Pandora the Curious

by Joan Holub

  Now that Pandora had gotten to know Epimetheus a little better, she didn’t want to believe he could be capable of such a betrayal. Still, he was likely as loyal to the Titans as she was to the Olympians.

  MOA was her home and she loved it. She’d even dyed her golden hair with streaks of blue to match the school colors. All things considered, that was a pretty mild way to show loyalty. Maybe Epimetheus and Prometheus had gone to even greater lengths to show their loyalty to their fellow Titans!

  Had Epimetheus been lying when he’d said he hadn’t known there were bubbles in the box? He and his brother had been awfully interested in Athena’s Trojan horse in the Hero-ology room. Maybe they had come to the Academy with their own trick horse.

  Only, instead of a toy horse full of Olympian warriors, their Trojan horse was a box full of trouble bubbles!

  8

  Trouble Bubbles

  PANDORA HUFFED AND PUFFED AS SHE RAN TO the cafeteria the next afternoon. Her last-period class, Gym-ology, had gotten out late, and she didn’t want to miss dinner.

  They’d started learning Beastie-ball last week. They’d studied the rules and practiced dribbling and throws. But today they’d had their first actual game.

  When the ball had come her way, her teammates had yelled, “Feed the beast!” So she’d dribbled down the court, heading for the beast that had stood waiting at the end. Its mouth had been open wide, ready for her to toss the ball inside.

  How many teeth did that beast have anyway? she’d suddenly wondered. One . . . two . . .

  “Keep your focus,” Coach had reminded her. So she’d stopped counting and kept on dribbling. Soon she’d been only ten feet from the goal. Things were going great.

  But then she’d noticed that Antheia, who was on the opposing team, was wearing an awesome wreath in her hair. Its flowers were constantly changing colors. How had she gotten it to do that?

  Whack! While Pandora’s attention was on the wreath, someone had hit the ball away in the middle of her dribble. The other team had stolen the ball from her! Oops!

  Her teammates had been annoyed with her for losing the ball. Could they blame her, though? She’d tried to follow the coach’s advice. It was just that everywhere she looked there were so many fascinating things to pique her curiosity!

  Now, as Pandora entered the cafeteria and got into the dinner line, her troubles bubbled back up inside her. Who could she talk to about her bubble box suspicions?

  Principal Zeus? No. She didn’t want him to know she’d caused all the trouble in the first place by opening a box that didn’t belong to her. He might punish her.

  Normally Athena was good at solving puzzles like this one. But since she’d been bubble-bumped, she wasn’t her usual brainy self. Still, maybe if Pandora could talk some sense into her, they could puzzle things out together.

  After grabbing a plate of nectaroni from the eight-handed serving lady, Pandora glanced over at the popular table. Athena wasn’t there. Neither were Aphrodite, Artemis, or Persephone.

  Disappointed, Pandora continued on to her usual table. She arrived just in time to hear Medusa complaining to Pheme, “Hey, you got more nectaroni than I did. That lunch, er, dinner lady must like you better.”

  Sometimes Medusa was sensitive to imagined slights, so at first Pandora didn’t think much of it. She set her tray down. “Want some of mine?” she offered.

  Medusa brightened. “Yeah. Thanks.”

  Pandora stared in dismay as that snaky girl then scooped most of the nectaroni off Pandora’s plate. She’d hardly left her anything to eat!

  “Where were you at lunch today?” Medusa asked, handing back Pandora’s nearly empty plate. “I didn’t see you.”

  “With Epimetheus and Prometheus,” said Pandora. “We were—”

  “Why are you hanging around with them?” Medusa interrupted. “Do you like them better than me? I’m your friend too, you know. You should only hang out with me from now on, okay? Pinky swear?”

  Pandora gaped at her. “Huh?” This was over-the-top behavior, even for Medusa. It was true that the two of them were friends. However, Medusa had never seemed to care about her all that much.

  In fact, when they’d been roommates in third grade, Medusa had sort of driven Pandora away by answering her questions with more questions. Like if Pandora said, “Have you done your homework?” Medusa would answer, “Why do you ask?”

  Or if Pandora said, “Do you think Poseidon’s cute?” Medusa would answer, “Do you think he’s cute?” Finally Pandora hadn’t been able to take it anymore and had requested a room reassignment.

