Eos the Lighthearted

by Joan Holub

  At her teasing, Tithonus made a face. “Puh-leeze. Grasshoppers are insects, not bugs. Although the word ‘bugs’ is often used as a general category that includes insects, that’s technically not correct. Bugs have no teeth, so they suck juices from plants. Insects do have teeth, at least sort of. They belong to the class Insecta and have three-part bodies, three pairs of legs, and usually two pairs of wings. Bees are an example of insects, as are—”

  “Grasshoppers,” Eos supplied as they rounded a corner and started down another street. Whenever he started on the subject of bugs, it was hard to get him to stop. Grasshoppers were currently Tithonus’s favorite bug—er, insect. Suddenly, without meaning to, she yawned.

  “Am I boring you?” he asked. Then he yawned too. “Argh. Stop it. Yawning is catching.”

  “You’re not boring,” Eos assured him. “It’s just that you know I’ve got grasshopper brains.”

  He raised his eyebrows at her, grinning. “Tiny, you mean?”

  “Ha-ha.” She elbowed him. “No, I mean my attention is always jumping from one thing to another.”

  She yawned again, and he gave her the stink eye when it made him yawn again too. “Sorry,” she told him. “I stayed up late last night studying for my geography quiz today. Then I had to get up before dawn, of course. Not enough sleep.”

  “Nyx would not approve,” he said. They both knew that one of the reasons Nyx loved bringing the night was because it helped people sleep, something she considered very important for everyone’s health.

  Eos nodded in agreement. Speaking of Nyx, she was really dying to read her notescroll. She opened her bag again and blindly plunged the fingers of one hand deep into her bag, trying to locate the scroll as they walked.

  Meanwhile Tithonus shifted his schoolbag to his other hand and kept on talking. “Did you know that when grasshoppers sleep, their body temperature drops to the same temperature as their surroundings, and their heartbeat and breathing slow way down? If they get too cold, their wing muscles can’t move fast enough for them to fly.”

  “Glad I don’t have that problem,” Eos replied. Her wings had been folded at her sides, but now she fluttered them slightly, which caused her to rise about a foot off the ground. “Otherwise I might have trouble flying out on cold winter mornings to do my job.” She refolded her wings so her feet touched down again.

  Just as their school came into view up ahead, her fingers curled around something the right shape and size at the bottom of her bag. “Gotcha!” she declared victoriously. She pulled out Nyx’s notescroll and held it up.

  Tithonus nodded as they quickened their pace. “Cool! We’re almost to school. So are you going to read that scroll to me, or what?”

  “Depends. Could be secret girl stuff.” She unrolled the short scroll and scanned it. Realizing it didn’t contain anything she’d rather keep private, she excitedly read it aloud:

  Hi Eos,

  Remember how I told you the unveiling of the new statue of me in Artemis’s temple at Ephesus had to be postponed? Because of that storm that damaged the temple? Well, the damage is fixed (yay!) and the unveiling is on again! Can you come to the ceremony? I hope, I hope, I hope? It’s tomorrow (Saturday) at 2pm.

  Your friend,

  Nyx

  “Cool! Wow! You’re going to go, right?” Tithonus asked.

  “Maybe,” said Eos, tucking away the scroll as they entered the school grounds.

  As everyone knew, Artemis was goddess of the hunt, a skilled archer, and a student at Mount Olympus Academy. She had decided to place a statue of Nyx in her temple to honor the goddess of the night’s importance to the world. Nyx had gotten to visit MOA after Artemis and another goddessgirl named Athena won a contest for an essay they’d written about Nyx, praising her as an “unsung hero.” Once this statue was put in place, Nyx wouldn’t be “unsung” any longer. Everyone could celebrate her at the temple!

  “Nyx deserves this honor, and I want to be there,” added Eos. “But Ephesus is a long way off. It’d take me almost eight hours to fly there—one way. I’d have to set out on the journey right after dawn and start back soon after the ceremony.”

