Aphrodite the Fair

by Joan Holub

  Aphrodite threw her arms wide across the open doorway. “Stop!” she yelled, appalled. “No fighting!” She wanted her team to win, but despite what she’d said to Ares by the lockers the day before, she did not want a battle on her hands. After all, she was the goddessgirl of love! Sure, she and Athena had kind of been avoiding each other lately, but at least they’d remained civil whenever they did meet. And though Athena wasn’t around right now, Aphrodite knew she’d have been just as upset by Makhai’s and Kydoimos’s behavior, too.

  Luckily, Aphrodite’s team obeyed her. To be sure none of them changed their minds and decided to go after Makhai and Kydoimos after all, however, she kept an eye on her remaining team members as they started up the stairs.

  She was about to go up herself when Ares came in behind her through the still-open front doors. He was wearing his new Fly like the Wind winged sandals that she’d bought for his birthday, so she assumed he’d been out on the obstacle course.

  “Hey,” he said. “How’s it going?”

  “Don’t you know?” she said stiffly. “Your team’s ahead with only Thursday and Friday to go.” Though she knew she shouldn’t expect him to do poorly in his classes on purpose, she was kind of miffed at him for the high grades he’d been getting lately. Grades that boosted Athena’s team scores, of course.

  He rubbed the back of his neck, looking a little frustrated. “About that,” he said. “Can we talk?”

  Aphrodite glanced toward the sundial in the courtyard. “Well, I’m kind of busy. I’ve got an extra-credit assignment to do to keep my grades up. But you can come with me if you want.” She shut the doors, then headed into the Academy, and he followed her down the hall to an empty classroom.

  Once inside, Ares glanced around the room, looking confused. “I don’t think I’ve ever been in here before,” he said. “Why are there so many mirrors everywhere? And what’s in all those boxes and jars on those shelves against the wall?”

  A smile tugged at Aphrodite’s lips as she grabbed one of the many life-size fake heads sitting on a nearby shelf. No, he probably hadn’t been in here. “This is Ms. ThreeGraces’ class,” she told him.

  “Oh, yeah. Beauty-ology, right? No wonder.” Ares wandered over to the shelves. When he opened a box at random, a magic makeup brush popped out. As it hovered in midair, directly in front of his astonished blue eyes, its bristles curved into a question-mark shape.

  “Huh?” he said, jerking his head back. “What does it want?”

  “Instructions,” Aphrodite said, giggling. “On how to do your face.” It was kind of adorable to see him befuddled by all the girly stuff in here.

  “Uh, no,” Ares told the brush, backing away. “None for me, thanks.”

  The brush reared back in surprise. In its mind, if it had one, it probably thought that everyone should wear makeup. Bristles drooping, the brush whisked back inside its box, whereupon the lid magically snapped shut behind it.

  Aphrodite sneaked a peek at herself in one of the room’s many mirrors as she sat down at a table with the fake head. She primped a little, straightening her chiton and patting a stray lock of golden hair into place as Ares ambled around, looking at stuff.

  “What was going on out there with Makhai and Kydoimos just now?” he asked casually. “They seemed happy about something, which usually spells trouble.”

  Aphrodite frowned into the mirror. Seeing little lines crop up at the corners of her mouth, she quickly adopted a neutral expression. “They got perfect scores on yesterday’s Science-ology quiz,” she told him as she studied the fake head on the table in front of her. Her extra-credit assignment was to design a “futuristic makeup look” using her imagination to envision what someone might wear a hundred years from now. Unfortunately, her imagination was feeling stretched at the moment.

  “No way!” Ares snorted. “Those two couldn’t study their way out of a papyrus bag.”

  “They bragged it was because of Athena’s study groups,” Aphrodite told him as she brushed powder onto her fake head’s face. “But some people on my team think they must have cheated somehow.”

  “Probably,” said Ares.

  “Really?” Aphrodite asked, looking over. “You’re not going to take their side? Figured you might since they’re on your team.”

  Ares shrugged. “They’re in my study group, but they’ve never once shown up.” He drummed his fingertips on the tabletop. “If they’re cheating, it’s wrong. But they may not be the only ones. Everyone’s getting desperate to win.”

