Hephaestus and the Island of Terror Read online

  Contents

  Greetings, Mortal Readers

  1. Wake Up Already!

  2. It’s Not Really Stealing . . .

  3. Sea Monsters!

  4. What the Oog?

  5. Hef-es-tu-soo!

  6. In the Heart of the Volcano

  7. A Mechanical Mind

  8. Awesome Artemis!

  9. Boom!

  10. Find the Bubbles?

  About Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams

  For our heroic readers:

  Andrew M., the Andrade Family, Julia A., Kiki V., Emily G., Denny S., Christine D-H and Kenzo S., Sven S., Tait L., Sam R., Sophia O., Luke O., Harper M., Harrison T., Ariel S., Colin S., Caitlin R., Hannah R., Kiana E., Aspasia K., Tiffany W. and Justin W., Heather H., Evilynn R., Alexa M., Ahalya S. and Sahara S., and you!

  —J. H. and S. W.

  Greetings, Mortal Readers,

  I am Pythia, the Oracle of Delphi, in Greece. I have the power to see the future. Hear my prophecy:

  Ahead I see dancers lurking. Wait—make that danger lurking. (The future can be blurry, especially when my eyeglasses are foggy.)

  Anyhoo, beware! Titan giants seek to rule all of Earth’s domains—oceans, mountains, forests, and the depths of the Underwear. Oops—make that Underworld. Led by King Cronus, they are out to destroy us all!

  Yet I foresee hope. A band of rightful rulers called Olympians will arise. Though their size and youth are no match for the Titans, they will be giant in heart, mind, and spirit. They await their leader—a very special boy. One who is destined to become king of the gods and ruler of the heavens.

  If he is brave enough.

  And if he and his friends work together as one. And if they can learn to use their new amazing flowers—um, amazing powers—in time to save the world!

  CHAPTER ONE

  Wake Up Already!

  Early morning sunlight filtered through the trees as the ten most wanted outlaws in Greece ran along a wooded path. They were on a quest, heading for the coast of the Aegean Sea. And they knew that any minute the enormously tall King Cronus—the evil leader of the Titans—might pop up and attack them. His entire Crony army was searching for them, to take them prisoner.

  Why? Because they were Olympian gods and goddesses! And even though they were all just human-size ten-year-olds, Cronus knew that these immortals would do anything to stop his dastardly plans to take over the world.

  Zeus, a blue-eyed, dark-haired boy, stayed just ahead of the other nine immortals. As he ran, a worried expression on his face, he kept tabs on their surroundings. Since he was the leader of this bunch, he was always concerned for their safety. Keeping pace with him was his brother Poseidon, who shared the same dark hair but had eyes the turquoise color of the sea that he ruled.

  And behind them, the rest of the gang jogged along. There were three other boys—Ares, Apollo, and Hades. And five girls in all—Artemis, Athena, Demeter, Hera, and Hestia.

  “The goats are angry. Quick! Get the fig jam!” Artemis mumbled. She was their weak link. She stumbled along at the back of the line, her sleepy eyes half-closed. Her twin brother, Apollo, held her arm, guiding her.

  When blond-haired Hera turned to stare, Apollo shook his head in dismay. “She keeps talking in her sleep. Her dreams and thoughts must run very deep!” he explained, talking in singsong rhyme-speak as usual.

  “Well, she’s slowing us down,” Hera said. She sounded a bit breathless from jogging along the rocky forest path.

  “It’s not her fault,” said Apollo, panting too. “That sleeping potion the Titans gave her during our last quest still hasn’t worn off.”

  “It’s been seven days!” exclaimed Hera. “Is she ever going to wake up?”

  “You know the answer,” said gray-eyed Athena. Her aegis, the shield that she wore over her tunic, rattled as she scurried along. “Pythia said Artemis can’t wake up till she finds her gold bow and silver arrows on the Island of Lemnos.”

  “And the sooner we reach the coast, the closer we’ll be to the island,” said Hestia.

  “I know, but—” Hera began.

  Zeus could hear them arguing behind him, and he sighed. “Chill out,” he called back to Hera. “Quests are never easy, but we’ve got to follow Pythia’s instructions just the same.”

