Quickly Iole grabbed and handed it to Alcie, who drew it upward over Pandy’s face, catching many big, wet drops.
“Sorry,” Alcie said. “We could have told sad stories and blah, blah, blah. This was quicker.”
“Right now, I love you and I hate you. Equally,” Pandy said, through gritted teeth, as Douban checked her arm.
“I’ll live,” Alcie said, catching one of Pandy’s tears on her forefinger. “Iole, a little water if you please.”
Iole emptied her water skin of its last few drops into the map, barely enough to cover the bottom of the bowl, as Alcie shook the tear off her finger. The concentric rings of the bowl began to spin, slowly at first, as if they had been rusted or fused by Rage. Then they spun faster and faster until at last three symbols lined up with the familiar illuminating light.
“Fifty-four days left, including today,” Pandy said. “We’re looking for Greed and we’re going to Rome.”
“I LOVE ROME!” shouted a voice, suddenly piercing the quiet of the salon.
Everyone turned to see Hera hovering above the tiles, close to the blown-out wall.
“The weather is perfect this time of year, lots of feasting going on and on and on, and when in Rome, as the saying goes! And of course, we have family there … Neptune, Mercury, Venus, and my personal favorite, Juno. They say she looks a lot like me, although those who actually know say I’m much prettier. Oh, won’t we all have such fun! Well, when I say all of us, I don’t really mean you, Pandora, or your filthy, bratty little friends, because I am going to kill you all today—this minute—if it is the last thing I do!”
The next few moments happened so fast and blended so seamlessly that, afterward, Pandy would never be able to fully recount the exact order of events. As Hera was talking about how much fun it had been to finally explode the head of Douban’s father (“I’m sure some pieces flew all the way back to Greece!”), Pandy suddenly felt something snake into the palm of her hand. She looked down as Hera was gesturing wildly and saw the magic rope, frayed to points on either end, bumpy in the middle where it had woven its two lengths together, and slightly reddish—like a little worm. The rope had come to her unbidden—but it had obviously been affected by Rage. And now it was … waiting. Pandy knew that giving the rope an order could mean an opposite action, so she directed only one thought into her hand.
“Do whatever you want, friend.”
The next instant, the rope flew out of her palm and, in midair, enlarged itself to the thickness of a horse rein. It wrapped itself around Hera as she was rearing back to let fly some horrible torture on all of the stunned faces staring back at her. The rope started at her broad shoulders and worked its way down her body, binding her arms to her sides and her legs together. Then, seemingly endless in length, the rope doubled on itself and wound its way back up her body, binding Hera to just below her chin. Her screams nearly brought down the rest of the roof.
“What do we do!” yelled Pandy, knowing that the rope wouldn’t hold the goddess forever.
“Her ears!” shouted Douban. “Get the eggs!”
As Pandy rushed forward, Hera rose into the air. Homer sprang up from the table and grabbed Hera’s foot just as it was almost out of reach. She was unable even to kick at him as Homer pulled Hera back down until Pandy could reach out and snatch the eggs off of her ears. Hera tried to bite Pandy’s hands whenever they got close, until Alcie raced in and grabbed the back of Hera’s head by her still-short red hair, jerking her into submission.
Pandy swiftly loosed the roc eggs from Hera’s earlobes. Instantly, Hera lost her ability to stay airborne and crashed to the ground.
“Zinebi?” Pandy said. “Please hold on to these until we figure out what to do with them.”
She turned to give the roc eggs to the little girl and found instead two baby birds fluttering about in her grasp. The tiny chicks, still wet and slimy, flew up to Pandy’s shoulders, one on each side, and clucked for all to hear.
“A thousand blessings upon you,” said one, staring at Hera rolling about on the floor like a boar stuck in mud. “I could not have tolerated that creature one instant more.”
“The most foul mind of an immortal I have ever encountered. That includes the genie I was punishing. And that’s saying something, I tell you.”
“I shall never recover from being so close to that brain. So base, so petty,” said the first.
“And yet so little goes on in there,” said the second roc. “She doesn’t like you at all, mortal maiden. So naturally, that puts you in very good standing with us. Before we go to join our fellow hatchlings, what may we do for you?”
