Iris the Colorful

by Joan Holub

  Iris straightened, pleased. Zeus trusted her! She wondered if the mission would involve rainbows. Could it be a test of some kind to see how well she was able to handle messages and secrets? Maybe he wanted her to take a message to the Gray Ladies! Regardless, she would handle whatever it was and prove herself worthy of his trust.

  “Sure. What is it? You can count on me,” she replied eagerly.

  “Good. I want you to fetch something for me, Isis.”

  “Iris,” she corrected. “Isis is an Egyptian goddess.” Like everyone else at MOA, she knew this because a while back Aphrodite had publicly tangled with Isis over which of them was the real goddess of love.

  “The item you must fetch is a pitcher of water,” Zeus was saying, seeming not to have heard the part about getting her name wrong. “And don’t spill a drop of it on the way back to my office.”

  Zeus had called her here because he was thirsty? Whatever! At least he didn’t seem to be planning to zap her.

  “Okay,” said Iris. “I have a very good sense of balance and am not at all clumsy. I should be able to manage a pitcher of water without spilling it.” She grabbed her bag and hopped up to head for the door. The water fountains at MOA were all filled with sparkling nectar, but there would be plenty of water and pitchers in the cafeteria kitchen for cooking. Maybe if she fulfilled this easy-peasy mission for him, he’d look favorably upon her request to become the official Goddess of Rainbows!

  “Wait! Sit!” Zeus thundered.

  Iris sat.

  “This is no ordinary pitcher I’m requesting. It’s a special one. With unusual powers I think will help solve a certain . . . looming situation. I heard a rumor that it has been spotted in a store called Ship Shape in the Immortal Marketplace. I don’t know exactly what it looks like, but you’ll know it because it’s the only pitcher in the store.”

  “Yes, sir. I’m on it!” Iris declared.

  Zeus grinned a little at her enthusiastic reply, but then grew serious again. “Be careful with it. And tell no one else what’s been said on your visit here today.”

  Iris nodded. He seemed ready for her to leave, but she was still full of questions. What was the importance of this pitcher? And why were he and Hera both being so secretive all of a sudden? Was Iris also supposed to keep secret what she’d overheard about Typhon earlier?

  She was about to ask, when Ms. Hydra hollered to Zeus from somewhere in the vicinity of his office doorway. “Hera’s waiting in the courtyard. Time to go!”

  Zeus jumped up. Standing, he was even more impressive and intimidating than when sitting. Because he was seven feet tall! He ran to the window. From what she could see from where she sat, the sky had grown dark and stormy in the distance. Was that Typhon’s doing? Zeus came back to his desk and haphazardly rolled up the map to the Gray Ladies’ office. As he clenched it in one meaty fist, his intense eyes narrowed on her again.

  “Take heed.” He pointed to a scorched sign on his wall that was hanging precariously from a single nail at one corner. It read: WHAT YOU HEAR IN ZEUS’S OFFICE STAYS IN ZEUS’S OFFICE.

  Then, without another word, he dashed off. A half second later Ms. Hydra came along and ushered Iris out of his office.

  Outside on the front steps of the Academy, Iris found Antheia waiting for her with two mortal girls. One had golden hair streaked with blue. Her bangs were in the shape of question marks, signifying that she was the most curious girl in school—Pandora. The other girl had snakes instead of hair growing from her head—Medusa.

  Antheia had just finished weaving a bunch of little flower wreaths. A dozen, in fact. Each was the size of a baby’s bracelet. “There you go,” she said, handing them to Medusa, who grinned at her in thanks.

  “Ooh! Aren’t they cute?” cooed Pandora. The two mortal girls stood to go. Out in the courtyard, custodians were already arriving to clean up the mess the winds had made, but some things, such as broken statues, would have to be replaced.

  As the girls moved off, Medusa began calling out her snakes’ names one by one. “Viper, Flicka, Pretzel, Snapper, Twister, Slinky, Lasso, Slither, Scaly, Emerald, Sweetpea, Wiggle.” As she pronounced each snake’s name, it bowed in turn, and Pandora helped her slip a little wreath onto its head.

  Just as Iris sat down on the step beside Antheia, Zeus passed overhead on the winged Pegasus. And right alongside him Hera rode in an elegant one-seater chariot pulled by magic flying peacocks.

