in her role as goddess of love, Aphrodite was now helping Odysseus’s wife, Penelope, instead. Because that woman was in big trouble. When Odysseus got home to Ithaca, he would have a lot to fix.

  That is, if he ever did get home. Poseidon seemed determined to stop Athena’s hero from succeeding at that task. Keeping Odysseus away from home was his best chance to get the better of
her.

  “Where’d that outfit come from? The mismatch patch?” Medusa asked out of nowhere.

  What was she talking about? Athena glanced over her shoulder and saw that Medusa, Apollo, and a few other students had come over to check on the board.

  And apparently it was Aphrodite who Medusa had been speaking to. Whoa! Athena had been so intent on the game board that she hadn’t actually looked at Aphrodite yet this morning. Now that she did, her jaw dropped.

  Because Aphrodite was wearing a chiton patterned with huge neon-orange, purple, and black flowers. And she’d paired it with red sandals, a green belt, and brown earrings. Her favorite color was pink, but there wasn’t a speck of pink anywhere to be seen. Medusa was right. That mismatched outfit was so not her!

  “What’s wrong?” Aphrodite asked. She glanced from Medusa to Athena and back to Medusa again, her expression confused.

  “Your fashion sense has turned to nonsense,” said Medusa. “That’s what’s wrong.” She folded her arms, looking suspicious. Was she worried that the outfit Aphrodite wore was meant to trick or tease her? Medusa often acted like she thought whatever weird things others did were somehow about her.

  “Maybe she’s just trying something different,” Athena suggested gently, even though Aphrodite’s outfit was so loud and bright, it almost hurt her eyes. “Nothing wrong with that.”

  “Huh? What are you two talking about?” Aphrodite looked down at her outfit. When she saw herself, a horrified little shriek escaped her. “Ye gods! What was I thinking?”

  She turned toward Athena, her blue eyes wide. “It was that cookie fortune! ‘You have no fashion sense.’ Remember? I was up so late thinking about it that I was only half awake when I chose this outfit—an outfit I would never, ever in a million years normally wear on purpose.”

  “Sure looks like the prediction came true,” Medusa said.

  Athena’s eyes sharpened thoughtfully. “And mine came true yesterday.”

  “Something’s definitely up with those cookies,” said Apollo, eyeing Aphrodite’s loud outfit doubtfully. It seemed that even he could tell it had been a bad choice! “In archery practice after school yesterday, guess how many times Artemis missed the target?”

  “Five?” asked Athena.

  “Right you are,” said Apollo. “Exactly five, just like her fortune foretold. But then she hit every bull’s-eye after that.”

  “You know, I got one of those cookies yesterday too. I never opened it, but it’s in my bag,” Medusa admitted. She went over to her desk, and when she came back, she was holding a cookie. She ripped off its wrapper, broke open the cookie, and then silently read the fortune that had been inside. Rolling her eyes, she handed off her fortune to Athena and began breaking up the cookie into a bunch of small pieces.

  Athena read the fortune aloud. “It says, ‘Nobody will make you giggle.’ ”

  Everyone looked at Medusa, watching as she tossed the cookie pieces into the air overhead. Snap! Snap! Her twelve snakes chomped every crumb before a single one could fall to the floor.

  “That’s dumb,” she said to the group, dusting the last crumbs from her hands. “I never giggle.”

  Athena wasn’t sure that was entirely true, but before she could get into a discussion about the fortune, someone bumped her shoulder. Poseidon had come up beside her. And the teacher was with him!

  “See what I mean, Mr. Cyclops?” Poseidon said, directing the teacher’s attention to the game board. “Athena’s hero and his crew just landed on Cyclops Island and sneaked into your brother’s cave. The must be after his food.”

  Athena whipped around just in time to see the last of Odysseus’s men enter the cave on the board. Ye gods! Poseidon was right. While her attention had been on the Oracle-O fortunes, Poseidon’s had obviously been on the game board. She couldn’t turn her back on that Odysseus for a minute! He was in such a hurry to get back to his wife, Penelope, and son, Telemachus, in Ithaca that he was blundering around on his own instead of waiting for her help.

  Mr. Cyclops’s single eye blinked at Athena. “This is unacceptable,” he told her in a disapproving voice.

  “I know. It’s my fault,” Athena admitted. “I sailed Odysseus and his men way too far in one push without giving them enough food. I’m sure they didn’t mean any harm. They’re just hungry!”

  “And thirsty,” Aphrodite added.

  Poseidon folded his arms. “They still shouldn’t steal.”

  He was right, of course. And if her hero was stealing from the teacher’s brother, which he probably was, that was an extra bad idea! If she wanted a good grade, that is.

  Before she could apologize on behalf of her hero, a glittery, magical wind whooshed in through the classroom window. Message for Mr. Cyclops! it called out in a huffy-puffy voice.

