by Joan Holub
Pallas nodded. She wasn’t going to let Eurynome sacrifice her chance to win the competition. That wasn’t what true friends did.
“Thanks, Pal. I knew I could count on you!” said Athena. Then she and Eurynome dashed off.
Not long after they left, the baby began whimpering. Pallas offered her a finger to hold, but Hebe batted it away. Unfortunately, the pacifier was nowhere to be found in the stroller. Hebe’s whimpering grew louder, and then she started to cry.
“Sorry about the pacifier. Would you like a toy instead?” Pallas asked her sweetly. “I’ll see if I can find one.”
As she was searching among the baby things scattered around on a blanket on the ground, the baby’s cries got louder and louder. “Whoa! You sure take after Zeus. He’s loud too!”
Spotting a squeak toy, she plucked it from the blanket. Behind her the baby’s crying stopped for some reason. “There, there,” Pallas heard Athena say in a soft voice. “It’s okay, Hebe. Everything will be all right.”
Pallas jumped to her feet. “You came back!”
Athena looked over at her and smiled. “Mm-hm.” She was holding her baby sister in her arms and rocking her gently.
“But what about the competitions?” Pallas asked. “I thought you needed to be at the acropolis to help organize. And aren’t you competing too?”
“Not till later,” said Athena. “I ran into Ares and Apollo on the way there. Their first bouts are later, too, so they’ll help out with things for now.”
“You didn’t have to come back,” said Pallas, handing her the squeak toy. “I could’ve taken care of Hebe by myself.”
“I know,” said Athena. “But what kind of friend would I be if I took advantage of your generosity? Besides, if we both look after her for a while, we’ll get to visit with each other more!”
Any remaining doubts Pallas might have had about Athena’s friendship crumbled to dust right then. Hebe gurgled, and Athena smiled down at her, showing her the toy. When Athena squeezed it, the toy squeaked and then spoke: “Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back.”
“That’s Plato,” Athena murmured to the baby. “Best writer ever. You’re going to love him.”
“Hebe’s growing on you, isn’t she?” Pallas said softly.
Athena looked up at her in surprise, then back down at the baby. “Yeah, I guess she is,” she mused in a wondering tone.
“I could have told you she would,” said Pallas. “You’re going to be an awesome big sister.”
“Think so?” asked Athena, sounding unsure.
“I know so,” said Pallas. Athena excelled at everything she did, after all.
Hearing grown-up giggling in the distance, Pallas asked, “So do you really think there’s some kind of curse or spell on your dad and the others? If there is, I don’t see how Hebe could be responsible. She’s just a baby.”
“An immortal baby,” Athena reminded her. “Who knows what powers she may have?”
Just then Hebe began to cry again. Waa! Athena cooed to her and rocked her more, but Hebe only cried harder. “What do you think is wrong?” Athena asked, sounding distressed. “She can’t be hungry. Hera fed her a little while ago.”
“I’ll check her diaper,” said Pallas. She slipped a hand inside the onesie the baby was wearing. “Nope, dry,” she reported. “Thing is, babies cry an average of two hours a day.”
“Really?” Athena said in surprise.
Pallas nodded. “I learned that in a class I took with Eurynome before we started babysitting together.” It was fun to be the expert on the subject of babies. For once, she knew stuff the famous, amazing goddessgirl Athena didn’t!
“What else can we try?” Athena asked desperately when Hebe kept on crying.
“Change the position you’re holding her in,” advised Pallas. “I couldn’t find her pacifier, but I’ll look again.” As Pallas rummaged in the stroller for it, Athena shifted Hebe so she was holding her upright instead of sideways. Still, Hebe continued to wail. “Argh. Can’t find it,” Pallas said, giving up the search after a minute.
“Never mind,” said Athena. “I just spotted it. Look!”
Pallas glanced up in time to see Muse Urania, who’d come down from the tree, go skipping by with the pacifier in her mouth. How and when the teacher had managed to grab it out of the stroller was a mystery. She popped it out just long enough to stop to take a drink from a three-tiered fountain at the edge of the olive grove, before merrily continuing down the path.
Waa! By now Hebe was crying at the top of her lungs.
