The Girl Games (Goddess Girls) Read online

  Though her hands itched to snatch the kitten away, Persephone managed to control herself. “Don’t you have elimination races soon?” she hinted.

  “Not until early afternoon,” Aphrodite replied.

  “I can watch Adonis while you’re gone,” Persephone offered quickly.

  Aphrodite seemed to hesitate for a moment. “All right,” she said finally. She sounded reluctant.

  Persephone looked longingly at Adonis. “I’ll go grab some breakfast now, but I’ll be right back,” she said. After tearing her eyes away from the kitten, she turned to leave.

  “Shouldn’t you change out of your pj’s first?” Aphrodite called to her.

  Persephone popped back inside, grinning in embarrassment. “Thanks for the save. I’m used to being at home. I always have breakfast in my pj’s there.”

  That friendly moment smoothed things over between them a bit, which made Persephone feel better. She’d been jittery ever since they’d begun arguing over the kitten. It was no fun fighting with one of her best friends!

  When Persephone returned from breakfast, she and Aphrodite chatted, read magazines, and played with Adonis together until it was time for Aphrodite to leave for the track. “See you after the elims,” Aphrodite said, heading out the door.

  “Good luck,” Persephone told her. “No need to hurry back.” As soon as Aphrodite left, she fed Adonis his lunch. She wasn’t really hungry herself, since she’d eaten a big breakfast. But while he crunched on his cat chow, she snacked on a bag of ambrosia-flavored chips she and Aphrodite had bought at the Market last night.

  Then she retrieved the red ribbon she’d borrowed from Aphrodite’s drawer before. “You like it when it’s just the two of us, don’t you, sweetie?” she cooed as they both enjoyed a game of “chase the ribbon snake.” Adonis was just so cute!

  Aphrodite had been gone for nearly an hour when Persephone suddenly remembered that she was supposed to practice with Hades at one o’clock! She’d been having so much fun with the kitten she’d forgotten.

  Leaping up, she went to the window to check the sundial in the courtyard below. It was already a few minutes past one, but she didn’t see Hades waiting for her. Good. He must be a little late too. She started out of the room to go tell him they’d have to postpone her practice. Then she turned back to look at Adonis.

  It probably wasn’t a good idea to leave him alone, even for a few minutes. He might get lonely and start meowing. Someone would hear.

  Making a quick decision, she grabbed the woven bag Aphrodite had left on her bed. Gently, she placed Adonis on top of the heart pillow inside. “We’re going for a ride, cutie,” she singsonged.

  As she picked up the bag, she noticed the floppy yellow poppy design on the front, which she hadn’t seen till now. Ye gods, she thought. Yellow was one of her favorite colors, but this bag was mega-tacky. Aphrodite usually had way better taste.

  Persephone hurried downstairs with the kitten. But when she got outside to the courtyard, Hades still wasn’t there. Nobody else was either. Almost everyone was over at the sports fields today for the elim races.

  Suddenly she heard a loud crack at the edge of the courtyard. She jumped around in time to see the ground split open. Four black stallions pushed up through the gap, pulling a chariot.

  “Hades!” She would know his horses anywhere. Besides, who else would be riding up from the Underworld?

  “Whoa!” he shouted to his stallions. As his chariot came to a stop, Hades reached up with one hand and swept back a dark lock of hair that had fallen across his eyes. It was a familiar motion that always caused Persephone’s heart to flutter a little.

  “Sorry I’m late for your practice,” he called down to her as he steadied the horses. “Big emergency down in the Underworld. Three Titans escaped Tartarus. I’ve got them rounded up, but I need to hurry back so I can finish giving them a talking-to.”

  “Okay,” Persephone said, relieved to be off the hook. “We can cancel practice.”

  The stallion closest to her sniffed at the bag holding Adonis, then shook its massive head and snorted. Persephone drew back.

  Adonis didn’t make a sound inside the bag. Maybe he was tired from all their playing and had fallen asleep. She hoped he wasn’t scared, though. She edged away, turning to go back inside. “Guess I’ll see you—”

  “Wait! Actually, I could use your help. Those Titans are really in a tizzy down there, and your mere presence always has a calming effect on them. Could you come? I asked some of the shades to mark out a long-jump pit for you.”

