“But will Hades be okay with watching them?” asked Artemis.
“He and some other godboys who are sticking around MOA during the holiday were going to try out Poseidon’s new surf pool later. After you finish eating, we can go ask him.”
“I’m going to hit the library before it closes,” Athena told them, standing up. “I want to study up on hieroglyphics before we leave.” She looked happier than Aphrodite had seen her in quite a while. “I’m so glad we’re all going to be together. And I really need to get away from MOA for a while.”
Watching her go, Aphrodite said, “I think Athena’s more upset about her dad’s mood than she lets on.”
Persephone nodded, looking concerned. “Should we ask her about it?”
Aphrodite shook her head. “When she’s ready to talk, she will. Until then, let’s just be there for her.” She stood and gathered her tray, and Artemis and Persephone did the same.
“Assuming Hades agrees to watch my dogs, let’s meet in the courtyard tomorrow morning, okay?” suggested Artemis. “Then we can leave from there.”
“Sounds good,” said Aphrodite. After tossing her trash, she went to her room to pack. She was excited about going on holiday with her friends after all, but hoped it wouldn’t turn out to be a wild-goose chase.
She had only five days of vacation and couldn’t afford to waste one. What if the C in the letterscroll actually stood for something beside Cairo? Maybe it was the name of a store or restaurant, like the Caledonian Pizza Kitchen or Cleo’s Cosmetics or Calypso’s Closets.
Ooh, speaking of closets, she needed to pack her stuff. She threw open both of her closets, gazing upon the dozens and dozens of stunning chitons she owned. She tapped a pink-tipped fingernail on her chin, thinking. Forget what the C in the letterscroll stands for—the more important question was—what did one wear to an exotic land like Egypt?
4
Isis
WHEN SHE WOKE THE NEXT MORNING, Aphrodite found two more letterscrolls had arrived, but not through the window. These had been flattened and pushed under her door from the hallway. Had some godboys sneaked into the girls’ hall with them? She’d been up late packing and was in no mood for any more compliments on her beauty. But when she unrolled the letters, she saw it was even worse than she’d expected. They were from Medusa and Pandora!
She plopped down on her bed, and read them with increasing dismay. Both girls were looking for love. She’d wanted mortals to write her for help, but not these two! Still, they were mortal, so they qualified for her Lonely Hearts Club. But finding the right guys for a mean, green girl with snaky hair, and a girl who did nothing but ask questions would not be easy.
Also, Medusa and Pandora hung out with immortals at school. So which would they prefer—mortal boys or immortal? Maybe even they didn’t know. And sometimes people thought they wanted one thing, but another really suited them better. Still, if she asked the right questions, maybe, just maybe, she could find matches for them.
Remembering the quizzes she’d prepared, she grabbed two of them and wrote a note at the top of each to return the quizzes once they’d been filled out. Still in her nightgown, she left her room and zipped down the hall, slipping the quizzes under the two girls’ doors. As for their answers, she was hoping for the best, but expecting the worst. At least it would give her a chance to test out her quiz.
Mortals and immortals alike could be so dim when it came to love, she thought as she got dressed, styled her hair, and put on her makeup. They often didn’t notice when someone was interested in them. Or sometimes they crushed on someone who was entirely unsuitable. She enjoyed guiding them in the right direction, helping them to fall in love—or at least in like—with someone who might actually make them happy.
It was like a sixth sense, this ability she had to note every intrigued glance, every flicker of interest in a person’s eye. Without even trying, she was always aware of who liked whom and usually guessed when a romance was budding well before those involved did.
But she’d never noticed any boy—mortal or immortal—showing an interest in Medusa or Pandora. If she could find the perfect crushes for them, she’d deserve to be crowned as the queen goddessgirl of love!
After she was dressed, Aphrodite stood before her full-length mirror and gave herself a critical once-over. Her Rubylicious-Red nail polish and the silk ribbons she had threaded through her long, wavy golden hair matched her red chiton perfectly. Her sandals and heart-shaped earrings matched them as well. As always, she wore her gold Goddess Girl necklace with its GG charm. But she needed another hint of gold to balance it out, she decided. Slipping a fat gold bracelet on her left wrist, she pronounced herself ready to meet this Isis girl, whoever she was.
