Clotho the Fate Page 9

  Sometime later, Ares announced, “I’m naming mine Skunktastic Ares. Its superpower is going to be its stink ray.” He held up his index finger to show off a black-and-white skunk puppet of Clotho’s to which he had added big muscles. Unfortunately, his alterations had made it looked more like a rat than a skunk. Still, he got an E for effort, and the puppet did look sort of heroic.

  Aphrodite reworked Clotho’s kitten puppet into one with a pink sequined collar with bright blue eyes, dubbing it AphroCatty. With some time left over, she also knitted a spear for Ares’s skunk.

  “Look what I made!” Apollo called out after a while. He whipped his hand up from behind his back to show everyone the puppet Clotho had helped him knit. With a body shaped like a silver thunderbolt, it had meaty arms. Apollo had decorated it with a thick red beard and hair, and glued-on googly eyeballs. He’d made the puppet extra-large, requiring two fingers to move it. “Ta-da! Thunder-Zeus!” he announced to grins and cheers.

  “And I made a Crabby-Cronus!” Medusa crowed, perching the crablike puppet she’d created on a finger. Cronus was the grumpy king of the Titans. He’d be pitted directly against Zeus in their puppet show.

  “This puppet represents me. So I’m naming it Owlthena!” announced Athena. With additional decorations, she had transformed Clotho’s little brown owl puppet into something magnificently adorable. She’d added two large blue-gray sequins to make eyes that matched the color of hers, a triangle-shaped bead for an owl-like nose, and flowing brown yarn for hair. Also some teeny fake feathers on each wing. The puppet really looked a little bit like her now, except maybe for the beaky nose and feathers.

  Tantalus had made a boy-shaped puppet of ivory-colored yarn instead of an animal. “I think I’ll call him Pelops. Because he’s lopsided and always ‘plops’ over on my finger. He’s not one of the Titans or Olympians, but I figure he can be the narrator of our puppet show,” he told the others.

  He then held up a large wooden box full of yarn, about five feet square. “Let’s dump out this yarn and cut out the back of this box so it’s open front to back. We can add a little paint and make it into our puppet theater.”

  As everyone continued to work, Arachne watched from her web, uncomplaining for once. Clotho could almost swear the spider wore a smile on her face.

  Clotho found herself smiling too as she helped Artemis transform her floppy-eared dogs into Titan characters. She had never, ever hung out with anyone except her sisters until today. This was fu-un!

  The little white shop kitten was enjoying a lot of attention too, she saw. Now and then, she or the others took breaks to play with it or let it cuddle in their laps. Once, she glanced over to see that Poseidon had tied a piece of yarn to the end of his trident and was dangling it for the kitten to chase.

  After they’d all finished making puppets and the theater, they came up with a simple, short, and silly show that didn’t take long to perfect. Naturally, it was decided that the twelve Olympians would fight the twelve Titans as had actually happened in the real battle. And no question the Olympians would emerge victorious.

  At the last minute, the group decided to add red capes to all the Titan puppets and blue capes to all the Olympians. This would help the audience easily tell who was who and know who to root for during the battles. Tantalus added a green cape to his puppet, since it would be the narrator, not part of the actual show.

  Clotho could hardly believe how fast the time inside the shop passed as they all joked around and worked. Sooner than she would’ve liked, the fist-size fluffy pom-poms on her magic sandals began to spin around like whirlybirds. The kitten immediately pounced on the pom-poms, thinking they were new toys or maybe birds. Everyone else stared at her whirling pom-poms in surprise.

  “They’re on a timer,” Clotho explained. “To remind me when it’s time to go meet my sisters. We spin the Threads of Fate for newborns on the Destiny List every night. So I’ve got to get going.”

  After the group agreed to meet at Game On! the next morning before the party to set up and rehearse their play one last time, Clotho quickly ushered everyone out. She stayed behind just long enough to give the kitten a quick good-bye cuddle. “See you tomorrow, sweetie pie,” she told it. Then she, too, headed for the door.

  Arachne’s voice followed her. “So will everyone be returning?” Clotho looked back over her shoulder. Grinning and pointing a finger at the spider, she said, “Ha! Admit it. You liked us hanging out in your shop, didn’t you? You enjoyed our company—both mortals and immortals!”

