Dionysus and the Land of Beasts Read online

  He took a quick look around. Poseidon’s water blasts were putting out Hestia’s fires, and the Cronies were quickly advancing on the east. On the south, Artemis was hitting her targets, but there was only one of her, and she only had so many arrows. On the east side, he saw Ares’s spear and Hephaestus’s staff clash in midair. Those two still needed more practice with their weapons, he knew.

  Zeus turned to Athena. “We’re outnumbered,” he said. “I don’t think we can hold them off much longer.”

  Athena nodded. “I know.”

  “Think of something clever,” Zeus said. “We need a really good idea to get us out of this.”

  “As powerful as our weapons are, there aren’t enough of us to take down the Cronies,” Athena said, whipping her Thread of Cleverness around a Crony as she spoke. “It’s too bad Dion’s song didn’t work. We really just need the Cronies to turn around and go home.”

  Zeus glanced over at Dion, who stood in the middle of the stage, looking defeated. His song would have worked, if only it could be heard. . . .

  With perfect timing, Apollo began to strum his lyre and sing. “Artemis shot her arrows faster and faster, saving the Olympians from disaster. . . .”

  The supercharged lyre was loud, Zeus realized. Loud enough to reach the first few rows of Cronies. . . .

  He grinned at Athena. “I know what to do!”

  CHAPTER NINE

  Time to Face the Music!

  Zeus zapped two more Cronies and then quickly turned to Dion. He was done asking for Dion’s help. Now it was time to demand it.

  “Dion, take off your crown and hold it above your head!” he yelled. His own voice surprised him. It sounded deep and commanding.

  Dion obeyed without arguing. Zeus touched Bolt to the crown.

  “Apollo, come here! We need your lyre!”

  Apollo ran to join Zeus and Dion. He touched his lyre to the crown and Bolt. Energy surged through the objects, and a brilliant light exploded from them.

  “Dion, put on the crown!” Zeus ordered. “I want you to sing. Apollo, you too. Make the Cronies turn around and walk back to Olympus. Tell them not to stop marching until they get there.”

  “I tried that, but they didn’t hear me before,” Dion protested.

  “It will work this time,” Zeus promised. “At least, I hope so!”

  Apollo strummed his lyre. “You start, Dion,” he said. “I’ll join you.”

  Dion ran his fingers through his long hair. He started to sing.

  “Cronies, do as I say. Turn around and go away.”

  His voice boomed out over the attacking Cronies this time, powered by the supercharged crown. The first five rows of attacking Cronies stopped suddenly. They all turned around and started to march away. But the rest of the Cronies kept coming.

  “They’re, like, fifty rows deep!” Hera yelled. “Dion needs to be louder!”

  “I’m singing as loud as I can!” Dion protested, and his voice cracked as he spoke. “I’m going to lose my voice soon!”

  “Keep singing!” Zeus ordered. “We’ll figure something out.”

  “Cronies, march back to Olympus,” Dion sang.

  “The Cronies marched back to Olympus, and forgot they ever saw us,” Apollo echoed.

  The next row of Cronies turned back . . . but the others quickly rushed the stage. Zeus knew that Dion and Apollo would need to get much louder, quickly, to defeat the whole army.

  “I’ve got an idea!” Athena cried. She yelled up, “Hermes! Bring me one of Aphrodite’s shells!”

  Hermes nodded and flew inside the circle of thorns. He emerged a few seconds later carrying a cone-shaped seashell the size of his hand. He swooped down and handed it to Athena.

  Athena placed the shell on the stage. She took her Thread of Cleverness and spelled out a word.

  Louder

  The shell began to grow larger and larger until it reached the size of a watermelon. Athena handed it to Dion.

  “Sing through this!”

  Dion held the thin end of the seashell to his lips. Then he sang through it.

  “Cronies, march back to Olympus!”

  Athena’s invention amplified the magical sound. Zeus watched more Cronies turn and walk away. But Dion still couldn’t reach all of them. If only he could fly above them . . .

  “Hermes, can you give Dion a lift?” Zeus asked.

  Hermes grabbed Dion under his arms and tried to lift him up. The wings on his sandals flapped furiously, but he only got an inch above the stage.

  “Sorry, Zeus, I can fly, but I’m not that strong,” Hermes said.

