Crius and the Fright of Night

  Contents

  Greetings, Mortal Readers

  1. Zap!

  2. Wild Winds

  3. Into the Woods

  4. The Dark Tower

  5. Crius

  6. Unexpected Help

  7. Battle of the Stars

  8. A Voice in the Darkness

  9. A New Magical Object

  10. Silver and Gold

  About Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams

  For our heroic readers:

  Christine D-H and Kenzo S., J. Luman, Brenden S., Sven S., Xander D., Calvin E. and Anthony D., Stephan R., the Andrade Family, Tait L., Ariel S., Colin S., Caitlin R., Hannah R., Medolia S., Jakob W., Luke O. and Sophia O., Micah V., Taddy V., Kiki V., Pinki S., Jenny C., Sara S., Joey W., John K., Lana W., 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

  Zap!

  Come on, guys. Run for the hills!” Ten-year-old Zeus yelled to the eight Olympians around him.

  He looked behind him. Some Cronies—half-giant soldiers in King Cronus’s army—were charging toward the Olympians across the plains.

  “Where are you tasty tidbits going, Snackboy?” one of the Cronies called out as they stomped toward Zeus and his friends.

  Anger rose inside Zeus. It seemed like they couldn’t go anywhere without the Cronies finding and threatening to gobble or clobber them.

  Ares, the god of war, ran up next to him. His red eyes were blazing.

  “There are only six of them, and nine of us!” he said. “We should stop and fight!”

  “They’re five times as big as we are, and ten times as strong!” Zeus reminded him. “Do the math.”

  “But we have powers!” Ares argued.

  “It’s too risky,” Zeus said. “It’s my job to keep everyone safe. I say we hide in the hills up ahead and figure out our next move.”

  Pythia, the Oracle of Delphi, had told Zeus that he was the leader of the Olympians. Ever since then, he felt responsible for their safety. Unfortunately, they were usually in danger, so the responsibility was a huge one!

  For some reason, King Cronus—a Titan almost as tall as the hills up ahead—and the other Titans wanted to do away with them. Zeus hadn’t even known he was an Olympian until the Cronies had captured and taken him to Cronus a while back. Zeus smiled to himself, recalling how he’d rescued five Olympians—Hades, Poseidon, Hera, Demeter, and Hestia—by making the king barf them up from his belly!

  Ever since then, Pythia kept appearing to them in a hazy mist to send them on quests. She gave them hints that were not too helpful (her foggy glasses sometimes meant things got lost in translation), but they always managed to figure them out just in the nick of time. And only a short time ago, she told Zeus that the Olympians Cronus had barfed up were his brothers and sisters!

  They had also found three more Olympians on their journeys: Ares, Athena, and Apollo. Together, the nine Olympians had fought monsters, battled Titans, and been chased by countless Cronies.

  And this quest was no different. Pythia had sent them to find yet another Olympian—Apollo’s sister, Artemis. Sure, it had been smooth sailing at first. They’d left from the new city of Athens, crossed the Gulf of Corinth, and landed safely. But then the Cronies had pounced.

  Hearing a shriek, Zeus looked over his shoulder. It was a Crony shrieking in pain. He had made a grab for Hestia! Luckily, she had thought fast. She’d used her magical object—a torch that could create fire and send it anywhere—to lash back at him. Safe now, she was catching up to the Olympians again.

  “I’ll get you for that!” yelled the Crony. He and his half-giant buddy charged closer and closer. Their muscled chests were bare. Some of them had tattoos or beards. Each carried a shield and a weapon—either an enormous club or a sharp sword. Basically, they were scary-looking!

  “If we can make it to the hills, we might lose them!” Zeus shouted toward the others.

  The rocky hills ahead were filled with cracks, caves, and crevices: the perfect cover for small Olympians to hide from half-giant Cronies.

  “Ha-ha! No way! You can’t escape us, Olympians!” one of the Cronies growled. And then another sound filled the air.