  “Shades,” Persephone knew, was another name for the souls of the dead.

  “You can practice while I finish up,” Hades added. He reached a hand down to her, waiting to help her into the chariot.

  “But . . . I can’t,” Persephone protested, stepping back.

  “Why not?” Hades considered her with a frown, and then stiffened. “Is it your mom? Did she decide we can’t hang out anymore?”

  Persephone shook her head, her voice softening. “No, nothing like that,” she assured him. She understood his concern, though. When her mom had first found out that she was friends with him—a godboy that many regarded (wrongly) as the Bad Boy of the Underworld—she’d practically gone ballistic. That had hurt his feelings.

  But eventually they’d all come to an understanding. These days her mom gave her a little more space to make her own decisions about who she hung out with and where she went. Persephone had visited the Underworld many times by now, and her mom was fine with it.

  “Well, then . . .” Hades was eyeing her curiously, undoubtedly waiting for her to explain why she couldn’t come.

  Persephone’s hands tightened on the handles of the poppy bag. What excuse could she use? Hades could usually tell when she was fibbing. “I . . . um . . . need to give this bag to Aphrodite, but she’s not back from the track yet.” There, that was true.

  Just then Hades’ stallions, probably anxious to be off again, stamped the ground with their hooves and snorted. They must’ve startled Adonis awake because he began to wiggle. “Mee—OWW!”

  Hades stared at the bag, his eyes widening. “Do you have a cat in there?”

  “Um.” Caught, Persephone spilled the truth. What else could she do? Luckily, she knew she could trust Hades to keep Adonis a secret. As she explained about the kitten, she opened the bag to let Hades see him.

  “Cute little guy,” Hades said. He snapped his fingers. “I know. Let’s just take him with us.”

  Persephone hesitated, weighing her options. She glanced one last time in the direction of the sports fields, hoping to see Aphrodite returning. Seeing no sign of her, Athena, or Artemis, she figured the elimination footraces must still be going on. She reached inside the bag to stroke the fur on Adonis’s back. “Think he’ll be safe?” she asked.

  Hades nodded. “Sure—if you keep an eye on him.”

  “Oh, I will,” she said earnestly.

  “All right, then,” he said, grinning. “Hop aboard.”

  Persephone took his hand and stepped into the chariot. Just as his stallions leaped downward through the crack in the ground, she happened to glance back up at the girls’ dorm on the fourth floor. Someone was standing at one of the windows in the stairwell looking down at them. There was a reflection on the glass, so she couldn’t tell who.

  Whoever it was couldn’t have seen Adonis, though. He was still safely tucked away in Aphrodite’s bag. As the chariot headed down to the Underworld again, Persephone held the bag close, cuddling the kitten. She could feel his soft warmth and the gentle rumble of his purr. How sweet!

  Underworld could be a forbidding place, but Adonis should be perfectly safe under her care. Hades had even said so. Certainly the kitten would be safer than he’d been in the cafeteria this morning with all those people and Artemis’s dogs around! With any luck, Hades would solve his Titan problem quickly and they’d be back here before Aphrodite even knew they were gone.

  11

>   Aphrodite

  Friday, early afternoon.

  YOU JUST NEED TO FOCUS MORE,” SAID ARES.

  Aphrodite nodded. “Mm-hm.” It was after the elimination races, and she, Athena, and Artemis were walking back to the Academy with Ares, Apollo, and Actaeon.

  Unfortunately, Ares was spending the whole time making suggestions about how she could better her time in tomorrow’s race. She pretended to listen. But thinking about her running technique actually just made her want to, well, run away!

  She smiled to see Artemis and Actaeon chatting so easily. Those two were still shy about even holding hands. But she knew a blossoming crush when she saw one. And though she wasn’t directly responsible for getting them together, she was always delighted to see people in like—especially her best friends!

  Apollo and Athena were talking about the eliminations. Boring, but maybe it would take Athena’s mind off Heracles’ absence. Really, it was too bad the boys’ wrestling team couldn’t have rescheduled their meet for a time that didn’t conflict with the girls’ very first Olympics!

