Aphrodite the Fair Read online

  “Cute kitten,” she told him. She stretched out a hand to pet Adonis.

  Ssss! The kitten, who was usually friendly toward everyone, ducked his head to avoid her hand. And hissed. And leaped from Ares’s lap, scratching his leg in the process.

  “Ow!” Ares yelled. The kitten scampered over to Persephone, jumping into her arms to eye Eris suspiciously.

  That cat was a good judge of character, thought Ares. If he could’ve run from his sister right now without looking like a coward, he would have, too! Instead, he just studied her warily and mumbled, “Hi, sis.”

  She grinned at him. “Long time no see.” Then she jerked her head toward his guests. “Aren’t you going to introduce me to your friends?”

  “Hey, everyone. This is my sister, Eris,” Ares said in a less-than-enthusiastic tone.

  “Hi,” chorused the students, but their faces were full of questions. Especially Aphrodite’s. Still, now that the ice had been broken, they began to swarm around his cake.

  Ares stood and moved to stand protectively by Aphrodite, slipping her hand into his. She elbowed him gently, sending him a look that plainly said, Duh, hello? You have a sister?

  Then she flashed a smile at Eris. “Nice to meet you.” Loosening her hand from his clasp, she began pulling the candles out of his cake. “Welcome to MOA. I’m Aphrodite. I can’t believe Ares never told me about you.”

  “Really? Never?” Eris wagged a finger at Ares and said playfully, “And you never told me about her. But I read a certain gossip column in Teen Scrollazine.” She glanced in Pheme’s direction. “So I already knew you two hang out.”

  Ares didn’t read Pheme’s column in the scrollazine. But he figured it was probably full of gossipy tidbits about all the immortals on Mount Olympus. He sensed a potential threat behind his sister’s playful tone. Had she come here hoping to wreck things between him and his crush? It’s the kind of thing she would do. Her idea of fun.

  Aphrodite picked up a knife and began to cut the cake. Her three best friends busied themselves setting out small plates on which to put the slices. Eris smiled, watching her work. “I can remember the first girl Ares liked,” she remarked. “She looked a lot like you, actually. Pretty. Golden hair and all that.”

  Aphrodite raised an eyebrow at Ares. “Really? Tell me more,” she said in a teasing, but intrigued tone.

  “Nothing to tell,” he protested quickly. “I was only three at the time. That girl and I were in the same temple daycare. Totally little kid stuff.” He waved his hand as if to brush away that topic of conversation. And then he craned his neck over Aphrodite’s shoulder to stare hungrily at the cake. “That looks great,” he said.

  As he’d hoped, Aphrodite dropped a big slice onto one of the small silver plates and handed it to him.

  He wanted to tell her how pleased he was at all the trouble she’d gone to in planning this party, how much he appreciated and liked her. But he’d never been any good at “mushy” talk. And he especially didn’t want to say all that in front of Eris and the guys.

  Suddenly, Eris reached toward the plate of cake Ares held. “Thanks. I’d love some,” she said. With lightning-quick reflexes, she snatched his plate away before he could even utter a protest. Typical. She’d often done stuff like that when they were growing up. She tore off a large hunk of the cake and stuffed it into her mouth.

  He knew better than to try to get his plate back. Though Eris might look kind of scrawny, her appearance was deceptive. He absolutely did not want to provoke her if he could help it. He just hoped that no one else would, either.

  Aphrodite was looking horrified at Eris’s manners, or lack thereof, as were several of the other students standing near enough to have seen what had happened. “Yes, well, I’m glad you like it,” she told Eris politely. Quickly, she cut a second piece of cake, this one even bigger. She slid it onto another silver plate and handed it to Ares. “Here you go, birthday boy!” she told him, grinning widely as if to make up for his sister’s behavior.

  “It’s nice you could come to celebrate Ares’s big day,” she told Eris, as more cake was cut and handed around.

  “Wouldn’t have missed it for the world,” Eris replied. She swallowed a bite of cake; then a gleam quite familiar to Ares came into her eyes. She stared at Aphrodite. “Hey,” she said. “I just remembered something.”

  Uh-oh, he thought. From the calculating look in her eyes, he could tell that his sister was about to do something . . . disruptive. He tensed and stepped closer to Aphrodite, ready to protect her from whatever horrible thing Eris was about to say or do next.

