Zeus and the Thunderbolt of Doom (Heroes in Training) Read online

  Argh! That didn’t sound good. Still, Zeus couldn’t help feeling a little excited. His cave in Crete had been so boring. (Except for the thunderstorms!) He was grateful to the nymph, bee, and goat for taking good care of him there. But deep down, he’d always believed he was destined for a life that was more awesome.

  For years he’d thought his parents would come back to get him one day. But over time that dream had faded. Now that he was off to see the world, maybe he’d find them. If he didn’t become snack food first!

  “What are you going to do in Greece?” he asked.

  Blackbeard grinned evilly, patting his belly. “Bake us some boy pie, first thing.”

  Zeus thought it best not to reply to that. As the half-giants guided the ship, he watched it cut through the sparkling blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea. He’d always longed for adventure. This would have been a fine one if he’d been with different, less hungry companions.

  Seeming to sense his fear, Double Chin tried to reassure him. “Aw, just ignore him, Snack. We’re all full of apples for now. Don’t worry. You got hours to live.”

  He was nicer than the other two, Zeus decided. Sort of.

  Suddenly the wind began to whip up. “Storm’s on the way,” Lion Tattoo noted, eyeing the darkening sky.

  He was right, Zeus realized as he stared at the swirling black clouds overhead. This morning’s thunderstorm was coming back. And now there was nowhere to run! Stuck in the middle of the sea, he’d be an easy target for the lightning bolts that seem to chase him wherever he went.

  He tried not to panic. But as he heard thunder growl in the distance, he wondered how these half-giants might like him fried. By lightning.

  The soldiers got busy adjusting the sails. The billowing wind filled them, pushing the ship along at a fast clip. Zeus stared out between the bars of his helmet jail, his eyes wild.

  “See that storm? It’s after me,” he told the half-giants. “And if lightning strikes this ship, I won’t be the only one to fry.” When his captors didn’t reply, Zeus hopped up and down. “Are you listening, you Cronies? You should sail back to Crete and let me go!”

  Blackbeard reached out and whacked the side of Zeus’s helmet. “Don’t call us that! We hate that nickname. We’re half-giants, got it?”

  “Well, my name’s not Snack either!” Zeus yelled, feeling grumpy himself. “It’s Zeus.”

  At that, Lion Tattoo’s head whipped around to stare at him. “Zeus? Hmm. Why does that name ring a bell?”

  Zeus shrugged. When he’d been abandoned as a baby, the nymph had found him lying in a basket with a scroll tucked beside him. One word had been written on it: Zeus. That was all. No way this half-giant could possibly have heard of him.

  “Incoming!” Double Chin shouted, drawing everyone’s attention. He was pointing at the sky again.

  In the faraway clouds Zeus saw five dark blobs soaring toward them. Whatever they were, the half-giants seemed worried about them.

  Barely a second later the storm was upon them, lashing them with rain and wind. Waves rocked them to and fro, tossing the ship around like a toy. His three captors had all they could do to control the ship.

  Thunder rumbled, closer now. “Here we go again,” Zeus muttered.

  But for some reason the lightning didn’t strike him. And instead of trying to sink them, the wind was pushing them in the direction they wanted to go. At this speedy rate they would reach Delphi in no time. It was almost as if the storm wanted to hurry them along.

  Caw! Caw! Zeus looked upward again. Those five black blobs had gained on them. They were birds! Big ones.

  “Aghhh!” The half-giants scurried around in frantic circles on deck, darting alarmed looks at them.

  “Some soldiers you are—scared of crows!” Zeus shouted over the wind.

  “Those are Harpies, you idiot!” Double Chin yelled back. “They’ll peck your eyes out in two seconds.”

  Zeus stuck his nose through the bars of his helmet jail and stared harder at the birds overhead. Whoa! They were bigger than he was, he realized. And they had long curly hair that blew out behind them as they dipped and rose on currents of air. Birds with hair?

  Then he noticed something even weirder. They had women’s faces! But what had him really shaking in his sandals was the sight of their curved, razor-sharp beaks. That, and the demented look in their beady eyes. He shuddered.