“Hey, see that fountain? Let’s wheel her over there,” suggested Pallas. “Some babies are calmed by the sound of running water. Another tidbit I learned in that class.”
“Good idea! Because that’s actually Hebe’s fountain, the one she magically appeared in. And Ms. Hydra, the office assistant, told me she likes hearing its water bubble.” Athena set the wailing baby into her stroller, and together the girls pushed her close to the burbling fountain. Instantly the baby calmed, and her eyes closed drowsily. She was falling asleep again!
Athena flopped onto her back on the grass beside the stroller. “Thank godness!” she said with a relieved laugh. “Must be why my dad lugged that fountain here to the festival. He knew it would calm her.”
Pallas flopped onto the grass alongside Athena. “Good thing he’s strong. That fountain looks mega-heavy.” Not only was the fountain three tiers tall, but it was also made of solid stone!
Just as the baby fell asleep, Eurynome returned. Her hair was untidy and she had a scuff on one shin guard. “Victory!” she called, punching a fist in the air.
Waa!
“Oops! Sorry,” said Eurynome, putting a hand over her mouth. But it was too late. The baby was awake and crying again.
Ping! Ping! Ping! The lyrebell they’d heard earlier sounded once more. Pallas jumped to her feet. “I’d better go. Time for my reenactment in arena B!”
Eurynome had begun to gently jiggle the stroller, and already Hebe was quieting. “Good luck!” she and Athena wished Pallas in low, non-baby-waking voices as she dashed off.
Arriving just in time for her bout, Pallas saw that her opponent was a green girl with snakes for hair. Medusa! Today the girl wore eyeglasses. Thank godness for that, because as everyone knew, these special glasses prevented Medusa’s gaze from turning other mortals like Pallas to stone.
The MOA herald struck his lyrebell with a little hammer. Ping! Ping! Ping! “Welcome to the battle of the Amazon Penthesilea versus the Greek hero Makhaon!” he told the crowd. “Meet the competitors!”
“I’m playing Penthesilea,” Pallas called out, waving cheerily to the crowd.
“And I am to be Makhaon,” Medusa announced, taking a bow. All of her snakes bowed too, much to the amusement of Pallas and the audience.
The herald whipped out a scroll and read aloud to Pallas and Medusa the three rules of engagement. They were:
1. Swords are bespelled to prevent injury. Other than those spells, magic is not allowed.
2. If your opponent says “Stop,” swords go down. Stop the bout immediately.
3. Competitors will accept the judges’ declaration of the winner, to be based on the number of hits and fouls as well as crowd approval.
Turning to the audience, the herald reminded them in a loud voice that although the two contestants would be playing particular characters in an historic battle, either of them could win here. “So root for your favorite!” he called.
Everyone cheered. Many had probably come hoping certain battles would turn out differently today. For some people in the crowd, these battles were a chance to redeem a loss, which made the reenactments much more exciting and fun to watch.
At the end of this one, however, Pallas emerged victorious, the same as Penthesilea had in the original battle. It hadn’t been easy. Medusa’s snakes could be formidable, hissing and lunging to help defend the green girl. Not that Medusa needed help. Her off
ense was amazing, but Pallas saw an opening and scored just enough points to prevail.
When she went over to thank Medusa for the bout afterward, Pallas immediately noticed something amiss. One of the snakes on the green girl’s head was drooping and looking cross-eyed.
“Ooh! Your poor snake. It looks dizzy!” Pallas exclaimed.
“Must have been the spin I did in my last maneuver.” Medusa reached up to pet the droopy snake. “Sorry, Sweetpea,” she told it.
“Yeah, that spin of yours was awesome. It really threw me off balance,” Pallas agreed.
Athena had told her that Medusa had given names to all twelve of her snakes and considered them pets. And although this green girl had been mean to Athena earlier in the year, Pallas had been glad to read in one of Athena’s letters a while back that they got along okay now.
Pandora came by a minute later, and Medusa took off with her to visit the arts and crafts booths. While Pallas headed for her second match in the competition, she thought about Athena and Eurynome and hoped they were doing okay and having a good time taking care of Hebe. Her second bout turned out to be a reenactment of the battle of Ares versus the giant Mimon. A Titan boy named Epimetheus acted as Ares and was her opponent. She got the role of the giant!
