IT WAS PAST TEN WHEN APHRODITE GOT BACK upstairs, but Artemis was just waking up. Wagging their tails, the dogs leaped onto her bed and began licking her face. Hugging them, Artemis looked at Aphrodite in surprise. “You took them out?”
Aphrodite nodded. But before she could tell Artemis all that had happened that morning, her friend jumped out of bed. “You won’t believe what happened last night after you left the party,” she said, as she yanked open her closet. A small heap of clean but wrinkled chitons lay at the bottom. She grabbed the first one she touched and slipped it on.
Aphrodite’s muscles tensed. What if it was something concerning Ares and Athena? “What happened?” she asked, as Artemis’s head popped out of the chiton’s neckline.
Artemis grinned. “Poseidon and Dionysus decided to go swimming in one of the fountains. It was hilarious. I think they were showing off for Athena’s benefit.”
Feeling somewhat relieved, Aphrodite crossed to the open closet and automatically began picking up the chitons. One by one, she shook out their wrinkles, then hung them up. “I bet she wasn’t impressed.”
“You got that right.” Artemis poured water into a trough for her dogs, then scooped dry dog food into a large ceramic bowl. The hounds immediately ran over to slurp the water and gobble their food. As if to make up for his smaller size, Amby ate twice as fast as the other two. Artemis turned back toward Aphrodite. “She said it was obvious they’d missed getting brains the day they were handed out, probably because they were only being given to godboys who’d use them.”
Aphrodite laughed. She resisted the urge to clean up the bits of soggy food that the dogs, especially Amby, were scattering around the bowl. “Did Ares go swimming with them?” she asked casually.
“Ares?” Artemis repeated absently as she reached under her desk for her quiver of arrows. “No, for once he had more sense than the other godboys. Medusa got drenched though. She kept flirting with Poseidon, and I think he got tired of it. Anyway, he and Dionysus finally just picked her up and tossed her in.”
Aphrodite smiled. She would’ve liked to have seen that. Artemis glanced out the window at the giant sundial below. “Wow, I really slept in, didn’t I?” she said. “I was supposed to meet Apollo for archery practice ten minutes ago.” She picked up her bow. “I’d better go.”
“Me too,” said Aphrodite. As Artemis left, she returned to her own room next door and settled onto her pillow-strewn bed to mull over the possibilities for helping Hippomenes. After reaching into her bag for her notepad and feather pen, she began a list of ideas. Before she could get very far, however, there was a knock on her door.
It was Athena. She had dressed again in the turquoise chiton Aphrodite had loaned her last night. “I’m going to the Immortal Marketplace for new knitting supplies,” Athena said. “Want to come?”
“Sure,” said Aphrodite, setting her pen aside. “Why not?” As they left her room, she couldn’t help asking, “So did you have fun last night?”
Athena rolled her eyes. “You were lucky you left early. Those godboys wouldn’t leave me alone. It was so annoying! And all because I’d had a makeover.”
“Didn’t I tell you?” Aphrodite couldn’t help grinning. Now that Athena knew what it was like, she’d probably want to go back to being her usual self. And maybe that wouldn’t be such a bad thing. Her first crush would just have to wait.
Before leaving the dorm, the girls grabbed winged sandals from the communal basket at the end of the hall and slipped them onto their feet. Immediately the sandals’ straps twined around their ankles, and the silver wings at their heels began to flap. In a blur of speed, they raced down the marble staircase to the main floor of the Academy. And then with their feet barely touching the ground, they zipped out the heavy bronze doors and sped across the courtyard. The wind whistled in their ears as they whipped past boulders and trees to descend Mount Olympus.
The Immortal Marketplace stood halfway between the heavens and Earth, down below the cloudline. The two girls reached it within minutes, skidding to a stop at the entrance. Loosening the straps around their ankles, they looped them over the silver wings to hold them in place so they could walk at normal speed.
The market was enormous, with a high-ceilinged crystal roof. Rows and rows of columns separated the various shops, which sold everything from the newest Greek fashions to tridents and organic nectar.