  “How’d it go?” Antheia asked. “Did you ask him about—”

  “Being named the official Goddess of Rainbows?” Iris shook her head. “Nuh-uh. Not yet. Wasn’t the right time.” Then she grinned to lighten the mood. “But at least I didn’t get zapped!”

  Typhon, the pitcher mission, Hera’s secret scroll. So many things were still swirling around in her head as she watched Zeus, Hera, and Pegasus disappear into the distance.

  As she began taking off her sandals, she looked at her BFF. “Still up for going to the IM?”

  When Antheia nodded, Iris handed her one of the two pairs of winged sandals she’d picked up from the big basket just inside the front doors of the Academy. They set their regular sandals to one side of the steps, then stood and slipped the winged sandals on to make the trip to the Immortal Marketplace. The sandals laced themselves up and the silver wings at their heels began to flap. Immediately the girls rose to hover a few inches above the ground. They leaned slightly forward. Then they were off, gliding smoothly over the courtyard, then down Mount Olympus.

  Whoosh! Halfway to the IM, a big gust of wind rocked them, making them lose their balance. They clutched at one another to keep from falling. Antheia pointed upward. “Look! It’s two of those wind-brothers!”

  Iris looked up to see Boreas and Zephyr about twenty feet above them and flying much faster. Those godboys didn’t need winged sandals. They had their own wings at their backs plus their winds to keep them aloft.

  She cupped a hand around her mouth. “Stop it!” she called. “You’re making us wobble!”

  Leaning over, Zephyr said something to Boreas. Instantly the winds died down as the pair of them rose to join their other two brothers, who were even higher in the sky. All four boys whisked off ahead of the girls.

  “I hope they aren’t going to the IM too,” said Antheia as the girls flew on.

  “Or if they are, I hope we don’t run into them there,” added Iris. She and Antheia had important business to attend to. They couldn’t afford to have that band of windy brothers messing things up for them!

  4

  Ship Shape

  IRIS AND ANTHEIA EVENTUALLY REACHED the Immortal Marketplace, touching down at its entrance. After loosening the straps around their ankles, they tied them around their sandals’ silver wings to hold them in place so they could walk at a normal speed.

  The IM was enormous, with a beautiful high-ceilinged roof made of crystal. Once inside, the two goddessgirls walked past rows of tall columns that separated the various shops, until they reached the center atrium. They rounded the splashing fountain and the magical rhododendron bushes that encircled it and bloomed with flowers all year round.

  “No sign of those winds,” said Antheia, craning to look in all directions.

  “Good. Maybe those rainbow wreckers were going to Earth instead,” Iris replied.

  Moving on, they approached the fantastic carousel that MOA students had recently helped construct in the marketplace. It featured life-size rides of their favorite animals. All were brightly painted, had one or more seats, and were big enough so anyone could comfortably ride them as the carousel turned. Dionysus had built a leopard ride. Aphrodite had made a copy of the swan cart she possessed that really flew. There was a milk-white deer with golden antlers, like the deer that guided Artemis’s chariot. And Poseidon had made a dolphin ride. Athena had even created a replica of her Trojan horse that had helped win the Trojan War!

  Instead of creating a ride, Iris and Persephone had decorated the carousel itself, adding radiant
rainbows (Iris’s idea) and cute kittens and flowers (Persephone’s idea), as well as touches of shiny gold and swirls of color.

  Just beyond the carousel, Iris pushed open the door to the shop Cassandra’s family owned. The sign in its front window read: ORACLE-O BAKERY AND SCROLLBOOKS.

  Inside the shop both girls sniffed the air. It was filled with the warm, sweet smells of cinnamon and sugar. “Mmm,” they said at the same time.

  “Something smells heavenly!” added Iris.

  “That’s an appropriate description. It’s freshly made divinity fortune cookies!” said a cheerful voice. They turned to see Princess Cassandra of Troy coming into the bakery side of the shop from the scrollbook side. Her fire-gold hair was caught up in a dainty clasp, and she was wearing star-and-moon earrings.

  She picked up a tray of divinity from the counter and held it out, waving it under their noses. “Want some? Free samples. They have paper fortunes in them, though, not the spoken kind you usually get at MOA.”