Just before she left her room, she went to her knickknack shelf and reached for the small ceramic double-swan cart. Its two swans sat side by side, pulling a golden cart behind them. Although it was intricately designed, the figurine was so small, it fit in her hand. The swans’ faces were turned toward each other. With their orange beaks pressed together and their necks gracefully curved, they formed the shape of a perfect heart between them.
Aphrodite had mysteriously received the cart when she was a baby, so it was dear to her. She liked to think that her mom, whoever she was, had left it with her to keep her safe and as a message to say that she’d loved her. Slipping the swan cart inside her handbag, she headed off to meet her friends.
Just outside the school’s bronze doors, she met Mr. Cyclops on the stairs that led down to the courtyard. Her eyebrows rose at the sight of him. He was wearing plaid shorts, black socks, brown sandals, and a shirt decorated with palm trees. Well, it was his vacation too, she supposed. Still, it was weird seeing a teacher in normal—well, sort of normal—everyday clothes outside of class.
He noticed her travel case, and his unibrow rose too. He was probably wondering if she was going on a trip instead of doing the work she’d promised. “How’s your extra-credit project going?” he asked.
“Fine,” she said, trying to sound positive. “Medusa and Pandora joined my new club this very morning.” Of course, so far they were her only club members, but she didn’t mention that.
Mr. Cyclops scratched his bald head. “I’m afraid they don’t count. After all, they’re your friends.”
Medusa—a friend? Is he for real? Aphrodite wondered. They did not get along. In fact, she halfway wondered if Medusa was trying to trick her somehow by asking to join her club.
“Well, you’ll be pleased to know that I’m on my way to Egypt to investigate a mysterious letter I got from a mortal boy who’s looking for love,” she told him.
“Excellent!” he told her. “I’m glad you’re taking your project so seriously.”
“Oh, I am,” she told him sincerely. Then she trotted down the rest of the steps.
When she reached the courtyard, she pulled the little swan cart from her handbag. Setting it in one palm, she stroked a fingertip over each swan’s snowy white back. Then she gently placed it at the bottom of the stairs and stepped back, chanting:
“Feathered swans, wild at heart.
Spread your wings to fly my cart!”
She smiled to herself, reminded of the magic wind. Seemed like most things that involved magic often involved rhyme as well. As her words died away, the two swans fluttered, shaking their heads as if awakening from a deep sleep. Then slowly they began to unfurl their wings, growing ever larger in size. By the time their wings were fully spread, the swans were ten feet tall with wingspans of twenty feet! She petted their long, curved throats.
“Ready?”
Aphrodite looked up to see her three goddessgirl friends coming down the stairs to meet her. The small golden cart had grown along with the swans and was encrusted with splendid jewels that sparkled in the morning light. It was now big enough for six to sit comfortably. Or for four goddessgirls and their travel cases.
Persephone and Athena each tossed one case into the cart and climbed ab
oard.
Thonk! Aphrodite stashed hers as well.
Persephone’s eyes widened. “Godness! What’s in that thing?”
“Necessities,” said Aphrodite. “Makeup, hair gel, perfume, lip gloss, a dozen chitons, jewels.” She looked at Artemis. “Where’s your case?”
“Here,” said Artemis. She tossed a small knapsack into the cart.
“That’s it?” asked Aphrodite, astonished.
“Including today, we’ll be gone five days or less. So I brought four chitons. All I need.” She hopped into the cart and Aphrodite joined her. Artemis’s chitons had to be wrinkled in that bag, but somehow she always looked nice in spite of her inattention to clothing. Besides, Aphrodite could always lend her something to wear if she needed it.
Once their luggage was stowed, and the girls were securely seated, Aphrodite called out: “To Egypt! Up and Away!” Immediately the swans’ enormous, brilliant white wings began to flap and they rose gracefully from the courtyard, pulling the golden cart behind them.
