Dionysus and the Land of Beasts Read online

  Contents

  Greetings, Mortal Readers

  1. The Search for Lost Friends

  2. Fooled!

  3. Magic in the Air

  4. Dionysus and the Goat Guys

  5. No Autographs!

  6. What a Jerk!

  7. A Leader Rises

  8. The Power of Thirteen

  9. Time to Face the Music!

  10. A Little Help from a Friend

  About the Author

  Greetings, Mortal Readers,

  I am Pythia, the Oracle of Delphi, in Greece. I have the power to see the future. Hear my prophecy:

  Ahead, I see dancers lurking. Wait—make that danger lurking. (The future can be blurry, especially when my eyeglasses are foggy.)

  Anyhoo, beware! Titan giants seek to rule all of Earth’s domains—oceans, mountains, forests, and the depths of the Underwear. Oops—make that Underworld. Led by King Cronus, they are out to destroy us all!

  Yet I foresee hope. A band of rightful rulers called Olympians has begun to form. Though their size and youth are no match for the Titans, they are giant in heart, mind, and spirit. They follow their leader, Zeus, a very special boy. Zeus is destined to become king of the gods and ruler of the heavens.

  If he is brave enough.

  And if he and his friends work together as one. And if they can learn to use their new amazing flowers—um, amazing powers—in time to save the world!

  CHAPTER ONE

  The Search for Lost Friends

  I hope the last Olympian we are looking for has awesome powers,” Poseidon was saying. “Like . . . making treats appear out of nowhere.”

  Nine kids, each ten years old, were hiking toward a valley in the heart of Greece. They looked like normal kids taking a walk on a sunny morning, but really, they were all Olympians—gods and goddesses destined to rule the land.

  “Yeah, I hope he’s super strong!” agreed Hades.

  “Well, I hope he is a she,” said his sister Hera. “We could use another girl around here.”

  “Right,” agreed her sisters, Demeter and Hestia.

  “I just hope the new Olympian isn’t a jerk,” Hephaestus grumbled. The silver skull on the end of his walking stick gleamed in the sunlight.

  Hermes, a boy with golden-brown hair, was the only Olympian not walking. He flew in the air next to them, powered by magic winged sandals.

  “Should I take that personally?” Hermes asked. “After all, right now I’m actually the new Olympian, until we find the last one.”

  Hephaestus shrugged. “If the winged shoe fits . . .”

  Gray-eyed Athena nudged Hephaestus. “I don’t think you want to start anything, Heff.”

  “Are you forgetting that he loves to prank us?” Hephaestus asked.

  Poseidon turned around. He had black hair, and eyes the color of a turquoise ocean. “Maybe he pranked us, but he saved us too! Hermes has mad skills! I still can’t believe he turned that monster into a bunch of stars in the sky!”

  Ten-year-old Zeus, the leader of the Olympians, listened to the conversation, but did not join in. The black-haired boy with serious blue eyes had too much on his mind.

  It hadn’t been that long ago that he had pulled a magical dagger (which he called Bolt) from a stone at the Temple of Delphi, and Pythia, who could see the future, had told him that he was an Olympian. He was a hero in training—a god destined to take down King Cronus and his evil Titans. Pythia had said that Zeus would rule with other Olympians, too. Kids just like him.

  Since then, he’d been on a crazy adventure, a quest with no rest. One by one, he’d found the other Olympians. They’d searched for magical objects that would help them defeat King Cronus and his army.

  Together, they had battled Titans with awesome powers. They had faced terrifying monsters. And they’d learned secrets. Zeus had discovered that he and some of the other Olympians were the sons and daughters of King Cronus himself. They were his brothers and sisters—and family he didn’t know he had.

  The biggest battle hadn’t happened yet, but Pythia had said it would start soon. And they needed to find one last Olympian to complete their team. But first . . .

  “We can’t even start looking for the last Olympian until we find the others,” Zeus spoke up. “Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite, and Apollo are still missing.”

  “We haven’t stopped thinking about them, Zeus,” said his sister Demeter. Her green eyes looked worried. “I hope that nothing bad has happened to them.”

