Description: Athena the Proud 1 An Invitation Wednesday Morning PING! PING! ATHENA SLID INTO her seat in her Beast-ology class at Mount Olympus Academy just as the lyrebell for second period rang. She pushed her long wavy brown hair back as she pulled her textscroll for the class from her bag. Right away her dragon-headed teacher, Professor Ladon, held up a rolled sheet of papyrus. "An interesssting letterssscroll hasss arrived, which I will now read aloud sssince it concernsss sssome of you," he announced to the class. Licks of flame flew from his lips as he spoke, setting the edge of the letterscroll on fire. "Godnesss!" he exclaimed. The teacher''s eyes bugged, and he began shaking the letterscroll with one clawed green hand in an attempt to put out the flames. Poseidon, a handsome godboy with pale turquoise skin and eyes, jumped from his seat in the front row. "Don''t worry, Professor Ladon. I''m on it!" he called. He grasped the long handle of the trident he always carried and extended its drippy three-pronged end toward the letterscroll. As drops of water sprayed from the trident''s prongs onto the papyrus, the flames quickly fizzled out. "Thanksss," hissed Professor Ladon. He smiled, baring huge, sharp dragon teeth. Athena''s blue-gray eyes widened, and she drew back a little. The sight of those teeth never failed to startle her. But Poseidon grinned back at the teacher, unfazed. "No problemo." As godboy of the sea, he was all about water. He loved tinkering with the fountains here at MOA, and had designed a magnificent water park with polished marble slides, gleaming fountains, and pools of turquoise water down on Earth. "Asss I wasss about to sssay," the teacher continued, wisely holding the papyrus scroll farther away from his long flame-spewing dragon snout this time. "I will now read the letterssscroll. "DEAR PROFESSSOR LADON, I AM WRITING TO INVITE FOURTEEN SSSTUDENTS TO BE GUESTSSS AT THE GRAND OPENING OF MY NEW AMUSSSEMENT PARK. WHEN: THISSS SSSATURDAY. WHO: PLEASSSE SSSELECT SSSEVEN BOYSSS AND SSSEVEN GIRLSSS, A MIX OF GODDESSSGIRLSSS, GODBOYSSS, AND MORTALSSS. THISSS ISSS A SSSPECIAL PREVIEW JUSSST FOR THEM. THEY WILL HAVE THE PARK ALL TO THEMSSSELVES. LOCATION: MY PALACE IN KNOSSSOSSS, ON THE COASSST OF THE ISLAND OF CRETE, JUSSST SSSOUTH OF GREECE. A MAP ISSS ATTACHED. YOURSSS TRULY, KING MINOSSS P.SSS. NO WEAPONSSS ALLOWED." Murmurs of excitement rose from the class. Athena leaned over and whispered to Persephone, the pale-skinned, red-haired goddessgirl who sat next to her and was one of her three best friends. "Did you catch that article about Minos''s new amusement park in yesterday''s Greekly Weekly News??" Persephone nodded. "Uh-huh," she said. "It sounds really a-maze-ing." Both girls giggled at her little joke. The king had officially named his park Minos''s aMAZEment Park because its central attraction was a cavelike labyrinth. Which was basically a simple maze with numerous passages that ran beneath the king''s palace. The park had been designed and built by Daedalus. He was the most famous mortal inventor and architect on Earth, yet he was only sixteen years old! As the goddessgirl of crafts, among other things, Athena was a keen inventor herself. In fact, one of her inventions--the olive--had proved so useful to some mortals in Greece that they''d named their city Athens after her. In a contest at MOA earlier that year, her olive had even beat out the water park Poseidon had invented. "So which of us get to go?" asked a dark-haired, dark-eyed godboy named Apollo. Good question, thought Athena. She caught Persephone''s eye again and crossed her fingers. Persephone crossed hers back. Because who wouldn''t want a chance to preview a fabulous new funpark? Before Professor Ladon could answer the question, a godboy with a lizardlike tail turned to grin at Apollo. "Don''t you already know who''s going, Mr. Godboy of Prophecy?" Everyone laughed, including Apollo. It was true he was the godboy of prophecy, but apparently he hadn''t foreseen the king''s invitation. Or the names of the students who''d be going. "To anssswer Apollo''sss query," Professor Ladon replied at last, "I think it fair that I sssend only the top ssstudentsss from all of my classsesss to the park asss a reward for achievement." The students closest to him inched their hands up to cover their noses and mouths as he spoke. Professor