The swans glided smoothly away from Mount Olympus, their long necks stretched almost straight ahead of them as they sailed southeastward over Greece. Soon the girls saw nothing but blue below them as they crossed high above the Aegean and Mediterranean Seas. Here and there the water was dotted with islands covered with lush green plants and small houses painted in bright colors of red, turquoise, and peach. A mortal girl and boy ran out of one of the houses to wave excitedly at them and the goddessgirls waved back.
An hour later, the northern shore of Africa appeared ahead of them, separated by a wide river that branched off from the sea.
“It’s the Nile!” called Athena. They followed the Nile River southward, toward the city of Cairo. A flock of seagulls flew alongside them for a while, then veered back toward the beach as their cart moved inland. Now desert stretched out in all directions below them instead of sea. Mortals dressed in long white robes and wearing fat turbans atop their heads rode camels across the sand.
Persephone elbowed Athena and pointed west toward a trio of giant monuments, each with four triangular sides. “Pyramids! The biggest one is called the Great Pyramid of Giza. It’s where kings were buried.”
“Is that supposed to be a lion?” asked Artemis, staring at an enormous statue between them and the three pyramids.
“It’s the Great Sphinx,” said Athena. “It has the body of lion, but its head is that of a king.”
They flew on until they reached the outskirts of Cairo. Then Aphrodite called to the swans in a voice as soft as a gentle breeze:
“Feathered swans, wild at heart.
Take us low and land our cart.”
As soon as they touched down and stepped onto the street, both swans and the cart immediately shrank into a figurine again. Aphrodite tucked it into her handbag. Then they set their three travel cases and knapsack under a tree and chanted a magic spell that made them invisible to mortal eyes. The mosaic-tiled street led them into Cairo and they soon found themselves in the middle of a bustling bazaar.
Dozens of spice shops lined the street, selling baskets full of seeds, flowers, and herbs such as dried rosemary, sage, oregano, and wild basil. There were cut-glass bottles containing perfumes. There were bins of powdered spices including bright red chili powder and yellow saffron. There were pistachio nuts, tea, honey, eucalyptus, dried fruits, and cloves. One shop sold woven baskets in geometric designs and brightly patterned silk scarves stacked high on wooden tables.
“Ooh! Shopping!” said Aphrodite, her blue eyes sparkling at the sight of it all.
Artemis groaned. “I didn’t come all this way to shop. Don’t you have a mortal named Pyg to find? And some girl named Isis?” But then she heard a squawk and noticed a pet boutique with iguanas, peacocks, and parrots. “Oh, well, maybe that can wait,” she said, striking out for the shop.
“Just a sec,” said Athena. She held out her hand. In her palm were four identical rings with unusual markings on them. “Put these on. They’re translation rings. I asked Hephaestus to make them for us last night. They’ll decode Arabic languages, so we’ll understand the Egyptians when they speak, and they’ll understand us.”
“Good thinking,” said Persephone. They each slipped a ring on and set out to shop. Aphrodite quickly lost herself among the makeup and clothing stalls, and soon held a bag of kohl, scarab jewelry carved from alabaster, and silks. Persephone approached one of the spice merchants and began testing fragrances, which she discussed animatedly with the shopkeeper. And Athena became absorbed in racks of rolled-up papyrus maps and travelscrolls.
Suddenly oohs and ahs rippled through the crowded bazaar. Aphrodite and her friends turned to see four exotic Egyptian girls headed their way. All wore long linen dresses, had dark hair, and were stunningly beautiful in distinctly different ways.
One had her hair in a high silky ponytail and wore a bright blue dress. It was impossible to know the color of her eyes, for she was looking down at a textscroll, reading as she walked.
Another wore a long black linen dress with a necklace of black feathers. Her straight hair reached down to her hips, and atop her head, was a strange cone-shaped hat made of wax.
A third girl wore her hair in dozens of thin braids, each with a golden bead at the end. Her gown was yellow, and a matching yellow-and-white-striped cat slept curled around the back of her neck, almost as if it were a fashion accessory.
But most glamorous of all was the girl in the lead. She wore a long, violet-colored linen gown with a wide collar made of jeweled beads. Gold bracelets circled her wrists, rings adorned her fingers, swirly gold bands rode high on her arms, and golden pyramid earrings dangled from her ears. Her shiny, smooth black hair was thick, straight, and strung with emeralds and amethyst beads. It swayed back and forth like flowing silk as she strolled through the bazaar.
