Homer descended first, then Alcie, then Iole and Pandy.
“Everyone okay?” Homer asked when Pandy was in the water.
“Are you okay?” asked Alcie.
“I’m good,” Homer replied, although his tone said otherwise.
“Gods,” Iole said, bobbing gently, her teeth already chattering, “I’ve never been a strong swimmer.”
“I’ve got you,” said Alcie.
“I’ve got her,” Homer said. “Iole, like, grab hold of my belt. Alce, you good?”
“Um . . . yep.”
“Pandy?”
“I’ll see you on shore.”
And they were off. Even though he was still unwell and even with Iole hanging on, Homer soon outstripped Pandy and Alcie.
“I can make it, but . . . stay with me, all right?” Alcie said to Pandy between strokes.
“Not going anywhere.”
Pandy remembered how Alcie had literally saved her on their last adventure, when a sudden panic attack gripped Pandy as the two girls climbed a tall column to rescue Homer. Alcie just kept talking, looking Pandy in the eye, and telling her over and over that she could “do it!” Pandy would never, in a gazillion moons, have left her friend behind in the sea, but now Pandy would carry Alcie to shore if she had to.
Lifting her face out of the water to take a breath, she saw Homer and Iole already stumbling out of the surf. Then she turned to find Alcie and realized that Alcie was many strokes behind her. She doubled back a little bit.
“You all right?” Pandy called, watching Alcie’s splashy chopping motions.
“Yeah, I think so.”
“What are you doing?”
“Pickled pears, what does it look like? I’m dog-paddling.”
Suddenly another memory hit Pandy. She and Alcie, both age five, at Poseidon’s Pee-Wee Paddlers swimming school. The other children laughing hysterically at Alcie’s expensive but outlandish swim toga. Alcie using words Pandy had never heard before. The instructor making Alcie apologize. Then Alcie defiantly sitting out most of the summer months on the beach beside the sea. “Gods,” Pandy thought now, “Alcie, like Iole, had never really learned to swim well!”
Pandy looked toward shore again; Iole was sitting on the sand, wringing out her soaked robes while Homer, still weak, had flopped down beside her.
Just a few more minutes and she and Alcie would be able to stand in the shallows, Pandy was certain. But looking back once more, she saw that Alcie was now starting to struggle . . . and panic. Her eyes were wild and she was beginning to take water into her lungs with every breath.
“Alcie!”
“I don’t know . . . what’s wrong,” Alcie sputtered. “My stomach . . . I can’t keep . . . swimming.”
Pandy realized with a shock that Alcie was still carrying the weight from the enormous amount of meat they had all consumed the night before. And now it was exhausting her, dragging her under the surface.
“Homer!” Pandy screamed. “Homer!”
Homer looked up, startled, and instantly left Iole on the beach, racing back into the water as Alcie began flailing, straining against her heavy robes and the weight in her belly. Pandy changed course and swam after her. Alcie went under for a long moment, then her face reappeared a few meters away.
“Figs! I can’t . . . !”
She tried to raise her arms, but she’d become tangled in a mass of her wet clothing like a fish in a net. Alcie went under a second time . . . and didn’t come back up. Pandy changed course again, hit the spot where Alcie had been, and dove. After a few moments, she touched sand on the bottom, but Alcie was nowhere. Resurfacing, Pandy yelled at Homer, but Homer was already under. Then Homer popped up.
“Where is she?” Pandy screamed.
“I can’t find her!” Homer yelled back.
Pandy and Homer both dove again. Pandy saw a dark object in the distant water and raced toward it, but then her eyes caught something filmy in another direction, something that might have been the color of Alcie’s cloak. She headed to the surface for a quick breath, then dove again. But the shapes were gone. Then, in a completely different direction, she thought she saw something else. Utterly panicked, she turned in the sea until she didn’t know which way to go. Then she spotted something behind her and swam hard, but the air in her lungs gave out before she was even close.
Breaking the surface, she spun around in the water, seeing no sign of anything. Not even air bubbles.