“I know!” said the first. “Let’s restore the enchantments on all her personal items!”
“Brilliant … and done! And done for her companions as well,” answered the second roc. “But we can do more. Speak up, maiden. What would you like?”
While Pandy was taking all of this in and trying, at the same time, to think of something she needed above everything else she needed, Homer stepped forward.
“She needs new sandals.”
“Tasty!” agreed Alcie.
“Oh, Gods,” Iole said, with a fleeting look of apprehension.
Pandy would have never thought of such an idea by herself; in fact even now she hesitated. They were far from Mount Olympus and Zeus might not even know or care about his wife’s current situation. But anything that Pandy did to the Queen of Heaven, if not officially sanctioned by Zeus himself, could have serious consequences. But if she let Hera go …
Iole, somehow, read her thoughts.
“I can’t think of any other idea, Pandy. And you know we can’t release her.”
Pandy glanced sideways at the tiny chicks.
“We all could use new sandals,” she said. “Would you please transform the goddess into some appropriate walking gear?”
“Thick soles,” said Alcie.
“Good arch support,” Iole put in.
“Speed,” Homer finished.
“With all of those things. We would like sandals that will help us leave Persia in … two days,” Pandy said.
“Three!” Iole interjected. “Let’s not kill ourselves.”
“Of course not,” Pandy replied. “Let’s save that for Zeus when he finds out what we’ve done. Three days of walking. Please.”
“Four pairs of Goddess Go-Swiftly with comfort cushioning coming up,” said one chick.
“Five, please,” said Iole. “Douban is coming, too!”
Pandy turned to Douban.
“I must return to my family soon, but it would be my pleasure to accompany you at least as far as the Syrian border,” he said.
“Darn tootin’,” Iole whispered as Alcie grinned.
“As you wish,” said the other chick.
The rocs let up a cacophony of calls, screeches, and whistles, and Hera, much to her surprise, began to dissolve into a mist before everyone’s eyes.
“Pandora! How DARE you! I command you to stop this at once!” Hera wailed.
“Or what?” Pandy asked, never imagining she could have been so bold with anyone, let alone the Queen of Heaven. Hera’s eyes narrowed into tiny slits as she tilted her now-transparent head to stare down at Pandy.
“My husband will never forgive you for this.”
“Probably not, Hera,” Pandy retorted, speaking to the wife of Zeus as if she were a common criminal. “Then again, he just might.”
Within moments, Hera was gone completely and the magic rope fell loosely to the floor, where, not waiting to be called, it shrunk itself and slithered back into Pandy’s leather pouch. Alcie, Iole, Homer, and Douban found themselves wearing supremely comfortable sandals made of beautiful peacock blue leather. Pandy looked down at her own feet and saw that the leather of her new sandals was bright copper in color.
“Gods!” she said, looking up at everyone. “That’s the color of her hair; I’m standing on her head!”
Without warning, Alcie and Iole began to la
ugh.
“We’d better enjoy this while we can,” Pandy said, giggling. “I have a feeling this is gonna land us in some serious trouble.”
“Not until you reach the border,” said one chick. “She will remain a nonthreatening, powerless foot protector until then. And now we shall join our fellow hatchlings far away. Be well, Pandora!”
The chicks flew off so fast, no one really saw them go. All anyone saw was a flicker of two silhouettes against the sun.
The rest of the day and into the evening, Pandy rested as Alcie and the others helped Mahfouza’s family put things in order about the house. Homer helped the brothers re-set window frames, right overturned statues, and clear away debris as Douban checked out the entire family to see if there were any ill effects from Giondar’s punishments. Mahfouza didn’t wait until the following day to venture to the marketplace; late in the afternoon, she, Zoe, and Fair Persian returned with vegetables, a little meat, sweets, juices, and a fresh supply of water. And not a single piece of fruit.