  A few days ago, Pythia had told them to search for “hairy snakes.” (When she was looking into the future, her glasses sometimes got fogged up, and she couldn’t see things clearly.) The Olympians had split up into three groups to find the snakes. Ares, Apollo, Artemis, and Aphrodite had all headed toward the hot springs.

  Zeus and his group had ended up finding the “hairy snakes”—a monster named Medusa with snakes for hair. When they’d returned to the village meeting place, they’d rejoined Hera’s group. But four of their friends were still missing.

  “I’m sure they’re okay,” Hera said. “They’re probably just lost.”

  “You should have let me go with Aphrodite’s group,” Hephaestus grumbled. “I wouldn’t have gotten lost.”

  “You’re just jealous that Ares got to go with Aphrodite,” Hera said. She shook her head, and her golden-blond hair bounced on her shoulders. “Honestly, I don’t know what’s so great about that girl.”

  Hephaestus blushed. “I’m not jealous,” he mumbled.

  The group came to a fork in the path. To the right was a thick forest of oak trees. To the left, a field of pale green grass. It was dotted with purple flowers that swayed in the summer breeze. In the distance, Zeus could see a low mountain.

  Zeus stopped and touched the stone disc that hung around his neck on a cord. The stone’s name was Chip, and it had been given to Zeus by Pythia. Chip was one of Zeus’s magical objects.

  “Which way, Chip?” Zeus asked.

  A green, glowing arrow appeared on the flat surface of the stone. It pointed left.

  “This way!” Zeus called out, and the others followed him.

  They walked for most of the morning. A few birds flew with Hermes overhead. Some insects with shiny green wings darted among the flowers. But they were the only company the Olympians had for a long time.

  As the sun neared its highest point in the sky, the land sloped down. They made their way to the valley below the mountain. White smoke plumed from the top of the mountain and disappeared into the blue sky.

  “Cool! It’s a volcano!” Hephaestus remarked.

  “That makes sense,” said Athena. “Hot springs are often found at the base of a volcano.”

  Hades sniffed the air. “Mmm, smells like home.”

  For Hades, who was ruler of the Underworld, home smelled like rotten eggs and stinky socks.

  “That’s sulfur,” Athena said, wrinkling her nose. “There are all kinds of tiny animals living at the bottom of the hot springs, and that is what makes it smell so bad. They’re so tiny you can’t see them with your eyes.”

  Hera looked suspicious. “Are you making that up?”

  Athena held up her hand. A very thin string was tied around her finger—her magical object, the Thread of Cleverness.

  “Stuff just pops into my head sometimes,” Athena said. “I can’t help it.”

  Poseidon held his nose as the smell got stronger. “Gross, Bro!” he told Hades. “I can’t believe you like this smell.”

  Hades took a deep breath. “Dee-licious!” he announced.

  As they kept walking, they could see more white smoke rising from
the ground. Soon they saw an almost-round pool in front of them. The smoke was rising from the blue water.

  “It’s beautiful,” said Hestia, her brown eyes bright. As she walked, Hestia held a torch with a small, dancing flame in her hand—her magical object. If she wanted to, Hestia could create a raging fire with that little flame.

  Zeus looked around. “Well, we’ve reached the hot springs. Chip, do you know where the others might be?” he asked his amulet.

  Before Chip could point them in the right direction, a voice rang out through the foothills.

  “Help us! Somebody help!”

  The Olympians froze.

  “Please! Someone help!” the voice cried out again.

  “That sounds like Aphrodite!” Hephaestus yelled, and he ran toward the sound. He used his cane to help him move more quickly than Zeus had ever seen.

  “Help! Please help!” the voice called again.

  Zeus broke into a run. “Come on, everybody! Our friends are in trouble!”

  CHAPTER TWO

  Fooled!

  As the Olympians raced toward the sound, Zeus wondered what they would find.

  “Her voice is coming from in there!” Hephaestus called over his shoulder. He pointed with his staff to a cave nestled at the base of the mountain.