  “Honestly, I’ll be glad when this is over.” With a sigh, Aphrodite turned back to her assignment. She worked quickly, smoothing orange shadow and lip gloss on the dummy face in a dramatic way. Then she stroked a long thick swoop of purple liner on both upper eyelids and added black triangles above and below the eyes. The idea that competing for grades could lead to cheating had never occurred to her before, but now that she thought about it . . .

  “She’s gotten bigger. Have you noticed?” Ares stopped drumming. Hopping up, he shoved his hands in the pockets of his tunic and began to pace the room.

  She shot him a quick glance, then added some glitter to her fake head. “Who?”

  “My sister. You know how in nature some animals can puff themselves up to appear more formidable? Cats? Toads? When she starts feeling more and more powerful, Eris gets bigger like that. Not huge or anything, but she’s at least a half-foot taller than usual now, and less scrawny. The ability is more unconscious than conscious, but when it happens, it definitely adds to her intimidation skills.”

  “Ye gods,” said Aphrodite, pausing in her work to stare at him. “You almost sound . . . afraid of her.”

  He came to sit next to her. “Yeah, I know I’m the godboy of war and I’m all about bravery and combat, but you don’t know Eris like I do. All the arguing around here? The fighting? That’s her.”

  Aphrodite’s eyes widened. “You mean she’s causing it? How? Why?”

  “I told you she’s the goddess of strife and discord at my party, remember? Trouble is what she does.”

  “Well, yeah, you did. But I just didn’t connect it to what’s going on here at MOA, I guess. The whole time she’s been here, I’ve spent all my time thinking of ways to keep my team’s grades up!” It was finally sinking in that he really didn’t want Eris here. And with good reason!

  In an attempt to lighten his mood, since she could tell he was upset, she turned the head she was working on toward him and asked, “So what do you think?”

  His eyes widened as he gazed at her project uncertainly. “It’s . . . um . . . kind of frightening, actually.”

  They both burst out laughing. “It is, isn’t it?” she said. “My assignment was to come up with a futuristic makeup look. I guess the future looks kind of scary to me at the moment.”

  Ares came over to sit on the table next to her and the head, his blue eyes earnest. “You have nothing to be afraid of, I promise. This contest will be over soon, and even if your team doesn’t win, what’s one more trophy anyway?” He chuckled. “You know, I actually thought for a while that that trophy of Eris’s might be enchanted. That it was making you and Athena want it.”

  “Really?” said Aphrodite. In the last few days, whenever Eris had stayed in her room, she’d let Aphrodite polish the trophy. And Aphrodite’s desire to possess it had only grown stronger with time. What Ares had just suggested was troubling, but on some level it had occurred to her, too. Had the trophy enchanted her? And maybe Athena, too?

  “Yeah,” Ares went on. “But Eris let me hold the thing, and I realized it was just a regular trophy. Not magic at all.”

  “Oh,” she said, relieved. Soon she hoped to possess that trophy forever, so she was glad Ares didn’t think there was any reason to avoid it.

  He reached for her hand and held it. “I miss hanging out like this. The way our friendship used to be. Before my sister showed up and started this whole contest thing.”

  “Me too,” Aphrodite said
. “But she has helped in a way, I suppose. Grades are going up because of her contest. ”

  Before he could reply, Dionysus appeared in the doorway. “There you are!” he exclaimed when he spotted Ares. He looked around the room and then grinned. “Getting some beauty tips?” he asked Ares.

  Ares let go of her hand and jumped up. “Godsamighty! We have study group before dinner. I almost forgot.”

  Dionysus straightened, nodding. “Good thing I found you. If we’re late . . .” He drew a finger across his throat. “Let’s just say Athena will get grumpy if she finds out we didn’t go.”

  Ares looked back over his shoulder at Aphrodite as he made for the door. “Talk later?”

  She nodded, still feeling troubled by all he’d said. Once the boys left the classroom, she quickly redid her makeup project to make it a little less frightening. Then she headed upstairs to the dorm to change her chiton before dinner. Not that it was dirty or anything. She just liked wearing different outfits for different activities. In her opinion, there was nothing wrong with changing clothes several times a day!

