Pandora the Curious

by Joan Holub

  “Stay,” he commanded. Obediently it stood upright.

  Pandora rested her chin on one hand, gazing at him in admiration. He was so awesome! And he knew it. Still, that was okay with her. How could someone so epically awesome not know it?

  She was distracted from her study of him when Principal Zeus himself suddenly walked into the room. At seven feet tall with bulging muscles, wild red hair, and piercing blue eyes, he was a pretty intimidating sight.

  Immediately everyone got quiet, the same questions in their eyes. Why was the principal here? Where was their teacher, Muse Urania?

  “GOOD MORNING, CLASS!” Zeus hailed them in his usual booming voice. “You’re probably wondering where your teacher is. Well, she had to rush down to Greece to do some research with the illustrious astronomer Hipparchus. He’s got some odd notion that the Earth isn’t the center of the universe.

  “Anyhoo, as you’ll no doubt be thrilled to know, I’m stepping in as a substitute teacher for this entire week!” Spreading his powerful arms wide, he stood there like he was waiting for applause.

  Athena—she was his daughter—started clapping. This was a good idea, and since no one ever wanted to be on Zeus’s bad side, everyone else quickly joined in.

  Zeus smiled broadly and went to stand behind the teacher’s desk. There he briefly studied Muse Urania’s lesson planscroll. “Looks like today’s lesson is, um . . .” He stopped, frowning at what he’d read.

  Apparently Muse Urania’s plan for today didn’t exactly thrill him. Sighing, he rolled up the lesson planscroll and shoved it aside. Everyone waited as he came around and sat on the front edge of the teacher’s desk. He stroked his red beard thoughtfully for a moment.

  A few seconds later his eyes lit up and he rubbed his hands together craftily. Tiny sparks of electricity shot out from between his palms in every direction. This often happened when Zeus was around, so no one panicked.

  A random spark landed on Pandora’s desk, causing a tiny flame to burn the corner of her textscroll. She casually slipped off her sandal, used it to smack the cinder out, and then put her sandal back on.

  Finally Zeus spoke. “As you all know, I’m King of the Gods and Ruler of the Heavens. So I can do what I like. And I like competition. So I propose that we skip today’s astronomy lesson and plan a science fair instead. The kind with science projects that win prizes. What do you say?”

  Everyone looked at everyone else. Grins formed and widened. Textscrolls snapped shut. Some of the godboys punched fists into the air. “Yeah!”

  Pandora had to admit it. Zeus had good ideas.

  He smiled at their enthusiasm, then went on. “You can choose a project in any of the sciences, and—”

  Pandora’s hand shot high into the air before he could finish. The whole class groaned. She knew it was because she was always interrupting. Still, she couldn’t help herself.

  And anyway, she figured that half the time others were actually glad she asked questions. Because they often wanted to know the answers to the very questions she asked. Only they were too shy to voice the questions themselves. Or when it came to querying Zeus, maybe they were too nervous to ask!

  When he called on her, a question burst from her lips. “What will the prizes be?”

  Zeus brightened at this question. It was no secret that he was like a little kid when it came to contests and prizes. “There’ll be three prizes in all,” he explained. “Three amazing prizes for first, second, and third places.”

  He went on, but Pandora didn’t even hear. As usual her mind was already whirling with new questions. She raised her hand again.

  The toe of one of Zeus’s golden sandals tapped the floor. For some reason his bushy red brows bunched up like he was impatient or annoyed. Probably it was only because being principal and King of the Gods, et cetera, meant he had a lot on his mind, she decided.

  “Who will judge the fair?” she asked when he finally called on her.

  “Well, I was just about to tell you that,” Zeus said, sounding a little bit testy. “I will invite three of the greatest mortal scientists on Earth as judges. Hippocrates, Aristotle, and Pythagoras.”

  At this news the whole class buzzed with excitement. These were impressive judges, to be sure.

  Pandora looked over her shoulder at Athena, who should have been jumping for joy. Instead she was painting her fingernails and reading Teen Scrollazine. Pandora’s eyes widened in surprise. Where had her roommate gotten the nail polish and the scrollazine? They weren’t the kind of things she normally carried around.