  “That is a long trip,” Tithonus sympathized. “Still, if I were you, I’d go in a hot second!” Then, as if it were a done deal, he added, “Hey, if you meet Ares, get his autograph for me, will you? Zeus’s, too—I once saw his autograph on a tablet in the temple dedicated to him in Athens. He drew a cool thunderbolt next to it.” Tithonus did a little skip and punched one fist in the air. “Awesome!”

  Gulp. Would Zeus be there? wondered Eos. What if she did go and she came face-to-face with him? Would she be able to control that sad-mad feeling about her father? Or would she lash out and draw Zeus’s anger? An image of the powerful god filled her mind, and she shuddered. Though she’d never seen him in person, she’d once seen a life-size statue of him. Judging from that, he had to be seven feet tall, with bulging muscles and a stern gaze.

  She’d also seen pictures of him in Greekly Weekly News and Teen Scrollazine. He had wild red hair and bushy eyebrows. And thick golden bracelets that encircled his wrists. Sometimes the pictures showed him in action, tossing thunderbolts across the sky. If she made him mad, would he hurl one her way? Blow her to smithereens?

  Eos was jolted back to the present when the school door appeared before her. “We’re here already?” she said in surprise. She hadn’t even noticed walking that last part to get here!

  Tithonus pushed open the door and held it so she could enter first. He was nice that way. Another thing she liked about him. “Thanks,” she told him as he followed her inside.

  “So? You decide yet? About going to that temple thing?” he went on.

  They didn’t have a single class together this year, so unless they saw each other in the cafeteria at lunchtime, or in the hallway between classes, this would be their last chance to talk before the end of the day.

  She shrugged. Before he could continue “bugging” her about whether or not she would go to the unveiling, two friends of his named Cleitus and Cephalus called his name. Short and round, the identical twin boys had black hair and always dressed in shiny black tunics.

  “When’s the funeral?” Cleitus yelled.

  “Right after school,” Tithonus called back. He waved bye to Eos and took a step in the twins’ direction.

  “What funeral?” Eos called after him in confusion.

  Tithonus looked over his shoulder at her. “One of my beetles died.” He often kept bugs and insects as pets. “Us guys are having a funeral for it after school. Wanna come?”

  “Um . . . oh, wait, I can’t,” Eos told him, kind of relieved, actually. “I’ve got track practice and a Scrollbook Club meeting after school today.”

  “Track practice. Right,” Tithonus said while jogging backward. He had admitted to her once that he’d always wished he were better at sports, especially since all the other boys seemed to be good at them. And though he truly wished to have track skills, he’d also confessed that he wasn’t interested in practicing hard enough to improve. That would take too much time away from his precious bugs!

  Unlike Tithonus, Eos not only played on several sports teams, but she was also president or copresident of four different after-school clubs. She didn’t excel at any of these, however. Probably because the time she spent on each activity was limited with so many of them. But that was okay with her. She had fun trying lots of things, and she was good enough at them that she was usually welcomed by others in whatever she did.

  “Okay, then. You’re missing out, though,” said Tithonus, smiling. “Later, Busy Bee!” He turned to meet up with his friends, and the three boys headed off for class together.

  As she walked on down the hall, Eos thought about how Tithonus never seemed overly upset about a pet bug’s death. Probably because bugs and insects naturally had short life spans. Which meant he was always having funerals for them (complete with small bug caskets decorated with art and silly rhyming poems he
made up that celebrated their lives).

  Thinking of funerals, a wave of sadness washed over her. Because it had just occurred to her that Tithonus’s life span was going to be short too. Not as short as a bug’s, but way shorter than hers. Since Eos was a goddess, that meant she was immortal and would never face death. Tithonus, though, like all the other students at Oceanus Middle School, was a mortal. He was going to grow old. And then one day he’d die. Of course that was a long way off. But still. Tithonus was her best friend!

  If only he were a godboy instead of a mortal prince. Then he’d be immortal just like her. And if he were immortal, they could stay friends forever.

  Luckily, before she could really start to worry about this, a group of friends she knew from clubs, sports, and classes swept her up in their midst. As she continued down the hall, giggling and chatting with them on her way to her first-period class, Eos’s heavy heart grew light again.