  On her way up, she met Athena and Persephone coming down. Both girls had been chatting away with their heads close together. But when they saw Aphrodite, they broke off talking. They nodded and smiled stiffly as they passed her by.

  Aphrodite’s heart sank. Was it too much to hope that her friendship with her three BFFs would return to normal with no hurt feelings once the grades competition ended? She hoped so.

  But first her team needed to win the contest. And she needed to win that trophy!

  8

  Poor Sports

  Ares

  AFTER DINNER, ARES ZOOMED BACK to the sports fields in his new winged sandals. Coach Triathlon was holding the first of several special workouts tonight for all the boys who’d signed up to participate in the upcoming Temple Games.

  Unfortunately, the tensions sparked by Eris’s contest had carried over to the workout. Ares could hardly believe it when a member of Aphrodite’s team, the normally mild-mannered Eros–the godboy of love, for godness’ sake–elbowed Makhai in the side, pushing him out of his lane as they and several others competed in a race.

  Apparently, the accusations that he and Kydoimos had cheated on the Science-ology quiz hadn’t gone away. Soon guys from both sides were facing off and having yet another shouting match.

  “We know you cheated!” Poseidon yelled at Makhai.

  “Yeah,” shouted Eros. “We just don’t know how yet!”

  “Leave Makhai alone!” Apollo yelled back. “You’re only jealous because Athena’s a better leader so our team is ahead!”

  “Right on!” someone else chimed in. “Just a bunch of losers on Aphrodite’s team!”

  Ares stepped between the two groups. It was getting weird around here when the godboy of war was the one settling all the fights, but his sister’s ability to cause discord never affected him as it did everyone else. So it looked like it was up to him to prevent all-out war during practice for the Temple Games!

  “Hey, now,” he shouted. “Can’t we all just get along–oomph!”

  Hades plowed into him, having been pushed from behind. Soon everyone was pushing and shoving everyone else.

  “Stop that! Right now!” Blowing on his whistle, an angry and red-faced Coach Triathlon came running over from another part of the field, where he’d been setting up a climbing net as part of the obstacle course. He quickly rounded the students up and made them sit in the grassy area in the center of the track.

  “Would someone explain to me what’s going on here?” he yelled in a voice that was almost as loud as Principal Zeus’s. Apparently, he hadn’t yet linked the ill will among the guys to the all-school grades contest, thought Ares. Though maybe he didn’t know about that, since only academic grades counted.

  When no one volunteered to explain, the coach went on to lecture them all about the importance of good sportsmanship. “Sometimes you’ll win and sometimes you’ll lose,” he told them. “But a good sport respects his opponent, plays fair, and enjoys the game, whatever the outcome.”

  Ares had heard this speech before. More than once. He glanced around at the others. They’d all heard it too, and he wasn’t sure how much of what the coach was saying was sinking in this time. Most of them were still scowling as they broke up later to work out on the obstacle course.

  And not long afterward, when he and Heracles were scrambling up the ropes of the first obstacle–the climbing net the coach had just set up–a stray discus almost beaned Heracles in the head.

  “Sorry!” Atlas yelled from across the field, but there was a note of satisfaction in his voice.

  “Yeah, right! I’ll make you sorry!” Heracles said, shaking a fist in the air. Then, looking at Ares, he muttered, “That Atlas has been pushing my buttons a little too hard.”

  Heracles wasn’t exactly acting even-tempered right now either, but Ares had about used up all the energy he had for that subject. As the two of them scaled the net wall, Ares’s muscles bulged and his breath huffed out. “Hey, you know how you were wondering if Eris’s trophy . . . could be putting . . . Athena and Aphrodite . . . under some kind of enchantment . . . to make them . . . mega-competitive?”

  “Yeah?” said Heracles.

  “I started to wonder . . . if you could be right.”

  They leaped to the ground and ran to the next obstacle, a series of magical hoops lying flat on the grass. The object was to quickly move across them, stepping in each hoop but not on them. They started across.

  “And?” asked Heracles. “Athena’s acting different . . . There’s got to be some reason . . .”

