by Joan Holub
As Athena nodded her approval, Persephone clasped her hands in delight. “They’re so cute! So how’s this all going to work?”
Though the contest had originally been Zeus’s idea, Athena was one who had mostly figured out how to organize it. “We start with sixty-four entrants, who’ll each get one of the scrolls in this helmet, and then compete in pairs. The victors in this round will receive another scroll and move on to a second bout,” she explained.
“There are only two of each ribbon design,” Artemis added. “Matching ribbons mean match-ups of two opponents who once fought each other in a famous battle.”
Reaching into the helmet, Athena pulled out the only two scrolls tied with red-and-white polka-dot ribbons. “So a pair of competitors will get these two scrolls today. They’ll each represent one of the two historical opponents in a battle and reenact that swordfight. Six rounds of reenactments will gradually narrow the field of sixty-four to a single winner.”
“I get it,” said Persephone. “So sixty-four narrows to thirty-two, then sixteen, then eight, then four, then the final two.”
The very last battle would be the highlight of the day, and Athena was determined to make it all the way to that final competition—and win it! She wanted to make Zeus and Hera proud. Maybe then they’d remember who their favorite daughter was! (Hint: Not Hebe!)
7
Greek Fest
Pallas
IT WAS SATURDAY, THE MORNING of the Greek Fest in Athens. Pallas, Eurynome, and a chariot full of excited villagers from Triton were traveling through the air toward a complex of buildings on a hill known as the acropolis, which was the site of the festival. “Wow! Look!” shouted a young boy, pointing to the many colorful flags that marked the festival’s location.
So far, Pallas had managed to keep her dad from discovering that she’d mangled his sword. She had brought it along today in hopes of speaking to the godboy, Hephaestus, about fixing it in his forge. However, she would leave it in the chariot till she found him. Agamemnon and Achilles had promised to meet and lend their swords to Eurynome and her before the reenactments began, and she wouldn’t be able to carry two swords in the sheath at her side.
The minute the chariot landed, everyone stepped out and took off up the hill to Athena’s greatest temple, the Parthenon. Eurynome gazed with big eyes at the rectangular building. “It’s enormous!” she exclaimed.
Pallas nodded, feeling awed. The inside of the temple was just as amazing. “Wow!” she breathed as they toured it. Just think, a whole temple dedicated to her BFF. There was even a huge statue of Athena at the far end.
For twelve years they’d lived together like sisters back in Triton, just doing everyday stuff. Who would have ever dreamed that Athena would one day have a magnificent temple like this? In spite of everything she’d been feeling lately, in this moment Pallas felt proud of her friend. Would they finally run into each other today? What would they say? Would Athena be happy to see her?
Outside the temple again, she and Eurynome began to walk around it. Forty-six fluted Doric columns surrounded its outer edge. (She counted!) Painted sculptures showing scenes from an Athenian festival decorated the top of the temple’s outer walls in bright blue, red, gold, and white.
A clanking sound accompanied the girls as they walked, since they’d both worn armored shirts in preparation for the competition. “This armor sure is noisy,” noted Eurynome.
“Bulky, too,” said Pallas, “but I’m getting used to it.” Although contestants were required to wear armor in the battles, it was more for show than in case of accidents. After all, their blades would be bespelled to protect them all.
Mortals and immortals from every land had been invited here today. And there would be many other events and activities besides the battle reenactments.
Clank! Clank! The girls stepped over to a low wall just beyond the Parthenon and peered down at the amphitheater far below, where those battle reenactments would be held later in the day. For now an entertaining dramatic play called The Iliad, written by a popular teenage boy author named Homer, was being performed in the theater.
As Pallas and Eurynome strolled around the grounds outside the temple, they passed booths that had been set up in anticipation of the day’s event. Some were small shops selling food or trinkets, and the girls each bought a little something. There were game booths too, such as the ever-popular Dunk the Immortal.
Eurynome grabbed Pallas’s arm in excitement. “Ooh! Look! Is that Poseidon sitting on the dunking seat?”