  Besides that, she didn’t even seem to be listening to her dad. Talk about weird! Athena loved science. In fact, she’d recently gotten permission to switch from Beauty-ology to Science-ology third period.

  “Did you hear what Zeus said?” Pandora whispered to her. “Pythagoras is going to be a judge for the science fair.”

  Athena glanced up from her task, a look of blank confusion in her blue-gray eyes. “Pythaga-who?”

  3

  Pick Me!

  PYTHAGORAS,” PANDORA REPEATED.

  Athena shrugged and blew on her fingernails. She darted a look at Zeus to be sure he hadn’t noticed what she was doing.

  “Where did you get the nail polish?” Pandora whispered.

  “Borrowed it from Iris.” Athena held up her fingers so that Pandora could admire her handiwork. Although the polish had come from one bottle, it was magical. So the polish on each of Athena’s fingernails was a different color. Made sense, since Iris was into rainbows.

  Pandora turned to face front as Zeus began speaking again. But she was still wondering what was up with Athena. As her roomie, she knew that the brainy girl was a huge Pythagoras fan.

  Other MOA girls pinned pictures of cute animals, cute heroes, or cute godboys on their bulletin boards in their dorm rooms. But Athena had pictures of scientists, inventors, and other brainy types. The biggest picture on her bulletin board was of Pythagoras. He was, like, her idol. How could she possibly have forgotten who he was?

  And then there was the nail polish. Pandora had only ever seen Athena wear it once. And that was when Aphrodite—the goddessgirl of love and beauty—had given her a makeover for a party!

  Zeus was explaining the rules of the fair now. “The scientific method is an organized way to find the answer to a question,” he told them. “You will all use this method in creating your fair projects.”

  As each word left his lips, it magically appeared as writing on the scrollboard that hung on the wall behind him at the front of the room. The board took up a third of the wall space and kept rolling up at the top as Zeus spoke. So there was always more blank space to write on at the bottom.

  But you had to take notes quickly if you wanted to get everything down. Pandora grabbed a sheet of papyrus and her feather pen, then began scribbling away as more words appeared.

  Scientific Method:

  1. Question - What question will your project answer?

  2. Research - Get information.

  3. Hypothesis - Try to predict the answer to your question.

  4. Experiment - Test your hypothesis.

  5. Analysis - Record what happened.

  6. Conclusion - Was your hypothesis correct?

  After rereading the six steps Pandora thought of another question. She raised her hand again. Only, Zeus didn’t seem to notice. He was looking everywhere except at her. Strange.

  Pandora leaned forward in her chair and waved her arm from side to side. Zeus looked at the floor. So she reached low, waving her arm near her feet to catch his attention. But then he switched his gaze to the ceiling. She stretched her hand high, bouncing in her seat.

  He looked left. She waved left. He looked right. She waved right. If she didn’t know better, she’d think he was avoiding her!

  “Hold your questions for now,” Zeus finally told the class. He was looking directly at her.

  What? Pandora’s hand sank. But her brows rose as high as her question mark bangs.
No questions? If her questions went unasked, they might get bottled up. She could explode!

  “But science is all about questions, isn’t it?” she blurted out. “Like ‘What if?’ ‘Why?’ ‘How?’ If we can’t ask such questions here in Science-ology, where can we ask them?”

  Zeus frowned at her. But he also seemed a little impressed by her reasoning. “True,” he admitted. “However, for now I want you each to focus your attention on one question only.”

  The gold band on his left wrist flashed as he unrolled the scrollboard to the top. He pointed to the first step of the scientific method. “And that’s the question your project will answer.”

  “But—,” said Pandora.

  Zeus made another announcement before she could finish. “Your projects for the fair will be done in teams. You have ten minutes to choose a partner!”

  There was a sudden, mad scramble to pair up. Pandora automatically glanced at Poseidon. With a hopeful glint in her eye, she jumped up and went over to him. “Want to be my partner?” she asked.