“There!” she heard Iole call from shore. Looking to where Iole was pointing madly, she saw Homer emerge from underneath. Then Alcie’s face appeared as Homer struggled to keep her nose and mouth above water. Alcie’s eyes were closed and her head bobbed lazily on her neck.
“Go in!” Homer shouted. “I’ve got her.”
Pandy hit the beach, then both she and Iole sped back and forth in the shallow surf, frantic as they waited for Homer to bring Alcie to shore.
Finally Homer stood up in the water, carrying Alcie in his arms like she was a sack of meal. He laid her gently on the sand as Pandy and Iole crouched over her.
“Give her some room, guys!” Homer said.
But Alcie wasn’t moving. Worse, she wasn’t breathing, and her lips were darkening slightly.
“Whatdowedo, whatdowedo!” Pandy cried.
“Unh . . . ,” Iole whimpered. “Unh . . . I think . . .”
Alcie’s lips were now a medium shade of blue.
“She’s dying!” Pandy screamed. And at that exact instant, she thought of something she hadn’t thought of in weeks. It was all her fault. Everything. Alcie’s death would sit squarely on her shoulders. They had all been working together, almost seamlessly, like a well-directed piece of theater. Reading one another’s minds, knowing when and how to move, even having moments of fun on this terribly difficult quest to recapture all of the great Evils that she had stupidly loosed into the world. Pandy had pushed the enormity of her guilt to the back of her mind. Now it was the foremost thought . . . again. Fast as she could think of them, she prayed to all the gods she knew.
“Please, please, please . . . don’t take Alcie!”
She slurred the words together, praying even to Hera for mercy.
“Get her girdle off!” Homer ordered.
Quickly Pandy and Iole loosened Alcie’s girdle and tossed it onto the sand.
“Roll her onto her side,” Homer commanded.
“Why?” Pandy shrieked.
“Just do it!”
“Homer,” Iole cried, “let me have the Eye of Horus!” Homer ripped the amulet from around his neck and tossed it to Iole. Pandy began to roll Alcie’s legs as Homer rolled her shoulders. Then, standing between them, Iole bent far down to roll Alcie’s waist. Her foot accidentally caught on the hem of Homer’s wet robe and she stumbled forward, toppling right on top of Alcie, her hand pressing down right between Alcie’s stomach and her breastbone.
“Gods!” Iole cried.
Alcie suddenly jerked up, eyes still closed, and spit out a tiny bit of water. No one moved.
“Oh,” Iole whispered, clutching the eye.
Then Alcie thrashed again, threw up an enormous amount of water, and flopped back down on the sand. The blue color was starting to fade from her lips. Her eyes opened and she coughed and gurgled, her head rolling from side to side. She was breathing heavily. Finally, she focused on the three shadowy faces staring down at her, blocking the sun. Her brow furrowed into one long line.
“Owwww!”
“Alcie?” Pandy said, looking at her friend like she was a beached naiad.
Alcie stared hard at Pandy for a moment.
“Whaaaaaaaaaaaat?”
“Wahooo!” said Pandy, dancing around and hugging Iole, who still hadn’t moved. “You did it!”
“I thought I’d killed her,” Iole said, being whirled about by Pandy like a little doll.
Homer hugged Alcie tightly, then helped her to sit. A second later, she leaned over and coughed up another huge amount of water.
“Good! Get it all out!” Homer encouraged.
“Thank you, thank you!” Pandy mouthed over and over.
Iole stepped up and gently hung the Eye of Horus around Alcie’s neck.
“Anything?” Iole asked, after a few moments. “Feel better?”
Alcie looked up and nodded weakly. At last, her breathing became calmer and more regular.
“Say something, Alce . . . say anything!” Pandy begged, a huge grin on her face. “Say ‘figs’ or ‘dates’ or ‘eggplant.’ Tell me I’m a rotten bit of watermelon rind! Call me an apple . . . or a prune!”
“You’re . . . a . . . prune.”
“Yes! Yes I am!” yelled Pandy, jumping up and down.
“Lemon peels. I hate water,” Alcie said. “And I hate boats and swimming and sand and stupid, mean captains. I hate pork . . .”