Pallas looked over and nodded. A long line of mortals and immortals snaked up to the booth. Apparently lots of people were hoping to dunk the famous godboy of the sea. When Pallas had gone to MOA to visit Athena that one time, she’d been mega-excited to see Poseidon too.
“I met him when I slept over at MOA,” Pallas informed Eurynome. “He’s really cute but kind of drippy.”
They clanked past more booths. The strongman one featured Athena’s crush, Heracles, who was wearing his trademark lion-skin cape. CRUNCH! Wielding his enormous club, time after time he smashed boulders twice his size to delight his audience. Amazed at this show of strength, the crowd that had gathered around him applauded and cheered.
Pallas had never actually met Heracles, so now she studied him with interest. Athena had said she’d helped him with some jobs called labors a while back. Since Athena was so brainy, it was kind of surprising that she would crush on someone so brawny. Not that brains and brawn couldn’t ever go together, of course. Zeus had big muscles. And he was so smart that he was King of the Gods! But still.
The girls strolled on, taking everything in. One of the booths in the art area soon caught their attention.
“Hey, look at those cutout thingies,” said Pallas, nudging Eurynome. She pointed at a group of life-size painted images of immortals that stood scattered around a grassy area, like big paper dolls. Only these were made of flat pieces of wood. An oval section had been cut out of each where the immortal’s face would normally be.
“You need a ticket,” a boy informed them in a superior tone. It was Agamemnon, waving a ticket he’d bought under their noses, and Achilles was with him. “And those cutout thingies are called stand-ins, by the way.”
“That’s because you stand in back of them and poke your head through the hole where the face should be,” Achilles explained. “And an artist draws your picture so you look like you’re the immortal. Fun, huh?” He was also holding a ticket.
While they all watched a bunch of people poking their heads through the holes in the stand-ins, the two boys unsheathed their swords and passed them to the girls. These were the swords Eurynome and Pallas would use for the reenactments today. Both were shiny, straight, and true and of better quality than any the girls had ever owned or used.
“Nice,” said Eurynome, admiring Agamemnon’s sword, which Achilles had named Briseis.
“Here you go,” Achilles told Pallas as he gave her his sword. “Meet Evgenís.”
“You named your sword ‘Noble’?” she asked him, smiling.
“Agamemnon named it that, actually,” Achilles told her.
“Hmm. Well, I still like the name in spite of that,” she half-joked. She spoke quietly, so only Achilles would hear, and he laughed.
As both girls sheathed their borrowed swords in the scabbards at their sides, Eurynome nodded in the direction of the stand-ins. “Those look like fun. Want to do it?” she asked Pallas.
Pallas agreed readily. After waving bye to the boys, they went to buy tickets.
“Right,” said the man in charge of the sales booth. “Just choose your favorite immortal cutout, and the artist assigned to it will draw you a ten-by-twelve-inch caricature of your face on the immortal’s body.” He gestured toward the nearest artist. She was drawing a picture of Agamemnon, who was now posing in the cutout of Zeus.
Farther off, Achilles went to stand in the only other available cutout at the moment—Hera. He smiled goofily, batting his
eyelashes at the small crowd gathering around the artist who was drawing him. The two girls joined that crowd and watched the artist sketch Achilles wearing a stylish chiton, with beautiful blond hair styled atop his head. It was hilarious!
“Achilles is a girrrrl!” Agamemnon sing-songed in a voice that floated out across the lawn.
“Smart choice!” Heracles yelled to Achilles from over at the strongman booth. “If you ever need a disguise, it’s perfect, mortal-dude!”
Agamemnon frowned, but Pallas grinned. She admired Achilles for not being afraid to act silly!
“Agamemnon probably wishes now that he’d thought of posing in the Hera cutout himself,” said Eurynome, giggling.
“Yeah,” Pallas agreed. “Typical. It was pretty nice of Heracles to stick up for Achilles like that, though.” Athena had chosen her crush well, it seemed.
“C’mon, let’s do this,” Eurynome told Pallas. Breaking away from the crowd around Achilles, she dashed to stand in line for the Aphrodite cutout. Pallas darted in the other direction to pose in the Athena one. These two goddessgirls were very popular, and they had to wait to take their turns. But it was worth it!