  “Sorry, no can do,” he said, shaking his head. His blond hair flopped cutely over one eye, and she watched him push it back. “I want to win first prize,” he went on. “A lunch with all three of the judges would be awesome.”

  So that’s what the grand prize was. She must have missed hearing it when she was talking to Athena. But—wow! She’d like to win that herself.

  “Me too,” she told him. “I bet we could win it together?” When she was nervous or excited about something, she often turned statements into questions. Half the time she didn’t even realize she was doing it.

  “Well, no offense,” Poseidon said. “But I don’t think girls are all that great at science. I think Apollo is my best shot at winning.” He looked over at Apollo. “What do you say, bud?”

  “Partners it is!” said Apollo. They bumped knuckles.

  Pandora’s eyes narrowed. She felt like she’d just been issued a challenge. And also like she—well, not just her, all girls, really—had just been insulted. Why Poseidon would choose Apollo over her was a mystery. Apollo was the godboy of music, prophecy, and other stuff. But not of science!

  If Pandora were an immortal, she’d probably be the goddess of curiosity. And that was something you needed for a project like this. She’d show them. If it was the last thing she did, she was going to beat these two godboys in the science fair! Which meant she’d need a smart partner.

  Pandora slipped back into her own seat and turned around to talk to Athena. She was the star of the class. Teamed up, they’d be a shoo-in.

  “Hey, roomie. Want to be my partner?” Pandora asked, hoping no one else had already asked her. “With my scientific curiosity plus your brains, we’ll win for sure!”

  “Oh, gosh, thanks!” Athena giggled. “But—” She looked at a mortal boy named Heracles, who sat across the aisle from her.

  He smiled at Pandora apologetically. “Sorry. I already snagged her.” He was wearing his usual outlandish lion-skin cape. The lion’s jaws fit around his head as a hood. So it almost looked as if Heracles were speaking from out of its mouth! Of course, he was Athena’s crush, so it was no wonder she’d agreed to be partners with him.

  Disappointed, Pandora gave them a tight smile. “Okay, no problem.”

  She turned to her left. Iris and another goddessgirl named Antheia had their heads together. Apparently they were already partners too. She looked across the room. Two godboys named Hephaestus and Dionysus had partnered. At the far corner of the room, Makhai and Kydoimos were working together.

  Everywhere she turned, pairs. Looked like she was going to be left without a partner. How could that be when this was the one class in which her curiosity was bound to be a huge bonus? Why wasn’t everyone trying to snag her?

  “I don’t get it,” she murmured under her breath.

  “Don’t get what?”

  She looked up to see Epimetheus standing by her desk. “Nothing,” she said, feeling a little embarrassed. He must have noticed that she’d been left out. “It’s just that I hate it whenever we pick partners.”

  She was always picked last—if at all. And she could remember every single time it had happened. Like back in third grade, when they chose sides for javelin ball. Last. And earlier this year, when the lineup of flag team members was selected. Last again.

  If only Pheme or Medusa were in this class. One of them would partner with her. Unfortunately, many girls chose not to take Science-ology. Which was totally dumb, since it was the most fascinating subject ever, in Pandora’s opinion. When it came to science, there were questions to be asked everywhere you looked.

  “I’m not a ditz,” she informed him, still unsure whether he’d called her that in the hall or not.

  “Never said you were,” he agreed easily. “I think you’re smart.”

  “Smart? Really?” Did he have her confused with Athena?

  “Yeah. Only smart people question things.” He shifted from one foot to the other, as if a little nervous. Then he said, “So the reason I came over here is . . . Do you want to partner with Prometheus and me?”

  Gratitude welled up in her. But she was cautious. “Are you good at science?” she asked him.

  “Are you?” he countered.

  “Are you kidding?” She stood so she wouldn’t have to crane her neck so much to look at him. “Curiosity is a gift in the scientific world, you know. You’d be lucky to get me on your team.”

  “So is that a yes?” His gray-green eyes sparkled with amusement. Looking into them, Pandora could kind of understand why other girls found him cute. Not that she did, of course.

