THAT AFTERNOON, AT APHRODITE’S INVITA-tion, Hephaestus joined the goddessgirls in the cafeteria for a snack. While sipping ambrosia shakes, the girls took turns telling him about the race.
As Persephone described the spellbound look on Atalanta’s face when she glimpsed the first golden apple, Aphrodite noticed a goddessgirl with curly brown hair watching them from several tables away. There was a dreamy expression on her face as her pretty brown eyes settled on Hephaestus—the kind of expression Aphrodite often saw on her own admirers’ faces. The girl looked away when she saw she’d been noticed gaping at him. “Do you know that goddessgirl?” Aphrodite interrupted, looking at Hephaestus and nodding her head in the girl’s direction.
He glanced toward the brown-haired girl. “Sure. She’s new here at MOA. Her name’s Aglaia. She’s in my Beast-ology class.”
“Interesting,” said Aphrodite. “She was looking at you just now.”
He shrugged and turned back toward Persephone. “So then what did Hippomenes do?”
Honestly, thought Aphrodite, sometimes godboys were so dense. “Excuse me,” she said, interrupting again. “But that girl wasn’t just looking at you. She was looking at you like she likes you.”
Artemis, Persephone, and Athena giggled. Blushing, Hephaestus glanced at Aglaia again, this time with a little more interest. Across the room, the new girl caught his eye. Her cheeks turned pink as she smiled shyly at him.
Aphrodite nudged him with her elbow. “Maybe you should go talk to her. Or if you’d like, we could invite her over here. I bet she’d enjoy hearing all about how your golden apples saved the day too.”
Hephaestus’s eyes twinkled. “Are you trying to fix me up?” He might not be handsome to her, Aphrodite thought, but there was something about the sparkle in his eyes that made him attractive nonetheless. Inner beauty, she realized. That’s what the sparkle was.
“Of course I’m trying to fix you up,” she said with a grin. “I’m the goddessgirl of love, after all. That’s what I do.”
“Fair enough,” Hephaestus said. The four goddessgirls looked at him expectantly. “All right,” he said at last. “I’ll go talk to her.” He took a deep breath, then stood up from the table. Shifting his weight, he leaned forward on his silver cane. “Well, here I go.”
“Wait.” On an impulse, Aphrodite hopped up and gave him a quick peck on the cheek.
He covered his cheek with his palm, looking pleased and surprised. “What was that for?”
“For you—for being beautiful inside and out. Okay, now you can go.” She made little shooing motions with her hands as her friends giggled again.
With a look of greater confidence, Hephaestus headed toward Aglaia’s table. Having witnessed the kiss, she was frowning slightly now. Never mind, thought Aphrodite. Her reputation as MOA’s most beautiful and sought-after goddessgirl probably wouldn’t do Hephaestus any harm.
Seconds later, a group of godboys entered the cafeteria. Ares was with them. Seeing him this time, Aphrodite’s heart didn’t flutter like it usually did. He might be handsome, she thought, but he seemed to lack other more important qualities—like kindness and loyalty and generosity that Hephaestus and Hippomenes had shown.
Glimpsing the girls, Ares left his friends and swaggered over to their table. “Hey, Theeny,” he said, ignoring the others. “Have you given any more thought to that thing we talked about?”
“Not at all,” Athena said coolly. “And I’m not going to change my mind.”
“Aw, Theeny,” pleaded Ares. “Don’t be that way.”
“You should listen better,” said Aphrodite. “As she told you before, her name’s Athena, not Theeny.”
Ares’s head swung toward her. He smiled unkindly. “What’s that, Bubbles?”
“Don’t call her that!” growled Artemis. And from under the table her dogs growled too.
Persephone frowned at him. “I think you’d better leave.”
“It’s all right,” said Aphrodite. “He probably said that without thinking—”
Ares interrupted. “Not really, I—”
“The way he does most things,” she finished.
Her friends burst into laughter.
With a snarl, Ares turned on his heel and stalked away.
Athena scowled at his back. “He and Medusa are two of a kind.”
“That’s for sure,” said Persephone. “They’re both bullies.”
“Talk about a perfect match,” said Artemis. “Those two were made for each other.”
“You are so right!” Aphrodite exclaimed. Her eyes sparkled as she said, “There’ve been a lot of rumors going around this week. How about if we start one of our own?”
* * *
It wasn’t long before the goddessgirls reassembled in Aphrodite’s room. She handed Athena her red feather pen and a sheet of pink papyrus.
“What color should the roses be?” Athena asked.
“Red,” said Persephone.
Aphrodite nodded. “Most definitely red.”
“The flowers of loooove,” Artemis said teasingly.
Athena quickly wrote down the order, addressing it to Hermes’s Floral Delivery. Then she rolled up the papyrus sheet and tied a piece of ribbon around it. As she chanted the Send spell, the little scroll rose from Aphrodite’s desk and zoomed toward her window. “Wait!” Aphrodite cried. But it was too late. The papyrus crashed against the windowpane, crumpling, then spiraling dizzily to the floor.
“Sorry, I forgot,” Aphrodite said. As the scroll slowly raised itself up, she opened the window. With what seemed like a show of dignity, the papyrus uncrumpled itself, then hopped onto the windowsill. From there, it dove into the wind and was swiftly swept away.