  3

  Scrollbook C  lub

  TURNED OUT THAT EOS DIDN’T ace her second-period geography quiz, but she was happy enough with her B grade. She finished her first-period math-class assignment during third-period science while the teacher talked about the upcoming science fair to be held next Friday, a week from today. Should she enter? Hmm. Maybe not. She had to draw the line with all her activities somewhere!

  During a lecture in fifth-period history, she completed a short essay on Homer for her fourth-period language-arts class. They’d been studying Homer’s epic poems The Iliad and The Odyssey in class. By the end of the day, she’d done all her homework. Score! Since she was involved in so many activities, she had learned to be efficient with her time.

  Once school was out, she headed for track-team practice out on the sports field. Ms. Megalos was a great coach. Even though Eos wasn’t the fastest runner on the team by far, she’d improved a lot under the coach’s direction. After practice, a quick shower, and a change of clothes in the locker room, she used her track skills to sprint to the library for Scrollbook Club!

  Winging it, or even vaporizing herself for travel (something she could do for short periods of time), would have gotten her to the library faster. However, after an unfortunate incident a few years ago, she’d made it a rule never to do either of those things at school ever again. In fact, she kept her wings folded tight at her sides at all times around here. This helped minimize the differences between her and the mortals, making it easier to fit in.

  Unfortunately, although she could control her wings, she couldn’t help that her skin shimmered lightly, marking her as an immortal. And she couldn’t keep the pink vapory mist that floated from her fingertips from occasionally seeping out. The mist always faded quickly into the air, but these things set her apart from the other kids at her school and made them sometimes stare and whisper.

  She put this small problem out of her mind as she entered the library for Scrollbook Club. Not only was she the president, but she was also the founder of the club. It had fifteen members, mostly girls, and met once a month to discuss a scrollbook they’d agreed to read the previous month. Not everyone came to every meeting, but at least half the group came each time. And though anyone could suggest what to read, more often than not the members let Eos decide. She hoped it was because they liked her suggestions, and not because she was the club’s founder and president. (Or worse, because she was a goddess!)

  “So who all finished the scrollbook this time?” Eos asked, looking around at the girls seated in the circle of chairs that had been set up for the meeting. This month’s scrollbook was Callirhoe, by Chariton of Aphrodisias. Eos had suggested the scrollbook because, though she knew the romance part of the story might not appeal to the boys in the club, there were pirates, and enough action in the plot that both boys and girls might enjoy it.

  Apparently she hadn’t been successful at convincing the boys to overlook the romantic aspect. While nine other girls had made it to the meeting, no boys had. Oh well. Everyone had different tastes. It was hard to pick a scrollbook that everyone liked!

  Only three hands besides her own had gone up to indicate they’d read the scrollbook. Eos was unable to stop herself from saying, “Great, but what about the rest of you?” At recent meetings, it seemed that fewer and fewer members had actually read the month’s selection. And, truthfully, this had begun to bug her a little. Well, a lot, really. Because if she was able to finish each scrollbook with her busy schedule, surely others could too.

  With guilty expressions on their faces, the six slackers looked down at their laps. After a few seconds of awkward silence, a girl named Agatha looked up. “I had too much homework to finish it.”

  “I see,” said Eos, tapping her fingertips on the table in irritation. Before she could stop herself, she added, “I had a lot of homework this month too. Plus, as you all know, I have to get up very early each morning.” Usually she avoided references to her dawn-bringing job since it was another reminder of how different she was from these mortals, but she was so annoyed that the comment just slipped out.

  Agatha’s face turned pale. “S-sorry,” she stammered. “I’ll try to do better n-next time.”

  Ye gods, thought Eos. You’d think the girl was afraid of her. Was she? Did she think Eos might lose her temper and smite her or something? No way!

  “Hey, I’m not mad. It’s okay,” Eos assured Agatha and the other five non-finishers, who’d also begun to look a little nervous. “Maybe our discussion will inspire you to read the rest of the scrollbook later.” Swallowing her annoyance, she smiled brightly to show that she meant none of them any harm. If only everyone at school would relax around her like Tithonus did.

