Typhon and the Winds of Destruction Read online

  Contents

  Greetings, Mortal Readers

  1. Surprise Attack!

  2. The Power of Six

  3. To Climb or Not to Climb

  4. Into the Clouds

  5. Typhon

  6. The Monster’s Lullaby

  7. Apollo’s Tale

  8. Attack of the Giant Bees

  9. Toppled

  10. Brothers and Sisters?

  About Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams

  For these heroic readers:

  Caitlin R., Micah V., Taddy V., Dana P., Andrew M., Kyle Z.,

  Andrade Family and Alba C., Christine D-H., 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

  Surprise Attack!

  Ouch!” ten-year-old Zeus yelled as a hot orange spark hit his shoulder.

  “Sorry,” said Hestia. “I’m trying to figure out how to control this thing.”

  She held up a long metal torch decorated with carvings. A bright flame danced in the shallow bowl at the top of the torch.

  “Well, maybe you should try a little harder,” Hera muttered under her breath.

  Zeus knew that Hera was upset. Yesterday he and his five young Olympian friends had found the Olympic Torch and its eternal flame. Hera had hoped the magical object would be hers. But the magic only worked when Hestia held the torch.

  Zeus tried changing the subject. “I think we’ll get to that giant beanstalk in just a couple of hours.”

  He nodded into the distance. A tall green stalk with big leaves had sprouted up from the ground early that morning. The stalk had grown so tall that its top disappeared into the clouds. Pythia, the Oracle of Delphi, had sent them on a quest to find Magic Seeds, and the giant beanstalk looked like a good place to start.

  Poseidon, whose eyes were the color of the ocean, rubbed his stomach. “If we find those Magic Seeds, I just might eat them,” he said. “We’ve been walking all morning, and we haven’t eaten since last night.”

  “Hey! Is that a farmhouse?” said red-haired Demeter. She pointed into the distance. “Maybe we can get something to eat there.”

  Hera frowned. “Do we have to stop? We’re not that far from the beanstalk now.”

  “Actually, I’m kind of hungry too,” Hades admitted.

  “It’s not a bad idea to stop,” Zeus reasoned. “We might need our strength to face . . . whatever’s waiting for us at that stalk.”

  The other Olympians knew what he meant. Every time they went searching for a new magical object or a missing Olympian, they got into some kind of danger. Sometimes King Cronus of the Titans sent monsters to stop them. Or other Titans hurled fireballs at them, or tried to kidnap them, or worse.

  Sure, the giant beanstalk looked like a harmless plant, but Zeus knew by now that anything could happen. And when it did, it would probably be bad.

  Poseidon broke into a run. “Lunch, here I come!” he said, racing toward the farmhouse.

  The others took off after him. When they got to the farmhouse, they saw a gray-haired farmer pulling weeds from a scraggly-looking vegetable patch.

  “What are you kids doing all the way out here?” he asked.

  Poseidon spoke up. “We’re going to look for the Mag— Oof!”

  Zeus had nudged him in the ribs. “We’re on a journey,” he explained. “And we’re pretty hungry. We were wondering if you had any food to spare?”

  The old man scratched his head. “Well, I lost a lot of crops during the drought,” he said. “But I do have plenty of eggs, thanks to the chickens, and some carrots.”

  “We’d be happy to do a few chores to repay you,” Demeter said sweetly.

  Charmed, the farmer smiled. “Well, isn’t that nice. Let me go cook something up.”

  “I can light your hearth,” Hestia offered, following him inside.

  Zeus looked around the yard. Brown and white chickens scratched the dry earth. Two pigs slept peacefully in a pen. A pile of logs was stacked against the chicken coop.

  “Let’s make ourselves useful,” Zeus said to the other Olympians. “I’ll chop some wood.” He took the dagger-size thunderbolt from his belt.

  “Bolt, large!” he commanded. The dagger sizzled and sparked, and then expanded into a five-foot-long thunderbolt. With Bolt he could slice through a stack of logs like they were butter. He had found the magic thunderbolt at the temple at Delphi, before he had even met the others. It had helped get him through a lot of dangerous situations. But it was great at doing ordinary stuff too.

  “I’ll fill the troughs,” Poseidon offered. He held up his three-pronged trident, which he had taken back from a Titan called Oceanus. That’s when he’d discovered that he was the god of the sea and could control water. Poseidon pointed the trident at the pigs’ wooden trough, and it instantly filled up with water.

  “I’ll clean out the pigpen!” Hades announced cheerfully, his dark eyes twinkling.

  Demeter wrinkled her nose. “Yuck! Why do you look so happy about it?” she asked.

  Hades took a deep breath. “Ahhh, that smell! I can’t get enough of it. It’s an Underworld thing.”

  Hera shook her head. “It’s a weird thing.”

  “Hey, you’re talking to the lord of the Underworld, you know,” Hades reminded her.

  “More like the lord of the pigpen,” Hera shot back. She still looked upset over that torch.

  “You okay, Hera?” Zeus asked. “You usually save your insults for me.”

  Demeter tugged the sleeve of Hera’s tunic. “Let’s go feed the chickens,” she said.