  Quickly he gathered his courage. Those lady birds might be vicious, but they were also a distraction. And while the Cronies’ attention was on them, he might just be able to hide. But where?

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Harpies

  TRYING TO KEEP HIS BALANCE ON THE bobbing ship, Zeus walked the deck searching for a hiding place. Any hiding place.

  Just then the ship rolled hard to one side. He stumbled and tripped over the railing. Then he was falling. Tumbling overboard!

  Splash! He hit the stormy sea headfirst, plunging deep. When he bobbed upright again, he coughed and sucked air back into his lungs. Stunned, Zeus watched the ship sail away.

  He treaded water, kicking his legs hard. He didn’t want to drown out here!

  But with his shoulders trapped inside Double Chin’s helmet, he had no chance of saving himself. The iron helmet was heavy. Sure, he could swim, but not without the use of his arms. Especially not in these wild seas. And he was pretty far from land.

  “Help!” he yelled toward the ship.

  To his surprise, it turned around and came toward him, tacking back and forth into the wind. Lion Tattoo was at the helm, looking oddly determined to rescue him. Why were they coming back? Were those apples wearing off? Were they hungry again?

  When the ship got closer, Lion Tattoo pointed a finger at Zeus. “You! I just remembered where I heard your name.” He leaned over the side, trying to snag Zeus’s helmet’s grill with the hook on the end of his long harpoon.

  Zeus frowned and backpedaled his legs. How could the half-giant have heard of him?

  If Lion Tattoo really did know something about him, maybe he knew who his parents were. Zeus had been unable to learn anything about them over the years. But now hope rose in him again that he might discover something.

  Just as the harpoon’s hook drew near, a shadow fell over him. Caw! Caw! Zeus looked up. The Harpies!

  Whoosh! One of them dove straight at him. Her dagger-sharp claws wrapped tight around the helmet’s grill. Zeus ducked his head as far back inside the helmet as he could.

  At the same time, Lion Tattoo swung his harpoon wildly. But all he caught was dead air. Because Zeus was already in the clutches of the boy-pecking Harpies!

  Up and up he went. Higher and higher. Then he was flying. Where were the Harpies taking him? Probably to their nest, where he would become Harpy bird-baby food. It seemed like all anyone wanted to do today was eat him!

  Zeus wiggled around, trying to escape from the helmet. It began to loosen. He gave a hard bounce. Then he was free!

  And falling!

  Before he dropped far, claws wrapped around each of his arms and held him fast. Two other Harpies had grabbed him, one on either side. At least he was out of helmet jail now, though this wasn’t much better.

  “Where are you taking me?” he demanded. But his words were whipped away by the wind. And so they flew onward, the ship swiftly becoming a mere speck in the distance.

  He hadn’t wanted to be the half-giants’ snack. But he didn’t want to be pecked to death by these bird-women or their babies either. All of a sudden, getting swallowed whole by Blackbeard seemed like the lesser of two evils.

  Turning his head, Zeus stared at the far horizon. He could no longer see the ship or his home on the island of Crete. Was he never to see his friends again—the nymph, bee, and goat, who’d raised him for ten years? He’d wanted to see the world, but not this way! For now he was at the mercy of these crazy birds. And he could only wait and see what they would do.

  Caw! Caw!

  Heading north for Greece, the Harpies flew
like the wind, staying just ahead of the storm. The firebirds formed a V shape, with one bird in the lead and two behind on either side. Every so often they changed places, as the lead lady bird tired.

  Hoo-loob! Hoo-loob! Zeus turned his head and saw that a pigeon was now flying alongside them. A rolled-up piece of papyrus was clamped in its beak. A message! He could read only two words of it: Capture Zeus.

  Huh? Zeus blinked his eyes a few times. Was his vision playing tricks on him? Maybe the high altitude was affecting his brain, causing him to see things that couldn’t possibly be.

  Less than an hour later the Harpies reached the shore of Greece. Far below them the harbor was full of ships. The pigeon dove, heading for one of them. They were military ships, Zeus realized. With dozens of half-giants on board.

  He watched the pigeon deliver its message to a half-giant in a captain’s uniform. After quickly scanning it, the captain pointed up at the Harpies. He shouted orders to his crew.