Pallas planned to hang her new portrait on her bedroom wall once she was home again. For now she tucked it into the cross-body bag she’d bought at a crafts booth earlier.
The girls had come full circle around the Parthenon, when suddenly a clear voice rang out from the top of the Parthenon steps. Pallas looked over to see Athena standing there!
“Mortals and immortals! Welcome to the Greek Fest!” Athena greeted everyone, smiling out at the crowds. “My father, Zeus, was supposed to make this announcement. However, he has been, um, delayed.” Her smile wilted briefly, but then sprang to life again as she continued. “So anyway, I want to thank you all for coming. I hope you’ll visit the booths and explore the acropolis. Your purchase of game tickets, food, and arts and crafts at this event will go to support the building of the new Cynosarges Community Center for the people of Athens.”
Athena paused as cheers rose briefly at that announcement, and then she went on. “The center will feature gardens, fruit orchards, and olive groves for all to enjoy, plus a gymnasium for athletic training in skills including boxing, wrestling, and sword-fighting. Speaking of which, I hope everyone’s excited about the battle reenactments. I know I am!” Here, she grinned, and more cheers sounded.
Then everyone listened closely as Athena continued. “The reenactments will be held at three locations around the acropolis—arenas A, B, and C—beginning in two hours and continuing throughout the day. The sixth, final battle between the last two remaining contestants will be held in the Theatre of Dionysus, and it’s sure to be thrilling. Because no matter how the real battles turned out, anyone can win today. There’s a big stage and plenty of seats, so come join in the fun, cheer for your favorites, and see who claims final victory to win this amazing sword!” At this, the crowd went wild with anticipation and began looking around for the sword.
On cue the goddessgirls Aphrodite and Persephone brought forth the grand prize sword that Pallas had seen on the poster. At the sight of the gleaming blade with its ruby jewel, the crowd applauded.
The goddessgirl Artemis moved up the steps to join Athena and hold up a large golden helmet upside down. “All sixty-four of those signed up for the sword reenactments may come forward now to receive their first sets of scrolls with assignments for bouts from this helmet,” she instructed. “For later bouts, scrolls will be available at the three arenas throughout the day leading up to the final event.”
Those who had entered the competition, including Eurynome and Pallas, began to form a line. As they shuffled toward Artemis and the helmet, Eurynome leaned over to Pallas and whispered, “Who do you think the new community center will be dedicated to?”
“Probably an immortal. Maybe Athena herself,” said Pallas. While they waited in line, she watched Athena smoothly answering questions from the throng of fans and attendees who surrounded her now. She seemed incredibly comfortable being in charge of everything.
The line moved forward a bit, and a cloud of unhappiness and uncertainty settled over Pallas. This was a totally different Athena than she remembered. “Being a goddessgirl sure makes you confident,” she murmured to Eurynome. “Athena is talking to teachers, goddessgirls, and even godboys like it’s no big deal!” I could never do that, Pallas thought. How well did she even know Athena anymore?
“Yeah, and teachers and godboys aren’t the easiest people to talk to,” Eurynome said in an admiring tone. “I’ve always liked Athena. I remember she was supernice to me when I first came to Triton Junior High. On my very first day she saw me in the hall looking kind of lost and showed me where my locker was.”
Pallas’s spirits lifted some. “That’s Athena. Supernice.” That much about her friend probably hadn’t changed, she hoped.
When it was their turn, the two girls each pulled scrolls from the helmet, then hurried back down the steps to untie them. “I got the battle of the Amazon Penthesilea versus the Greek hero Makhaon,” said Pallas after they left the line. “I’m playing Penthesilea. What’d you get?”
“The Trojan War. Paris versus Menelaus,” said Eurynome. “I’m Paris of Troy. Hope things turn out better for me than they did for him, since the Trojans lost.”
“Just remember what Athena said,” Pallas reminded her. “We can win in the reenactment even if our character lost in reality!”