  Thanks to the magical objects (and Hades’s love of smelly stuff), they finished the chores quickly. Then they took their seats at the large farmhouse table and dug into their lunch.

  “You kids enjoy,” the farmer said. “You certainly earned it.”

  He shuffled off into the other room, and Zeus nodded to Poseidon, who sat across the table.

  “Don’t go blabbing about the Magic Seeds,” he warned Poseidon in a loud whisper. “If word gets around that we’re looking for magic stuff, Cronus might find out and come looking for us.”

  ”Oh. Right,” Poseidon whispered back.

  Demeter looked out the window at the farmer’s fields. Most of the crops had withered and turned brown, thanks to a Titan named Hyperion. He had been hurling fireballs across the land, causing a terrible drought, until the Olympians had stopped him.

  “Hyperion’s drought really devastated the land,” she remarked. “I hope we do find the Magic Seeds so that we can bring back the crops, like Pythia said.”

  “Well, I just hope the right person gets the seeds,” Hera said, with a look at Hestia.

  “What do you mean?” Hestia asked, her light brown eyes wide.


  “Oh, nothing,” Hera said, but her voice was tight. “It’s just that, you know, some of us have been doing these quests longer than others and still haven’t gotten our magical objects. It doesn’t seem fair.”

  Zeus felt kind of bad for Hera. “I don’t think the magical objects are in a specific order as far as who they belong to. Maybe you just need to be patient.”

  Hera put down her fork. “We should get going. I’ll wait outside.”

  She stomped out of the farmhouse, her long blond hair swaying down her back.

  “Wow, she’s about as happy as a fish in a net,” Poseidon said.

  Demeter spoke up. “Well, I don’t blame her.”

  “How would you feel if you didn’t have your trident yet?”

  “Well, I don’t think I would—”

  “Aaaaaaaaahhh!”

  A loud scream came from outside. Zeus jumped up from the table and and ran to push open the farmhouse door. He and the others rushed outside.

  Three half-giants, who were as tall as trees, stood in front of the pigpen. The largest one grasped Hera in one beefy arm. She kicked and scratched, trying to get free.

  “It’s the Cronies!” Zeus yelled.

  CHAPTER TWO

  The Power of Six

  Zeus reached for Bolt, but before he could release it—

  An arrow made of fire hit the chest of the Crony holding Hera. Shrieking, he dropped her, and she ran to join the other Olympians.

  Puzzled, Zeus looked over at Hestia, who stared at her torch in amazement.

  “It’s weird,” she said. “I was just thinking about using the torch to help Hera, and the fire arrow just . . . happened.”

  “Can you make it happen again?” Poseidon asked nervously.

  Angry now, the three Cronies stomped toward the Olympians. Zeus knew them by the names he had given them based on what they looked like. Lion Tattoo, Blackbeard, and Double Chin all worked for King Cronus. Not long ago they had kidnapped Zeus and tried to eat him—but that was before Zeus had found his magical weapon.

  “Bolt, large!” Zeus yelled, and the dagger transformed in his hand. He pointed it at Lion Tattoo.

  Zap! A jagged wave of electricity shot from Bolt and hit Lion Tattoo smack in the middle of his armored breastplate. The big soldier went down, taking the other two Cronies with him.

  The loud bellow of a battle cry echoed throughout the farm.

  “There’s more of them!” Poseidon yelled as the sound of stomping boots grew closer.

  Zeus turned to see a line of Cronies charging up from the back of the farmhouse. He counted four on either side of the building.

  Whoosh! An array of fire arrows flew at the Cronies, but the half-giants barreled right through them.

  “It’s time for a high five!” Hades cried.

  Zeus held up Bolt, Hades held out his Helm of Darkness, and Poseidon held out his trident. The Helm made whoever wore it invisible.

  Zeus nodded to Hestia. “The torch!”

  She touched the torch to the other objects. Hera and Demeter each added a hand. Instantly the weapons all began to sizzle and glow with tremendous power. A bright white light exploded from them, blinding the stunned Cronies.

  “Now!” Zeus yelled.

  They broke apart and began to attack the Cronies all at once.

  Whoosh! A mighty wave sprang from Poseidon’s trident, knocking down a line of four Cronies.

  Zap! A supercharged jolt of energy from Bolt hit Blackbeard and ricocheted off Lion Tattoo and Double Chin. This time the blast sent them flying, and they smacked into a stand of trees.

  Boom! More fire arrows sprang from the torch and landed in the dry grass near the third group of Cronies. The grass exploded into flames, encircling the Cronies in a ring of red-hot fire.

  “Run for it!” Poseidon yelled, racing off.

  “Wait!” Hera cried. “We can’t just leave the farm to burn.”

  Zeus knew she was right. That ring of fire would quickly spread.

  “Poseidon, put out the fire,” he called out. “I’ll stay with you, and the others can run for it.”

  “No need,” Hades said, slipping his helmet on. He immediately became invisible. “I’ll distract them so Poseidon can get away.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Poseidon said, holding up his trident.