  “And you know what friends do?” Medusa went on before Pandora could reply. “They give stuff to their friends.”

  Medusa looked over at Pheme. “Like that cute bracelet you’re wearing. Can I have it?”

  Pheme put her hand under the table to hide the bracelet. “Nuh-uh. It’s my favorite, and I want to keep it.”

  “Okay, be that way,” Medusa said, pouting. “Some friend you are!”

  Just then her attention was snared by something across the room. “Wow! I wonder where Iris got that adorable scrollbook with the rainbows on it. I’ve got to have it or I’ll die. Just die! I’m going to go ask her to give it to me.” She jumped up and ran after Iris.

  Pheme and Pandora watched her go in surprise. “Wow! That girl just put the g in ‘greedy,’ ” said Pheme.

  “Yeah, I agreedy. I mean, I agree,” said Pandora. Medusa hadn’t even eaten any of the nectaroni she’d taken from Pandora’s plate. Maybe she hadn’t asked for it because she was hungry, but because she wanted to possess it.

  Had Medusa been bumped by a “Greedy” bubble since the last time Pandora had seen her?

  Pandora looked over at the popular goddessgirls table again. Her heart sank when she saw that it was still empty. Where was Athena? The urge to talk over her troubles was overpowering.

  She knew she shouldn’t tell Pheme her suspicions. Still, the words were rising up in her throat, ready to spill. She opened her mouth.

  Luckily, before Pandora could speak, Pheme stood up. Her eyes were pinned on Medusa. “I think I’ll go find out what is up with her,” she said. “It could be something that everyone else at MOA should know about.” Eyes gleaming, she dashed off.

  Pandora finished her dinner alone. Then she piled up her tray with Medusa’s and Pheme’s trays, and took all three to the return. After leaving the cafeteria, she rushed up to the girls’ dormitory on the fourth floor.

  She stopped by her room just long enough to check for Athena. But she wasn’t there, either. If Aphrodite was in, maybe she’d know where Athena was. Pandora headed farther down the hall.

  Then she had an even better idea. She would tell Aphrodite that Athena, Artemis, and Persephone—her three best friends—had been bubble-bumped. By now Aphrodite must have noticed how odd they were all acting. Working together, maybe they could hatch a plan to fix things.

  If they could do that, they’d foil the Titan brothers’ plan—if they really did have one—to take revenge on the Olympians and overthrow Zeus.

  She knocked on Aphrodite’s door.

  “I’d love it if you’d leave a message,” said Aphrodite’s voice.

  “Can I come in?” Pandora eagerly called through the door.

  No reply. She knocked again.

  “I’d love it if you’d leave a message,” Aphrodite’s voice repeated.

  Then Pandora noticed the heart-shaped wipe-off notescroll hanging on Aphrodite’s door. She’d never seen it before, so it must be new. Attached to the notescroll was a pink feather quill pen. The voice seemed to be coming from it.

  “Are you a talking pen?” she asked. No reply. She tried knocking a third time.

  “I’d love it if you’d leave a message,” Aphrodite’s voice said yet again.

  The feather pen must be knock-activated, Pandora decided. Aphrodite obviously wasn’t here. She could be anywhere on campus or even out shopping at the Immortal Marketpla
ce. Quickly Pandora took the pen from its holder and began writing on the heart-shaped scroll.

  Urgent! Can you come to my room? ~Pandora

  She made the top of the d in her name into a question mark curl, like she always did.

  Then, even though she had no idea how long it might be before Aphrodite got her message, she went to her and Athena’s room to wait.

  She’d been in too big of a hurry when she’d stopped by their room minutes before to notice something. Athena had redecorated her bulletin board. Gone were the pictures of scientists that Athena normally adored. Instead she’d pinned up drawings of cute mortal heroes and godboys cut from various copies of Teen Scrollazine.

  Pandora’s eyes widened when she noticed a test-scroll on Athena’s desk with a B minus grade. Normally Athena made straight A pluses. Something was absolutely, definitely up with her!

  Pandora paced for a couple of minutes, hoping Aphrodite would hurry up and come. Then she picked up the glittery Magic Answer Ball that was on the shelf above her desk, and sat on her bed.