  She cocked her head at Aphrodite. “You’re the goddess who came from sea foam, right? The one with no parents?” she asked innocently.

  The students standing nearby gasped, and Ares saw Aphrodite’s shoulders stiffen. His fists clenched, and he frowned at his sister, boiling mad. But Eris hardly noticed. Her tongue darted out to lick frosting from her fingers. “Mm. Tasty,” she murmured.

  “Yep, that’s me,” Aphrodite replied after a few tense seconds. “Sea foam girl.” Her overly bright voice told Ares that Eris had struck her where it hurt. She’d targeted his crush’s feelings and hit the bull’s-eye, just as she’d intended.

  A secretive smile flitted across Eris’s face and she shrugged slightly. “Yeah, I thought that must be you.”

  “Wow! This cake you made is sooo good, Aphrodite,” Persephone rushed to say. She, Athena, and Artemis had slipped closer, coming to lend support.

  “It’s delish,” Athena put in enthusiastically.

  “Is there enough for seconds?” Artemis asked quickly, holding out her empty cake plate.

  Ares was grateful that Aphrodite’s three best friends had spoken up, attempting to distract her and everyone else.

  Even Medusa came to Aphrodite’s defense. She and the twelve snakes on top of her head were all scowling at his sister. In spite of the fact that Medusa–in her meaner days–used to call Aphrodite “Bubbles” because of the whole sea foam thing!

  The snakes started hissing. Too bad Eris was immortal, Ares thought. Because if she were a mortal, and if she looked directly into Medusa’s eyes right now, she would instantly turn to stone! Medusa’s snake hair gave her that power, although most of the time she wore stoneglasses, which kept her from accidentally turning mortals to stone. Anyway, Eris wasn’t looking at the snake-haired girl. She was staring straight at Aphrodite, seemingly unaware of anyone else.

  “Sure, um, plenty for seconds,” Aphrodite said in answer to Artemis’s earlier question. Bending, she sliced more sections of cake.

  “So, Eris,” Persephone said quickly, sliding to stand between Eris and Aphrodite. “How much younger than Ares are you?”

  Ares knew she was only trying to fix the damage Eris had done by introducing a new topic. Eris’s petite stature had obviously confused her, as it did most people meeting his sister for the first time. Persephone had a knack for smoothing over awkward situations, but he wished she’d picked a different topic.

  “Oh, I’m not younger. I’m his big sister. By eleven months,” Eris crowed.

  Ares winced. All his life, she’d constantly reminded him of that fact. She’d also used her superior age as justification for why she should always get first choice in everything they had or did. And why she could boss him around.

  The gleam was back in her eyes now as she grabbed another slice of cake and dug in. “Remember when we were kids, Ares?” she asked between bites. “How we’d play that game where I was the Great and Magnificent Goddess of the Temple and your job was to be the mortal servant bearing gifts and following my orders? Good times.” She smiled happily at the recollection.

  Ares could only groan as the students around them laughed.

  “Yeah, it’s cool to grow up with a brother close to your age,” said Artemis. “Like Apollo and me. Only we’re twins.” She gestured toward her brother, who, having just put away his lyre, had left the makeshift stage.

  Eris sent
Artemis a curious look. “Apollo’s your brother? And you both go to school here?” she asked.

  Artemis nodded. “That’s right.”

  Whack! Eris banged her plate and fork down on the table next to her, her eyes narrowing at Ares. “You told me it was a rule that only one kid per family could attend MOA.”

  “Oh! Um,” he sputtered. Apparently Eris had never read about Apollo and Artemis being twins in Teen Scrollazine. But now she knew he’d lied about that rule to keep her from trying to enroll at the Academy. Before he could reply, she spotted someone bending over the black bag she’d left beside the cupola door.

  “Hey! Whose bag is this?” the bag-snooper called out. It was Pandora, a mortal MOA student who’d just arrived at the party.

  “Leave that alone. It’s mine!” Eris shouted, bounding over to grab her bag.

  “Whoa! Did you think I was going to take it or something?” Pandora protested. Straightening away from it, she brushed back her question-mark-shaped bangs, a symbol of her bottomless curiosity.

