by Joan Holub
“Sorry I’m grumpy. Couldn’t sleep last night,” Iris told Antheia, managing a weak smile. “But go on about Zephyr. I’m listening.”
“Okay. Here’s what I’ve decided. I’m not going to make the same mistake I did with Apollo, keeping quiet about my feelings for so long that he starts liking another girl,” Antheia said in a firm voice. “Nuh-uh. I’m making the first move this time.”
“What do you mean?”
Antheia lowered her voice and leaned forward across the table. “I’m going to send Zephyr a secret crush letter-scroll to get things going. Good idea, huh?” she said, her eyes dancing.
Iris had to admire her determination. Normally they’d both be too shy to try something like that. “What are you going to write?”
“I haven’t gotten that far yet,” Antheia admitted. “I guess I’ll just say that he’s cute, I like him, and I think he should like me back. What do you think?”
For just a fraction of a second Iris considered saying, Yeah, sounds good. Even though she knew a letter like that probably wouldn’t get Antheia’s crush off the ground. It was so curt and generic. Meaning that it didn’t explain at all what was special about Zephyr.
Resolved to be helpful, Iris considered how to advise Antheia. Finally she said truthfully, “It’s kind of bland. Maybe spice it up with some colorful rhyme at least?”
Antheia cocked her head, looking confused. “Huh?”
“You know, like a verse in a greeting cardscroll. Maybe: ‘You are cute. I think we’d suit,’ ” she suggested. “Only better than that.”
Antheia giggled. “Wow! That’s so amazing. How did you come up with that off the top of your head?”
Iris shrugged. “You should probably say something more specific, though. Something about him.”
“Like what?”
“Think about it. I’m sure you’ll come up with something.” Iris had finished eating by now and rose to leave.
“No way,” said Antheia, grabbing her arm to stop her. “You’re the one who’s good at messages and stuff. At least give me a boost in the right direction?”
Suddenly there was a huge crash. Both girls—and half the cafeteria—swung around to see that the levitation contest was over. Food spattered the boys’ table and the floor around it. Boreas had won, apparently. But Zephyr was being a good sport about it. As he mock-bowed to congratulate his brother, his brown hair swung into his gray-flecked blue eyes. He flipped his head to shake his hair back, and Iris’s heart squeezed at the sight. He was sooo cute! As she watched, he grinned at the godboys gathered around and said something that made them laugh. Then the boys all moved off.
As quick as a wink, a cafeteria lady with a long snout like an anteater was at the table nosing around the floor. She was sucking up the spatters and crumbs! Eew! Iris looked away.
“C’mon,” Antheia begged. “You’ve gotta help me out.”
“Okay,” Iris agreed, sitting down again. She knew she would be making her suggestions a little grudgingly, though. She was Antheia’s closest friend, but she wasn’t perfect! “Say stuff you like about him,” she coached. “How his brown hair sometimes fringes cutely over his forehead and partway over his face. And how he does that little flip of his head to move it out of his eyes.” She flicked her head, demonstrating the move, then went on. “And how his eyes, by the way, are a really adorable, sparkly blue with gray flecks. And . . .”
Iris’s voice trailed off as she realized she’d been suggesting all the things she’d like to have said to Zephyr herself, if their crush had ever had a chance to get off the ground.
“I just had the best idea!” Antheia gushed. “Why don’t you write my secret admirer letterscroll for me? Please?” She reached into her bag, pulled out a blank letterscroll, and shoved it into Iris’s hands. “You’re so much better at this stuff than I am. Ooh! And sign it ‘Your Secret Crush,’ okay?”
As Antheia rambled on, Iris stared down at the blank letterscroll, openmouthed. This whole thing was becoming more horrible by the minute. She did not want to write crush notes to her own crush on another girl’s behalf!
Just then Pheme zipped over to their table. Iris greeted her warmly, hoping the gossipy girl would distract Antheia long enough to make her forget about what she’d just asked Iris to do.
“Big news!” Pheme exclaimed. “I’ve discovered why the four winds have come to MOA!”