  These melon-size balls were made by fortune-telling oracles and were sold in the Immortal Marketplace. They were supposed to offer solutions to problems, but hers had never worked quite right. It always made oddball suggestions that didn’t quite make sense.

  Still, she had nothing to lose by giving it yet another try while she was waiting for Aphrodite. She held her hand out and set the ball in her palm.

  “Magic Answer Ball, how can I stop those bubbles from making trouble?” she asked it. Then she tossed the ball into the air.

  It hovered there for a few seconds, spinning crazily. Then, still suspended in midair, it stopped spinning. Solemnly it spoke its magic answer: “Hope.”

  Pandora gaped at it. “Hello? Hope? You think I should sit around and just hope things work out all right on their own? Well, you know what I think?” she told the ball as it silently sank to rest upon her open palm again. “I think you are hopelessly broken.”

  Just then Aphrodite knocked on her door, cracked it open, and poked her head in.

  Pandora tossed the ball aside and jumped up. “Ye gods, am I glad to see you!”

  “I just got back from Cheer practice. What’s up?” asked Aphrodite.

  “Bubble trouble,” said Pandora. “Have you noticed how weird Athena is acting?”

  Aphrodite shrugged and came inside. She was wearing her blue and gold uniform and had her pom-poms. “Sort of, I guess,” she said. “She was late for Cheer and couldn’t seem to remember the steps in the routines. But everyone has an off day.”

  “It’s more than that. You know that Titan boy Epimetheus?” said Pandora. “Did you hear about what happened last Monday?”

  “I heard you opened that mysterious box of his,” said Aphrodite. “Pheme told me. And everyone else.”

  “Well, what you don’t know—what nobody knows except the Titans and me—is that there were ten bubbles inside that box. All but one escaped when I opened it.”

  “Bubbles?” Aphrodite laughed. Then, seeing how serious Pandora looked, she stopped. “Really?”

  “Yes, really,” said Pandora.

  “Well, that’s definitely an odd thing to carry around in a box. But what does this have to do with Athena?”

  “I saw one of the bubbles pop against her face,” said Pandora. “And when it did, it whispered, ‘Ditz.’ Then another one bumped Artemis and whispered ‘Vain.’ And remember in the cafeteria when Persephone got so mad at you?”

  Aphrodite nodded. “Yes. So?”

  “Well, right before that happened I heard a bubble pop on her arm and whisper ‘Anger.’ Pandora paused. “Do you see what I’m getting at?”

  Aphrodite tossed her pom-poms onto Athena’s bed. “Let me get this straight. You actually think MOA has been invaded by personality-changing bubbles? That’s a little hard to swallow.”

  “I have evidence.” Pandora pointed at Athena’s bulletin board. “Exhibit A: No more scientist pictures.”

  Aphrodite studied the board. “Maybe she’s just in the mood to change things up a bit. Doesn’t prove she’s had a personality makeover.”

  Pandora got the test-scroll from Athena’s desk and held it up so Aphrodite could see the grade on it. “Exhibit B minus,” she announced.

  Aphrodite’s blue eyes rounded as she peered at the test-scroll. “Whoa! Athena made a B minus? That’s impossible!” She certainly looked worried now.

  Just then someone knocked on the door. “It’s me, Artemis. I want to show you something. Can I come in?”

  “Remember what I told you,” Pandora whispered to Aphrodite. “About Artemis being bumped by the ‘Vain’ bubble.” Then she called out, “It’s open!”

  When Artemis entered, both girls stared at her, momentarily speechless. Then, at the same exact time, they sank to sit next to each other on the edge of Pandora’s bed.

  Because Artemis, who usually couldn’t care less what she wore, was now dressed in a fabulous long purple chiton decorated with sparkly diamonds. A magnificent necklace strung with dozens of real gold beads and baubles was wrapped around her neck.

  But that wasn’t all. She was also holding a dog in her arms. Not one of her usual three big slobbery dogs, though. This one was new—a small white dog with bright eyes, a wagging tail, and a pink bow on its head.

  “Like my outfit?” Artemis asked them, striking a pose in the doorway.

  “Uh, sure,” said Pandora, shooting Aphrodite a See what I mean look. “But who’s that?” she asked, looking at the dog.