  The spider gave a shrug. “Well… I still think immortals are annoying,” Arachne said. “But it was a lot more exciting around here than usual.”

  If Arachne liked company, was it possible she’d be okay with Clotho coming here to work some days? She would try to avoid being seen by mortals each time she came, of course, so that she wouldn’t keep breaking the “no mingling” rule. Still, hanging out with the spider, they’d both be a little less lonely, right?

  No time to talk about this now, though, since she needed to get going. So for the moment Clotho simply nodded. “Yeah, we’ll be back tomorrow morning to pick up everything for the party and take it over to Game On! I’ll give you a ride there if you still want to go.”

  “Yes!” said the spider. Then, seeming a little embarrassed about her enthusiasm, Arachne added, “Not that I care that much either way. Whatever.”

  Clotho hid a smile. “A word of advice,” she said to the spider on her way out. “Cool it with weaving the web insults tomorrow. You don’t want to get in trouble… again.”

  10 Orion’s Belt

  ONCE OUTSIDE THE IMMORTAL MARKETPLACE, Clotho lifted off in her magic sandals. She skimmed across the ground at first, then flew upward, moving ever higher to go meet her sisters for another night of work.

  Although she was weighed down by worries about her twelve-year-old mistakes with Meleager and Tantalus, as well as the possibility that Zeus might discover she’d broken his mortal-mingling rule, her physical load was lighter than usual. Because tonight her travel bag held only her distaff, her spindle, and a bag of sheep’s wool. With Arachne’s permission, she’d left her other belongings at the sewing shop overnight.

  Quickly she instructed her sandals:

  “Up and away to Orion.

  Go where my sisters are.

  Find that constellation’s belt

  And land me on a star.”

  Already the sun was going down and Nyx was beginning to spread her blue-black star-studded cape to envelop the heavens. When that goddessgirl of night flung the Orion constellation into the sky, its seven stars moved into position, shaping a hunter holding a bow and arrow.

  “Thanks for the starry night!” Clotho called with a wave. Nyx’s hands were busily working her cape, but she sent a bright smile. “You’re welcome!” she called back in return.

  Hair streaming behind her in the wind, Clotho headed straight for the trio of stars that made up Orion’s Belt. By the time she reached the constellation, her sisters were already sitting on the first two of them, Alnilam and Mintaka. Clotho did the triple somersault she’d perfected earlier at Game On! and landed to sit on Alnitak, the belt’s third star.

  “Wow, little sis, are you going out for gymnastics or something?” said Lachesis, her olive-green eyes twinkling merrily.

  Atropos raised an eyebrow. “Yeah, where’d you learn such awesome acrobatics? What’s up, anyway?”

  Not wanting to reveal news of her trip to the IM and her participation in today’s game, Clotho simply shrugged. Then she gestured at the millions of stars surrounding them and the Earth far below. “You ask what’s up?” she said to Atropos. “Well, we are! Can’t get much more up than the stars, right?”

  To her delight her sisters laughed. Though she longed for a home of her own, Clotho did like visiting amazing sights like Orion up close. It was a treat few would ever get the chance to enjoy. Even if they eventually got a home, nothing would prevent them from still ventur
ing out to fab new places like this to work sometimes.

  “So you found some wool,” Lachesis noted. She nodded toward the distaff, which Clotho had already begun to wrap with the raw sheep’s wool she’d taken from Arachne’s shop.

  Atropos nodded approvingly. “Very nice. Where’d you find such good, clean-combed quality?”

  Clotho glanced down at the wool, feeling a little guilty for not telling them about visiting Arachne’s shop. Then her back straightened. Why should she feel guilty? After all, her sisters had never told her about their trips to the Immortal Marketplace for mail. So she didn’t need to tell them about hers!

  Lachesis’s eyes moved to Clotho’s open bag. “Hey, how come your bag is so empty? Where’s the rest of your stuff?”

  “Oh! Um…” Clotho scrambled to come up with an explanation. “It was getting too heavy, so I left some of it in a, uh, safe place about halfway between Mount Olympus and Earth. Same place I found the wool.” That wasn’t actually a lie, because the IM was halfway between Mount Olympus and Earth.