Pandy was lying on a couch in a room on the upper floor, going over her mother’s cloak and silver girdle centimeter by centimeter, checking for any damage done by the effect of Rage. The girdle was, miraculously, fine and the cloak had only lost a bit of embroidery, nothing more. Pandy lay back and closed her eyes, trying to sleep amidst a few tattered but cozy pillows, but she found it difficult with the aromas of cooking food wafting up to the second floor. Suddenly, she felt another presence in the room.
“Hi,” said Alcie, sitting down beside her.
“Hi.”
“This is from Zoe,” Alcie said, holding a bowl full of a yellowy paste.
“Looks gross,” Pandy said, scooping a bit out with two fingers. “But I’m starved.”
“Not for eating, plebe-o,” Alcie said. “It’s for your fried hair. It’s fat and olive oil. She said to put it on your head and your skin. She wants you to moisturize.”
“Thank Apollo,” Pandy said, smoothing the paste on her hair. “I might have gagged.”
“Okay,” Alcie said. “Iole and I were talking and we are both, like, very confused. The pouches and the rope and the bust of Athena didn’t work here. They were glitchy. And even Hera had to get a couple of birds to be able to use some of her powers, right?”
“Right.”
“Then how were you able to use your power over fire? And why did the map work?”
Pandy sighed and shook her head.
“Believe me, I have been sitting here trying to figure that out. And the truth is, Alce, I have absolutely no idea. At the moment I used them, I didn’t think about how my powers might be wonky, I just went ahead. But I have no idea how they worked—or the map. I mean, none of us even considered that it might not work, right? I just … don’t know.”
Alcie looked at the floor for a long moment.
“Do you forgive me for slugging you?”
“Not yet, but I will. It was very smart.”
“Oran—uh. Yes. Thank you,” Alcie said, biting her lip.
“Okay, that’s the third or fourth time I’ve seen you do that.”
“Do what?”
“Stop yourself from swearing,” Pandy answered, wiping her greasy hands on her toga. “What gives?”
Alcie was silent for a bit. Then she reached into her leather pouch and pulled out the cobalt blue enamel and gold box.
“I have decided that swearing is not maidenly,” she said. “It used to be funny, I know. But I’ve seen the ugly side of fruit in the last few ticks of the sundial, and … and I am simply not going to do it anymore, using fruit or anything else. At least I’m gonna try.”
“But it’s part of your curse!” Pandy said. “It’s part of the effect of you standing so close to the box when it was opened! You don’t have a choice.”
“Yeah, well, that’s where you’re wrong.”
Alcie gently opened the blue and gold box so that Pandy could see inside.
“It’s a string,” Pandy said, unimpressed. “A nice string, Alce, but I’m just sayin’.”
“No,” Alcie said. Then she broke into a wide grin and a look crossed her face that Pandy hadn’t seen since they were little girls. It was a look of sheer astonishment.
“It’s my life-thread. The Fates gave it to me. I was never supposed to be in the underworld, not for a while anyway, but they’d already cut it, so they gave it to me. Pandy, I’m the only one who has their own thread. Lachesis said that.”
“Lachesis? You met her?”
“Yep. And she said that my life was in my own hands now, to do with whatever I wish. And I think I’m going to try to start being a little more responsible. Starting with the swearing.”
Pandy was dumbfounded. Suddenly she heard Fair Persian, Douban, and Iole in the corridor outside.
“Perhaps you could come back, Douban,” Fair Persian was saying. “Baghdad has need of an excellent physician, now that your father is no longer.”
“He can’t,” Pandy heard Iole snap. “He is coming with us, as I have already communicated to you.”
“Yes … but,” Fair Persian began.
“No buts,” Iole said as their voices trailed off down the corridor toward the stairs.
“Gods!” Pandy said. “What’s going on with her?”
“Puh-leeze!” Alcie said. “You can’t see it? She thinks Fair Persian is trying to steal Douban away from you.”
“Steal! He’s not mine! I haven’t even … looked … at him.”
Alcie just looked at her with a big, goofy smile on her face.
“Oh no? I’ve seen you! Listen, my friend, you can’t fool me. I wasn’t born yesterday, you know. Well, in a way, I was, but never mind that. I’ve seen the way he looks at you. He obviously adores you.”