  “Oh, this is Cutie Pie,” Artemis explained. “She’s my new magic accessory dog. I bought her at the Immortal Marketplace today. Watch this.” Artemis touched a finger to the dog’s bow. “Purple plaid,” she commanded. The dog’s glossy white fur instantly changed color and pattern, turning to purple plaid fur!

  “What happened to your other dogs?” asked Pandora.

  Artemis flicked a careless hand in the air. “Oh, they don’t go with my outfit, so I left them in my room. But I think I might have to give them away.”

  “Give them away?” Aphrodite echoed in shock.

  “Uh-huh. I mean, they’re getting dog hair on my clothes and chewing on my sandals. It simply won’t do.” Artemis nuzzled the white dog, saying to it, “But you go with everything I wear, don’t you, Cutie Snooty Patootie Pie! And since you’re not real, you don’t shed or make messes!”

  Pandora leaned over and whispered to Aphrodite. “Exhibit C.”

  “Yeah, for Cutie Pie–crazed,” Aphrodite whispered back.

  Pandora nodded. “Or costume-crazed.” Usually Artemis cared nothing for fashion. And she loved those three drooly dogs in her room! The normal Artemis would never, ever consider giving them away.

  “What did you do with your bow and arrows?” Pandora asked suddenly. As goddess of the hunt, Artemis was an expert archer. An Olympic champion, in fact. She carried her bow and arrows everywhere. Normally.

  “Oh, I’m thinking of giving up archery,” said Artemis. “It just seems so . . . so unfashionable, you know?”

  At that moment the door opened and Athena walked in still dressed in her Cheer outfit. A look of confusion came over her face as she glanced at the other three girls.

  “Oops,” she said, backing out of the room. “Guess I got the wrong door.” She giggled. “Sorry to barge in on you, Aphrodite.”

  “Wait,” said Pandora, jumping up to go after her. “This is your room, not Aphrodite’s.”

  “It is?” Athena curled a lock of her long brown hair around a finger.

  “Yes,” Aphrodite and Pandora said at once. Artemis didn’t say anything. She’d spotted Pandora’s half-open closet and had gone over to study the clothing hanging inside it.

  As Athena came back into the room, she stared blankly around it. A flicker of recognition finally entered her eyes when she focused on the new pictures on her bulletin board. “Oh, yeah,” she said, giggling again. “Silly me.”

  Pandora looked
from Athena to Artemis. Speaking to them both, she said, “Can I tell you guys something for your own good? You are not yourselves right now.”

  “She’s got a point,” Aphrodite chimed in. “Artemis, you never cared about fashion before—”

  “Are you kidding?” Artemis interrupted. She pulled out one of Pandora’s chitons and held it up, checking herself out in the full-length mirror. “I live for fashion. Ask anyone.”

  Pandora turned to Athena. “As for you, no offense, but you’re acting more featherbrained than brainy. Truth is, I think you and Artemis are both under some kind of spell.”

  Athena scrunched up her nose, looking confused. “Spell? Oh, I’m not very good at spelling. Not if a word’s more than four letters long.” She held out her hand, showing three fingers. Then she giggled once more and stared off into space.

  Pandora tried again. She had to get through to them! “Athena, you’re usually a whiz at math, remember? But now you can’t count to four? I’m telling you—something is wrong with you.”

  Artemis, who was still admiring her reflection, overheard. She shot an alarmed glance in Athena’s direction. “Does she have spots? A rash? I hope it’s not catching.” Worriedly she studied her reflection in the mirror again. “Red spots would definitely not go with my purple outfit!”

  Tearing herself away from the mirror at last, she edged around Athena and headed for the open door. “I think I’d better go to my room. I can’t risk marring my delicate complexion.”

  The second she left, Medusa’s snaky head popped in. She scowled at Athena, Pandora, and Aphrodite. “How come you didn’t invite me to your party? Are there any snacks I can have?” She held out an enormous empty bowl, waiting pointedly.

  “Exhibit, um,” Pandora whispered to Aphrodite. She’d forgotten which letter her exhibits were up to. “Exhibit M for Medusa,” she said at last. “I didn’t see it happen, but I think she was bubble-bumped too. By a ‘Greed’ bubble.”

  “Did someone say ‘party’?” Athena asked. She bounced on her toes, clapping. “Count me in. I adore parties.”