  Pythia, the Oracle of Delphi, had been sending them on quests ever since Zeus had learned that he was an Olympian and not just a mortal boy. A prophecy foretold that the Olympians would overthrow King Cronus and the evil Titans someday. However, Pythia kept saying they weren’t ready for that yet. Each of them needed to find their own magical object or weapon first, and there were still more Olympians to find too.

  From beside Zeus, Poseidon looked back at the sleeping Artemis. She was falling farther and farther behind despite Apollo’s support. “Stop the chickens!” she said, flapping her arms like wings.

  “Maybe another squirt of water?” Poseidon suggested, lifting the trident he held. It looked like a pitchfork but was magical and could shoot water from the ends of its three pointy prongs.

  “No!” called out Apollo, who had overheard. “There is no fun in being damp when you’re outside and have to camp.”

  “What rhymes with ‘you and your rhymes are annoying’?” Hera asked him huffily.

  Apollo appeared to consider this. Rhymes were his specialty, especially the ones in songs. He was a talented musician. He could sing and also play the lyre, a stringed instrument that he carried slung across his back. “Well . . . ,” he started to say.

  Hera rolled her eyes. “Never mind,” she muttered.

  “Hold up,” Athena hissed. Everyone came to a dead stop, panting as she pointed to a footprint in the dirt. “It’s so big that it has to have been made by a Crony,” she said. Though not as enormous as King Cronus, the Cronies were way bigger than the Olympians. In fact, they were as tall as trees!

  Zeus looked over at Hera. “She’s right. Can you use your feather to scout for King Cronus and his army?”

  Nodding, Hera pulled her magical object, a peacock feather, from her belt. It was green and had blue and orange markings on the end that looked like an eye, so it was called the Feather of Eyes.

  She held it in her palm and chanted, “Feather be my eyes for me, let me know if you spot a Crony.”

  “Lame-o,” Artemis murmured sleepily.

  She was right, thought Zeus. He would never say so to Hera, but her rhyme had kind of stunk. It had taken her a long time to find her feather, and she was quite proud of it. However, it would only follow commands spoken in rhyme. And though she might think otherwise, she didn’t have the skill that Apollo did when it came to rhyming. Still, the feather obeyed her now and floated off.

  Apollo grinned at Hera. “You know, I could help you with your rhyming if you want,” he offered.

  She glared at him and his sister. Before she could lash out at Apollo, Hestia piped up. “When your feather comes back, maybe you could tickle Artemis all the way awake,” she suggested to Hera.

  “Or I could try growing a remedy for her.” Demeter, the goddess of the harvest, touched the magical packet of seeds that hung from her belt.

  “That’ll take too long,” Athena put in.

  “True,” said Demeter. “And it would be better to save the seeds for crops if we can.” Just one of her magic seeds could grow enough food to feed a whole village. So she used them carefully, not wanting to waste them.

  Zeus spoke up, whispering in case any Cronies were close. “The only solution for Artemis is to find her bow and arrows. Like Pythia said.”

  “But remember what else she said?” Poseidon whispered back. “Tha
t we’ll have to fight off silver lines and gold dolls before we get to those arrows.”

  Hera giggled. “Sorry, but fighting lines and dolls doesn’t sound scary at all compared to the battles we’ve faced on our other quests.” In the past the Olympians had fought off some terrifying monsters—a three-headed dog, bird women with razor-sharp claws, weird warriors who hopped around on one foot—and more.

  “Sometimes Pythia doesn’t see things clearly, though,” Zeus reminded her. “I wish we could be a hundred percent sure what we were going to be up against.”

  “Or even ninety percent,” quipped Poseidon.

  Just then the peacock feather flew back into Hera’s hand. She looked into its orange eye and gasped. “There’s a Crony up ahead, coming this way!” she exclaimed. “Just one, I think. He looks like a scout.”

  “Hide!” said Zeus, running for cover.

  “Aw, come on. It’s just one Crony. We can take him! Anyone up for a fight?” asked Ares, waving his spear. He was the god of war and was always eager for battle.