  Zeus glanced over at the wall of thorns. The Cronies hacking away at the wall hadn’t heard Dion’s song.

  “Keep singing!” Zeus told Dion and Apollo. Then he turned to Hermes. “Fly over to the wall and help the others. Freeze the Cronies, or try to get the axes away from them.”

  Hermes nodded. “You got it, boss!” And then he zipped away.

  “Cronies, march back to Olympus. Keep marching until you get there.” Dion sang.

  Apollo sang the chorus. “The Cronies marched back to Olympus. They forgot all about us.”

  More Cronies turned away. But more kept coming. Ares and Hephaestus had control of their weapons again. Hestia switched places with Artemis, so her flames weren’t getting doused by Poseidon’s water blasts anymore.

  Over at the wall of thorns, Hermes was zapping the axes out of the hands of the Cronies.

  Zeus was proud of his team. They were working together and solving problems. But the wave of Cronies kept coming, just as Cronies were leaving, thanks to Dion and Apollo. It just wasn’t enough.

  “Something’s coming!” Hera yelled.

  She pointed up to the sky. A huge creature was flying across the vineyard. A white horse with wings. Riding on top of it was a boy with curly blond hair.

  “It’s Ron!” Zeus cried. “And Pegasus!”

  Pegasus, the winged horse, had stolen Bolt not long ago. Zeus had tracked down the horse and found him with Ron, a kid with a big problem. His uncle needed him to take down a terrible monster, a chimera. The Olympians had helped Ron with his monster problem. Zeus got Bolt back, and Ron and Pegasus had stuck together.

  Pegasus landed on the stage, his huge wings flapping.

  “You guys need some help?” Ron asked with a big grin.

  CHAPTER TEN

  A Little Help from a Friend

  Zeus didn’t hesitate.

  “Dion, Apollo, climb on the horse’s back!” he yelled.

  The two boys quickly obeyed. Pegasus was large enough to carry both of them and Ron, too.

  “Ron, I need you to fly over all the Cronies,” Zeus said. “Their song can drive the Cronies away.”

  “Got it!” Ron replied. “Come on, Pegasus!”

  The horse whinnied and lifted off into the sky. He slowly circled the vineyard as Dion and Apollo sang.

  “Go away and don’t come back!” Dion commanded them.

  “The Cronies left and didn’t come back!” Apollo sang.

  From the sky, their sound reached far and wide. Each and every Crony heard the song. Dion’s words sneaked into their minds, making them do what Dion said. Apollo’s magical lyre made the whole plan real.

  The Cronies marched away from the vineyard. They stomped over the grapevines. They trampled the dirt under their feet.

  But they had stopped fighting.

  “They’re leaving!” Hera cheered.

  There were no more Cronies around the wall of thorns. Before they left, they’d chopped a hole big enough for humans to walk through. Demeter, Aphrodite, and Hades came through it, followed by Dion’s festival fans.

  Stomp! Stomp! Stomp!

  The ground shook as the Cronies marched away. Soon the last one disappeared over the horizon.

  The crowd let out a cheer. Pegasus landed back on the stage, and Dion, Ron, and Apollo climbed off his back. Dion and Apollo high-fived.

  “We sounded great together!�
�� Dion said. “We should team up more often.”

  “We should team up all the time,” Apollo said.

  “That’s right,” Zeus said. “You see what we’re up against. We need you.”

  Dion looked thoughtful. “Can I bring my Goat Guys with me?” he asked.

  “Of course you can,” said Zeus.

  “Oh great,” Hera said, wrinkling her nose. “Have you smelled those guys? They smell like a wet barnyard.”

  “Baaaaaaa!” the Goat Guys protested.

  “They don’t smell that bad,” Hades argued. “And besides, we need all the help we can get.”

  “If they’re in, I’m in,” Dion said. “And Dion is just my stage name. My real name is Dionysus.”

  Demeter nodded. “Now, that sounds like an Olympian!”

  Zeus turned to Ron. “How did you know we needed help?”

  “Well, I was just hanging with Pegasus in the stable, when this mist appeared and . . .” Before Ron could finish his sentence, a cloud of mist appeared in front of the Olympians. The mist dissolved to reveal Pythia.

  “Pythia, you’re back!” Hera cried.