The girl’s makeup was flawless too, Aphrodite couldn’t help noticing. Her light green eyes were lined with kohl in a way that made her look fascinating and mysterious. Aphrodite knew her own blue eyes were beautiful, but light green eyes were both beautiful and rare. Jealousy sprang up in her, as green as the other girl’s eyes.
Persephone nudged her. “Aphrodite?”
“Huh?” Aphrodite straightened, realizing she had been staring. But the girl with green eyes had been staring back.
Artemis leaned toward a nearby shopkeeper and Aphrodite heard her whisper, “Who’s that in the purple?”
He smiled. “That’s Isis, the goddess of love.”
Aphrodite’s jaw dropped. She heard her three friends gasp and felt them step closer, as if rallying around to protect her.
“Who does that Isis think she is?” Athena murmured.
“The goddess of love, indeed,” said Persephone.
“She can’t get away with that!” said Artemis.
Aphrodite nodded. “There’s room for only one goddess of love in the world, and that’s me.” Sure, Isis was exotic and mysterious. But, hey! What kind of lovegoddess didn’t wear even a hint of pink or red? Those were the true colors of the heart!
Isis stepped forward. “You’re visitors to our land, yes? Welcome. I’m Isis, and these are my friends: First, Hathor,” she said, pointing to the girl in blue, who glanced up from her textscroll, seeming only then to notice them. “Also, Ma’at.” The girl wearing feathers and black dipped her chin. “And Bastet.” The girl with the cat gave them a small smile.
Aphrodite introduced herself and the others in return. “We’re goddesses too,” she said.
Isis looked surprised. “Really? What kind?”
“The true kind,” Artemis said pointedly.
“From Mount Olympus,” added Athena.
“Where?” asked Hathor, looking confused.
“You mean you’ve never heard of it?” asked Persephone in surprise. The Egyptian girls shook their heads. Isis’s beads clicked as her silky hair swung back and forth.
“Well, we’ve never heard of you either,” Aphrodite said snootily, fol
ding her arms.
Now it was the Egyptian goddesses’ turn to gasp. Suddenly, Aphrodite and Isis were nose to nose, headed for a fierce argument.
Before either could say a word, Artemis asked, “Hey! Isn’t that the other half of your letter?”
Aphrodite looked down to see that Isis did indeed have half of a letter stuck in her belt. “I think you have something that belongs to me,” she told the Egyptian goddess, reaching for it.
“It’s addressed to the goddessgirl of love,” said Isis, twitching away.
“Right. And that’s me,” said Aphrodite.
Isis laughed. “I don’t think so.”
“Then why did I get the other half?” Aphrodite pulled her part of the letter from her bag and showed it to Isis. Hathor let out a snarky little snort, and Isis shot a worried look at her, as if she didn’t quite trust her.
Aphrodite raised her brow. “Let’s hold both halves up and see what it says,” she suggested.
“Then what?” asked Isis, sounding suspicious.
“If the letter gives directions to Pyg’s house, I’m going to see him is what.”
“Who’s Pig?” Ma’at asked in surprise. Hathor and Bastet shrugged as if to say they had no idea. Of course, his name was on Aphrodite’s half of the letter, not Isis’s.
“If you go, you take me with you,” said Isis. “Or you can forget about seeing my half.”
“All right,” Aphrodite agreed. What choice did she have?
“Pinky swear,” Isis insisted.
In answer, Aphrodite stuck out her little finger. Isis hooked hers around it and they briefly locked pinkies. Pinky swear was obviously a universal language. Then they laid both halves of the letter side by side on the nearest shop counter. As the other goddessgirls crowded around, Aphrodite and Isis read it aloud:
DEAR GODDESS OF LOVE,
I AM AN AMAZING SCULPTOR,
BUT ONLY A MORTAL BOY.
I WANT TO FIND LOVE.
PLEASE HELP ME.
SIGNED,
Aphrodite the Diva (Goddess Girls) Page 4