  “Yow!” It was Poseidon yelping in pain.

  He had tripped over his trident—a three-pronged magical weapon that looked sort of like a pitchfork. Now he was sprawled facedown in the dirt.

  Demeter quickly stopped and reached out a hand to help him up. Poseidon tried to stand. He winced and then fell right back down.

  “I think I did something to my ankle,” he said. “You guys need to keep going!”

  Demeter paused, her eyes filled with concern.

  “Go!” Poseidon yelled at her.

  “No! Not without you!” Demeter cried.

  The other Olympians hadn’t even noticed that Poseidon was down. Zeus waved Demeter on and doubled back toward his brother.

  Unfortunately, one of the Cronies got to Poseidon first. The half-giant grinned a cruel smile. He raised his club above his head.

  “No! Leave him alone!” Zeus bellowed in a voice like booming thunder. A surge of panic flowed through him. There was no way he could get there in time! He grabbed the lightning-bolt-shaped dagger that hung from his belt. He had found Bolt, one of his magical objects, in the temple at Delphi where he’d first met the Oracle. It had been the beginning of his epic quest to gain power for the Olympians.

  Once drawn, the dagger immediately sprang to its full size—five feet long—and gleamed in his hand. He raised his arm, holding it skyward as a terrible anger filled him. “Get the Crony!” Zeus yelled, hurling Bolt in the half-giant’s direction.

  Zap! Bolt shot forward and struck Poseidon’s half-giant attacker. The Crony flew backward, slamming into the Crony behind him, who slammed into another behind him, knocking them down like dominoes.

  At the same time, dark, angry storm clouds that mirrored Zeus’s anger gathered in the sky above them. A storm wind whipped up out of nowhere. Lightning streaked down from the clouds, sending the Cronies scattering.

  Meanwhile, Demeter and Hades returned to grab Poseidon. They each lifted him up by one arm and helped him limp away. They and the other Olympians stared at Zeus, wide-eyed. It seemed like he must be causing the storm. But he didn’t notice. More anger filled him, darker and blacker. The fury of the storm grew blacker too. Bolt had returned to Zeus and he held Bolt above him as the wind whipped around him.

  “Has he always been this powerful?” asked gray-eyed Athena, who had only been with the group a short time.

  “No, this is new, and a little worrisome, I have to admit,” replied Hera, brushing her blond hair to the side as the two girls eyed Zeus in surprise. “Make sure everyone gets to the hills, okay? I’ll go help
him fight.”

  Zap! Zap! Zap! Zeus blasted the Cronies with Bolt one by one. The ones who weren’t hit were running away like scared mice.

  “Zeus!” Hera cried. Rain lashed at her face as she ran up and tried to get his attention.

  But he didn’t reply. It was like he was in a trance.

  “Zeus!” she yelled louder. Still nothing. She shook him by the shoulders. “Come on! You’ve got to stop before your crazy storm zaps us too.”

  Zeus blinked suddenly as her words finally got through to him. What was he doing? This storm of his was getting out of control! “Bolt! Small!” he cried.

  Zzpt! His thunderbolt shrank to dagger size, and he rammed it under his belt. Then he and Hera took off running. They quickly reached the hills.

  They found the other seven Olympians huddled there together, getting drenched by the rain. Demeter was wrapping a piece of cloth around Poseidon’s ankle. They all looked at Zeus in concern and wonder.

  “Thanks for saving me out there, bro,” Poseidon said. “But where did all that crazy storm power come from? That was awesome.”

  “I have no idea,” Zeus said, which was true.

  And that scared him plenty!

  CHAPTER TWO

  Wild Winds

  We need to find shelter,” Zeus said, quickly slipping back into leader mode.

  “Too bad there aren’t any caves on this side of the hill,” said Hades. His black hair was matted to his forehead, wet from the downpour. As the ruler of the Underworld, he was drawn to dark, closed-in spaces. “Nothing big enough to hold us, anyway.”

