slightly. He was lame in both legs. If she were being honest, he was also not very good-looking. His forehead was too high, his chin too weak, and his eyes too close together. Still, none of the other godboys were paying any attention to her right now. Tonight their eyes were only for Athena.
"Ha!" Ares voice boomed out. "Good one, Theeny!" Theeny? Principal Zeus was the only one who called Athena that. And he was her father. What did it mean that Ares was using the nickname? Glancing toward the
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couch where Athena now sat surrounded by a half-dozen godboys, Aphrodite watched Ares lean in and rest his hand on Athena's shoulder. Aphrodite gritted her teeth. Athena could have any crush she wanted, but not Ares.
As Athena smiled up at him, Aphrodite's stomach somersaulted. Suddenly, she couldn't stand being at the party a moment longer. She headed for the door, completely forgetting Hephaestus and not noticing that she'd left him standing in the middle of the room, balancing two plates of snacks.
When Pandora saw her leaving, she leaped up from her chair. "Hey, where are you going? Don't you like the party? Aren't you having fun?"
Everyone heard her, of course. They all stopped talking and looked in Aphrodite's direction. "I'm just a little tired, okay?" said Aphrodite, trying to shush her. "I'm
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going to my room."
Persephone and Artemis stared at her in surprise, but Athena called out, "Wait up. I'll go with you!" She rose from the couch, but immediately a throng of godboys began begging her to stay.
"Please don't go," said Poseidon. "You haven't told us about your newest inventions yet."
"And I want to hear more about that town the Greek mortals named after you," Ares said, his voice oozing with admiration.
"Athens? Oh, all right, I guess I can stay a few more minutes." Sounding only a little reluctant, she settled onto the couch again.
Aphrodite hesitated, waiting for the godboys--especially one particular godboy with blond hair and blue eyes--to beg her to stay too. But none of them did.
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Feeling humiliated, she rushed the rest of the way to the open door. Unfortunately, Medusa chose just that moment to arrive with Stheno and Euryale. The triplets all had skin the color of spring leaves, but only Medusa had snakes for hair. Rattling and hissing, they coiled and uncoiled around her head forming different hairstyles at whim.
With a little yelp, Pandora ducked her head and ran to the back of the room. The snakes gave Medusa the power to turn mortals to stone if they happened to look into her eyes. Because they were mortal, Artemis's dogs were susceptible too. "Drop and cover, boys," Artemis commanded. Immediately, all three hounds lay down on the floor and covered their eyes with their paws.
Still standing in the doorway, the triplets blocked
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Aphrodite's escape. "Leaving already, Bubbles?" Medusa asked with a smirk. One of her snakes lunged toward Aphrodite, flicking its tongue at her.
Eyeing it warily, though it could do her no harm, Aphrodite gritted her teeth. "That's right. Please move so I can get by."
Medusa swept her gaze over the crowd, obviously relishing an audience. "Certainly. Far be it from me to add to your troubles, Bubbles." Stheno and Euryale cackled as if she'd just cracked the funniest joke ever.
"Know something?" Aphrodite retorted, thinking about the time, several weeks ago, when Medusa had gotten her just desserts, "I think I liked you better as a statue!" Squeezing past the triplets, she fled the room. Tears brimmed in her eyes. She'd wanted godboys to notice Athena, but she hadn't figured on them ignoring
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her ! Especially Ares. This wasn't at all what she'd imagined happening when she decided to help Athena out. How could things have gone so wrong?
When she reached her room, Aphrodite collapsed onto her bed. But before she could give vent to her tears, her window began to rattle violently. Startled, she rolled off the bed and leaped to her feet. Suddenly, the window