7
Underworld Mission
IRIS SAT UP STRAIGHTER, A little worried. Once again, she feared Pheme was about to reveal the news concerning Typhon’s rampage, and start a panic. Exactly what Zeus was trying to avoid. Luckily, the gossipy girl revealed an altogether different reason for the four winds’ presence at MOA instead.
“Principal Zeus called the four godboys of the winds to model for a big sculpture that’s going to be part of a fancy anemometer in the courtyard. Turns out it’ll replace one of the statues that got broken yesterday. And, get this . . .” She paused a few seconds for dramatic effect. She was really good at delivering gossip, Iris had to admit.
“Pygmalion—the most famous sculptor on Earth—will be creating the sculpture,” Pheme informed them at last. “In fact, he just arrived in the courtyard with a bunch of tools and a huge block of marble to sculpt their likenesses. Not only that—Zeus has given him magical powers to finish it in a single day!”
“Wow,” said Iris.
“What’s an anemometer?” Antheia asked.
Pheme scrunched up her face, looking unsure. “It has something to do with the weather. Probably to do with wind, since Zephyr and his brothers are posing for it.”
“Let’s ask someone who’s bound to know for sure.” Iris nodded her head toward Athena, who’d finished breakfast at her usual table with Aphrodite, Persephone, and Artemis and was coming their way.
“What’s an anemometer?” Pheme asked her when she got close enough to talk to.
“It’s a gadget used to measure wind speed,” Athena answered right away.
Of course the brainiest goddessgirl in all of MOA would know! thought Iris.
“Picture yourself holding the metal frame of an umbrella without the fabric part that keeps out the rain,” Athena went on. “Attach a cup turned sideways on the end of each of the metal spokes. The hollow cups catch the wind as it flows past, which causes the long handle part to turn slowly or fast in your fist. By counting the turns of the handle over a set time period, you can calculate the average wind speed.”
She set down the armload of textscrolls she was holding and picked up two empty glasses from the table. Holding them sideways, one in either hand, she spread her arms wide. Then she slowly spun in a circle to give them the idea.
“I get it,” said Iris. The anemometer might be a cover for the real reason the four winds were hanging around at MOA. Still, such a device could help warn when trouble came near. Trouble with a capital T. As in, a monster tornado called Typhon!
“Me too,” Antheia said, nodding.
“Yeah,” said Pheme. “It’s a thingamabobber that measures cups of wind. Got it. I can’t wait to tell everyone. Thanks! Toodle-oo!” She was off again before anyone could correct her.
After she departed, Athena blinked at the other two girls. “I’m not sure she really did get it.”
“You think?” joked Antheia. Then they all burst out laughing. While Antheia and Athena continued chatting, Iris noticed Persephone sitting alone at the table Athena had just come from. Aphrodite and Artemis had already finished their breakfasts and had gone to the tray return.
Abruptly deciding that she would go to the Underworld, Iris went over to talk to Persephone. Because if any goddessgirl at MOA knew something about that place, it was her. Since she was Hades’ crush, she had visited the Underworld, where he hung out a lot.
“Hi, Persephone!” Iris said, sitting down beside her. “I’m, um, doing a report on the Underworld for extra credit in Science-ology and wondered if I could ask you some questions?” This wasn’t a
t all true, but she had to be sneaky about getting information so as not to make Persephone suspicious. She didn’t want to let Zeus down, and that included keeping the mission he’d given her a secret.
Persephone finished off the carton of nectar she’d been sipping from. “Sure, the lyrebell’s not for a few minutes. Ask away.”
“Well. I was wondering about the layout. There’s a river around it, right? I remember some godboys hid one of Mr. Cyclops’s sandals there one time, and he was hopping mad about it.”
Persephone let out a little laugh. “Yeah, I remember that. His sandal was so big, they used it as a raft.” She glanced around the table, as if looking for something that would help her explain the Underworld. “It would probably be easier if I drew you a map, but I don’t have a—”
“Pen?” Iris had already gotten a blue one from her bag and was holding it out to the girl.
Persephone grinned. “Exactly.” She grabbed a napkin and proceeded to draw a quick map of the Underworld. Then she showed it to Iris, pointing out the Elysian Fields. “It’s the Underworld’s most desirable neighborhood, and those lucky enough to go there get to feast, play, and sing forevermore.”
