Pandora Gets Heart (7 page)

Then the curtain stopped.

“Unh . . . wait!” screeched a female voice.

“Move!” yelled someone else.

The curtain began to move again.

Suddenly a loud wail shot though the hall.

Everyone turned to look at King Peleus, who chuckled graciously to the crowd, then cleared his throat, wringing his hands behind his back.

The children Pandy had seen on the main walkway with baskets of bread appeared again, this time with jars of white orchid petals. As the crowd parted, they created a white runner leading past Zeus and Hera, on toward the dais.

Euterpe stepped through the curtain, walking slowly and elegantly. Calliope followed several meters behind her. Then Demeter appeared with Iole holding her long hair of summer wheat. Within only seconds, Demeter’s hair changed to autumn leaves, which fell amongst the orchid petals, leaving Iole with nothing to hold. Then Demeter’s hair became winter icicles and Iole found herself sloshing through petal-filled puddles. Instantly, these dried as Demeter’s hair grew into green spring tendrils, and Iole rushed to catch her hair once again.

As all three goddesses took their place around the dais, the four nymphs who had been dressing and styling the bride stepped through the curtain and into the hall.

Then Thetis, her lips pursed but her head held high and her eyes staring straight ahead, walked into the room. She was resplendent in her gold gown and robes, her hair piled high on her head and studded with rubies and pearls, matching the gems on her long, slender neck. But no sooner had she appeared in the entryway than, before anyone could get a look at her face, the four nymphs dissolved into a gold mist, swirled about Thetis for an instant, then settled over her hair and face, creating an exquisite golden veil and giving Thetis a golden glow. Even Zeus gasped as spontaneous applause broke out among the guests.

Walking forward, Thetis acknowledged her reception through the veil, nodding to as many of the immortals as she could. Then she spied Zeus on his throne, and her step faltered. Zeus bit his lip and furrowed his brow, subtly jerking his head toward the dais. Within moments, a soft sobbing could be heard underneath the golden shimmer.

“That’s right, sweetheart. Cry those pretty tears, but keep walking,” Hera muttered.

With another flick of his finger, Zeus moved Thetis forward quickly until she reached her father and her waiting groom. As she stepped up onto the dais, the musicians ended their melody and the crowd was hushed once again. Iole, so close to the proceedings, was fascinated by the unfolding, symbolic drama. But Thetis’s sobbing was slightly more than symbolic, and an uncomfortable tension began to build until Zeus, unseen by anyone, silenced the bride once and for all. Peleus just stood in front of Thetis, awestruck at her beauty, even hidden by a veil, until Nereus prodded him with his elbow.

“Oh!” Peleus said. “Right . . . right.”

He grabbed Thetis’s wrist to show to all assembled that she was now his “property,” while Nereus said the traditional words:

“In front of witnesses, I give this girl to you.”

Hera coughed loudly.

“And it’s about time,” she said under her breath.

Pandy and Alcie reached for each other’s hands. This was
the
moment, the one every other aspect of the ceremony had been leading up to . . . the formal unveiling; Peleus would look upon Thetis for the first time as his wife.

Pandy squeezed Alcie’s hand tightly. A hush fell over the crowd as everyone held their breath and guests strained over one another to get a first glimpse of the bride. Peleus reached for the hem of the shimmering veil and as he did, a single nymph broke from the bottom of the mist and soared overhead, regaining her own form.

The crowd gasped in delight and Peleus reached forward again.

Without warning, the hall was rocked by a huge crash as something enormous hit the wooden doors behind Pandy and Alcie. It was so loud that several immortals screamed as everyone turned to look. Another crash followed quickly; the bolt held firm but the left door was beginning to crack and splinter.

“Centaurs!” Alcie cried.

But Pandy knew in a flash that it wasn’t centaurs. She had been so caught up in the spirit and beauty of the celebration that she had all but forgotten the major twist in this famous wedding. The horrible event.

“Get away from the doors,” Pandy said, pushing Alcie behind her.

Zeus nodded to Hermes, standing beside his father’s throne, and instantly Hermes materialized at the top of the stairs . . . only a second too late. A third crash blew open the doors, sending one door straight into Hermes, knocking him aside, before it careened down the staircase. The other hurtled high into the air; where, and on whom, it would have landed was anyone’s guess, had not Zeus slowly lowered it to lean against the wine bar. A woman stood in the entryway engulfed in a deep crimson light and thick smoke. Stepping out of the billows, she picked her way gingerly over Hermes, walking to the edge of the stairs to address the astonished guests in a high, delicate voice.