  She considered his offer. It wasn’t like she had any choice. It was either partner with the Titans or with the class pet hamster. Which Epimetheus happened to be holding in his palm. He was stroking its fur with his other hand. The hamster seemed to like it, because its big brown eyes had drifted closed.

  Everyone knew that Epimetheus liked animals. On his first day at MOA he’d had a huge argument with Heracles about that lion-skin cape he wore. He’d accused Heracles of cruelty for slaying the lion. He’d only dropped his complaint later when he’d learned that that particular lion had been on a rampage, killing mortals on Earth.

  “What’s up?” Prometheus had come over. He looked back and forth between them, a question in his eyes.

  “I asked Pandora to be our partner,” Epimetheus admitted.

  At this news Prometheus’s jaw gaped open so wide that he looked somewhat like the hood of Heracles’ lion cape. Only, without a boy’s head in his mouth. He frowned. “Bro,” he said, shaking his head. “I don’t think—”

  Epimetheus ignored him. “So what do you say?” he asked her.

  “There you go again, acting before you think things through,” Prometheus muttered.

  Pandora bristled on Epimetheus’s behalf. She’d often been accused of acting before thinking things through too, and she hated when people told her that. After shooting Prometheus a defiant glance, she smiled at Epimetheus. “Sure. I’ll partner with you.”

  Her reply made Epimetheus grin. “Awesome!”

  “Yeah, well, don’t do us any favors,” said Prometheus.

  But she was doing them a favor in a way, she decided. After all, they didn’t have many friends. On the other hand Epimetheus hadn’t needed to ask her to partner with them, since he had his brother as a partner already. So why had he asked her? Did it have something to do with that whole box business?

  She glanced Poseidon’s way and saw he was joking around with Apollo. Why couldn’t he have asked her to be a third partner with him and Apollo? Maybe it had just never occurred to him, like it hadn’t to her. At any rate, she’d already said yes to the Titans. So that was that.

  She looked back at Epimetheus, only to discover that he’d been studying her closely. Now his eyes flicked from her to Poseidon and back again.

  Pandora folded her arms defensively. “Did you only ask me to be partners so you can keep t
abs on me? Still worried your box had some weird effect on me just because I opened it?”

  “You did what?” Prometheus’s eyes bugged out. He shot an accusing look at his brother. “You let her—”

  “It was an accident,” she interrupted, though that wasn’t exactly true. She didn’t want to get Epimetheus in trouble with his brother.

  “How did you open it?” Prometheus asked her. He looked mad.

  “It was easy. Want me to show you?” She said this even though she knew Epimetheus hadn’t brought his box to class. Maybe this was her chance to find out what he’d done with it. “Where is it?” she asked innocently.

  “Somewhere safe,” said Epimetheus.

  “Yeah.” Prometheus crossed his fingers and the two boys shared a secret look. “So what was in it?” he asked her, in an eager tone of voice.

  “Yeah, you never said,” Epimetheus hinted.

  Godness, hadn’t either one of them ever thought of looking in their own box! Pandora wondered.

  “Bubbles,” she informed them. She didn’t add that all but one had escaped when she’d opened the box.

  The Titans both frowned in disbelief. “If you don’t want to tell us, fine,” said Epimetheus. Turning away, he went over to put the hamster back into its cage.

  Yeah, fine is right, thought Pandora. If they didn’t want to hear the truth, then whatever!

  Suddenly Principal Zeus spoke up, drawing everyone’s attention. “Have you all got partners?” he asked, looking around the room. Pandora was relieved that she didn’t have to raise her hand and say she didn’t. She was sure Zeus would be okay with one three-partner group, since there was an odd number of students in the class.

  “EXCELLENT!” said Zeus. “Then start discussing project ideas. By class time tomorrow, you should be ready to begin your research.”

  Pandora’s gaze fell on an Earth Science textscroll on Muse Urania’s desk, which gave her an idea. “How about if we do some kind of experiment to help mortals?” she suggested to her partners as soon as Epimetheus came back.

  “Like what?” he asked. She could tell from the interested expressions on the two boys’ faces that both were intrigued by her idea.