Aphrodite the Beauty (Goddess Girls) (3 page)

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godboy with curly black hair and small horns.

"Want to sit by me?" asked Atlas.

Lifting one of the couches, he tipped it forward so that the godboy and goddessgirl who had been sitting on it together slid off. "Hey!" they cried as they landed on the floor.

Ignoring them, Atlas lowered the couch. "See, plenty of space."

Aphrodite couldn't help grinning in delight. It seemed she'd succeeded in making Athena irresistible. And she wasn't even wearing any of Aphrodite's Lucky-in-Love lip balm!

Unused to the increased attention, Athena seemed a bit flustered. When Artemis's twin brother, Apollo, offered her a seat next to him, she replied, " No thanks. I prefer to stand."

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Poor girl
, thought Aphrodite. Athena could really use some pointers on how to flirt! She glanced around the room. There were only a few godboys who seemed oblivious to Athena's charms. One of them was Hades. Dark and brooding, he'd been crushing on Persephone for weeks now. The two of them were huddled together near the punch bowl, deep in conversation. Kneeling nearby, Artemis was feeding chips to her dogs.

"Hey everybody!"

Aphrodite's eyes sparkled as Ares entered the room. He really was the cutest godboy in all of MOA. A beefy godboy named Kydoimos and a squinty-eyed one named Makhai followed in his wake. "Hi, Ares!" she called out, waving to him.

To her embarrassment, he didn't seem to notice her. His gorgeous blue eyes settled on Athena and stayed

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there. "Well, well!" he said speaking loud enough for everyone to hear. "Who's the new girl?"

Kydoimos and Makhai laughed. But Aphrodite wasn't so sure Ares was joking. He'd never paid any attention to Athena before. It wouldn't surprise her if he really didn't recognize her. As she watched him saunter over to Athena, Aphrodite got a tight feeling in her chest. Surely she couldn't be ...
jealous
of one of her best friends? Over a godboy?

"Um, hello, Aphrodite," someone said from beside her.

She turned to look. It was Hephaestus, the skinny godboy Atlas had hefted over his head in the lunch line as if he weighed less than a feather pillow. Which, from the look of him, he probably did. "Oh, hi," said Aphrodite. Hearing the disappointment in her own

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voice, she smiled, hoping to cover it up. "Nice party, huh?" she said brightly. But her eyes kept flicking back to Ares and Athena. What were they saying to each other?

Hephaestus nodded. "Especially now that you're here," he said. Then he blushed.

"Uh-huh, thanks," said Aphrodite. Normally, scrawny little godboys like Hephaestus didn't speak to her. It was as if they guessed--rightly, she had to admit--that they didn't stand a chance with her. Not when all she had to do to make even the handsomest of godboys fall for her was look in his direction and smile. Did that make her shallow? she wondered. Once Artemis had accused her of being overly concerned with outward appearances. Uncomfortably, she remembered Athena's question about how often she looked at herself in a mirror.

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Still, why shouldn't she choose the handsomest boys when she could pick whomever she liked?

"Want something to eat?" Hephaestus asked. "Some chips and ambrosia dip?"

"Sure, why not," said Aphrodite. She studied him curiously as he moved toward the table, limping slightly. He was lame in both legs. If she were being honest, he was also not very good-looking. His forehead was too high, his chin too weak, and his eyes too close together. Still, none of the other godboys were paying any attention to her right now. Tonight their eyes were only for Athena.

"Ha!" Ares voice boomed out. "Good one, Theeny!"
Theeny?
Principal Zeus was the only one who called Athena that. And
he
was her father. What did it mean that Ares was using the nickname? Glancing toward the

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couch where Athena now sat surrounded by a half-dozen godboys, Aphrodite watched Ares lean in and rest his hand on Athena's shoulder. Aphrodite gritted her teeth. Athena could have any crush she wanted, but
not
Ares.

