Pandora Gets Angry
Page 21
No one spoke for a long, long time.
Then Pandy had an idea.
“Iole and Douban, please remove your sandals,” she said, taking off her red-leather footwear. Then, with her hands, she dug a shallow pit and buried all three pairs.
“Pandy!” cried Iole.
“Well, what do you suggest?” Pandy cried desperately. “We can’t have her following us!”
“No, you can’t,” said a familiar voice. “At least not for a while.”
With a start, Pandy whipped her head to see Hermes standing a short distance down the borderline. Feeling tremendous relief, she ran straight to him, but he put his huge hand out to stop her.
“Not so fast,” he said, a frown creasing his perfect face. “You would really leave her here? In the sand? Not a wise move. Zeus sent me simply to check on you. And if you had done well, maybe give you a little help getting to—where are you going next?”
“Rome,” Pandy answered.
“Rome, eh? Good times! I barely had time to make it to the Bureau of Visiting Deities in Baghdad. I’m zooming over the horizon, I look down, and here you are holding hands with that nice young man and the Queen of Heaven is in pieces all over the desert. What kind of a report am I going to give to the Sky-Lord? Not to mention your father when he hears about the holding hands part. What am I going to say, huh? Answer me that.”
“I didn’t know what else to do,” Pandy said, now fearful that word of her actions had somehow gotten back to Zeus and, quest or no quest, Pandy was as good as dead.
“No,” Hermes said. “Zeus doesn’t know yet. But he will. Because she’ll have to be restored, Pandora, and you know that.”
Without waiting for her to answer, Hermes caused the buried sandals to rise out of their pit and fly to him. Then he shrunk Hera’s arm and leg and, along with the sandals, put them into a peacock blue silk pouch he simply materialized out of thin air, then tucked it neatly away into the folds of his silver toga. He turned back to Pandy.
“Personally,” he said with a little smile, “I love it. I wish she could stay buried for the next few thousand years. But I can’t speak for Zeus. He might be, shall we say, put out. Or he might tell me to drop her in the Tigris. I don’t know. And I don’t want to know for a while. I have a bit of time before Zeus wonders where I am, so I’m going to take a little walkabout. Perhaps see that this young man gets home to his family in one piece. That should take up a few days, but I’d get to Rome fast, if I were you.”
“How?” Pandy asked.
“Iole, step across the border, if you please,” Hermes said. “Are you all across now? Yes? Good. Say good-bye to the nice youth. Special smile from you, Pandora. Don’t think I can’t tell what’s going on. That’s right, wave to him. Bye-bye! How do you get to Rome, Pandora? Like this.”
He blinked.
And they were gone.
Epilogue
High above Rome, on a cloud bank, Jupiter sat and studied his friend, his brother and, in almost every way …
… his near exact double.
“They’re all coming?” Jupiter asked.
“Most of them,” the other figure said. “I haven’t taken a head count lately. But surely it’s not a problem.”
“Not at all,” Jupiter said. “Well, not for us at any rate. Happy to have you. I am simply concerned about the populace. What will they do when they see various sets of two almost identical beings—should they happen to see us.”
“We do adorn ourselves a bit differently,” said the other, brushing back strands of silver hair being tossed about by the high winds.
“True, true,” Jupiter acknowledged. “But then there’s the matter of lodgings.”
“Yes, I have been meaning to talk to you about that. We actually have a home, you know. Mount Olympus. It’s lovely.”
“Of course,” Jupiter said. “I’ve been, remember? Deity Family Day, several centuries ago?”
“But my point is, it’s fortified, remote, no humans trespassing. Why don’t you build yourself a nice palace somewhere close to Rome and secret it away. Invisible walls, that sort of thing. With spacious quarters for guests. I’ll help. Let’s do it together, right now!”
“Not so fast, dear brother,” Jupiter said. “Romans don’t necessarily think of us, their gods, as having a distinct home. We are merely the sponsors, the benefactors, the protectors of various aspects of their human existence. And in that respect, we must abide by the perceptions of the people who do us homage. Your Greeks are different and for that, you and the others are lucky. But Juno and Venus and Mars and Mercury and the rest, well, we exist on the wind as it were.”
“If I tell Hera she has to sleep on the wind, I won’t hear the end of it for eons.”
“Oh,” said Jupiter, looking away for a moment, “Hera’s coming too?”
“Yes. And, Jupiter, please try not to act so disgusted.”
“Does it show?”
“Only because it’s what I see in my own looking glass every sunrise.”
“Here’s a thought,” Jupiter said, gazing down from the dizzying height into the heart of Rome. “Why don’t we all camp in the city? It’ll be easier to help the girl. We can all be together. We can meet up faster if need be. I know a wonderful bakery for morning rolls. Dare I say it will be fun!”
“None of this is fun, brother. You know what is at stake if Pandora fails.”