  Ares didn’t hear the rest of what they said because just then Artemis piped up. “Why did you tell your sister that?” she asked him.

  “Yeah. There’s no rule stopping brothers and sisters from going to MOA,” said Apollo. He’d come over from the stage to snag some cake.

  “Shh,” Ares warned. He lowered his voice, shooting a worried glance at Eris even though she was way over by the door and therefore too far away to hear. “I told her that back when Principal Zeus invited me to MOA in first grade, so she wouldn’t try to follow me here. I don’t want her to enroll, but it’ll make her mad if I say so.”

  Apollo cocked his head. “Yeah, I get it. Sisters can be a pain at times–no one knows that better than me.” He sent Artemis a teasing look, and she bopped him lightly on the arm.

  “Brothers, too,” she added, grinning at him. Then her crush, Actaeon, called to her and she took off.

  “Your sister can’t be that bad,” Apollo said, darting Ares a look between bites of cake.

  Ares’s eyebrows rose. “You have no idea. I mean, did Artemis ever lock you outside in your underwear? Right when a bunch of neighborhood kids were walking by? Or did she cut off your hair while you were sleeping? Or constantly climb like a monkey to pelt you with apples from the top of a tree?”

  “God-dude!” Apollo said in shocked surprise. “Your sister did all that?”

  Ares nodded. “I’m telling you, she’s a real pain. Literally. Those apples hurt! And–”

  “Happy birthday!” a voice boomed suddenly, cutting him off. Both boys turned to see Principal Zeus and Hera sweep grandly into the cupola.

  At seven feet tall, Zeus towered over everyone in the room. His head with its wild red hair and beard swiveled this way and that as his piercing blue eyes sought out the birthday boy. Hera, whose thick, blond hair was styled high, noticed Ares right away and pointed him out.

  “Over here!” Poseidon called at the same time. He and Apollo’s roommate, Dionysus, had come to stand by Apollo and were grinning broadly, aiming their fingers at Ares.

  Principal Zeus strode over in three giant steps. Then he reached out to pump Ares’s hand in one of his own meaty paws. The gold bands that circled his wrist flashed in the last remaining rays of sunlight shining down through the cupola’s open dome. “So you’re what now–fifteen, Ares?” Zeus asked.

  “Uh, yeah. Something like that,” Ares mumbled, not wanting to correct him. Contradicting Zeus was unwise at best. Besides, Ares felt kind of proud that Zeus thought he was older than he really was. Especially since the principal usually underestimated the ages of students, thinking of them as much younger than they actually were. And he often forgot names, but he’d remembered Ares’s. Score! All of that was a birthday present in itself. But then Zeus reached into the pocket of his tunic and pulled out a small rectangular package neatly wrapped in shiny purple paper and tied with an elegant silver ribbon.

  “Got something for you,” he said. “Hera wrapped it,” he added. Which is what Ares had already guessed. Zeus didn’t “do” neat. Or gift wrapping. If it had been up to Zeus–to most guys Ares knew, as a matter of fact–he probably wouldn’t have bothered with wrapping paper at all.

  Ares tore open the paper to reveal a book. He read its title aloud: “Winning at Capture the Flag and Other War Games. Mega-cool! Thanks!” he proclaimed, genuinely pleased. “I’m training for the Temple Games. This book will be a big help.”

  “Principal Zeus? Hi!” Eris had come over and now somehow managed to insert herself between Zeus and Ares.

  “Ow!” Ares protested when the contents of the bag she held jabbed his elbow. Whatever she had in there, it was hard and lumpy.

  Zeus’s bushy red eyebrows rose as he glanced down at the girl. He frowned. “And who are . . .?” he started to ask.

  “This is Eris, Ares’s sister,” Hera said warmly, coming to stand beside the girl. “She was in my shop at the Immortal Marketplace only yesterday, and I realized she didn’t know about the party.” Hera’s shop, Hera’s Happy Endings, sold dresses, decorations, and supplies for weddings. “I just assumed her invitation must’ve gotten lost in Hermes’ delivery chariot,” she explained. “So I invited her. All’s well that ends well.”

  Mystery solved, thought Ares. He couldn’t blame Hera for her mistake in thinking he might welcome his sister here.