In the real battle, Ares had won. But today Pallas was victorious. In a final maneuver that Achilles had taught her, she used some fancy footwork to throw Epimetheus off-balance as he thrust his sword toward her. It fell to the ground and so did he. Knowing she’d bested him, she felt like a giant!
Afterward, good sport that he was, Epimetheus came over to shake her hand. Then he left to find Pandora and Medusa and hang out. Pallas recalled Athena saying something about an incident between Pandora and Epimetheus. It had involved some magical trouble bubbles that had ended with the pair crushing on each other. Apparently the crush was still in effect.
Pallas was hurrying off to her third bout when she passed Eurynome racing to get to her second one in a different arena.
“Athena just left for her first bout,” Eurynome paused to tell Pallas.
“Baby report?” Pallas asked breathlessly.
Eurynome grinned. “All good. Persephone is back from seeing her mom home. So she and Aphrodite are taking care of Hebe. We fed and burped her and changed her diaper, and now she’s sleeping.”
Just then Athena was passing them, but she screeched to a halt to say hi. “I’m off to reenact Heracles versus the Nemean lion. I’ve got the role of Heracles. And Princess Urania, one of the daughters of King Pierus of Macedon, will play the ‘lion’ I’m battling. Wish me luck!”
“Good luck!” they all told each other. They hugged quickly, then dashed off in opposite directions. Pallas had a feeling the lion was going to lose in Athena’s battle, just like it had in the real one!
As the sword contests proceeded throughout the day, all three girls continued to win their bouts and advance to higher-level competitions. Meanwhile, Athena’s other goddessgirl friends took charge of Hebe.
After the third round, the field of sixty-four competitors had narrowed to eight, including Pallas, Athena, and Eurynome. After the fourth round, only four competitors were left, but Pallas didn’t know if Athena and Eurynome had made it through. It was time for their fifth preliminary bout. If Pallas succeeded in that round, she would be one of the two finalists. Fingers crossed!
10
Crossing Swords
Pallas
WOO-HOO! FILLED WITH JOY AND brimming with new confidence, Pallas twirled and leaped her way to the Theatre of Dionysus below the acropolis. She’d won her fifth bout, which meant she had now made it to the sixth and most important bout: the finals!
Taking a chance that Hephaestus might finally make an appearance at the highlight of the festival, she had stopped by the Triton chariot. Now her dad’s crumpled sword rested in her cross-body bag, and she carried Achilles’ sword Evgenís sheathed at her side. She was tired, but delighted to have made it this far in the competition. It suddenly seemed as though she actually had a shot at winning that grand prize sword!
Due to her detour to the chariot, the amphitheater was already packed with crowds when she arrived. She loped down one of the long aisles between the rows of bench seats, toward the stage. The seats at the front were made of gold-tinted marble. Wow! She spotted Artemis, Aphrodite, Persephone, Ares, Apollo, and other immortals in the audience. Including Zeus! He seemed to be behaving at the moment, though he was bouncing rather excitedly in his front-row seat.
Eurynome was there too, seated on the end of the first row with the baby stroller beside her and the fountain next to that. Athena must’ve asked someone to bring the fountain along to help keep the baby quiet. Probably Zeus or Heracles had moved it, since they were the strongest guys around. Anyway, Hebe wasn’t making a peep, so the fountain was doing its job!
Pallas ran over to Eurynome and dropped off her bag. “I was hoping you’d make it to the finals too.” She raised her eyebrows at her friend in question.
“Ares knocked me out of the running in the fourth round,” Eurynome said, shrugging good-naturedly. “I’m just happy I made it as far as I did.”
“Whoa! I bet he was a tough opponent,” Pallas told her. Fortunately, she hadn’t had to battle the godboy of war—so far.
Eurynome nodded. Standing up now, she angled the stroller so that Hebe was better shaded from the sun. “He was. I’m so glad you made it to the final, though. I wonder who you’ll be up against. Not Ares, I hope.”
“Ye gods, I hope not, too. Artemis wouldn’t tell me the other finalist. They’re trying to keep the suspense going as long as they can to make things more exciting for everyone.” Pallas looked around the crowd. “So have you seen Hephaestus anywhere?”