  “No! He could sound an alarm and call up an army,” argued Zeus. “We can’t take that chance.”

  Disappointment showed in Ares’s strange red eyes, but he didn’t argue.

  “Hurry!” said Hera. “He’s getting closer.”

  “There’s a clump of bushes over there,” said Demeter, pointing. The Olympians hurried to take cover.

  “All right,” Zeus told the others. “Settle down and stay quiet.”

  “What if Artemis starts snoring?” Hera asked.

  “Artemis! Where is she?” Apollo exclaimed, looking around suddenly. “I let go of her for half a second, and now she’s gone.”

  Zeus peeked out from the bushes. There, not more than ten feet away, stood Artemis. “Frog jumped over the moon,” she said softly. Shoulders drooping, she stood right in the middle of the path. She was asleep on her feet!

  Crunch! Crunch! It was the sound of huge boots crossing the sandy soil. The Crony scout. He was coming closer. In seconds he would discover Artemis!

  Hera elbowed Zeus. “Do something!”

  CHAPTER TWO

  It’s Not Really Stealing . . .

  Zeus leaped out of the bushes. He rushed over to Artemis, grabbed her by the arm, and half-dragged her to their hiding spot just in the nick of time.

  From the bushes the ten Olympians watched the Crony scout appear through the trees. He looked fierce in his loincloth and metal chest armor, and he was bulging with muscles. In other words, he was dangerous!

  “Who brought the carrots?” Artemis murmured through her haze of sleep.

  Poseidon clapped a hand over her mouth before she could say anything more. Unfortunately, she bit his hand and he almost cried out. Fortunately, Hera clapped a hand over Poseidon’s mouth to keep him quiet too. The other Olympians all held their breath as the Crony stopped and looked around. Would he search for them now?

  Luckily, the Crony, didn’t seem to think whatever he’d heard was important. Moments later he stomped on by. Phew! Zeus let out a breath of relief. When they couldn’t hear the crunching of the Crony’s boots anymore, the immortals stepped out of hiding.

  “Ow!” Poseidon said at last, rubbing his hurt hand. But a few sprinkles of water from the pronged tips of his trident seemed to quickly ease his pain.

  “Good. He’s going inland, opposite from the way we’re going to reach the coast,” said Hera.

  “So I guess the coast is clear,” joked Hades. Unlike Artemis, he’d been pretty quiet up till now.

  “Let’s hope so,” said Zeus. Just in case, he stayed alert. You never knew. An entire army of Cronies could surprise them when they least expected it.

  Apollo nudged Zeus’s arm as they started off on their journey again. “Thank you, mister, for saving my sister.”

  “Anytime,” Zeus replied, and he meant it. Artemis was under a spell and meant no harm. And he had only done what needed to be done. No matter how dangerous, difficult, or scary the task, that was what Olympians did.

  The words of his mother, Rhea, came back to him. I know you will make good choices, Zeus. You and the other Olympians have made many good choices already. You are kind to one another and the mortals you meet. You help those in need. She had told Zeus this when she’d appeared to him in the shadows during his recent battle with an important Titan named Crius.

  When the huge Titan had teased him, Zeus had grown angry. Very angry. It was an anger like he’d never felt before—uncontrollable. He’d pinned Crius to the ground, holding one of his magical objects, Bolt, high and ready. It had sizzled with electric energy. His hand had trembled. He’d wanted to zap Crius, to destroy him with a massive blow from the daggerlike thunderbolt.

  But the voice of his mother had stopped him.

  Had losing control like that meant Zeus was as evil as King Cronus himself? He didn’t want to be evil. But Zeus had learned on another quest that King Cronus was actually his father! Since then Zeus constantly worried that he might one day turn out as rotten as the king.

  Rhea had told him not to worry, that he could make his own choices and did not have to end up like Cronus. His mother’s words had made Zeus feel better. Still, sometimes his anger surged again, and he wondered if Rhea could have been wrong.

  After some time passed, Poseidon took a deep breath. “Salt air!” he announced, breaking into a big smile. “We’re close to the sea!”