  “And maybe not,” quipped Zoe, one of the other non-finishers. This prompted nervous giggles from the group. Zoe and Agatha were best friends, and Eos knew Zoe probably wasn’t happy she had upset Agatha just now.

  “So you didn’t like the story?” Eos asked Zoe.

  Zoe shrugged. “I couldn’t get into it. I like true stories.”

  “Okay,” Eos said agreeably. Then, in an encouraging tone, she asked, “Would you like to suggest one to read for our next meeting?”

  “Um. I’m not good at remembering titles,” Zoe mumbled.

  Eos sighed. Looking around at the other girls, she said, “Shall we go ahead and discuss this month’s scrollbook?” She couldn’t resist adding, “Those of us who actually read it?”

  To her dismay, Agatha burst into tears. “Don’t be so mean. We’re mortals. We can’t all be p-perfect like you. We don’t have m-magic!”

  Eos’s face fell. She hadn’t meant to make Agatha cry. But before she could apologize, Zoe, angry on behalf of her friend, blurted out, “I know! Next time, let’s read about the war between the Olympians and the Titans. Who doesn’t like a true story about good versus evil?”

  Everyone gasped, looking between Zoe and Eos with big eyes. As the whole school knew, Eos’s father was a Titan god. Yes, he’d been on the losing side of the war, and yes, her feelings about him were complicated. But that didn’t give anyone the right to call him evil!

  In an instant, Eos completely lost it. Whoosh! She unfurled her wings. A terrified silence fell over the room, as she flapped them and rose to hover menacingly over Zoe.

  Fortunately, before she could do anything worse than just hover, some small part of her brain realized she’d broken her own rule. Stop! Think what you’re doing! it silently yelled out. She took a deep breath to calm herself, then fluttered back down to her chair and refolded her wings.

  “Sorry,” she said to the room at large, though she couldn’t quite bring herself to meet anyone’s eyes. She hadn’t flapped her wings in school since second grade! Hadn’t she learned her lesson back then?

  “Maybe, instead of talking about the story today—since only a few of us have read it—we could talk about something else?” one of the girls suggested. “If that’s okay with you, Eos?” she added uncertainly.

  Though Eos wanted to protest that the whole purpose
of the club was to talk about scrollbooks, she nodded. “Okay. What do you want to talk about?” She did not want these girls to think they had no say in what the group did. Or to fear her anger if they didn’t do what she wanted.

  Someone took out the latest issue of Teen Scrollazine. As the girls began to chat about the articles in it, they grew more enthusiastic and less scared-looking. “Ooh, did you see the article about Orion?” remarked a girl named Jacinta. “I got to see him in a play once. He’s so cute, and he has the best smile!”

  “Orion the dreamy teen actor?” asked Zoe.

  He was a megastar, Eos knew. The mortal boy had won lots of acting prizes and had even had a constellation named after him! Although he was good-looking and popular, she had heard he was quite full of himself.

  “Yeah, there’s an interview in this issue with him talking about all his successes,” said Jacinta.

  “He doesn’t have many good things to say about the other actors he’s worked with,” Agatha noted. “He says a lot of them tried to hold him back.”

  Eos rolled her eyes. Well, at least they were discussing something written, even if it was a ’zine instead of a scrollbook. However, she didn’t join in as most of the other girls gushed about Orion. Instead she mulled over what had just happened with Zoe. Not since that event in second grade had prompted her to make a no-flying-at-school rule had anyone dared mention the Titans or her dad to her.

  Back then, a girl named Nefili (which meant “cloud,” a word that fit the girl’s dark and cloudy personality perfectly) had made a cutting remark about Eos’s dad and how he “got what he deserved” in the war. Eos had flown into a rage. Flapping her wings wildly, she’d plucked Nefili from her chair in the classroom and risen up to the ceiling, threatening to drop her.

  She could still recall how Nefili had screamed, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” And she could still see in her mind the horrified faces of the other students who’d observed all this from below. Still hear their gasps of fear. Their terror had broken her anger, and she’d fluttered back down. As soon as they hit solid ground, Nefili, though unharmed, had burst into tears and raced from the room.