“In here,” said Athena. Aphrodite followed her into Arachne’s Sewing Supplies. While Athena picked out several skeins of yarn and a new pair of knitting needles, Aphrodite stroked her palm over a length of glossy black-and-red-flowered fabric that would look fabulous on Artemis with her shiny black hair. She knew better than to buy the cloth, however. Artemis would say it was too flashy.
“Let’s stop at Cleo’s Cosmetics,” Aphrodite said as they left Arachne’s. “I’m almost out of eyeliner.”
“Okay,” said Athena. She hesitated a moment, then added shyly, “Maybe I’ll get a couple of things too.”
Aphrodite arched an eyebrow in surprise.
“Nothing fancy,” Athena said quickly. “Maybe just a lipstick and some of that silver eye powder you used on me last night.”
“Well, what do you know?” Aphrodite said, smiling at her in amusement. But then a dark thought crossed her mind and she tensed up. Why was Athena suddenly interested in how she looked? “You’re crushing on someone, aren’t you?” Aphrodite excliamed. “Who is it?”
Athena blushed. “No one, honest. It’s just that, thanks to your makeover last night, I actually felt—well, beautiful.” She glanced down at her sandals, looking embarrassed. “I’ve never felt that way before, and . . . I kind of liked it.”
Aphrodite’s heart softened and she hugged her friend. “You’ve always been beautiful,” she said. “You were just too busy inventing things and being brilliant in school to notice before now.”
“Thanks,” said Athena. “But the godboys didn’t seem to notice before last night either.”
“Only because they weren’t looking,” said Aphrodite.
When they reached Cleo’s, Aphrodite found the eyeliner she needed. Then she searched for silver eye shadow. “Here,” she said, handing Athena a little pot of the stuff. “This is the one you want.”
Nodding, Athena took it and then held up a couple of lipsticks in two slightly different shades of pinkish red, one in each hand. “Which one do you think would look best on me?”
“Neither,” Aphrodite said decisively. Her expert eye scanned the lipsticks on display. Snatching up an orangey-red one, she said, “This one will go best with your skin tone.”
“You’re the boss,” said Athena, giving her a teasing smile.
“Well, Beauty-ology is my best subject,” Aphrodite agreed. “Hey, isn’t that a new clerk?”
Both goddessgirls stared at the lady behind the counter. Her purple hair was piled high on top of her head and her three eyes—two in the usual places and one in the middle of her forehead—were beautifully made up. She smiled warmly at the girls as they brought up their purchases. “Did you find everything you need?” she asked, slipping the items into a small papyrus bag, then handing it to Athena.
“Yes, thank you,” said Athena.
Aphrodite nodded. Then on an impulse she asked the clerk, “Are you married?”
The eye in the middle of the woman’s forehead blinked. “Well, no,” she said. “Why do you ask?”
“There’s this teacher at MOA, Mr. Cyclops. He’s not married either, and I bet you’d be perfect for—”
The clerk just looked at her, blink, blink, blinking.
“Never mind her,” interrupted Athena. “She’s always trying to match people up. Since she’s the goddessgirl of love, she can’t really help it.” Grabbing Aphrodite’s arm, she tugged her out of the shop. “Please tell me you didn’t think that clerk would be perfect for Mr. Cyclops just because she has three eyes and Mr. Cyclops has only one,” Athena said after they were safely out of the shop.
Aphrodite grinned sheepishly. “Well, I admit it was the first thing I thought of. Also, she has lots of hair and Mr. Cyclops is bald.”
“So?” said Athena.
“So opposites attract,” said Aphrodite. That wasn’t strictly true, of course. At least not always. Still, she’d have to remember to mention the clerk to Mr. Cyclops.
Athena rolled her eyes, but Aphrodite ignored her and changed the subject. “You’ll never guess what happened after I got back to my room last night.” She hadn’t had time to tell Artemis the story, and now she was itching share it with a girlfriend.
“Tell me,” said Athena.
But just then Aphrodite spotted Ares and Poseidon coming out of Arts of Warfare, a store that specialized in spears, tridents, and thunderbolts. Casually, she steered Athena toward the boys, while at the same time pretending not to notice them. “Well, this mortal named Hippomenes sent me a message, and—”
“Hey, over here!” Ares called out when he saw them.
