Eos the Lighthearted by Joan Holub & Suzanne Williams

Author:Joan Holub & Suzanne Williams
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Aladdin

8

A  Slight Misunderstanding

EOS WAS STILL STANDING IN the hall outside the main office when Ares bounded up to her. “Thank godness, I found you!” he exclaimed breathlessly. “Apollo told me you’d gone to see Zeus, but I wasn’t sure you’d still be around. C’mon, I need your help!”

He grabbed her hand. His blue eyes were big and round. He looked almost . . . scared. Scared? The godboy of war? No way! The very idea momentarily put thoughts of immortality spells and her dad right out of her head.

“What’s wrong?” she asked Ares as he began tugging her down the hall.

He looked over his shoulder at her, but didn’t stop moving. “Back at Artemis’s temple, when you asked me for my autograph, you mentioned that your friend . . . um . . . Titmouse?”

“Tithonus,” Eos corrected.

Ares nodded, which caused a lock of his blond hair to fall forward over one eye, just like Tithonus’s cowlick often did. “Yeah, him,” Ares said, shoving back the unruly lock. A while ago he’d been voted handsomest godboy in a Teen Scrollazine reader poll. Eos supposed he was, but only if you were into annoying, blond-haired, super-athletic boys.

If she ever were to have a crush, she’d choose someone gentler and more modest than the godboy of war. Someone with a grand passion for things and a sense of humor, too. Someone more like . . . well . . . Tithonus. Not that she’d ever admit that to anyone. Especially not Aphrodite, who saw romance blooming everywhere she looked!

“Wait. Stop. Where are we going?” asked Eos. She tugged on his hand and Ares paused, letting go of her.

“You said your friend was a bug expert, and you sometimes help him.” Ares rubbed the back of his neck, looking uncomfortable. “So you know about bugs. And, uh, I was wondering if you could, uh, identify a spider I found in my room. I’m worried it could be poisonous.”

“Well,” said Eos, “I’ve picked up a few things from Tithonus, but he’s the true expert. And spiders aren’t actually bugs. Or insects, for that matter. They’re arachnids. They have eight legs, instead of six, no wings or antennae, either. Plus, they can’t chew.”

“See?” Ares flashed her a blinding white smile. “You do know a lot about . . . er . . . arachnids.” Suddenly he paled, and his anxiety seemed to return. “Won’t you please at least come take a look at my, er, problem?” Seeming to assume she wouldn’t tell him no, he took her hand again, tugging her toward the end of the hall.

Eos followed, suspicious now. Was it possible this big, athletic godboy of war was afraid of spiders? Yes, it was. Lots of people were. She wasn’t that crazy about them herself. But being around Tithonus had made her much less afraid of arachnids—and insects as well—than she might’ve been otherwise.

Deciding she owed Ares a favor since he’d been so nice about signing his autograph for Tithonus, she said, “Okay. I’ll take a look.

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