  Zeus hated to leave his friends, but he knew that Hades and Poseidon could handle things. He and the girls raced off past the surprised farmer, who stood in his doorway with his mouth open.

  “Thanks for lunch!” Zeus yelled as he ran.

  Looking behind him, Zeus saw Poseidon wipe out the circle of fire with another giant wave. The third group of Cronies retreated into the woods as Poseidon took off at top speed after the other Olympians.

  The five Olympians ran until they reached a small grove of olive trees, and then came to a stop.

  “We should wait here,” Zeus said, panting. “Hades knows we’re heading for the beanstalk. He’ll find us.”

  “Sorry about those fire arrows back there,” Hestia said. “But I think I’m figuring it out. I can make the flame from the torch jump anywhere I want. I just have to concentrate.”

  “That’s okay,” Zeus said. “I didn’t know how to use Bolt when I first got it either.”

  Hestia smiled gratefully at Zeus. Out of the corner of one of his blue eyes, he saw Hera scowling at him and Hestia.

  I hope the Magic Seeds turn out to be Hera’s magical object, he thought. She’ll be impossible to live with if someone else gets them!

  Demeter walked up to one of the olive trees. It looked like it had done its best to survive the drought, but each branch held only a few thin green leaves and small white flowers.

  “Poor thing,” she said, gently touching the trunk with her hand. Instantly more leaves and branches sprouted on the nearest branch.

  Zeus had seen Demeter do this kind of thing before. He wanted to ask her about it, but suddenly Hades appeared right in front of him, holding his helmet.

  “So what do you call a Crony who tells lies?” he asked, grinning.

  “I don’t know. What?” Zeus asked.

  “A phony Crony!” Hades replied, cracking up. “Good one, right?”

  Hera shook her head. “So what happened back there?”

  “Well, the rest of the Cronies were knocked out pretty good,” Hades answered. “So I waited until the biggest one woke up, and then I started talking loudly, like you guys were still there. I said that we were all heading east. So he told the other Cronies, and they totally went in the wrong direction.”

  He grinned again, pleased with himself.

  “They’ll soon figure out that they’re on the wrong trail,” Hera pointed out.

  “Maybe not,” said Hestia. She looked up into the sky, and then turned so she faced east. She closed her eyes, concentrating, and the flame in the torch began to dance.

  “What did you do?” Zeus asked.

  “I made a bunch of campfires out by the eastern hills so the Cronies will think it’s us,” she explained. “That should keep them busy for a while.”

  “Good thinking,” said Zeus. “Now let’s get moving before those Cronies figure things out and catch up to us!”

  CHAPTER THREE

  To Climb or Not to Climb

  No Cronies on our trail yet,” Hades reported a few hours later. He had donned his helmet again and scouted the trail behind them.

  Hera pointed ahead. “Good thing, because we’re almost there.”

  They could all get a clearer picture of the beanstalk now. Wide leaves grew from stems coming off the stalk, and it seemed to disappear into the clouds above.

  Demeter’s green eyes shone with excitement. “What an amazing plant!”

  Zeus started to feel excited too. “Come on. Let’s get there before the Cronies catch us,” he said, breaking into a run.

  The others followed, and soon they all reached the bottom of the stalk.

  “Wow! That is one giant b
eanstalk!” Poseidon exclaimed.

  Zeus looked up. The beanstalk was wider around than any tree he had ever seen. Its enormous green leaves cast shadows on the grass under his feet. He looked up, craning his neck, but he still couldn’t see the top of the stalk.

  “You can say that again,” Zeus agreed.

  “That is one giant beanstalk!” Poseidon repeated, which made Hestia giggle.

  “It looks way taller than it did from back where we started,” Hera remarked nervously.

  Zeus pushed against the stalk. It was as hard as a tree trunk and didn’t move at all. “It’s sturdy,” he reported. “Should be safe to climb.”

  Hera spun around to face Zeus. “What do you mean, climb?”

  “Well, we’re looking for Magic Seeds,” Zeus replied. “If they’re part of this beanstalk, they’re probably in the bean pods or something.”

  He shaded his eyes and looked up again. “I don’t see any pods down here, but they might be growing farther up.”

  “So let’s chop it down!” Poseidon suggested. “You can use Bolt. One good whack, and boom! Magic Seeds.”

  Demeter ran between Zeus and the beanstalk. “Don’t you dare!” she cried. “This beanstalk is a living thing. Chopping it down would be like . . . murder!”

  “So are you saying that you murdered those carrots we had for lunch today?” Hades asked.

  “Well, no, but . . .” Demeter looked up at the stalk. “This is special, can’t you see? It’s probably the only one like it in the world. We can’t just chop it down.”

  Poseidon sighed. “Oh, okay. If you say so.”

  “Isn’t it more likely that some of the seeds have fallen to the ground?” Hera asked. “They might be buried in the dirt around here. We should dig.”

  Zeus shook his head. “I don’t know. I just have a feeling that the seeds are up there somewhere,” he said, pointing. Then he had a thought. He tugged on the leather cord that was around his neck. A smooth stone as big as his fist was strung on the cord.

  “What do you think, Chip?” he asked the stone amulet.