After drawing more circles to indicate other areas of the Underworld, including asphodel fields, gloomy areas of swamp, and Tartarus, she pointed the tip of the pen toward a squiggly outline that encircled everything she’d drawn so far. “That’s the River Styx, the boundary between Earth and the Underworld. Its source is a spring that plunges down a rocky cliff high above the river. It flows as a waterfall through a deep gorge and forms the river.”
“What about the goddess that guards the river?”
“The Goddess Styx?” Persephone shrugged, causing her pretty red hair to shift back over one shoulder. “I’ve never met her, but I wave to her when I’m crossing her river on Charon’s ferryboat. Her house is under the waterfall, and she watches that boat like a hawk. I think she’s always hoping someone will fall out.”
Just then the MOA herald appeared in the cafeteria and struck his lyrebell. “Attention, MOA students! First period begins in five minutes. Please continue to your classes without further ado.”
Persephone gathered up her tray and textscrolls and stood to go. “Hope that helps,” she said with a smile.
Iris nodded. “Definitely. Thanks!” A second later another question occurred to her, though, so she followed Persephone to the tray return. “Just one more thing. What would happen if someone did fall out of Charon’s ferryboat?”
Persephone pretended to take a big bite of something in a funny, dramatic way. “Chomp! They’d get eaten. Terrible things lurk in that ooky river.”
“Oh,” Iris said weakly. “Thanks.” As she stood there digesting that information, she noticed Antheia looking around for her. Quickly she ducked behind the tray return, then sneaked out of the cafeteria. If Antheia caught her, she might ask her again to write that secret crush letterscroll to Zephyr. Or she might worm information out of Iris about her mission to the Underworld. A mission that could turn out to be dangerous. Yet, despite her fears she was determined to go get that pitcher from the goddess. And without Antheia. She wouldn’t want to put her BFF in danger too!
Iris slipped down the hall to the front office. If she was going to see the Goddess Styx this morning, she would have to get permission to cut her first three classes. Fingers crossed, she went up to Ms. Hydra’s tall desk and lurked at the end of a long line of students till she caught the blue head’s attention.
“Oh, hi, Ms. Hydra,” Iris said, speaking casually to the blue head when she saw her chance. “Zeus gave me an assignment to go to the Underworld but forgot to give me an Underworld pass.”
That was like a hall pass, only it allowed a student to miss class time to go to the Underworld. You could also get an Earth pass and other kinds of passes if you had a good reason for one and were lucky enough to get to talk to Ms. Hydra’s blue head. You could usually convince it to do whatever you wanted—as long as it was a halfway reasonable request.
“Certainly, dear,” said the blue head. Luckily, Ms. Hydra’s nosy, gossipy pink head was busy with another student right then, or it would probably have demanded to know exactly what she’d be doing in the Underworld. As soon as Iris held the pass in her hand, she thanked the blue head and dashed off.
Chink! Chink!
On the way out of school, she heard chopping sounds. Zephyr and his three brothers were posing for the new anemometer in the courtyard. Meanwhile, the famous sculptor Pygmalion was busily whacking a hammer in order to chisel off a big piece of marble. At least Pheme had gotten it right about the sculptor’s part in things.
The four brothers were flexing their muscles and grinning broadly toward the sculptor, apparently hoping to be depicted in marble for all eternity in what they considered to be distinguished, manly stances. Each was elbowing the other for the most prominent spot—front and center—on the anemometer. It would be cool to have the device at the Academy. Iris only hoped she made it back from the Underworld in one piece so that she would get to see it in action.
As she sat on the front steps to put on her winged sandals, she heard Zephyr say to Pygmalion, “I should be in front. I’m the most popular wind, after all. Warm, calm, springtimey.”
Huh? He sounded as boastful as Boreas!
Boreas countered, saying, “No way! I’ve got that spot, Bro. Mine are the first winds of the year in January, so I should be first up on the statue. Besides that, I’m the wind that makes mortals cower. Cold and strong. That’s me!”
“So? What about me?” said Eurus. “The east wind of autumn can get almost as cold as you, Boreas. And when people least expect it.”