  Zeus felt the mist from the hot springs on his skin as he ran toward the cave. Hephaestus disappeared inside it first. Zeus and the seven others raced in behind him.

  After only a few steps in, they were plunged into darkness. The dim light of Hestia’s torch revealed rocky cave walls all around them.

  “Where are they?” Poseidon yelled.

  “Shhh!” Zeus said. He listened for Aphrodite’s voice again.

  “Help! Help!”

  “Aphrodite, we’re here!” Hephaestus called out.

  But after a few seconds, it was silent again.

  “Something’s not right,” Athena said slowly. “That voice sounded like it was coming from the entrance of the cave. But we just came from there.”

  “Hestia, can you make your torch brighter?” Zeus asked.

  “Sure,” his sister replied.

  The flame leaped on top of the torch, lighting up the cave. The Olympians shrieked with fright at the sight of a creature blocking the entrance.

  The monster looked almost like a horse, but its hair was bright red and it was twice the size of any normal horse. Instead of its horse head, it had the head of a large cat, with gleaming white, sharp fangs.

  “A Leucrocotta,” Athena whispered.

  “Help! Help!” the creature said, in Aphrodite’s voice. And then it started to laugh.

  Hephaestus sprang forward. “What did you do to Aphrodite? Where is she?” he yelled, waving his cane. Zeus held him back.

  “Hang on,” Zeus said. “I think this cat-horse thing is trying to trick us.”

  “That’s right,” Athena said. “The Leucrocotta’s voice can sound like any human. It tricks humans that way, and then . . . eats them.”

  “Clever girl,” said the Leucrocotta, this time in a deep, growling voice. “I fooled your friends, if you mean those four scrawny children I trapped the other day. I’ve been trying to fatten them up to make for a proper meal.”

  “Then they’re alive?” Zeus asked.

  “Yes,” answered the Leucrocotta. “But they won’t be alive for long. And neither will you.”

  Zeus let go of Hephaestus. He took the lightning bolt–shaped dagger off his belt.

  “Bolt, large!” Zeus cried.

  His magical object grew until it was larger than Zeus. It sizzled and zapped with electricity. But before he could hurl it at the Leucrocotta, Hephaestus let out a loud yell.

  “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

  He charged at the monster, waving his cane. Then he threw it at the beast.

  The cane flipped over and over as it sailed through the air.

  Whack! It smacked into the Leucrocotta, sending the creature flying backward out of the cave. The Olympians charged after the creature. Poseidon held out his trident. Hermes gripped his magical object, a wand with two gold snakes wrapped around the base, and wings on top. Hestia’s torch burned brightly.

  Outside, the cane flew back into Hephaestus’s hand as the Leucrocotta scrambled back to its feet. Poseidon tapped his trident on the ground, and a wave of water shot out, blasting the beast.

  The water carried the Leucrocotta, up, up, into the air, and then the monster came splashing down into the hot spring.

  Athena ran up to the edge of the spring. She opened her cloak to reveal a silver chest plate bearing the image of the face of Medusa, the monster with snakes for hair.

  “Over here!” Athena cried, and when the Leucrocotta turned its head and looked into the shield, it froze. Its body turned into hard, gray stone, and it slowly sank into the hot, bubbling water. The monster disappeared in the spring.

  “Great teamwork, everyone!” Zeus cheered.

  Then the air was filled with human voices again.

  “Help us!”

  “Help!”

  “Zeus! We’re over here!”

  Athena frowned. “There could be more Leucrocotta,” she said.

  “We’ll be prepared this time,” Zeus said. “Everyone, have your weapon at the ready if you have one. I’ll lead the way.”

  Bolt sparked in Zeus’s hand as he followed the sound of the voices, past the cave, and around a curve in the mountain. Hanging from a tree was a large wood cage—and inside were Aphrodite, Ares, Artemis, and Apollo!

  “Aphrodite!” Hephaestus yelled.

  “We’re saved!” Aphrodite cried.

  “Are there any more of those cat-horse monsters around?” Zeus called up.