  “Sure, thanks!” Iris took one. She hadn’t had lunch yet and accepted the cookie gratefully. When Antheia hesitated, Iris gently elbowed her in the ribs. Just because Apollo liked Cassandra was no reason to be rude to her and refuse her cookies!

  After Antheia accepted one, Iris told the princess, “Oh, and I have something for you, too.” She pulled Apollo’s scroll from her bag and handed it over.

  Looking excited, Cassandra set down her tray and unrolled the letterscroll on the glass countertop. “Oh, how sweet,” she murmured. “We have a school holiday next Friday, and Apollo invited me to go with him to visit some of my family in Troy. He’s so thoughtful!” She studied the letterscroll more closely. “These decorations around the border are really cute. I wonder who did them.”

  “Iris,” Antheia informed her curtly.

  “Glad you like them,” Iris told Cassandra in a friendly voice that she hoped would cover Antheia’s less-than-friendly tone. She pulled the fortune from her cookie, then saw with surprise that there were two slips of paper instead of only one.

  “You got a double fortune,” Cassandra told Iris, clapping her hands together and looking pleased. “That’s extra lucky.”

  Iris scanned the writing on both fortunes. “Hmm. Are these your Opposite Oracle-O ones? The kind where I’m supposed to believe the opposite of what the fortune says?”

  Opposite Oracle-Os were Cassandra’s very own line of cookies. The princess couldn’t foretell truth in her fortunes because of an old irreversible curse Apollo had accidentally put on her that caused her fortunes to come out all wrong. However, she and Athena had come up with a brilliant solution to fix things. You just had to believe the opposite of the fortune you got in her cookies, because that was what would actually come true!

  “Yes, these are Opposite Oracle-Os,” said Cassandra. “Why?”

  Iris read her fortunes aloud. “Because my first one says: ‘You will not find trouble,’ which means I will find trouble. The second one is better, though, I guess. It says: ‘You will not find a new crush.’

  “Oh. Well, sorry about the trouble, but the new crush part could be nice, right?” said Cassandra.

  “I only got one fortune, but it’s the same as Iris’s second one: ‘You will not find a new crush,’ Antheia said. “Thing is, I don’t want to find a new crush. I’m happy with the one I have.” She eyed Cassandra suspiciously as if she believed the princess had given her this fortune on purpose to make her stop crushing on Apollo.

  Cassandra didn’t react, however. She probably had no clue that Antheia even liked Apollo. Antheia really needed to give up on him, Iris thought with an inward sigh. But despite all evidence to the contrary, her friend seemed certain he’d fall in like with her one day.

  “Do you know someone named Ceyx?” Iris asked Cassandra now, hoping to head off an uncomfortable topic of conversation.

  “Sure, he and Alcyone—that’s his wife—own a store in the IM called Ship Shape,” she answered as she wrote a message back to Apollo. After handing her letterscroll reply to Iris to give to him, she pointed to the end of the IM opposite the entrance the two girls had come in.

  “Ship Shape? That’s a—” Iris had started to say “coincidence.” Because it was a coincidence that the person Hera’s scroll was for was the exact same person who owned the shop where Zeus wanted her to find that pitcher. But then she remembered that her mission was a secret one. “—a big help. Thanks!” she finished instead.

  Iris stuck Cassandra’s reply-scroll into her bag beside Hera’s letterscroll for Ceyx, and the two goddessgirls headed off toward where Cassandra had directed them. Along the way Iris oohed and aahed over the window displays in various shops, hoping to entice Antheia into stopping at one of them. That way she could go on alone to deliver Hera’s message and take care of her secret errand for Zeus at the Ship Shape store. She only hoped that the pitcher, when she found it, would fit inside her bag—and be watertight—so that she could keep it hidden from Antheia!

  As the two girls came even with Arachne’s Sewing Supplies, Iris pointed out some shiny lengths of colored ribbons in the window that would look great woven into Antheia’s wreaths. No luck. At Cleo’s Cosmetics they waved to Cleo, the purple-haired, three-eyed makeup lady at the counter. “Ooh, that shade of lip gloss would look amazing on you,” Iris cooed, pointing to a display in the front window. “Why don’t you go in and—”

  “Those fortunes were so lame,” Antheia grumbled, interrupting her.