“Yay,” Iole said quietly.
“. . . I hate almost drowning. I hate everything.”
“Good. You’re fine,” Pandy said, panting with relief and throwing herself down in the sand next to Alcie. “You’re fine. Gods, you’re fine.”
All four were too shaken to really say anything for the next several minutes. Then Pandy finally raised her head.
“Now, let’s see where we are.”
CHAPTER FOUR
A Deal
Seeing and hearing the commotion, several people were approaching from other parts of the long, curved white beach. Two fishermen, having just unloaded their catch for the day, offered to carry Alcie farther inland, but Homer insisted that he was perfectly capable of doing that. A young mother with her two children approached Iole. After formal greetings, she explained that she had traveled from Oloosson in the north to the nearby city of Iolcus.
“There’s a small tavern off this beach,” she said. “We heard you all shouting from there. I’m sorry I didn’t come to help sooner, but I couldn’t bear to let my children see any more tragedy. There’s just been so much trouble in the last few months.”
“Really? Of what sort?” Iole asked, knowing perfectly well what sort. Her gaze wandered over to the boy and girl splashing in the sea, oblivious to Alcie, now being helped up by just about everyone.
“Kumquats! Stop babying me! I can stand by myself!” Alcie yelled. “Pandy . . . Pandy, will you just let go! Oh . . . oh, thank you, Homie . . . yes, if you would just take my arm . . . oh, that’s it, thank you . . .”
“Looting, fistfights, greediness,” the woman went on. “People I’ve known for years have become ill tempered and cruel. My husband is a trader doing business in the south. We’re meeting him here until we decide what to do and where to go next.”
“Perhaps it is just a phase of the moon, or Zeus is angry, or some such,” said Iole, never considering revealing that the source of all the calamity in the world was only three meters away, sporting stringy brown hair and a soaked toga, trying to get Alcie to move slowly.
“You say there’s a tavern close by?” Iole continued.
“It’s just a shack, really,” the woman said, pointing toward a line of trees at the edge of the beach. “For sunworshippers, people from Iolcus with summer homes here, and the fishing trade. But I’m sure you can find something to drink there.”
“Iole,” Pandy said, joining them, “Alcie thinks she can walk a bit, so we’re heading inland.”
“Thank you,” Iole said to the woman as she and Pandy moved away. “And I’m certain things won’t stay this way for long. At least I hope they won’t.”
“Let me guess,” Pandy sighed. “Somebody else affected by the box getting opened?”
“Yep. And I told her it was all your fault.”
“You didn’t!”
“No, I didn’t.”
Walking inland due north, they quickly came to a ramshackle tavern off to the side of a narrow road. Tethered close by were several donkeys, their side-bags only partially loaded with fresh fish. Off to one side, two grubby-looking men were watering two tired-looking cows, each attached to a low cart. The men were arguing halfheartedly about nothing in particular. Then Pandy saw a large oxcart across the road; a tarp covered what looked like rotting hay in the back.
“The Odyssey,” Iole said, reading the sign posted over the tavern entryway. “Well, it’s fitting.”
“I know,” Pandy agreed. “Like Odysseus, most of the time I don’t know what’s around the next corner for us.”
Inside, several fishermen gave the girls a more-than-casual glance, then saw Homer standing behind them and quickly looked away. As fishermen bartered and bargained with fishmongers, Alcie read a sign over the counter.
“Iolcus is that-a-way,” Alcie said, pointing to the city’s name and a crude arrow burnt into the board. “Doesn’t say how far. Wish there was a sign for Mount Pelion.”
“What do you want?” asked a scruffy barman with a giant, jutting belly.
“Gods!” Iole said out of the side of her mouth. “I just realized we have no money.”
“What was that?” said the barman.
“Hang on,” Pandy said, digging through her carrying pouch. Finally, she withdrew a single copper coin and triumphantly laid it on the counter.
“Four glasses of juice, my good man!”
“That will get you a single glass of water with a little lemon twist,” the barman sneered. “Now, if you’re not going to order more than that, get out.”