“You think?” Pandy said, smiling.
“I have been known to, yes.”
Pandy gazed at her friend.
“I am so proud of you,” she said, finally.
“Mutual,” Alcie said as the call to evening meal came up from below.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Outward Bound
The next morning, washed and well fed, Pandy, Alcie, Iole, Homer, and Douban, accompanied by Mahfouza’s entire family, made a quick stop at the marketplace to replenish their supplies and to introduce Alcie to the silversmith who had lost his cat. They presented him with a ruby apple as payment for Hera’s destruction of his shop, which very nearly caused him to faint again.
The group walked to the very edge of the city and faced west, the river before them and the wide Arabian desert beyond that.
“I will send the others home,” Mahfouza said. “And I will wait with you for a barge to take you across.”
“No need,” Pandy said, slipping a garnet pomegranate and a sapphire fig into the hands of the beautiful girl. “We’re fine. These are to help you rebuild your house and thank you. Oh, Mahfouza, thank you for everything.”
“Pandora, my dearest, thank you for restoring my family. But do you not want at least one piece of fruit as a remembrance of your time in Persia?”
“We’re not leaving with nothing,” Pandy said, then she nudged Alcie to open her pouch. Mahfouza saw many pieces of the glittering jeweled fruit inside.
“Everyone else is carrying food,” Alcie said, speaking low and looking around as if there might be thieves. “I have the important stuff.”
After many hugs all around and promises to return one day if at all possible, Pandy turned toward the river, about to sit and wait for a boat.
“It would be groovy if we could just walk across.”
At once, her legs began to move on their own and she was ten meters across the river—on top of the water—before she knew what was happening. When she realized she wasn’t sinking, she turned around in surprise and saw Alcie, Iole, Homer, and Douban right behind her. With a laugh, she threw up her arms, waving madly to Mahfouza’s family. Stunned for only a moment, all nine brothers and sisters began waving and cheering, shouting for good l
uck and safe travels.
Three days later, having slept and eaten upright, as the sandals continued their march and Alcie told of her adventures in Hades’ kingdom, they reached the border between Persia and Syria. Shortly after the sun had reached the midpoint of the heavens, the sandals slowed, then came to a complete stop.
Without thinking, Pandy was about to simply walk into Syria, when she heard Alcie cough slightly behind her. Turing around, she saw Alcie cock her head to one side. Then Pandy looked at Douban. Then it hit her. He was leaving. Actually leaving. And it was doubtful she would ever see him again.
As Iole, Alcie, and Homer began to, obviously, look down into their pouches, checking for things they already knew were there, mumbling to one another and staring into Syria, Douban took Pandy by the hand.
“It is very likely that I will never have another chance to say this,” he began. “You are the most remarkable person I have ever known. Your courage and determination are inspiring. Even my father thought so. Your respect for duty and what is right is, with the exception of your face, the most beautiful thing about you.”
Three days of uninterrupted walking and her legs felt fine. Now they were beginning to wobble.
“And, if you will permit me, I should very much like to come and visit you in Athens one day.”
“That,” Pandy managed to get out, her voice squeaking before it settled. “That would be fine … lovely. If I’m alive.”
Douban laughed and leaned in.
Pandy’s mind went nowhere and everywhere all at once. “What is this?” she thought with a shiver of excitement as she instinctively tilted up her chin. “This—oh, Gods! Is this it? This is IT! My first KISS!” But it wasn’t the rush of girly excitement she’d been expecting at this moment. It was more natural, as if this was absolutely the way it was supposed to be. Her first kiss would be with someone she didn’t just have a schoolgirl crush on, but with someone who knew her well, respected her, and whom she really cared for.
Then she heard Alcie scream.
Immediately, the spell was broken. Pandy and Douban quickly turned to look at Alcie and Homer, both having stepped over the Syrian border, both now barefoot. In front of Alcie, lying in the sand, was Hera’s right leg complete with one golden sandal. Lying at Homer’s feet was Hera’s left arm, her rings and bracelets glinting in the sunlight.
Pandora Gets Angry Page 20