When Eurynome shook her head, Pallas sighed. “Looks like he’s not going to show.”
“Maybe Athena can ask him about fixing the sword for you later,” Eurynome encouraged. “Things will work out, don’t worry.”
Pallas nodded. She forced herself not to think too much about how disappointed her dad would be when she explained to him what had happened to his treasured old sword. Instead, she vowed to put all her brainpower and energy into this final bout.
“I’d better get down there,” she said when she saw the herald stride onto the stage.
Eurynome hugged Pallas enthusiastically. “Good luck!” she said, holding up her necklace charm. Grinning, Pallas held hers up too, and they touched the E and the P together for extra luck.
A few seconds later, Pallas stepped onto the stage. Looking over her shoulder, she saw that Aphrodite and Persephone had joined Eurynome to help watch Hebe.
She still wasn’t sure who her opponent would be. Though she knew there was a pretty good chance she’d be facing either Athena or Ares, it was still a shock when her BFF stepped onto the stage. And from the look on Athena’s face, it seemed that she was feeling the same way.
“Hey, Pallas,” said Athena.
“Hey, Athena.” said Pallas. “Looks like we’re the last two in the running.”
“Mm-hm,” said Athena. They wished each other a good match.
As the herald read the rules to the crowd, Achilles and Eurynome came up to the edge of the stage and waved Pallas over. “I know she’s your friend, but don’t let that throw you,” Achilles advised.
“Remember, she’s always busy with lots of responsibilities,” Eurynome added. “She probably hasn’t been practicing like you have.”
Pallas looked over to see that Heracles, Artemis, Apollo, and Ares had called Athena over to the opposite edge of the stage to give her advice too.
“Hey!” Agamemnon called, running up. He beamed at Pallas. “So you made it all the way to the final bout? That’s awesome!”
“Um, thanks. And isn’t it great that Eurynome made it to the final eight?” Pallas replied. He hadn’t even greeted Eurynome at all!
“Yeah, nice,” said Agamemnon, barely glancing Eurynome’s way.
Eurynome just rolled her eyes, having grown used to his rudeness. Then she returned Agamemnon’s sword to him, since it had become clear she wouldn’t win it.
As Agamemnon sheathed it, he said to Pallas, “Hey, maybe I could coach you from now on. Give you some pointers Achilles doesn’t know. You could enter more contests and win stuff for me.”
Pallas looked over at Achilles, expecting him to speak up and protest, but he said nothing. Was he really going to chance letting Agamemnon steal her away as his pupil? Hey! Wait a sec, she thought suddenly. Maybe she could turn Agamemnon’s offer to her advantage.
“Sure,” she told him. “Let’s switch now, okay? It’ll be more official if I use your sword.” She’d been doing just fine with Evgenís, the sword Achilles had lent her, but she knew that Achilles considered Briseis the better sword. And she was going to need the best one she could get if she was going to have any chance at beating Athena.
“Deal,” said Agamemnon, without a moment’s hesitation.
As Pallas returned the sword Evgenís to Achilles, he still said nothing. In fact, he wouldn’t even look at her. She wished she could tell him why she’d made the bargain she had. But Agamemnon would hear.
“Okay! It’s official. You’re my champion now!” Agamemnon hooted when she took Briseis from him. He clapped Achilles on the back, acting cocky. “Sorry, dude.”
Achilles just shrugged.
What was he thinking? Pallas wondered. That she was a traitor? If so, maybe it was a good thing he didn’t speak up!
Ping! Ping! Ping! The Mount Olympus Academy herald struck his lyrebell. Then he called out from the stage in a loud, important voice, “Competitors, please take your places at the center of the stage.”
“Get out there and slaughter her,” Agamemnon encouraged Pallas.
Eurynome had her usual reaction to anything he said. She rolled her eyes. “Duh, the swords will be bespelled,” she reminded him. “They can’t injure each other.”
Agamemnon ignored her. It was like she’d become invisible to him the minute she was out of the competition.
Despite whatever feelings Achilles might have about Pallas dumping him as a coach, he rallied enough to offer her some final encouraging words. “You can do this, Pallas. Just focus on the skills we practiced all week. And stay calm and cool.”