Both girls looked his way, and a little thrill zipped through Aphrodite as Ares drew near. But to pay him back for last night’s treachery, she decided to ignore him. “Hi there, Poseidon,” she said. Smiling disarmingly at him, she said the first thing that popped into her head. “I’ve been meaning to ask—could you tell me more about the waterworks park you designed for our last big project in Hero-ology?”
“Sure,” said Poseidon, looking pleased. But as he launched into a description of all its fabulous features, Aphrodite only half listened. To her distress, Ares didn’t even seem to care that he was being ignored. Instead, he struck up a conversation with Athena.
“I like your chiton,” Aphrodite heard him say. “Is it new?” How like him not to remember it was the same one Athena had worn last night.
“Thanks,” Athena replied. She didn’t mention that he’d already seen it on her. “It’s Aphrodite’s. She’s letting me borrow it.”
“Well, don’t tell her I said so,” said Ares, in a voice plenty loud enough for Aphrodite to hear, “but I bet it looks better on you than on her.”
“No it doesn’t!” Athena glanced hastily toward Aphrodite.
It was nice of her friend to stick up for her, but that didn’t stop a lump from rising in Aphrodite’s throat. How could Ares say such a hurtful thing? Pretending she hadn’t overheard, she kept talking to Poseidon. But after a minute she turned to Athena and said, “You know? I think I’m all shopped out. Mind if we head home?”
“Not at all,” said Athena. She seemed to sense Aphrodite’s distress.
They bid the boys a hasty good-bye. Grabbing Athena’s hand, Aphrodite pulled her away.
“See ya, Theeny,” Ares called after them.
“Ares is a creep,” Athena announced, as they exited the Marketplace. But Aphrodite said nothing as they bent to loosen the ties on their sandals to free their silver wings. Athena glanced at her. “I know you heard what he said, but it’s not true.”
Aphrodite managed a small shrug. “It doesn’t matter,” she lied. She was on the verge of tears and just wanted to get home to her room so she could have a good cry. The ties twined around their ankles again and the wings at their heels began to flap. They were quiet as their sandals whisked them to the top of Mount Olympus.
“I’ve been thinking,” said Athena when they skidded to a stop before the bronze doors of the Academy. “Ares was probably just trying to make you jealous. You know how much he likes to stir up trouble.”
Of course! thought Aphrodite in relief. She should have thought of that too. “Maybe you’re right.” It would be just like Ares to try and beat her at her own game. He’d ignored her and pretended to be interested in Athena, just as she’d ignored him and spoken to Poseidon instead.
Slipping off their sandals, the girls walked across the main hall and up the marble stairs to the fourth floor. The marble felt cool and smooth against Aphrodite’s bare feet. As the girls dropped their sandals in the fourth-floor basket, Athena pointed down the hall to a huge bouquet of pink roses sitting right outside one of the doors. “Look! Aren’t those in front of your room?”
“Yeah!” said Aphrodite, feeling a surge of excitement. Had Ares sent her flowers? Maybe he’d ordered them as an apology earlier this morning, or just now as soon as the girls had left the mall.
They raced to Aphrodite’s door. The beautiful roses were arranged in a pottery vase painted with a black silhouette of a man in a winged chariot, the symbol for Hermes’s Floral Delivery. Eagerly, Aphrodite unrolled the small piece of papyrus attached by a ribbon to one of the blooms.
“Who’re they from?” Athena asked, sounding excited for her.
Aphrodite’s smile faded. “Hephaestus,” she said, unable to keep the disappointment from her voice. She’d so hoped they were from Ares.
“Oh,” said Athena. She hesitated. “That’s nice.”
Aphrodite nodded, but without enthusiasm.
“Hey, do you want to finish telling me about that message you got from a mortal last night?” Athena asked. “What was that all about?”
“Later,” Aphrodite said, her shoulders slumping.
“Oh, okay,” said Athena, finally seeming to sense her need to be alone. “Guess I’ll go study then. See you later.”
“Okay.” Aphrodite carried the roses into her room and set them on her desk. She had to admit they were beautiful and smelled sweet. There was no real reason not to enjoy them, regardless of who had sent them. Only now she’d have to figure out how to deal with Hephaestus. She didn’t want to be his crush! He was a nice godboy, just not her type. She hoped she could let him down gently.
Ares was another matter.