  It was several seconds before Aphrodite realized that Ares had stopped his coach-speak to study her face. Finally he said, “You aren’t listening to me, are you?”

  “Huh?” Aphrodite felt her cheeks redden. “Sorry. I was distracted.”

  He reached for her hand, giving it an encouraging squeeze. “You’re going to look good out there tomorrow. Don’t worry.”

  Aphrodite threaded her fingers through his. “I know,” she said, thinking fondly of the sparkly pink running chiton she’d bought. She hadn’t worn it for the heats today. She was saving it for tomorrow’s Olympic race!

  “You’re a good runner,” Ares persisted. “And with a little more effort, you could be a great runner.”

  Aphrodite nodded. It wasn’t the first time he’d told her that. But as he began to talk about racing, her mind drifted off again—this time to thoughts of Adonis. A fond, wistful smile curved her lips. She was so preoccupied that she didn’t notice the strange looks Ares was giving her.

  “What are you thinking about?” he asked suddenly. He sounded kind of jealous!

  “Oh, nothing. No one.” She pulled her hand away, sending him a guilty look. She felt bad for lying, but she’d promised not to tell anyone about Adonis.

  “Hmph!” he said, looking weirdly suspicious for some reason. She didn’t get a chance to ask him what was bothering him. Because as soon as they were inside the Academy, the boys split off and ambled toward the cafeteria for a late lunch.

  The girls went upstairs to change clothes first. “See you in a few,” Athena called as she opened her dorm room door.

  “Later,” Aphrodite and Artemis called back as they continued down the hall. As they got closer to their rooms, Artemis’s dogs began to scratch at the inside of her door and bark excitedly. “They know your footsteps, don’t they?” Aphrodite said.

  Artemis grinned. “Yep.”

  Aphrodite wondered if Adonis would recognize her footsteps, too. Imagining the kitten eagerly waiting for her and looking overjoyed to see her, she threw open the door to her room.

  “I’m back!” she announced dramatically. Silence greeted her. Persephone and Adonis weren’t there! Immediately she panicked. Glancing around, she saw that the poppy bag she’d flung onto her bed was also missing. After giving her such a hard time about taking Adonis to the cafeteria that morning, had Persephone dared take him with her to lunch?

  Yanking a favorite teal chiton from her closet, Aphrodite changed quickly. Then she zipped downstairs to the cafeteria. Standing just inside the door, she scanned the crowd. No Persephone.

  She was about to go search elsewhere when she spotted Pheme. She could hardly believe she was doing this, but she actually went over to speak to the girl. “Have you seen Persephone?” she asked her.

  Pheme’s eyes lit up like they always did when she had knowledge that someone else wanted. “She went off with Hades in his chariot.”

  Aphrodite jerked her head back in surprise. This was unexpected news! “What? When? Where did they go?” she asked anxiously.

  “They left about a half hour ago,” Pheme said. “I only saw them from a dorm window, but I’m pretty sure they were headed for the Underworld.”

  Aphrodite lost her cool. “WHAT?” Telling herself to calm down, she took a couple of deep breaths. After all, only half of what Pheme said usually turned out to be true. “What makes you think that’s where they were going?” she asked.

  Pheme shrugged. “Well, it looked that way. I mean, their chariot did disappear through a crack in the ground. Oh, and she was carrying that ugly, um, I mean, that big bag of yours with the yellow flower.”

  Aphrodite gritted her teeth. She knew what that meant. Persephone had Adonis. And it was even worse than she thought. She hadn’t simply taken him to the cafeteria; she’d taken him to the Underworld. Talk about an unsafe place for a kitten!

  Underworld was full of icky, scary stuff like stinky marshes and rivers of molten lava. Not to mention Hades’ ferocious three-headed dog, Cerberus. Remembering his sharp, pointy teeth, she shuddered, fearing for Adonis.

  Pheme’s eyes gleamed. “What’s wrong? Is there a problem between you and Persephone? Maybe you’d like to tell me about it. Your secrets will be safe with me. Honest.” Lifting a hand, she twisted her thumb and finger together at the corner of her orange-glossed lips, as if turning a key to lock them shut.