“Look,” Pandy said quickly. “We really just need some information.”
“What kind of information?” said the barman, subtly placing his calloused hand over the coin.
“We just need to know how to get to Mount Pelion,” Pandy replied.
“Is that all?” said the barman. “Well, I think information should be free of charge, don’t you?”
“Yes, I do,” said Pandy, reaching for the copper coin.
“But,” the man said, tossing the coin into the air and catching it in a fold of his robe, “it’s not. Talk to the puny guy over there in the corner. He’s from a village on Pelion, I guess. Came in here just before you did, cryin’ like a baby about how he was waylaid by thieves on his journey down the mountain and now has no money to pay for fish. Maybe you can hop a ride with him. I think he’ll probably have room.”
“Oh, yes,” Iole muttered as the barman laughed and walked away. “People are pleasant.”
“Come on,” said Pandy.
In the far corner, they found a very short, extremely thin man staring, red-eyed, out of an open window.
“Excuse me, sir,” Pandy began. “I don’t mean to bother you . . .”
“Bother me?!” the man shrieked. “That’s very funny. As if I could be bothered further. My village saves for weeks to buy supplies, and now I have to go back up that infernal mountain, and tell them we’re all going to starve! How could you bother me further?”
“By asking for a ride,” Alcie said, without missing a beat.
“What?” the man fairly screamed.
“Sir.” Pandy paused to speak calmly. “We just thought that if you were going up the mountain anyway, we might accompany you. We could certainly protect you on the way back, and we could tell your entire village of the trouble you encountered. Homer here would . . . uh, beat up . . . anyone who tried to beat you up.”
“Can you pay me?” the man asked quickly.
Pandy looked at the others.
“All our good stuff was taken on Atlas’s mountain, remember?” said Alcie.
“And I just used my last coin,” Pandy said. She turned back to the man.
“No, sir, we can’t pay you,” she said simply. “I guess we’ll walk. Thanks anyway.”
“It’s over a week walking. If you don’t get eaten. Or worse,” he said, a slight gleam in his eye now. “Are you sure you have nothing?”
“Uh, no,” Pandy said.
“I disagree,” he said, smiling.
Then she slowly followed his gaze to Iole’s wrist.
“That will get you all up the mountain and t
hen some!” he hissed, making tiny pointing motions toward Iole’s new emerald bracelet.
Iole instinctively hid her hand behind her back.
“Don’t even think about it!” Alcie said to the man.
“It was a present,” Iole whispered.
“Have a nice walk,” the man said, turning back to the window.
Iole looked at Pandy. Pandy smiled at her.
“You don’t have to, Iole. We’ll get there.”
“That’s right!” Alcie said. “Moldy apples, that’s right.
My grammy Urania gave me that and I gave it to you. No way does he—”
“Alcie,” Iole said softly, “be quiet.”
Iole closed her eyes for a moment, then brought her arm forward and slowly removed the bracelet.
“As if!” Alcie yelled.
“Alcie . . . shhhhh!” Pandy said.
“I gave that to you!” Alcie mouthed.
“And now I have to give it up, Alce,” Iole said. Turning her head to the side, she whispered, “Nothing—no bracelet, no present—nothing is worth delaying what we’re doing.”
“Figs!”
“Thank you, Iole,” Pandy said. “Thank you.”
“It was great for a day,” Iole said.
“I am never speaking to you again,” Alcie said, turning and clomping out of the tavern.
“Alcie!” Iole called, running after her.
Twirling the bracelet on one finger, the man grinned at Pandy and Homer before dropping it into a leather pouch.
“Eteocles, that’s my name. And now, if you’d like to get started, my oxcart awaits.”
“Don’t you want to use the bracelet to buy some fish?” Pandy asked dryly. “You could buy tons.”
“All the decent fish are gone now,” Eteocles sniffed. “Besides, this will buy a whole new life for me.”
“What about your starving village?” Homer asked.
“What about them? Let them starve. I’ll take you to the mountain and then it’s off to Persia or Rome for me!”
“What if we tell your village what you did?” Pandy said.
Pandora Gets Heart Page 3