Ladon had the worst dragon breath of any teacher at MOA! Without seeming to notice, the teacher went on. "Ssso anyone who hasss achieved the tenth Level of the Arrow may volunteer to go." Persephone pumped her arm. "That means we''re in! So are Aphrodite and Artemisss!" she whispered to Athena excitedly. Then she giggled. "Oops! Sorry. I guess the teacher''s habit of hissing his Ss is catching." "Yesss!" Athena agreed, giggling too. However, Poseidon groaned. He and several other students who hadn''t yet achieved the tenth level slumped in their seats at the teacher''s news. Athena felt kind of sorry for them. But they''d be able to visit Minos''s aMAZEment Park another time, since it would be open for years to come. She and her three goddessgirl best friends had recently made it to the tenth level after an epic battle. They''d defeated a dozen monsters--tough opponents with sharp teeth and claws, and breath even more horrific than Professor Ladon''s! Of course, the monsters hadn''t been real beasts, only magical game projections created by the professor to challenge them in the Forest of the Beasts down on Earth. The forest was where the goddessgirls had fought the monsters to win the tenth level. The place where all students from Professor Ladon''s classes practiced their hunting skills on the first Friday of every month. The rest of the time classes were held here at MOA in this very classroom. Persephone turned to look back at Hades, godboy of the Underworld. He flashed her a smile. The two of them had been crushing on each other since forever. Looking at Professor Ladon, Hades asked, "When do we leave?" He and several of his godboy friends, including Apollo, had also reached the tenth level recently. "After ssschool on Friday. We''ll ssspend all day Sssaturday at the park, and return Sssaturday evening," Professor Ladon replied. Then he explained how the invitation had come about. Apparently, Daedalus had been impressed with the Forest of the Beasts when Professor Ladon had showed it to him nearly a year ago. In fact, after studying the magical beasts the professor had created, Daedalus had been inspired to design a mechanical version of the Minotaur, one of the most terrifying of the forest beasts. It would inhabit King Minos''s new labyrinth. "To thank me for providing inssspiration for his mechanical Minotaur, Daedalusss convinced King Minosss to invite ssstudents from my classsses to the opening of the park," Professor Ladon said in conclusion. A shiver ran down Athena''s back as she thought about the Minotaur. There were actually three of them in the Forest, and each was huge and bull-like, standing upright however, with horns, clawed hands, hooves, and a gold ring in its snorting nose. Terrifying, indeed! But she didn''t have time to dwell on the matter of the Minotaur. Because the class moved on to studying the languages of the beasts, until the lyrebell rang. Out in the hall after class ended, Athena, Persephone, Apollo, and Hades all high-fived one another. "This trip is going to be so fun," said Persephone. "It''ll be awesome!" Apollo enthused. "Just think--we''ll be the first ones ever to try the rides." The boys took off for their next classes still buzzing about the park, but the two girls waited outside the classroom until Aphrodite and Artemis showed up for third-period Beast-ology. After Athena and Persephone shared the good news about the upcoming trip, the four girls grabbed each other in a group hug, jumping up and down in excitement. "I can hardly believe I get to hang out with my GGBFFs at a funpark this weekend instead of doing homework," said Athena. Artemis, Persephone, and Aphrodite looked at her in confusion. "GGBFF?" "Goddessgirl best friends forever," explained Athena. "I''m so excited that I just made it up by accident!" Her friends giggled. "So who else will be going? Do we know?" Aphrodite asked, running a hand through her long, golden hair. It was threaded with pink ribbons that matched the sparkly pink chiton she was wearing. As befitted the goddessgirl of love and beauty, she was breathtakingly beautiful. Several boys passing by turned their heads to glance at her adoringly before continuing on to their classes. But to her credit Aphrodite hardly noticed. She might be beautiful, but she wasn''t stuck-up about it. "Apollo will be," Artemis informed them. She shifted

Please Wait