  To Zeus’s amazement, everyone began running around. They were giving chase. But there was no way these Cronies could catch them. They were on the ground. He and the Harpies were flying.

  Why was the army after him, anyway? Were they hungry too, like the half-giants he’d met before? Surely there were other boys they could eat. Boys who’d be easier to catch!

  The Harpies flew on, past hillsides covered with grapevines and olive trees. Now and then, Zeus saw a battalion of the king’s Cronies marching in formation in the countryside. Why so many? he wondered. It almost looked like they were preparing for war!

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Bolt

  IT WASN’T LONG BEFORE ZEUS SPIED A city below. Marble buildings with tall, white Ionic columns and smaller stone houses clung to a hillside. His winged captors dipped lower, going in for a landing.

  Zeus’s sandals touched down. He hit the ground running. Then he tripped and rolled in a series of head-over-heels somersaults.

  When he finally came to a stop, he sat up on the dirt road, feeling dizzy. The five Harpies stood in a ring around him. He didn’t see any nests nearby. Or any hungry baby birds. Good. But what did these Harpies want?

  The biggest of them stared at him and licked her pointy beak lips. The others had black eyes, but this one’s eyes were red. She leaned in close and flapped her wings excitedly. “Flea!” she squawked.

  Eew. Zeus pinched his nose between two fingers. Her breath reeked, and not in a good way. It smelled sort of like skunk mixed with stinky cheese. But where did she get off calling him a flea? Come on, he wasn’t that small!

  “Bick off, buds,” he commanded. Not understanding him, the Harpies only cocked their heads curiously.

  Zeus let go of his nose just long enough to repeat himself. “Back off, birds!” But they didn’t back off, so he pinched his nose closed again.

  Now all five birds began squawking at him. “Flea! Flea!” Bird breath surrounded him. Mega-stink!

  “I’m not a flea! I’m a boy!” Zeus protested. Hearing the sound of footsteps and horses’ hooves, he got to his feet. He peeked over the red-eyed Harpy’s wing.

  Beyond her a bunch of half-giants were swarming toward them! The birds’ breathtakingly bad breath could probably knock them out at twenty paces. But whose side were these birds on? His or the half-giants’?

  “Flea!” The red-eyed Harpy flapped her wings now as if shooing him away.

  Zeus unpinched his nose again. “Oh, I get it! You mean flee? As in run? Good idea.” He looked around. Behind him were steps leading up to some kind of temple. In front of him were smelly Harpies. And just beyond them were boy-eating half-giants.

  He was no idiot, despite what the half-giants back on the ship had thought. “Thanks for the ride!” he told the birds. “Maybe I can do you a favor sometime.” Seeing no better choice, he turned and dashed up the steps, taking them two at a time.

  The Harpies lifted off, beating the half-giant attackers with their wings to delay them. Once he was inside the temple, Zeus looked for a way out the back.

  The temple was round, but it wasn’t very big. Its floor and walls were made of gleaming white marble stone. Tall columns stood all along its surrounding walls, and its roof was a dome. But there was no exit door.

  Outside he heard shouts. Some of the Cronies had managed to slip past the birds. Any minute now he’d be captured. He had to do something—and fast!

  Zeus spied some small urns by one wall. But they weren’t big enough for him to hide in. There was a low table standing right in the center of the floor. It was draped with a long dark blue tablecloth. And for some reason there was a big rock sitting on top of it. The rock was shaped like a cone and was about half as tall as he was.

  Zeus dashed toward the table. He was hoping there was room enough for him to dive under it and hide.

  Stomp! Stomp! Stomp! Too late! The soldiers were inside the temple now, almost upon him. Footsteps pounded closer. “There he is!” boomed a voice. “Get him!” called another.

  Desperately, Zeus looked around for a weapon to hold them off. Something. Anything! Seeing a long, jagged stick stuck point-first in the cone-shaped stone, he reached for it.

  And pulled.

  The jagged stick slid from the stone like a knife from a ripe peach. He’d been expecting it to be harder to get out. Now he stumbled backward under the force of his pull.