“Did I miss anything?”

CHAPTER EIGHT
Eris

“You must forgive my rather loud entrance,” the woman said sweetly, “but the doors . . . well, I think they were
barred
!”

Pandy, trying to hide with Alcie and several other servants behind the curving banister of the staircase, took note of the woman’s mismatched robes and the odd colors woven throughout the messy rat’s nest of her hair.

“I am so sorry to be late, but my invitation arrived only . . . only . . . gosh, now that I think of it . . .”

For a moment, the woman’s voice turned hard and cold.

“. . .
it never arrived at all!
Why is that, I wonder?”

Peleus sprang from the dais and strode swiftly across the hall at the same moment that Hermes was on his feet again.

“Perhaps it is still at the stonecutters, hmmm?” she said, now smiling.

Pandy looked across the hall at Zeus, who was sitting motionless, his mouth a grim line as he watched the woman. Then Pandy caught Iole’s stare as she stood next to the dais. Iole was on alert. This had to be why they were here.

“Perhaps the runner lost his way to my home? Hmmm?”

Hermes was now standing directly in front of the woman only two steps below. Peleus, Prometheus, Hephaestus, and Apollo had formed a line at the bottom of the stairs. Pandy noticed that Ares, standing close to the other gods, had not joined them but was, instead, smiling broadly at his sister.

“At any rate, I’m here . . .
now!
” the woman said, spreading her arms wide. “Let the fun begin!”

“You are not wanted here, Eris,” Hermes said, his voice low and threatening.

Behind Pandy, several servants gasped.

Eris, the Goddess of Discord, squared her shoulders and smiled even brighter.

“Out of my way, errand boy,” she said sweetly, but with an edge. “I’ve come to pay my respects to the bride and groom.”

“Leave my house,” Peleus called from the bottom of the stairs. Eris met his glare for a moment before sighing.

“What a tone to take with an immortal,” she giggled.

Pandy was suddenly aware of raised voices in several areas around the hall.

“Eris needs to go!”

“Don’t tell me I’ve had too much to drink!”

“Well, I think she should stay!”

“What do you mean I look fat?”

“I never liked your mother!”

Quarrels and disagreements began popping up everywhere as strife erupted throughout the room. Eris looked across the hall to Thetis.

“I’m certain the bride would like me here, wouldn’t you, my friend?”

Thetis, still hidden under her veil, gasped and reached for her father’s arm. Pandy looked for Iole but she was nowhere to be seen. In one corner of the hall, someone shouted an expletive. In another, a wine goblet clattered to the floor. In a small cluster of Thetis’s sisters, someone actually shoved someone else into a floral display. Then a voice boomed out above the growing commotion.

“Eris.”

At once the hall quieted down and all eyes turned toward the golden throne.

“Should you manage to get past Hermes,” Zeus said calmly, after a pause, “which is highly unlikely, and should you succeed in circumventing the formidable barricade at the bottom of the stairs, you would then, sweeting, have to deal with me. And I can promise you that I shall make those following moments a study in agony that will seem to last an eternity. And it just might. Now, dear one, do you really want that?”

Eris’s smile faltered slightly and her hands began to tremble with rage, but her eyes stayed on Zeus.

“You were not invited to this wedding for the same reason you are not invited to any other. No one wants discord and strife on such joyous occasions. I’m terribly sorry your feelings are hurt, but I’m certain you can find a tavern or a schoolyard or gambling house and work a little mischief to make you feel better. So now, and I will not say it again, be gone!”

Pandy glanced at Ares, now looking rather somber. Of course Ares only concerned himself with great battles, whole countries in conflict; he would never use his powers on something as insignificant as a wedding. “But,” Pandy thought, “Discord was the younger, more benign sibling of War, and Ares probably wanted Eris to stay just to have someone with the same interests to talk to.”

The great hall was silent for several seconds. Then Eris licked her lips and, with a tiny snort, pointedly shifted her gaze from Zeus to the guests.

“Well!” she sang out, her words now very crisp. “Of course I didn’t really want to
stay
. I just
can’t
, you see . . . so much else to do. Very full schedule. I just wanted to congratulate the happy couple, and now that I have done that, I’m afraid I really must be off.”