  Luckily, before her sisters could get any nosier, the glowing Destiny List magically appeared, requiring them all to get to work. “C’mon, it’s NF time!” said Lachesis. Meaning it was time to assign newborn fates to the many mortal babies who awaited them.

  Clotho quickly read the name and description of the first mortal on the list. While she dangled her spindle from one hand, the fingers of her opposite hand set it to twirling clockwise. The fluffy wool on the distaff began to twist into a fine thread, which then wrapped itself around the spindle. Spin!

  Lachesis stretched out the Thread of Fate to its proper length. Measure!

  Atropos cut it with careful accuracy. Snip!

  As the sisters worked, Clotho silently debated whether or not to tell Zeus tomorrow that she’d broken two of his rules. Which would he be angrier over? Her Meleager mistake? Or the fact that she’d hung out with mortals today? Hmm. Maybe she should just keep quiet and hope that he never found out about either one.

  “Watch out—you almost tangled that thread,” Atropos warned suddenly.

  Clotho paled, her attention jerking back to her task. “Oh! Sorry! Thanks.” She’d better quit daydreaming and focus on her work. She certainly didn’t want to make another Meleager-type boo-boo! Just then, the fortune the Oracle-O cookie from Cassandra’s bakery had spoken popped into her head: Oh, what a tangled web you’ll weave, when first you practice to deceive.

  She gulped. Wasn’t she deceiving her sisters by not telling them what had happened today and twelve years in the past? And by not letting them know about Zeus’s invitation?

  Of course she was! Admittedly, she was trying to shield herself from their disapproval. But she was also trying to protect them from Zeus’s wrath. Argh! Just like the Oracle-O cookie had predicted, things were getting more and more tangled. The problem was figuring out how to untangle them!

  By the time the sky began to grow pink with the coming of dawn, Clotho still hadn’t decided if she should confess her misdeeds to Zeus at his party.

  “So where are we meeting next?” Lachesis asked Atropos at the end of their working night.

  “Top of the Parthenon?” Atropos suggested. That was one of Athena’s most famous Greek temples.

  “Okay,” agreed Lachesis.

  Clotho nodded. “Sure.” The night after their night at the Parthenon, their working place would be her choice. If only she dared, she might suggest meeting at Arachne’s Sewing Supplies at the IM. To her mind, that was an idea almost as bright as Orion’s stars!

  11 Party Time

  WHEN CLOTHO ARRIVED AT ARACHNE’S shop the next morning, she tossed the puppets everyone had made into a basket. She also added two new blue-caped serpent puppets she’d found time to knit as Olympian characters that she planned to operate in the show. Then, with Arachne riding on her shoulder, she carried the basket across the atrium to Game On! to meet up with the others.

  “Promise you’ll behave at the party?” she asked the spider as they walked through the arched entrance that led into Game On!.

  “Yeah, sure,” Arachne said grudgingly. But Clotho noticed she was crossing two of her legs. Was that like crossing fingers behind her back, indicating she didn’t mean what she’d said?

  Before Clotho could demand to know, they passed under the second arch and Arachne began clapping those two legs together. “Whoa! Webtastic!” she exclaimed.

  Following the spider’s gaze, Clotho felt in awe too. The interior of Game On! looked amazing! In honor of Zeus, its entire balcony had been covered with streamers, balloons, glittery thunderbolts, and other decorations.

  His wife, Hera, was rushing around seeing to last-minute preparations. She was dressed in a long flowing chiton with a gold belt designed to look like a branch of fall leaves, and her hair was fashionably styled high on her head. She looked even more beautiful and statuesque than in paintings Clotho had seen of her.

  When Clotho showed up with the finger puppets, Hera oohed and aahed over them, seeming delighted at the prospect of their upcoming performance in honor of Zeus. Yesterday the godboys had painted the large box they’d converted into a puppet theater with images of what they’d referred to as the three ss: spears, swords, and statues. Earlier this morning they had moved their theater here.

  Since the puppet show was planned as entertainment during the birthday lunch around noon, the five-foot square theater had been placed atop a platform across from a long, fancy table that was already set with gold platters and cutlery. A golden throne—Zeus’s seat—was positioned at the table directly opposite the theater so he’d have a prime view. Balloons tied to the back of his chair had the words “Happy Zeus Day” painted on them.