  “Well, we can’t stay out in this,” Hera said. She looked at Zeus. “You started this storm. Can’t you stop it?”

  He shook his head. “Usually they stop once I put Bolt away, but—”

  “Let’s get going. Maybe we’ll find shelter on the other side of the hill,” Athena interrupted hopefully. “Hestia, we might need your torch to light the way.”

  Hestia frowned. “I’m not sure if my magic flame can stand up to this wind and rain. But I can try it.”

  Apollo held out his hand, palm up. “I think the rain is slowing down. Now is a good time to get out of town.”

  “We’re not in a town,” Hera pointed out.

  Apollo shrugged, grinning. “I know. But it rhymes!” said the musical Olympian.

  “Athena’s right. Let’s go,” urged Zeus, and they made their way down a muddy path and around the hill. Poseidon’s ankle still hurt him, so Hades and Demeter helped him.

  They didn’t find any caves on the other side. A small field stood between them and the next hill.

  “Onward!” Zeus commanded, and as he spoke, the wind became stronger. The rain started to fall harder again too.

  Hestia’s torch flickered dimly as she led the way across the field. The wind howled around them.

  “You could at least try to stop this storm. I mean, you did start it, right?” Hera asked Zeus in a grumpy tone.

  “I’m not sure I started all this,” Zeus said. “If I did, I didn’t mean to. But I can’t stop it,” Zeus informed her.

  Whoosh! The wind blew stronger. So strong that it knocked Hestia off her feet!

  “I’m okay,” she said, jumping back.

  “Can your feather scout ahead and see if there’s a cave?” Zeus asked Hera.

  Hera protectively touched the bag that she carried around her shoulder. She kept her magical object, a peacock feather, inside.

  “I’m not taking the feather out in this mess,” she said. “It might blow away and never come back!”

  “Then use Chip!” Zeus urged.

  Chip was another one of Zeus’s magical objects, but he let Hera use it. She wore the stone on a leather string around her neck. Sometimes arrows would appear on Chip like a map, showing them all where to go. This had helped them get out of a lot of sticky situations!

  Hera fished the amulet on the leather cord from her collar. She looked at Chip, tapped on it, shook it. “It’s not working!” she announced.

  “Wait! There’s something up ahead!” Hestia cried out in excitement.

  Her flickering flame lit up a tiny makeshift shepherd’s hut sitting in the muddy field. It looked like it was made of straw and branches.

  Zeus frowned. “It doesn’t look too sturdy.”

  “I can’t walk much longer,” Poseidon said from behind him. “Maybe we should stop anyway.”

  Demeter and Hades helped Poseidon inside the hut. Athena and Ares slipped in after them.

  “Oomph! Your lyre is poking me. There’s no more room!” Ares said as Apollo tried to enter.

  Zeus peered over Apollo’s shoulder into the hut. Ares was right.

  “Hey! Chip’s working again,” Hera yelled over the wind. “Let’s move on. The rest of you can catch up to us in the hills when the storm stops!”

  Ares nodded looked uncertain. “Should I go or stay? I’m the only one fierce enough to protect everyone but I can’t be in two places at one time.”

  Zeus rolled his eyes. Sometimes Olympians were really full of themselves! “I don’t like to split up, but I don’t see any other choice. Find us when you can.” With that, he, Hera, Apollo, and Hestia continued on. The wind howled around them like a wild animal.

  Plodding against the wall of wind, the four Olympians followed Chip’s directions. The stone’s glowing arrow led them to the safety of a cave. By then, they were drenched and shivering.

  Hestia shook rain off her torch. “Campfire!” she said, pointing the torch at the ground. A cheerful orange fire immediately sprang up in the center of the cave. The Olympians huddled around it, trying to dry off.

  Zeus looked back anxiously out at the field. “I hope the others will be okay in that hut.”