  Iris stared at her friend in surprise. She couldn’t believe Antheia was still brooding about those silly scraps of paper!

  “Good luck?” Antheia scoffed as the girls walked on. “I don’t think so. That double fortune you got only shows how careless Cassandra was in making them. I think she accidentally put two fortunes in the same cookie, is all!”

  “Mm-hm,” said Iris. She refused to go along with Antheia’s grumpiness, which she figured was only inspired by jealousy. In fact, Antheia’s aura was pale green right now, which indicated that emotion. As they drew closer to their destination, Iris began to fear that her BFF would never take the hint and let her go to Ship Shape alone.

  Then suddenly Antheia cried out, “Oh! Look how cute!” She stopped to gaze longingly at the plants in the window of Demeter’s Daisies, Daffodils, and Floral Delights. It was Persephone’s mom’s shop. Though Persephone was into flowers in a big way like her mom and had the greenest thumb at MOA, Antheia’s thumb was a close second. Except she was more about using flowers, ferns, berries, nuts, and other vegetation to create wreaths for every occasion.

  Iris nudged her with an elbow. “Go on in. While you shop, I’ll take Hera’s scroll to Ceyx at that Ship Shape shop Cassandra told us about. You can meet me there when you’re ready.”

  “Okay,” Antheia agreed, going inside the store.

  Phew! Iris hurried off to find Ceyx. She needed to deliver Hera’s letterscroll and look for that pitcher. Fast—before Antheia caught up with her and Iris had to explain things Zeus didn’t want her to explain. Luckily, after passing a shop called Magical Wagical, she spotted a blue door marked SHIP SHAPE.

  Pushing through the door, she found herself standing on a gangplank that rested on pontoons atop a big pool of water. To her surprise, the whole inside of the shop was a freshwater lake!

  “Whoa!” She grabbed the handrails on either side of her, which were nothing more than thick ropes looped between a series of waist-high poles all along the walkway. There were all kinds of fish frolicking around in the lake, and birds flying through the air. An open skylight in the ceiling allowed the birds to fly in and out of the shop. And floating out in the middle of the lake, at the far end of the gangplank, was a wooden sailing ship!

  Deciding that that must be the actual store part of the shop, Iris held the thick rope handrail and walked across the bouncy gangplank until she reached the ship’s entrance. She had to stoop and duck through the small open hatch door because it was a few inches too short for her. The wall
s inside the shop were lined with shelves stocked with bags of birdseed, boxes of fish food, and various pet toys and medicines. Apparently it was a pet supply store, mostly selling stuff for birds and fish.

  “Hello?” she called. “Ceyx? Alcyone?” No answer. And she didn’t see anything even resembling a pitcher on any of the shelves either.

  As Iris stood there wondering what to do, two small birds swooped in to land on a counter at the far side of the store. Both had bright blue-green wings and heads, orange-feathered bellies, and red feet. Their beaks were extra long and pointy, and they were chattering and tweeting away to each other. Suddenly they switched from bird talk to human speech.

  “Zeus, tweety, did you remember to order the parrot food?” asked the slightly smaller bird.

  “Yes, Hera, my tweetheart, I did,” said the larger bird. Then it pecked at its feathers, preening.

  Iris couldn’t help it. She giggled. She couldn’t believe that the birds were named Zeus and Hera. And what they’d said was just sooo weird!

  At the sound of her giggle, the two birds squawked in alarm and instantly shapeshifted into normal-size mortals, a man and a woman. Each wore an orange-feathered tunic and had blue-green hair that stood up in a straight fan that went from the forehead to the back of the neck, like a Mohawk haircut.

  “May I help you?” asked the man. Tilting his head sideways, he looked at her through one eye.

  “Are you the shopkeepers?” asked Iris. “My name is Iris. I go to Mount Olympus Academy. I’m here looking for someone named Ceyx?”

  “That’s me,” said the man. After tilting his head in the opposite direction so that he could look at her through his other eye, he hopped forward in birdlike fashion. “Ceyx Kingfisher’s the name.”

  “And I’m Alcyone,” said his wife, tilting her head this way and that as well.