As the travellers – and one very confused donkey – spun their way through time and space, Frankie kept one eye on Alexi. Luckily, the boy appeared to be sleeping like a baby – a very annoying baby who had spent the entire last day bragging and boasting and telling fibs about how many different gods he was going to be when he grew up.
In the blink of an eye, the spinning was over and the group fell sprawling on hard ground, sending up a cloud of dust and dried leaves. Frankie shook his head and looked around, relieved to find they’d ended up behind a large tree that neatly blocked them from anyone else’s view. Beside him, Drew and Grandad were brushing themselves down.
Then Alexi sat up with a shock.
‘What’s going on now, peasants? Where ARE we?’ the small boy demanded, looking around incredulously.
It was no wonder he was so surprised. The rocky path they’d been meandering down with their ‘chariot’ had been replaced by a large cobbled arena bedecked with flags. An enormous, excited crowd was queuing nearby, everyone talking and laughing as they passed through an archway towards a sports field beyond. Vendors walked up and down, selling food and trinkets.
In the distance was a mountain that looked like one you’d see on a postcard: Mount Olympus, the home of the ancient games. Despite his worry about Lou, Frankie felt his stomach do a triple jump of excitement.
Alexi frowned. ‘Are we at the Games? But that’s impossible! How could we get here so quickly?’
‘Er –’ said Drew unhelpfully.
‘Er, you were asleep for a really long time,’ added Frankie quickly. ‘Are you sure you’re not the God of Sleep? You were amazing at it.’
Alexi shook his head, grinning. ‘It’s OK,’ he said, lowering his voice. ‘I’ve figured it out already. You wanted me to go to sleep so I wouldn’t see.’
Frankie, Drew and Grandad looked at each other nervously. Annoying as he was, Alexi was undeniably smart. Was it possible he’d worked out what the Sonic Suitcase could do?
‘You asked a god to transport us, didn’t you?’ said Alexi, winking. ‘Their chariots are really fast. When I am a god, mine shall be fastest of all!’
Grandad patted him on the back. ‘Smart kid!’ he said, sounding relieved. ‘It was the, er, God of Remaining Anonymous, which is why we had to wait until you were asleep.’
Alexi nodded, then realised someone was missing. ‘Where is Alessandro?’ he yelled with a jolt.
Frankie hadn’t noticed the donkey was no longer with them. He was about to make up some elaborate lie, but Grandad stepped in first.
‘Silly fool got spooked and ran off into the hills,’ he said with all the consideration of a stale bagel.
‘What?’ Alexi cried.
‘He’s joking,’ said Frankie, before Grandad could make things worse. Alexi was bad enough at the best of times – Frankie didn’t want to see what he was like if he had a tantrum. ‘We knew they wouldn’t let donkeys into the Olympics,’ Frankie added in a rush, ‘so we gave him to a nice lady who’s going to give him some water and a carrot before we come back.’
To his relief (and surprise, because it wasn’t a very good lie), Alexi appeared to accept this. ‘I just hope we get him back soon,’ he said softly.
Drew and Frankie exchanged a look and silently agreed to change the subject. They’d just have to cross their fingers and hope that Alessandro really HAD got spooked and run off … and not got lost somewhere in time and space. Time-travel could do funny things to animals, after all. GULP!
‘Er, how about you hand out those tokens and let’s get into the stadium?’ Drew said quickly. ‘We’ve got to find Lou!’
Suddenly Alexi didn’t look quite so cocky. In fact, he looked decidedly uncomfortable – about as uncomfortable as a goldfish in a frying pan. ‘Ah, yes. Well. About that,’ he said.
Frankie stared at him, his heart dropping. ‘Don’t tell me you’ve lost the tokens!’
Alexi shook his head. ‘Oh no, I haven’t lost them,’ he assured Frankie.
‘Well, that’s a relief,’ said Frankie.
‘I never had any tokens,’ explained Alexi.
‘WHAT?!’ exclaimed Frankie, Drew and Grandad simultaneously.
Frankie took over, huffily. ‘You lied to us? What are you? The God of Fibbing?’
‘I thought that once we got here, we could figure out how to get in … together,’ Alexi admitted in a small voice, the confidence and bravado draining from his face. He looked down at his sandals and scratched his arm miserably. ‘I just wanted to go to the Games, especially with you. I’ve been living at the Academy since I was a baby, and I never get the chance to be with other kids,’ he confessed. ‘And even when I do, they all think I’m weird and annoying. No-one really likes to play with me.’