  Eris beamed at Hera before turning toward him. “I was at the Immortal Marketplace looking for a birthday present for you, dear brother,” she said sweetly. She hugged the black bag in her arms.

  Huh? he thought. If there was a gift inside it for him, he didn’t want it.

  “She’s never given me a present in her life,” he muttered to Apollo from one side of his mouth when Eris began talking to Hera again. “Unless you count the dog poop she gave me when I was three. Told me it was candy.”

  “Seriously?” said Apollo, looking rather shocked.

  “Yeah,” said Ares. “Luckily, I wasn’t dumb enough to believe her.” He watched Eris warily as she chatted up Zeus and Hera. “Then there was the cape she gave me when I was five,” he went on to Apollo, speaking in a lowered voice so others wouldn’t overhear. “It said KICK ME on the back of it.”

  At that Apollo burst out laughing.

  “It wasn’t funny!” Ares chided. “I couldn’t read yet, so it got me into plenty of fights with older boys who could.”

  “They kicked you?”

  “Not more than once,” Ares told him, arching a brow.

  When Zeus and Hera looked away from his sister to answer a question from Pandora, Dionysus spoke to Eris, his violet eyes teasing. “You were shopping for a birthday gift for Ares in a wedding shop?” Ares and Poseidon heard him ask.

  Poseidon let out a snort and glanced toward Aphrodite, who was heading for Zeus and Hera with two plates of cake. “Yeah! That’s kind of rushing things, don’t you think, Eris?” Twirling his trident–he carried the three-pronged spear almost everywhere–the turquoise godboy laughed.

  Following his gaze, Eris laughed, too.

  Ares could feel his cheeks warm. “Ha!” he said, to cover his embarrassment at the teasing. One of the spear decorations had come loose from a column, and he picked it up, testing its blunt point.

  Having overheard, Hera smiled over at him indulgently. “When your sister explained who she was and told me she hadn’t seen you in a long time, we decided that the best present she could give you was the gift of her presence.”

  At that, Zeus frowned a little. Hera didn’t seem to notice, but all the students standing close enough to see the thunder gather in his face looked nervous. Ares wondered if they should run for cover. Invitations to visit MOA always came through Zeus. Always. Didn’t Hera know that?

  It was probably a good thing Aphrodite arrived with the cake just then. “Mmm, chocolate!” Zeus exclaimed, his eyes lighting up like a little kid’s. “My favorite!”

  Hera took a small bite of her piece and pronounced it d
elicious. “You don’t mind that I invited Eris here, do you, dear?” she asked him in a concerned voice that suggested she knew she’d violated a rule but expected him to back her up just this once.

  Buoyed by the birthday cake, Zeus rose to the occasion. “No, it’s fine, honeybun.” Making his voice louder, he said, “I’ll make an exception for you and you only.” His piercing blue eyes swept the room so that everyone would know that he meant it.

  “Thanks so much!” Eris said sweetly, her voice dripping with nectar. Clutching her black bag tightly, she bounced on her toes. “I’m so excited to be here!”

  Zeus and others around them sent her smiles, but she didn’t fool Ares. He didn’t trust her. Not one little bit. However, it looked like he’d have to put up with his annoying sister until the party was over. He wasn’t sure how much longer it was supposed to last, but probably no more than a couple of hours. He hoped!

  3

  Party Games

  Aphrodite

  PRINCIPAL ZEUS?”

  Aphrodite twisted around to see that Ms. Hydra, the principal’s nine-headed administrative assistant, had come looking for him. Each of her heads was a different color and had a different personality.

  “You wanted me to let you know when those semester-end grades were on your desk?” her efficient gray head said as it poked through the cupola door on its long neck. “Well, they’re in.”

  “Excellent!” boomed Zeus. “I’ll come take a look at them.” Grabbing a silver plate with a second piece of cake, he abruptly headed out the door. As he passed Ms. Hydra, her cheerful yellow head peered around the edge of the door beside her gray one. “Ooh, a party! How nice!” it said.

  “It’s Ares’s birthday,” Aphrodite told her as the other seven of her nine heads bobbled in the background, each craning to get a look at the decorations.

  “Happy birthday, Ares!” they all chorused. Some of the voices were upbeat, others grumpy or impatient, depending on which head it was.