As Athena smiled up at him, Aphrodite's stomach somersaulted. Suddenly, she couldn't stand being at the party a moment longer. She headed for the door, completely forgetting Hephaestus and not noticing that she'd left him standing in the middle of the room, balancing two plates of snacks.

When Pandora saw her leaving, she leaped up from her chair. "Hey, where are you going? Don't you like the party? Aren't you having fun?"

Everyone heard her, of course. They all stopped talking and looked in Aphrodite's direction. "I'm just a little tired, okay?" said Aphrodite, trying to shush her. "I'm

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going to my room."

Persephone and Artemis stared at her in surprise, but Athena called out, "Wait up. I'll go with you!" She rose from the couch, but immediately a throng of godboys began begging her to stay.

"Please don't go," said Poseidon. "You haven't told us about your newest inventions yet."

"And I want to hear more about that town the Greek mortals named after you," Ares said, his voice oozing with admiration.

"Athens? Oh, all right, I guess I can stay a few more minutes." Sounding only a little reluctant, she settled onto the couch again.

Aphrodite hesitated, waiting for the godboys--especially one
particular
godboy with blond hair and blue eyes--to beg her to stay too. But none of them did.

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Feeling humiliated, she rushed the rest of the way to the open door. Unfortunately, Medusa chose just that moment to arrive with Stheno and Euryale. The triplets all had skin the color of spring leaves, but only Medusa had snakes for hair. Rattling and hissing, they coiled and uncoiled around her head forming different hairstyles at whim.

With a little yelp, Pandora ducked her head and ran to the back of the room. The snakes gave Medusa the power to turn mortals to stone if they happened to look into her eyes. Because they were mortal, Artemis's dogs were susceptible too. "Drop and cover, boys," Artemis commanded. Immediately, all three hounds lay down on the floor and covered their eyes with their paws.

Still standing in the doorway, the triplets blocked

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Aphrodite's escape. "Leaving already, Bubbles?" Medusa asked with a smirk. One of her snakes lunged toward Aphrodite, flicking its tongue at her.

Eyeing it warily, though it could do her no harm, Aphrodite gritted her teeth. "That's right. Please move so I can get by."

Medusa swept her gaze over the crowd, obviously relishing an audience. "Certainly. Far be it from me to add to your troubles, Bubbles." Stheno and Euryale cackled as if she'd just cracked the funniest joke ever.

"Know something?" Aphrodite retorted, thinking about the time, several weeks ago, when Medusa had gotten her just desserts, "I think I liked you better as a statue!" Squeezing past the triplets, she fled the room. Tears brimmed in her eyes. She'd wanted godboys to notice Athena, but she hadn't figured on them ignoring

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her
! Especially Ares. This wasn't at all what she'd imagined happening when she decided to help Athena out. How could things have gone so wrong?

When she reached her room, Aphrodite collapsed onto her bed. But before she could give vent to her tears, her window began to rattle violently. Startled, she rolled off the bed and leaped to her feet. Suddenly, the window blew open and a strange, glittery breeze whooshed in, bringing with it a rolled-up piece of papyrus. "Art thou Aphrodite, goddessgirl of love?" the wind howled.

Too stunned to reply, Aphrodite merely nodded. Abruptly, the breeze stilled. "The mortal Hippomenes petitions thee for help," it said. Then it dropped the papyrus and whooshed back out the window as fast as it

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had entered.

Aphrodite caught the scroll as it floated toward the floor. Unrolling it quickly, she began to read:

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Aphrodite sighed.
How romantic.
Ares could certainly learn a few lessons from this mortal! Suddenly it struck her that this Atalanta was likely the maiden of the rumors--the one who ran as swift as the wind. Interesting! Grabbing her bag, she fished around in it for her red feather pen. Then she dashed off a reply on a sheet of pink papyrus:

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After rereading her note, she worried that her tone was too informal and not commanding enough. Mortals always seemed to expect gods and goddesses to issue orders. Well, she could fix that. She added a postscript:

That should do it
, she thought. She rolled up the sheet of papyrus, tied it with a red ribbon, and then stepped to
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the open window with it. Holding it loosely, she chanted the Send spell:
"Blow wind, blow. Off you go. Deliver this message, and don't be slow."