  “I wanted to make sure that Ron got here in time to help you,” she said.

  Ron stepped forward. “I did!”

  “Yeah, we sent those Cronies packing!” Ares chimed in.

  “That’s good,” Pythia said. “And I see you’ve found the last Olympian. That’s good, too, because you are about to face your biggest challenge yet.”

  “You said we would face our biggest monster,” Zeus reminded her. “Can you tell us anything more?”

  Pythia shook her head. “My spectacles are foggy. All I know is that the monster is big, and that it’s dragging something.”

  “Dragging something?” Hades repeated.

  Ron’s eyes lit up. “Wait, I think I know!” he cried. “There are rumors in the kingdom that the Titans are gathering at Olympus. And they have an enormous dragon!”

  “Ah yes, that’s it,” said Pythia. “A dragon. Of course.”

  “Do you know what kind of dragon, exactly?” Athena asked.

  “I am afraid not,” Pythia said. “Only that it will take all fourteen of you to defeat it and dethrone King Cronus. If you do not, something terrible will happen. The world will . . .”

  The mist started to swirl around, and Pythia faded. Her final words were lost.

  “Whoa. That was intense,” Hades remarked.

  “Well, I’m not afraid of any dragon!” Ares yelled. “I’ll take him down with my spear!”

  “And I’ll attack him with my cane!” Hephaestus added.

  Then the Olympians started talking all at once.

  “We can do it!”

  “What’s a dragon? Just another monster!”

  “Nothing can stop us!”

  Zeus’s thunder voice rose above the others.

  “Then it’s settled!” he said, and the others quieted down. The others were treating him like a real leader, he realized. He stood up a little straighter. “Tonight, we rest! Tomorrow, we march to Olympus to defeat King Cronus!”

  The Olympians started to cheer, but Hera stopped them. “And the dragon. And maybe some Titans. And we just sent the Crony army there, Boltbrain, so we might have to face them again too.”

  Zeus sighed. He had a feeling that even if he did end up ruling Greece one day, Hera would still call him Boltbrain.

  “It doesn’t matter,” Zeus said. “Because we are all together now. We are fourteen Olympians strong. Nothing can stop us!”

  About the Authors

  Joan Holub has authored and/or illustrated over 140 children’s books, including the New York Times bestselling picture book Mighty Dads (illustrated by James Dean) and Little Red Writing (illustrated by Melissa Sweet). She lives in North Carolina and at joanholub.com.

  Suzanne Williams is the author of over fifty books for children, including the award-winning picture book Library Lil (illustrated by Steven Kellogg). She lives outside Seattle, Washington, and is online at suzanne-williams.com.

  Together, Joan and Suzanne write the Goddess Girls, Heroes in Training, and Grimmtastic Girls series.

  ALADDIN

  SIMON & SCHUSTER, NEW YORK

  Visit us at simonandschuster.com/kids

  Authors.SimonandSchuster.com/Joan-Holub

  Authors.SimonandSchuster.com/Suzanne-Williams

  DON’T MISS THE OTHER ADVENTURES IN THE HEROES IN TRAINING SERIES!

  Zeus and the Thunderbolt of Doom

  Poseidon and the Sea of Fury

  Hades and the Helm of Darkness

  Hyperion and the Great Balls of Fire

  Typhon and the Winds of Destruction

  Apollo and the Battle of the Birds

  Ares and the Spear of Fear

  Cronus and the Threads of Dread

  Crius and the Night of Fright

  Hephaestus and the Island of Terror

  Uranus and the Bubbles of Trouble

  Perseus and the Montrous Medusa

  Hermes and the Horse with Wings

  This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

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  First Aladdin hardcover edition December 2017

  Text copyright © 2017 by Joan Holub and Suzanne Williams

  Illustrations copyright © 2017 by Craig Phillips

  Also available in an Aladdin paperback edition.

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  Series designed by Karin Paprocki

  Jacket designed by Nina Simoneaux

  Interior designed by Mike Rosamilia

  The text of this book was set in Adobe Garamond Pro.

  Library of Congress Control Number 2017939226

  ISBN 978-1-4814-8835-8 (hc)

  ISBN 978-1-4814-8834-1 (pbk)

  ISBN 978-1-4814-8836-5 (eBook)