“I do,” Jupiter said, his face becoming somber. “But Hera can’t possibly still be thinking of harnessing all the remaining evils for her own purposes at this point, could she? We’re all sort of in the clear, aren’t we?”
“Two, maybe three large Evils are still free,” said his counterpart. “But the final one is the biggest of them all. And if that is left loose in the world and remains fixed, it will only be a matter of time before the others are fabricated out of mankind’s extremely fallible mortal nature. Hera won’t hesitate to pounce on that opportunity.”
“I don’t know why I am surprised,” Jupiter said. “Juno has been following right along with everything that Hera has been doing. The only words out of her mouth for the past few months have been ‘Good for Hera!’ and ‘That’s what I would have done!’ or ‘Smart move, sister!’ We married badly; I’ve taken to drink more than usual.”
Finally, Zeus smiled.
“Pandora’s got at least four evils in the box. Five at this point, for all I know. And I would certainly hope so, considering the strings I had to pull with the Persian Bureau of Visiting Deities to get an emergency override for her power over fire and that map they’re using. Do you know, Jupiter, that I had to agree that a contingent of rocs be allowed to come to Greece on a fact-finding mission—to see how we immortals ‘do’ things back at home. At any rate, that’s four more evils than any of us expected. Personally, I thought she’d be dead within a week when she started. She’s rather remarkable, this girl. But none of it has been a gambol in the forest. And Greed, if she gets to Rome, will prove exceptionally difficult. Which is why some of us from the Greek contingent are going to be here. But the help must be specific and subtle. Tiny. Nothing general, no broad strokes, if you will.”
“I understand.”
“I think it might be entertaining, rather amusing, to live among mortals for a bit. I like your ‘camping in the city’ idea.”
“I’ll arrange everything,” Jupiter said.
“Good. So it’s set, then,” Zeus said, rising to go. “As soon as I hear from Hermes that Pandora’s still alive, those of us who’re coming will be on our way. Greek and Roman gods together.”
He laughed in spite of himself.
“However this works out, it should prove very, very interesting.”
GLOSSARY
Names, pronunciations, and further descriptions of gods, Demigods, other integral immortals, places, objects, concepts, and fictional personages appearing within these pages. Definitions derived from three primary sources: Edith Hamilton’s Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and H
eroes; Webster’s Online Dictionary, which derives many of its definitions from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (further sources are also indicated on this Web site); and the author’s own brain.
arboretum (are-bore-EE-tum): a room or building (often made of glass) used to cultivate, house, and display trees, shrubs, plants, and/or flowers. An arboretum is primarily used for scientific or educational purposes but may also be for simple enjoyment.
genie (GEE-knee): a spirit (sometimes invisible but not always) mentioned primarily in ancient Persian lore and the Koran; may take the form of a human or an animal.
jinn (GIN): alternate name for a genie; may be a good or evil spirit.
peri (PEAR-ee): a female genie; in the nonspiritual sense, a peri may refer to a beautiful or graceful girl.
scimitar (SIM-ih-tar): a curved Oriental sword with the sharp edge on the outside of the curve.
shade (SHADE): a ghost or spirit; the soul after it leaves the body.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks to Scott Hennesy, Richard Overton, Cynthia Preston, Simon Lewis, Debby O’Connor, and Dominic Friesen. Of course, I am deeply grateful to Caroline Abbey, Deb Shapiro, and Anna Dalziel at Bloomsbury.
To “the gang of four”: Gracie Kirschbaum, Zoe Hanket, Olivia Villegas, and Iris Burson … the Pan-fans who keep me honest.
As always, special thanks and love to Sara.
MYTHIC MISADVENTURES BY CAROLYN HENNESY
Pandora Gets Jealous
Pandora Gets Vain
Pandora Gets Lazy
Pandora Gets Heart
Pandora Gets Angry
Copyright © 2011 by Carolyn Hennesy
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
First published in the United States of America in February 2011
by Bloomsbury Books for Young Readers
E-book edition published in February 2011
www.bloomsburykids.com
For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to Permissions, Bloomsbury BFYR, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10010
The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:
Hennesy, Carolyn.
Pandora gets angry / Carolyn Hennesy. — 1st U.S. ed.
p. cm.
Summary: As Pandy, Iole, and Homer travel to Baghdad to seek another deadly evil— rage—they face a deadly sandstorm and worse, while Alcie is aided by Persephone, the queen of the underworld.
ISBN 978-1-59990-440-5 (hardcover)
1. Pandora (Greek mythology)—Juvenile fiction. [1. Pandora (Greek mythology)—Fiction. 2. Mythology, Greek— Fiction. 3. Gods, Greek— Fiction. 4. Goddesses, Greek— Fiction. 5. Persephone (Greek deity)—Fiction. 6. Adventure and adventurers—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.H3917Pac 2010 [Fic]— dc22 2010025632
ISBN 978-1-59990-243-2 (e-book)