Immediately a breeze whisked the papyrus scroll from her outstretched hand and carried it away.

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4 Hippomenes

APHRODITE WOKE EARLY THE NEXT MORNING. Remembering her promise to meet Hippomenes, she climbed out of bed and dressed quickly with barely a glance at the mirror above her makeup table. Artemis's dogs were whining next door. Usually Artemis was up at the crack of dawn to take them for their morning walk, but she'd probably come home late from the party and

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was still asleep. Maybe she could quiet them before they woke anyone else, thought Aphrodite.

Going next door, she knocked lightly and then opened Artemis's door a crack. Before she could stop them, the boisterous dogs pushed it wider and rushed into the hall, yapping and bouncing around in high spirits. Lying tangled in her bedcovers, Artemis just snuffled and rolled over in her sleep.

"Shh!" Aphrodite tried to corral the three hounds, but it was impossible to catch them. Seeming to think it was all a game, they tore off through the hall and down four flights of stairs. "Stop!" she called, keeping her voice low so as not to wake the entire dorm as she chased after them.

The dogs completely ignored her. When she finally caught up to them by the main hall entrance, she couldn't

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get them to go back upstairs, no matter how much she tugged at their collars. And from the way they were scratching at the door and whining, it was obvious they had to go to the bathroom.

"Okay, okay," she said. "But just for a minute. Then you have to come right back in. Promise?" If they were quick about their business, she'd still have plenty of time to meet Hippomenes at eight.

The hounds wagged their tails as if in agreement. However, the second she opened the academy's bronze doors, all three of them dashed outside in different directions.

"Come back! Bad dogs!" Tails between their legs, the greyhound and the beagle paused at the bottom of the granite steps to wait for her, but Suez, the bloodhound, was in particularly high spirits and took off

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across the courtyard. Aphrodite had no choice but to chase after him. The other two dogs followed, stopping here and there to sniff things along the way.

A trail lined with trees and bushes started at the far side of the courtyard and wound down Mount Olympus. Aphrodite glimpsed Suez's backside as he vanished down the trail. The rascal's tail was wagging--probably proud of himself for making such a grand escape!

"If I'm late meeting Hippomenes it will be all your fault!" she called after him. But her words had no effect. Eventually, she caught up to him when he stopped by a bush to lift his leg. Folding her arms, she scolded him. "So you just had to come all the way out here to this particular bush to do your business, huh? You couldn't possibly use one of the bushes right by the school?"

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She had planned to take the dogs back inside before meeting up with Hippomenes, but she was already halfway to Earth. If she went back to the dorm now, she'd be late for sure. "All right," she said, "I guess you'll be coming with me." She hoped Artemis wouldn't wake before they returned and wonder where her hounds had gotten to. The dogs wagged their tails, obviously happy to prolong their adventure. Even Suez seemed content to trot along beside her now as they continued down the trail.

It was just past eight when they reached King Schoeneus's palace. At the edge of the sandy racecourse on the far side of the palace a young man sat waiting. Aphrodite was pleased to see that Hippomenes was on time. He was a handsome youth with chiseled features and light brown hair. Glancing at the dogs with a

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puzzled look, he leaped up to meet her. "You must be Artemis!" His eyes shone with wonder. "Forgive me for staring," he said. "I've never met a goddess before. And I was expecting Aphrodite!"

"That's me," said Aphrodite. "But the dogs do belong to Artemis. Down, Amby!" she said as the beagle stood up on his hind feet and pressed his forepaws against Hippomenes's knees. Amby liked attention almost as much as he did food.

"It's alright," said Hippomenes, laughing. He gently pushed Amby off, then knelt beside him. The dog immediately flopped down in the sand and rolled onto his back so that the youth could rub his belly. "It's wonderful of you to come," Hippomenes said to Aphrodite as he good-naturedly obliged the dog. "I can't thank you enough."