  “Ares said he’d look after them,” said Hestia.

  Hera snorted. “What’s he going to do? Jab at the rain with his spear?”

  “He means well,” said Hestia kindly. “Besides, the others all have powers too. They’ll be fine.”

  “Oh, really? Let’s see,” Hera said, warming her hands over the fire. “Poseidon’s trident can make water spring up anywhere. But I don’t really think that’ll help them right now, do you?”

  “Hades has his invisibility helmet,” Zeus reminded her.

  “And what good is turning invisible in a storm?” Hera pointed out.

  “Demeter’s magic seeds could be what they needs, uh, need,” Apollo sing-songed.

  “Sure, she could magically grow food for them, but she always wants to save her seeds to help poor people. And Athena’s aegis can turn things to stone, but if all this rain turned to stone we’d be in even more trouble.”

  “Don’t forget she has a magic thread too,” Hestia reminded her.

  Hera nodded. “Right. That might be useful. But we haven’t really seen what all it can do.”

  “I am the only Olympian without a magical object,” Apollo complained to Hera in a huffy voice. “Do you think I’m useless?”

  Hera sighed. “Of course not. None of our magical objects can help stop this terrible storm. There’s nothing we can do about it anyway.” She looked at Zeus accusingly.

  “It’s not my fault,” he protested, but deep down, he wasn’t sure. He had felt some crazy kind of power inside him back there when Poseidon was in trouble. It hadn’t seemed to come from Bolt, so where had it come from? Apollo took his lyre out of his bag. Even though it wasn’t a magical object, he could make beautiful music with it.

  Apollo strummed and began to sing.

  “I hope this storm doesn’t turn into a twister,

  So we can keep searching for my lost twin sister.”

  Pythia had told them they would find Apollo’s sister, if they could find a Titan called Crius. Apparently, the twins had been captured by another Titan, Iapetos, when they were three years old. They had escaped, but then lost track of each other.

  Hestia put a hand on Apollo’s arm. “We’ll find her, Apollo. We’ve found every other Oly
mpian that Pythia has sent us questing after.”

  Apollo nodded. “I hope you’re right.”

  Suddenly, they heard a loud groaning sound outside. Zeus jumped up and ran to the mouth of the cave to look for the source of the sound.

  Zap! Lightning flashed, illuminating the field. In that split second, Zeus saw the wind pick up the shepherd’s hut. The hut whirled and swirled in the air—and then the wind carried it away!

  “Noooooooo!” he wailed.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Into the Woods

  Hera, Hestia, and Apollo ran up beside Zeus. Their mouths opened in horror as the wind carried the hut right over their heads, and out of sight.

  “We’ve got to go after them!” Zeus cried. “I’m not losing any more Olympians!”

  It seemed like on every one of their quests, the Olympians had become separated. Zeus had sworn to himself that he wouldn’t let that happen again. And now, five Olympians were flying away!

  He bolted from the mouth of the cave, but Hera caught hold of his arm and pulled him back.

  “No!” she said. “You’ll only get blown away too. We have to wait until the storm dies down.”

  Hestia looked worried. “But that wind was so strong! What’s going to happen when they crash down?”

  Apollo strummed his lyre. “It’ll splinter into wood. Which can’t do anyone any good.”

  “Stop that!” Hera scolded. “This is not funny!”

  “Sorry,” said Apollo. “I’m freaking out too. But music calms me down.”

  “Music can be calming,” Hera agreed. “But not with those lyrics!”

  Hera, Hestia, and Apollo moved back around the fire. Frustrated, Zeus stayed by the cave entrance for a few minutes, staring at the storm. When he began shivering, he joined them around the magic flames. “It’s not helping us to worry about the others when we can’t do anything to help them right now. Somebody introduce a new topic,” he suggested.

  “Okay. So, what do you think Crius will be like when we finally find him?” Hestia wondered. “Each Titan we’ve met has a different, scary power.”