  By the time Clotho and the others finished one more practice run of their puppet show, it was almost noon and the party guests had begun to arrive. Aside from the puppeteers, most of the lunch guests were MOA teachers or Zeus’s friends like Persephone’s mom, Demeter. There were also important mortals like King Menelaus of Sparta, who’d fought in the Trojan War, and King Aeëtes, former owner of the stolen Golden Fleece.

  Stomp! Stomp! Stomp! Just then, the birthday guy—Principal Zeus himself—appeared. All eyes turned to where he stood in the archway that led to the balcony, his arms flung wide and a big grin on his face.

  “THE BIRTHDAY BOY IS HERE!” he boomed out.

  At seven feet tall, Zeus cut an impressive figure with his wild red hair and curly beard, bulging muscles, and piercing blue eyes. Wide, flat gold bracelets encircled his wrists.

  A bolt of panic shot through Clotho when she noticed his thunderbolt belt buckle. Would he strike her with an actual thunderbolt if she dared to admit her Meleager mistake or asked him to bend some of his rules for her and her sisters in the future?

  On the other hand, he was obviously in a great mood. Probably the best mood she could ever hope to catch him in. So maybe confessing her misdeeds and asking forgiveness sometime today would be a now-or-never chance!

  Zeus’s eyes lit up when he spied the magnificent birthday cake in the middle of the super-long banquet table. It was shaped like a ten-foot-long thunderbolt and covered with sparkly gold icing. The words “Happy Birthday, King of the Gods and Ruler of the Heavens!” were written in fancy loopy lettering along its length. He licked his lips, rubbed his hands together, and took a step toward it, looking ready to dig in.

  Hera rushed over and gave him a big hug. “That’s for later,” she told him. “Games first. Presents next. Then lunch with cake and a special show, okay?”

  “Oh, all right,” said Zeus, sounding a bit disappointed at having to wait for cake. But then he cheered up. “Let the games begin!” he bellowed.

  With that he and his guests went down to one of the arenas, where they began playing the Calydonian Boar Hunt game. Zeus laughed like crazy when the boar roared down from the mountain. There were no teams this time. It was every immortal for herself or himself.

  Clotho giggled to see gro
wn-ups bouncing on trampolines and tossing hilarious statements at one another like “I’m gonna splat you, sucker!” and “You wish!” and “Look out! Zeus on the loose!”

  It was especially funny to see the surprised looks on their faces when they realized they’d gotten three strikes out. And even more hilarious when the floor opened up beneath them and the startled players were whisked out of the game.

  After more than an hour of play, there were just three grown-ups left in the arena. Pointing to each one in turn, Athena told Clotho, “Mr. Cyclops is the guy with one eye. He teaches an awesome class at MOA called Hero-ology. That woman is Ms. Nemesis. She teaches Revenge-ology.” Then she pointed to her dad. Grinning, she finished, “And you already know who that is!”

  “Um, yeah, who doesn’t?” said Clotho, grinning back.

  Given his strength and size (not to mention his cunning), it was no surprise when Zeus won in the end. On the other hand, no one had tried that hard to splat him out. It was his birthday, after all, and they wanted him to have fun!

  He was so thrilled at being the last god standing that he did a happy dance on the floor of the arena. The boom-boom beat of his steps caused the props in the arena to bounce around, which made everyone laugh and cheer.

  After that first game, he and the other grown-up immortals tested out some of the punishments in the Tartarus Two game Persephone and Hades had created. These mimicked punishments given out in the real Tartarus in the Underworld, but were more lighthearted. Zeus had no trouble pushing an enormous boulder up a hill in the Sisyphus test, but even he was unable to make it stay put. In another test of skill, players were required to fill a large brass tub with water. But it had so many holes, this proved impossible, and everyone wound up laughing.

  Persephone’s mom, Demeter, gave her a hug and complimented her and Hades for their work on the game. Aww, how sweet, thought Clotho.

  When the games were over, Persephone and Hades remained behind at the Tartarus Two game to fix a leak that had sprung up in their lava river before it could cause a flood. They waved the other partygoers off, saying they had it covered.