“Good thing!” Eurynome stuck her scroll into her bag. Then she pulled out a small folded piece of papyrus. “Hey, I almost forgot. I got us both something at one of the artist’s booths while you were still posing in the Athena cutout. For good luck in our competitions.”
She pulled out a necklace with a purple P charm on it and handed it to Pallas. Then she showed Pallas a similar necklace with an E charm for “Eurynome.” The E was red to match the red streaks in Eurynome’s medium-brown hair. The purple P matched the color of the streaks in Pallas’s hair.
“How sweet! Thanks,” said Pallas, admiring it. “I can use all the luck I can get today.” Quickly she helped Eurynome clasp the red charm necklace around her neck.
As Eurynome was fastening the P charm necklace around Pallas’s throat, Athena, Aphrodite, Artemis, and Persephone happened to walked by. On seeing Pallas, Athena came to an abrupt halt. “Pallas!” she yelled in a high-pitched, thrilled-sounding voice. Then she dashed over and enveloped Pallas in a hug, which wasn’t easy to do, since both girls were wearing armor.
Afterward, feeling ecstatically happy, Pallas said hi to the other goddessgirls and quickly introduced Eurynome. Was it just her imagination, she wondered, or did a slight cloud come over Athena’s face when she realized that Pallas had come to the festival with a friend? It disappeared quickly, though.
Athena’s gaze went to the purple P necklace that Pallas wore. “Love your charm!” she commented, her blue-gray eyes sparkling.
“It’s kind of a good luck charm,” Eurynome put in. “I bought it for her at one of the artist booths. You know, doing my part to support that new Cynosarges Center you were talking about a minute ago.”
Uh-oh, Pallas thought. Would Athena think Eurynome’s gift meant more than it really did, that it meant Eurynome had replaced Athena as Pallas’s BFF? Of course, Athena and her three goddessgirl friends were all wearing their gold GG charm necklaces too. Which was kind of the same. Still, no way did Pallas want Athena to think she no longer considered Athena to be her one and only BFF. Nervous knots filled Pallas’s stomach at the thought of her true BFF getting the wrong idea about Eurynome.
“Hmm. Too bad I didn’t bring my good luck charm. But he’s a little big to lug around,” said Athena. Her eyes twinkled, and Pallas could tell she wasn’t annoyed.
Pallas relaxed immediately at this reference to an inside joke. “Woody, you mean? Ha! I could just see you carrying him as a shield in one arm while you try to wield your sword with your other arm during the competitions.”
“Woody would never work as a shield,” said Athena.
“Or wood he?” Pallas replied quickly. Which made Athena crack up.
Suddenly they were both smiling, and it felt just like old times. Athena wasn’t a hoity-toity goddessgirl. She was just Athena, Pallas’s best pal.
“What’s a ‘wood he’?” asked Eurynome. She and the other three goddessgirls were staring at the two old friends with bemused expressions.
“Woody is Athena’s toy horse,” Pallas explained. Then she told how as a little kid Athena had clung to the wooden horse whenever she was scared or needed some luck.
Artemis looked at Athena. “Oh, yeah. You brought him to MOA the day you enrolled, right?”
“Mm-hm, and Medusa teased you about him your first time in Hero-ology class, remember?” said Aphrodite.
Athena rolled her eyes comically. “How could I forget?”
Soon the girls began walking along as a group and moved on to other topics. The goddessgirls exclaimed over Pallas’s and Eurynome’s streaked hair, admiring it. Pallas had forgotten how nice these goddessgirls all were. And Eurynome was fitting right in. Mega-cool!
Hearing a splash and screeches of laughter, they arrived at the dunking booth just as Poseidon came up sputtering and soaked to the skin. “Who did that?” he growled, since it appeared that several mortals had been tossing balls at the same time.
The mortal who had successfully thrown the ball that had released the lever stopped laughing and now looked a little worried. So did the rest of the audience. Offending a godboy was never wise.
Then Poseidon unexpectedly grinned. “Gotcha!” he said, starting to laugh. He’d only been pretending to be angry!
A girl with turquoise hair appeared and stepped up beside the dunk tank to speak. Pallas and Eurynome craned their necks to get a better look at her.