She paused, looking around the room, her head cocked slightly as if she were deep in thought. Then she smiled again and, turning, walked swiftly from the hall.

At once, calm settled back into the room, and Pandy heard a few “I’m sorry’s” from several guests close by.

“Hephaestus?” called Zeus.

“My lord?” Hephaestus called back.

“How long to fix the doors?”

Hephaestus looked at the wooden doors and stroked his beard.

“Five ticks of a sundial, maybe less.”

“Do so,” said Zeus, and Hephaestus and the doors disappeared. “Apollo, Ares, Hermes, and Prometheus, guard the entryway.”

In a flash, the four immortals raced up the stairway and blocked the opening, facing inward so as not to miss the proceedings. As he settled, Prometheus happened to notice Pandy and winked in recognition. Pandy glanced at Hermes, who stared at her knowingly for an instant. Iole hurried up the stairs and slid in next to Pandy.

“So exciting!” she gushed. “We’re seeing just how it all really happened!”

“So now what?” Alcie said. “Eris is a bit of a wacko, but I didn’t see any Lust anywhere. What do we do?”

“Athena’s toenails! You really
didn’t
pay attention in class, did you?” Pandy said.

“Kumquats, so kill me already!”

“Just watch,” Iole said.

Peleus was making his way back to the dais, where Thetis waited. As he stepped up, Thetis took his hand and whispered, “You were very heroic.” Then she leaned close to his face, softly cooing, “I am so proud of you . . .
my husband,
” giving his fingers a tiny squeeze. Peleus genuinely smiled for the first time in two days and quickly reached for the second segment of her golden veil. As before, the mist dissolved and the nymph floated high above in her true shape. Thetis began to laugh softly, as did Peleus, and the third segment of the veil was dissipated quickly. Now only one remained, covering her face just below her mouth.

As he slowly reached for it, Pandy glanced behind her, beyond the massive legs of Ares and Hermes and out through the entryway. Eris was nowhere to be seen, but for a split second, Pandy thought she caught a faint reddish glow in the treetops on the hillside below the formal gardens. The oohs and aahs of the guests made her turn quickly. Peleus had barely touched the mist and it dissolved so fast that he was almost shocked to see Thetis’s beautiful face smiling brightly before him. As the cheers, shouts, and applause rang out (Hera forced Zeus to clap) and Peleus bent to kiss his now willing bride, Pandy had an overwhelming urge to turn again toward the gardens. Amongst the low-lying flowers and strewn rose petals, her eyes caught no movement at first . . .

. . . and then she saw it.

A small red ball was rolling up the main path, toward the entryway. Slow at first, it was picking up speed with every moment, and as the joyous commotion in the hall reached its zenith, Pandy grabbed Alcie’s and Iole’s arms and they turned immediately to see the red ball hurtling toward them. Faster and faster the ball was rolling, now only several meters away. In the doorway, Prometheus looked down at the three serving girls, all of whom were looking in the opposite direction from the scene in the hall. As he whipped his head around, Hermes caught his movement and both immortals saw the red ball now almost airborne along the path.

Hermes and Prometheus closed their feet together, trying to stop it, but they were too late and the ball flew past them in a red blur. Apollo and Hermes shouted warnings at the same time as the ball raced down the stairs. Immortals panicked and hurried out of its way, tripping and falling over each other. Peleus instinctively stepped in front of his bride as several of her sisters began screaming, but the ball was moving in another direction. It swerved and dodged, rolling this way, then that, at lightning speed, almost with a mind of its own, until finally it came to a sudden and full stop at the feet of Athena . . . who did not flinch.

Immediately, everyone backed away to form a large circle around her as all eyes were trained on the ball. When nothing happened after several moments, Athena huffed and bent slowly to pick it up. Before she could touch it, the ball began to tremble slightly, then shake; then steam began to rush out from a crack that had split one side. Several guests fell back, grasping each other’s arms; others clutched their own garments, gasping loudly. Lifting her enormous sword, Athena aimed the point at the ball. Suddenly, as quickly as it had begun, the shaking stopped and the steam disappeared. The crack split wider and the ball fell to pieces, revealing a bright flash. Even those who couldn’t see clearly heard the loud
thunk
as an object enclosed inside the ball hit the blue tiles and rolled in a lazy arc, coming to rest against the tip of Athena’s blade.

And everyone stared down at the small, perfect, golden . . .

. . . apple.