Pandora Gets Heart by Carolyn Hennesy

Author:Carolyn Hennesy
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
Published: 2010-03-01T05:00:00+00:00

Leaving Homer at the fork to wait for Iole, Pandy and Alcie walked past many large ox-drawn carts, each being loaded with sacks of garbage from the evening’s festivities.

Suddenly Pandy grabbed Alcie’s arm.

“What?”

“It just hit me,” Pandy said, turning slowly to look at her friend. “Zeus gave me the coin. That means he doesn’t just know that I’m here and why I’m here, but that he’s helping as well. Hermes and Zeus!”

“Uh-huh,” Alcie said, as if she’d already figured that out. “I don’t know about you, but I’m gonna take that as a good sign. C’mon.”

Inside Chiron’s cave, there was almost no activity except for a few servants cleaning up and carrying sacks out to the waiting carts. Walking to the spot where they had put their cloaks and pouches, they stopped when they heard a high-pitched laugh followed by a deep guffaw.

At the back of the cave, Myron and Chiron were sitting, one on his haunches, the other at a table, laughing uproariously. Suddenly Chiron sighed, and Myron became very solemn.

“Look, Horsey, here’s the thing,” Myron said. “We can joke about it all we want, but it’s resentment, pure and simple. Just because you didn’t get an invitation . . . doesn’t mean a thing. We’re better than just about everybody we serve. Artistes, that’s what we are! I cook, you teach . . . and look great. And do we ever get the recognition we deserve?”

“Nope,” Chiron answered.

“The answer is no. You should have been there to-night. I fed everyone and do you think I would ever get a ‘Hey, Myron, come up and enjoy the party’? Never. But it’s the fate of resented genius—always bridesmaidens, never brides.”

Pandy looked at the spot where she’d put her pouch; it was gone. Tensing, she searched the back of the cave with her eyes. Nothing.

“Where’s our stuff?” Alcie whispered.

“Excuse me,” Pandy blurted out to Chiron and Myron. “I am sorry to bother you, but we put our things down here before we went to the palace. Do you happen to know where they are?”

“Nope,” Chiron said.

“There was some stuff that smelled like horse poop,” Myron said.

“That’s me!” Chiron yelled. He laughed loudly once, then sighed and put his head in his hands.

Myron just looked at him for a long moment, then turned back to Pandy and Alcie.

“I thought it was trash. It’s probably in one of the sacks outside.”

“Figs, figs, figs,” Alcie muttered as they ran. Pandy beat Alcie to the entrance of the cave and out to the first cart. She caught one of the clean-up servants by the arm.

“Hi! Did you, by any chance, pick up two cloaks, a couple of togas, and some pouches by the back of the cave?” she asked, trying to keep her voice calm.

“I don’t know,” the tired, glassy-eyed youth said.

“One cloak was a dirty white and the other was—,” Alcie began.

“It all smelled like horse poop,” Pandy said.

“Oh, yeah,” the youth said, scowling. “Strong stuff. You could smell it through the bag! It’s on one of the carts.

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