  “Here!” said Mr. Cyclops, crooking a finger at it. The wind whooshed around the room, messing up hairdos and blowing textscrolls off desks just for fun, before stopping in front of the teacher to recite its message:

  I trapped a crew that came to steal.

  Thought they would make a tasty meal.

  But now I’ve gotten in a bind.

  ’Cause Nobody is robbing me blind!

  Help!

  Your brother,

  Polyphemus Cyclops

  Athena gasped. It sounded like Mr. Cyclops’s brother was planning to munch her hero and his crew!

  Hearing the message, a giggle burst from Medusa. Mr. Cyclops frowned at her, and she covered her mouth with both hands, looking like she wished she could recall her laughter. Athena could totally understand why she’d giggled, though. What the magic wind had said about nobody was just so silly! What could that part of the message meant?

  Hey, wait a minute, thought Athena. Medusa had giggled ! Just like her fortune had foretold, nobody—or at least hearing the word nobody—had made her do it.

  Suddenly a strange look came over Mr. Cyclops’s face. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a little piece of papyrus. It was another Oracle-O fortune. He must’ve gotten it in a cookie from that basket yesterday too.

  “Nobody, my foot,” he murmured. His single big eye found Athena across the room. “What is my brother talking about? Your hero is apparently the one robbing him. But who or what is ‘nobody’?”

  Gulp! Athena was in trouble now. “I don’t know exactly, but . . .”

  “We’ll talk about this later, young lady!” Mr. Cyclops said before she could finish. Then he turned and rushed for the classroom door. “Excuse me, students, I’ve got a family emergency!” he called back over his shoulder. “Principal Zeus will send a substitute after I inform him I’ll be gone for the rest of the day. So behave!”

  After the teacher left, the students all stared at one another. Athena pretended not to notice Poseidon’s satisfied smirk. Things were working out better for him than for her right now for sure!

  Right away, some of the others in class started cutting up. A few girls began chatting, and some boys, including Poseidon, scooted their desks together to begin a game of javelin football. Medusa went to her desk and started drawing those comics she liked doodling.

  Other students kept doing their assignments, though. Aphrodite sidled around the game board map toward Ithaca to see what was going on with Penelope at Odysseus’s house.

  Meanwhile, Athena peered at the little game board cave that represented where Mr. Cyclops’s brother lived. Somehow she had to rescue her hero! But even with her eyeball up against the cave entrance, it was too dark to see inside. And the opening was so small that she couldn’t get her hand in there to pull her hero and his crew out. She put her ear to the opening and heard a faint sound. Baaa.

  Sheep? Hmm. That gave her an idea. Quickly she put her mouth near the cave entrance and called to Odysseus, whispering instructions for an escape plan. Then she straightened. Now all she could do was wait and hope her idea worked.

  A few minutes later Principal Zeus entered the classroom. Homer was with him. Back
again for another visit, apparently. And this time the author had brought along an artist who was wearing a press badge that said he worked for Teen Scrollazine.

  “Greetings, students!” Zeus boomed. “I’ll be your substitute for the rest of the hour.” He smiled a broad smile and held his arms wide as if expecting applause. Which he got, since students respected him and none would dare offend him. At seven feet tall, with bulging muscles and piercing blue eyes, he was both imposing and intimidating. Wide, flat, golden bracelets encircled both of his wrists, and he wore a thunderbolt belt buckle. Athena often marveled that he was her  dad!

  As everyone dutifully smiled and clapped, the artist whipped out his drawing pad. Seeing this, Zeus’s eyes lit up. He turned sideways and struck a pose that showed off his muscles.

  Homer studied the game board and then the students while the artist sketched. “So this is where it all began!” he exclaimed with delight. “And you are the very students who guided the events of the Trojan War I wrote about in The Iliad. How exciting!”

  Athena was excited to see him again too. He was soon to be a published author, after all. And she lived to read. Poems, textscrolls—even the advertisements on the back of ambrosia cereal boxes. If it was in print, she would read it. And to think she and some of her friends were going to be actual characters in a published scrollbook! Wow! Even if the Trojan horse had been left out, she couldn’t wait to buy a copy and get it autographed at his book signing a week from tomorrow.

  Apollo seemed pretty in awe of Homer too, Athena noticed. Made sense. Not only was he the godboy of prophecy, he was also the godboy of poetry. So he appreciated authors and books just like she did.

  “So, what are you writing now? I mean, what’s your next published scrollbook after The Iliad going to be about?” Apollo asked Homer. At the question the author’s expression fell, and he mumbled something under his breath that sounded like, “I wish I knew.”

  The artist’s sketch of Zeus was finished, and now Zeus was walking around the far side of the game board, studying it. Seeing this, Homer perked up and hurried over to nudge the artist. “Quick! Maybe you can do an action drawing? With Zeus in the background. And with me in the foreground directing the students to move their heroes around the board? You could make it look like my scrollbook caused  the events of the Trojan War!”