  “No!” Hades yelled back. “Just that one jerk. Is he gone?”

  “Oh, he’s very gone,” Athena assured him.

  Hermes flew up to the cage and unlocked the door.

  “Let me help you down from there,” he said, holding out his hand to Aphrodite.

  Zeus could see Ares’s red eyes flash. “Who is this guy?”

  “He’s Hermes, an Olympian,” Zeus replied. “He can fly.”

  “Yeah, we can see that!” snapped Artemis.

  One by one, Hermes carried the four lost Olympians down to the ground.

  “So what happened?” Zeus asked.

  Artemis, Ares, and Apollo seemed distracted. They were walking around, looking down at the grass. Aphrodite answered for everyone.

  “When we got to the hot springs, we heard a sound like a crying baby,” she explained, and Zeus couldn’t help thinking that Aphrodite’s own voice sounded like a sweet, bubbling fountain. She had that effect on people. “But it was really that nasty monster tricking us into his cave. Artemis shot an arrow at him but he dodged out of the way. We followed him back outside and Ares tried to attack him. . . .”

  Artemis joined the conversation, holding a golden bow. “He needs to learn how to control that thing!” she complained. “The stupid spear went haywire and knocked my quiver of arrows right off my back!”

  “And my lyre, too,” Apollo piped up.

  Aphrodite held up a golden apple. “I still had my apple, but you know it can’t do much except make coins,” she said. To demonstrate, she tossed the apple from one hand to the other, and a shower of gold coins fell to the ground.

  “So the monster rounded us up, put us in that cage, and hoisted us up that tree,” Artemis said. “I don’t know how he managed with hooves for hands, but he’s pretty good with a rope.”

  “Aha!” Ares yelled. He held up his right arm, and clenched in his fist was his magical object—the Spear of Fear. It was a powerful weapon, but Ares was still learning how to use it. “Found it!”

  “Be careful with that thing!” Artemis warned.

  Then Apollo walked up. He had the same sparkling blue eyes as his twin sister, Artemis, but his wavy blond hair was short, while her golden-brown hair grew down her back.

  “I found your quiver and a
rrows, Sister,” he said, holding it out to her. “Here you go.”

  Hera looked at Apollo. “Are you okay? You’re not rhyming or singing, like you usually do.”

  Apollo held up two pieces of wood with strings dangling from them. “My lyre is broken, busted, gone, no longer will I burst out into song,” he said sadly.

  “Bummer, dude,” said Poseidon.

  “Was that your magical object?” Hermes asked him.

  Apollo shook his head. “Not magical. Just an ordinary instrument. But we made beautiful music together.”

  Hermes grinned and held up his wand. “Hang on. Your beautiful music is about to get beautifuller.”

  “Is that even a word?” Hera asked.

  But Hermes didn’t lose his grin. His wand began to glow as he waved it over Apollo’s lyre. . . .

  CHAPTER THREE

  Magic in the Air

  The broken lyre floated out of Apollo’s hands. The Olympians watched in surprise as the two broken pieces of wood fused back together. The strings tightened and the ends wrapped around the wood.

  But the lyre kept changing. The wood pieces of the lyre transformed into shining gold. The brown strings turned into strings of shimmering silver. Then the lyre floated back into Apollo’s open hands.

  “Hope you like it,” Hermes said. “Might need some tuning.”

  Apollo plucked the strings one by one. “It’s perfect! Thank you, new guy.”

  “That’s Hermes, dude,” Hermes reminded him.

  “That was awesome!” cheered Poseidon. “Is anyone else thinking what I’m thinking? That things would have gone much easier for us if we had found Hermes right away?”

  “Yeah!” agreed Hades. “He could have taken down those Titans for us with his wand. Zap! Zap! Zap!”

  “We did just fine without him,” Hera pointed out. “Anyway, he didn’t even try to help us with the Leucrocotta.”

  Hermes shrugged. “You guys had it under control.”

  “Hip hip hip, hip hip hooray! Our new friend Hermes has saved the day!” Apollo sang, strumming along with his new-and-improved lyre.