  “Not the trophy, though . . . Turns out it was just . . . a regular . . . trophy,” Ares explained, his breath still huffing. The hard part of this obstacle was that the hoops moved, so you had to chase them down sometimes. “I held it . . . To see for myself . . . No magic in it, though,” he went on as they both hopped around. Each time they successfully stepped inside a hoop, it lit up. The two boys finished the hoops and ran for the next obstacle.

  “So, I guess . . . we were barking up the wrong tree,” Heracles went on as they scaled a rope ladder up one side of a tree, then down the other.

  “Ha-ha . . . I get it,” said Ares, grinning at Heracles’ joke. Heracles grinned back.

  After dropping to the ground, the boys began to crawl over the grass on their bellies under a low-hanging net. “Your sister is . . . pretty intense,” Heracles said as they scooted along. “Is it true . . . she’s the goddess of strife and discord?”

  Ares shot him a questioning look, and Heracles answered simply, “Pheme.”

  Ares nodded. He dug his elbows and knees into the ground to scramble forward faster. Without going into the embarrassing details of his childhood, he said, “Yeah, it’s true.” His breath was coming in superharsh snatches now, as the boys slid and crawled their way along the course.

  Eventually, they reached the end of their crawl. Jumping to their feet, they ran to a weight-lifting station. Ares grabbed a barbell with fifty-pound weights on either end and began pumping it over his head. Grunting breathlessly between lifts, he said, “Eris gets . . . more powerful . . . by making trouble . . . like with this grades contest.”

  “Huh,” Heracles grunted in reply. Instead of just one one-hundred-pound barbell, he was pumping four, two in each hand, and without even breaking a sweat. He was so strong that the barbells could have been toothpicks with marshmallows stuck on either end for all the effort he was using to lift them. Ares wasn’t as strong as his friend, but on the other hand, he could outrace him.

  THONK! Heracles set down all four barbells, then asked, “Think Zeus knows how this competition is affecting everyone?”

  Ares frowned, dropping his too. “Nu-uh. So far, I think he’s got tunnel vision. For him, it’s all about improving our grades.”

  Coach Triathlon blew his whistle just then, signaling the end of practice. “Atlas, Apollo, Makhai, Eros, Poseidon!
” he shouted. “You five stay behind and put all the equipment away.”

  It probably wasn’t any accident that he’d asked those particular guys to stay, thought Ares. Anger was still sizzling between them, and Coach must’ve decided it would be good for them to have to work together under his direct supervision. As Ares and Heracles began walking back toward the Academy, Ares glanced over his shoulder to see that the coach was lecturing the five guys about good sportsmanship some more as they lugged equipment around.

  When he and Heracles stepped into the MOA courtyard, Ares spotted four girls at the far end of it practicing cheer. Aphrodite, Athena, Persephone, and Artemis. He and Heracles waved, but the girls weren’t looking their way.

  “Uh-oh,” said Heracles, nudging him. Ares glanced over to see that Aphrodite and Athena had stopped leaping around like the others. They appeared to be arguing.

  Ares made a move in their direction, but Heracles grabbed his arm. “God-dude!” he said, shaking his head. “Bad idea.”

  “You don’t think we should try to help?” said Ares.

  “And get them all mad at us, too? No thanks.” Heracles let go of his arm.

  Ares’s brow furrowed, but he could see the wisdom in what Heracles had said. “I’ll be glad when this contest is over,” he muttered as they crossed the courtyard. “I don’t even care which team wins.”

  “Me neither,” said Heracles. He glanced back at the girls. “I just can’t believe Athena’s acting like this. Or Aphrodite. Something’s come over them.” They’d reached the Academy’s bronze doors. “Hey, I’m going to hit the cafeteria for a snack before I go up,” Heracles said, pulling the doors open.

  Ares nodded, only half listening. “Later, then.” As he took the stairs to the fifth floor. Heracles’ words were echoing inside his head. Something’s come over them. Something’s come over them. Halfway down the dorm hall to his room, he suddenly remembered what Eris had actually replied when he’d asked if her trophy was enchanted: “You just said it felt like a plain ol’ trophy to you. So I hope you’re satisfied.”