  When the Olympians heard this, they began running faster. Minutes later they came upon a busy dock filled with ships. Fishermen scurried about, loading and unloading their ships with baskets of goods. Beyond the ships the blue-green waters of the sea glittered in the morning sunlight.

  “Keep an eye out for Cronies,” Zeus warned as they made their way down to the docks.

  “The brave Olympians were forced to flee, but at long last they reached the sea,” Apollo sang happily.

  “Hey, post a sign, why don’t you?” grumped Hera.

  “She’s right,” warned Zeus. “There could be Cronies around here somewhere, hiding. Or informants who’ll tell them we were here. So it’s best to keep quiet about being Olympians.”

  “Um, how exactly are we supposed to cross this sea to Lemnos anyway?” Hades asked, looking around. “We don’t have a ship.”

  “Good question,” Athena agreed. “Zeus, what’s the plan?”

  Zeus frowned, thinking. They didn’t have any money to pay for passage to Lemnos. The only things they had of value were magical objects, and they couldn’t part with them.

  Ares spoke up before Zeus could answer. “Let’s storm one of the ships and take it for our own!” he cried, shaking his spear.

  “We are not battling for a ship,” said Zeus firmly.

  “Yeah, battling for a ship would be an uphill . . . uh—battle—for sure,” agreed Poseidon.

  “Well, maybe we could cause a distraction and then just . . . borrow a ship,” suggested Hestia.

  Zeus frowned. “You mean . . . steal a ship?”

  “Well, it’s not stealing if we give it back after our quest,” Hera reasoned. “I’m with Hestia on this.”

  The other Olympians murmured in agreement. They couldn’t just ask the fishermen for help, thought Zeus. What if the fishermen were on the side of the Cronies? And the Olympians had to get to the Island of Lemnos somehow. He hated to admit it, but stealing—that is, borrowing—a ship might be their only option.

  Zeus reached for the magical object tucked into his belt. “I guess I could use Bolt to create a thunderstorm as a distraction while we steal—um, borrow—a ship.” He’d found his thunderbolt-shaped dagger in Pythia’s temple. That had been way back before he’d met these Olympians and started on this epic journey. At Zeus’s command Bolt could grow to five feet long and sizzle with the power of the heavens.

  But before anyone could reply, a cry rose up among the fishermen. “Fire! Fire!” Some of them raced toward a nearby sand dune, while others grabbed buckets and filled them with water.
r />   “What happened?” Zeus began. But then he noticed that Hestia was holding up her magical object, a long metal torch decorated with carvings. A bright flame danced in the shallow bowl atop it. She closed her eyes, and seconds later another small fire broke out on a sand dune near the first one. More fishermen with buckets of water ran toward it.

  “Now the coast really is clear,” quipped Hades.

  “Good job!” Athena told Hestia.

  Hestia smiled and did a little happy dance. “I’m getting better at controlling the flame,” she said proudly.

  “While everyone’s trying to put out the fires, we might as well grab a ship,” said Zeus. Clearly, it had been Hestia’s intention when she’d started the fires to draw the fishermen away so they could do just that! Zeus looked at Poseidon. “Which one? It’ll need to fit ten of us.”

  As they ran along the dock, Poseidon scanned the ships. “There!” he called, pointing.

  The ship he’d chosen for them had a large, wooden hull and a wide, white sail. Three long oars extended from each of the ship’s sides. It wasn’t the largest ship on the dock, but it was just right for their group.

  They rushed for the ship and quickly climbed on board. Hades and Hera hoisted the sails. The other Olympians—except for Artemis—grabbed the oars and started to row. The ship pulled away from the shore.

  Suddenly Poseidon tossed his trident overboard. It splashed into the sea. Then he jumped in after it.

  “First one to Lemnos wins!” he yelled happily. Straddling his trident, he zoomed off. Streams of water magically gushed out of the three prongs at its back end, shoving him forward across the waves.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Sea Monsters!

  As Zeus moved to the helm of the ship, he touched the oval stone disk he wore around his neck. “Chip, which way is the Island of Lemnos?” he asked it. Poseidon knew the seas well and was probably going in the right direction, but confirmation from Chip would be good.