  Aphrodite rolled her eyes. Entrusting a secret to Pheme was pretty much the same as standing on the stage of a crowded amphitheater and shouting it out. “Everything’s fine between us, thanks,” she fibbed.

  “If you say so,” Pheme said, sounding disappointed. Just then, Freya happened to walk by, still looking weepy. Changing the subject, Pheme leaned closer and murmured, “Poor thing. Did you hear that her necklace is missing? Possibly even stolen.”

  “Yeah, well, I wouldn’t be surprised. There’s a lot of that going around,” Aphrodite said, thinking of the kitten-napping that Persephone had pulled off.

  Pheme shot her a weird look, like she wasn’t quite sure what to make of her response. Before the girl had a chance to pry further, Aphrodite said, “Well, I’m starving . . . see you later.”

  With a little wave, she took off for the snack table, not noticing the calculating expression on Pheme’s face as she watched her go. The kind of expression that meant she was trying to add two and two together. And since Pheme liked to exaggerate everything, the answer she’d come up with was likely to be wrong!

  Aphrodite grabbed an apple from the table, her mind racing wildly. Even before now she’d begun to suspect that Persephone wanted Adonis for her own. Hadn’t she stolen him from Aphrodite’s bed last night? What if Persephone planned to say she lost Adonis in the Underworld, but then really took him to live at her house? Would she be that devious? Maybe. She adored that kitten!

  The more Aphrodite thought about it, the more she convinced herself that she was right about Persephone’s intentions. Determined to confront her so-called friend, she decided not to wait for her return. She would go to the Underworld herself and take Adonis back. But to do that, she would need transportation.

  While munching her apple, she raced up to the fourth floor and then to her room. She tossed away the apple core and grabbed a ceramic figurine from her shelf. It was small enough to fit in her hand and was made up of two swans side by side, pulling a golden cart behind them. With their faces turned toward each other and their orange beaks pressed together, their gracefully curved necks formed a perfect heart.

  She dashed for the door but turned back at the last minute. Grabbing a handful of dry cat chow, she stuffed it into a small sack for when she found Adonis. Which she would!

  Holding the figurine, Aphrodite hurried downstairs again. Once in the courtyard, she stroked a fingertip over each swan’s snowy white back. Then she gently placed the figurine on one of the courtyard’s marble tiles and stepped back, chanting:


  “Feathered swans, wild at heart.

  Spread your wings to fly my cart!”

  As if awakening from a deep, magical sleep, the two swans fluttered and shook their heads. Their wings unfurled and the swans grew and grew until they were ten feet tall with wingspans of twenty feet. The golden cart, which sparkled with encrusted jewels, had also enlarged.

  Hopping into the cart, Aphrodite called out: “To the Underworld!” The swans gave a startled honk at this destination but quickly obeyed.

  12

  Athena

  Friday, early afternoon.

  YAYYY!” ATHENA WAS OVERJOYED TO FIND A letterscroll on the floor beneath her window when she got back to her room after winning her heat in the two-hundred-meter elims. She dashed over and grabbed it up. Eagerly she unrolled it. Sure enough, it was from Heracles:

  Dear Athena,

  Today I will battle Antaeus, the

  toughest wrestler on the giants’

  team. Everyone says he’s invincible,

  but I’m sure I can beat him.

  Athena smiled to herself. No one would ever accuse Heracles of lacking confidence. And no doubt he would win his match. After all, he’d won the wrestling championship against a giant in the boys’ Olympics not long ago!

  I hope to be back tomorrow in time to

  see you compete. Some of us guys are

  planning an after-the-Games surprise I

  think you’ll like.

  See you soon!

  Heracles

  XOXO

  Athena traced the Xs and Os with a fingertip, smiling softly. She guessed that meant he missed her “a lot” too. She reread the part about an after-the-Games surprise, wondering what it could be. She was still wondering as she went downstairs for lunch a half hour later.

  Just before she went into the cafeteria, she heard someone rushing down the staircase behind her. Turning, she saw Aphrodite race toward the Academy’s bronze front doors. She was holding her swan cart figurine. Before Athena could call to her, Aphrodite pushed through the doors to the outside. Where was she off to in such a hurry?