  The bright white stick glowed in his hand. Its edges looked razor sharp, its blade highly polished. Only, it wasn’t a stick at all, he realized. It was more like a sword. But not like any sword he’d every seen or heard about.

  Swords were straight, not crooked like a zigzag. And this thing was as long as he was tall. Yet it was lighter than the wooden sword he’d made back home.

  Gripping it in both hands, he waved it at his attackers. It made a crackling, whooshing sound with his every swing. He’d felt brave as he practiced with his homemade wooden sword earlier that morning. But this was a real fight. And now his hands shook.

  The point of the zigzag sword struck the lead soldier’s breastplate armor. Sparks flew. The half-giants stopped in their tracks.

  Suddenly they were backing away, whispering in awe. “He pulled it out!” “Who is he?” “How could a mortal boy manage what no one else could do?”

  Zeus stared in horror at what he held. Because he’d just noticed something really weird and kind of scary. The zigzag blade he’d pulled from the stone wasn’t a stick. And it wasn’t a sword, either.

  No—instead, it was an actual, sparking, sizzling, terrifying thunderbolt!

  CHAPTER SIX

  The Woman in the Mist

  WAIT TILL KING CRONUS HEARS ABOUT this!” shouted one of the Cronies. He ran from the temple and clomped down the front stairs. Then he leaped onto his horse and galloped away.

  The remaining half-giant soldiers continued to back away from Zeus and his thunderbolt. Seeing how scared they all were, Zeus felt braver.

  “Yeah, that’s right,” he taunted. “You better run!” He lunged, brandishing the bolt like he’d practiced with his wooden sword back home.

  Cowering, the half-giants fled from the temple and down the steps. But they didn’t go any farther. So how was he going to escape with them waiting outside?

  One thing was for sure: He was not going to take this thunderbolt with him when he got his chance to run. He glanced at it out of the corner of one eye, worried. What if it decided to turn on him, jumping out of his hand to strike him?

  Bending low, he carefully laid it on the marble floor. Then he let go of it. Or tried to, anyway.

  His fingers wouldn’t open! Using his other hand, he tried to peel them away from the bolt. But his fingers only curled more tightly around it. Had the force of the electricity within it melded it to his skin? No, he didn’t feel burned or anything.

  Pzzzt! The jagged bolt suddenly glowed more brightly and crackled with electric sparks.

  “Get off me!” Zeus shrieked in alarm. He shook his hand hard. No luck. This bolt was stuc
k to him like stink on a Harpy.

  Hearing a hissing sound behind him, he jumped around. Abruptly a long crack split the polished marble floor just a few feet away from him. A great puff of golden, glittery steam escaped the crack. It formed a dazzling misty cloud as it rose into the air.

  A woman’s voice spoke from within the mist. “Are you the one?”

  Zeus squinted into the big steam cloud. It popped and winked and fizzed. Was this what magic looked like? “Who’s there? Are you talking to me?” he asked.

  A woman stepped out of the mist cloud. Zeus couldn’t help staring at her. Her shiny hair was black as midnight. Snowy white robes covered her from head to toe. All he could see was her face.

  He couldn’t see her eyes, though. Because the eyeglasses she wore were completely fogged from the glittery mist around her.

  The woman’s arm lifted slowly. She pointed a long finger at the thunderbolt. “Did you pull that from the stone?”

  “Oh, sorry. Was it yours?” Zeus asked hopefully. “Because you can have it back. Here, take it.” He held it out to her, disappointed when she didn’t accept his offer.

  She circled him. The cloud of mist followed her. “You are young, as in the prophecy,” she said, studying him from all angles. “Yes, yes, I see,” she said after a few moments. “It all makes sense now.”

  What made sense? Zeus wondered. And how could she see anything at all through those foggy eyeglasses?

  She put her fingertips to her forehead as if she were concentrating hard. He didn’t have time for this, he thought impatiently. He had to escape those Cronies!

  After setting the thunderbolt on the ground again, he stood on it this time. Then he yanked on his arm. Rats. He still couldn’t get the bolt off.

  “Your name!” the lady demanded, lowering her hands. “Is it Goose?”