There was silence for what seemed like forever. Nobody knew what to say – because, of course, they all found Alexi to be weird and annoying too. But I can see now why he’s turned out this way, thought Frankie. Anyone would become a bit weird if they spent their whole life surrounded by cranky bearded dudes talking in riddles. It would be like living with sixty Grandads.
Since Grandad was the only adult on this misadventure, he was the one who broke the silence. He usually did this with a well-placed fart, but this time he just said, ‘Don’t worry, lad. Everyone is weird in their own way after all.’
‘Yeah!’ chimed in Drew. ‘My dad eats soup with a fork, for instance. And Frankie likes licorice, which everyone knows is made from old bicycle tyres.’
Alexi still hung his head. ‘What about the tokens, though? Are you mad at me for lying?’
‘Absolu–’ Drew started to say, before Grandad cut him off.
‘No point crying over spilt haggis,’ the old man said. ‘Right now, we’ve got to work out how to get into the Olympics so we can find Lou – not to mention the missing sculpture.’
‘I could bust out some of my hacky-sack moves,’ suggested Drew. ‘People might throw coins at us like they did back in Athens.’
‘That will not earn you enough to buy FOUR tickets,’ said Alexi.
‘Well, the guards might be so impressed by my mad skills that they let us in,’ Drew said, undeterred. ‘I could do a show at half-time or something.’
‘Drew, these people are here to witness the top athletes of the day,’ Frankie said. ‘Watching you bounce a little bag of rice on your leg is not going to cut it.’
Drew looked hurt, but before he had time to reply, Alexi jumped up. ‘Don’t worry. I’ve worked out how to get us in,’ he announced, returning to his former cockiness.
‘How, exactly?’ demanded Grandad, who looked like he trusted Alexi about as much as he would trust a raincoat made of toilet paper.
‘I’ve spent my entire life surrounded by philosophers,’ replied Alexi. ‘Believe me. I know a thing or two about talking. Follow me.’
Alexi wove through the thick mass of people so quickly that for a few moments Frankie thought they’d lost him. But then Alexi reappeared, grinning and complaining about how slow they all were. They appeared to be approaching one of the entrance archways.
‘Shouldn’t we get to the end of the line?’ asked Frankie.
‘Queuing is for lesser people,’ said Alexi dismissively, and with that he led them right up to the burly guard blocking the entrance. The huge man crossed his arms and snapped some gruff words at them.
‘I think he might be one of Old Man Harris’s ancestors,’ Drew muttered to Frankie.
But Alexi did not seem at all fazed. He stood before the guard and began speaking rapidly to him – too fast for the padlock to translate. As he spoke, the guard’s eyes darted over to Frankie, Drew and Grandad, widening with surprise. Eventually, he stepped to the side and ushered the four companions through, nodding his head in respect.
‘See!’ said Alexi triumphantly. ‘I told you I’d get us in.’
‘What did you say exactly?’ muttered Frankie, still half-expecting to feel the guard’s hefty hand on his shoulder, pulling him back out again.
‘I told him that one of us was an athlete,’ grinned Alexi, ‘and that we were his coaches.’
‘So he believed that Drew’s competing? Or me?’ asked Frankie, flattered.
‘Of course not,’ Alexi replied, a little rudely. ‘I told the guard that he was.’ And he pointed at Grandad.
Before Frankie or Drew could protest, a mighty cheer rose from the crowd within the arena. Grandad puffed up his chest, looking pleased. ‘The first event must be about to start!’ he said, and Alexi nodded eagerly. ‘Let’s go and find a seat up high. We’ve got a better chance of spotting yer sister that way too.’
‘Hey, didn’t athletes in Ancient Greece used to compete in the nude?’ Drew said suddenly as they pushed through the crowd. ‘That was in that doco I saw once.’
‘Ugh, I hope not,’ Frankie shot back. As much as he was hoping to find his sister here, he definitely didn’t want to see her, or his grandad, starkers!
Thinking of Lou brought all of Frankie’s worries rushing back. They’d risked a lot on the hope that his sister would be here, he realised now. If they were wrong, they probably wouldn’t have enough battery in the Sonic Suitcase to go anywhere else, and they didn’t know where else to start looking anyway. But if they were right, his sister was about to compete in the ancient Olympics and potentially wreck history …
Only one thing was sure: if this were the Worrying Olympics, Frankie would be about to win the gold medal.