“Yeah, but my hot south winds can get pretty brutal in summer too,” Notus put in. “Ask anyone.”
“You guys only wish you were as important as me,” Boreas told them, giving Notus and Eurus both noogies.
“Hey! Ow!” the two brothers protested.
While the laces on Iris’s sandals were twining around her ankles, the four winds went on arguing, one-upping each other with reasons why they should get the prime spot in the sculpture. It surprised Iris that Zephyr was acting as arrogant as Boreas. Which was the real Zephyr? This one? Or the one she’d fallen in like with in her sisters’ cafe?
Remembering something she wanted to ask him, she skimmed over to the boys.
“Well, if it isn’t the Susie Sunshine Happy Harpy Rainbow Girl,” called Boreas when he caught sight of her. Then he cracked up.
“Ha-ha,” she murmured. She turned to Zephyr. “Got a minute?”
He arched a brow at her. “I’m kind of busy.”
Like the boasts she’d just heard him make, his haughty tone surprised her. And it kind of hurt her feelings too. Still, there was something she wanted to know, so she pulled him aside. “Zeus is gone,” she told him. “And I’m wondering why he would leave Mount Olympus when there could be a Typhon crisis any minute.”
Zephyr looked uncertain. “I’m not really supposed to be talking about this with any MOA students.”
Iris stepped closer so as not to be overheard. “Is it all part of a master plan to save the Academy?” she said, growing excited. “Did Zeus leave to draw T. away?” She studied the look of astonishment on Zephyr’s face and was sure she had her answer. “Aha! I’m right.”
“Zeph and Harpy sittin’ in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G,” Boreas called to them, his voice teasing. Then he cracked up again. His brothers laughed too, though not as hard. It was like they all considered Boreas the boss and let him get away with whatever he wanted. Despite the fact that he was a bully!
It really hurt that not even Zephyr stood up for her against his brother’s teasing. Maybe she was better off letting Antheia have him after all! she thought in annoyance.
“Okay. Well . . .” She started backing away.
“Wait!” Zephyr took a step toward her, looking kind of sorry now, but she turned her back on him.
“See you,
” she called over her shoulder.
Her winged sandals helped her make a quick escape. However, instead of taking off for the Underworld right away, she zipped up MOA’s front steps. Returning to the first floor of the Academy, she whirred through the halls. Wearing winged sandals inside the school was against the rules. She hoped no one saw. But she was fueled by the need to cut off any chance she’d thought she might have with Zephyr. Right now! So there could be no going back.
Opening her bag, Iris grabbed the blank letterscroll Antheia had given her and sat on a bench against a wall. Then she whipped out her pens and smoothed out the scroll on her lap. As she began crafting the secret crush notescroll Antheia had requested, she was still steaming mad at the boy. But as she considered what to say, she was reminded of the nice Zephyr she’d talked with at the café. And this is what she wrote:
I LIKE THE WAY YOU FLIP YOUR HAIR.
I LIKE YOUR GRAY-BLUE TWINKLY STARE.
I LIKE THE WAY YOU WHOOSH THE AIR.
I THINK WE’D MAKE AN AWESOME PAIR!
SIGNED,
YOUR SECRET CRUSH
Once she was finished, she rolled up the notescroll and tied it with a ribbon. It wasn’t necessarily her best writing ever. Not bad for spur of the moment, though. She didn’t add a name on the outside of the scroll. Antheia would know who it was for.
Her sandals whooshed her over to first-period Hero-ology class. Peeking around the edge of the open door, she saw that Mr. Cyclops was writing on the board. His back was to her. Medusa was seated in the row closest to the door. When the snake-haired girl happened to look over, Iris held up the notescroll and silently mouthed Antheia’s name, also pointing toward where she was sitting across the room.
Nodding to show that she’d understood, Medusa quietly left her seat in the class. After sneaking over and taking the notescroll, she quickly folded it small and slipped it into the pocket of her chiton. Unfortunately, Mr. Cyclops turned around and spotted her in the doorway just then. Iris ducked out of sight in the nick of time. Acting cool, Medusa casually shut the door as if closing it had been the reason she’d come over to begin with.
