Pandora Gets Greedy by Carolyn Hennesy Read Free Book Online Page B

and I gotta run!”
    â€œStay right where you are!” barked Athena. “You two are not going up to the roof. Dionysus, Bacchus, give Minerva and me their clothes and girdles right now;
we
will take them up as soon as I finish seasoning this dish. Honestly, the nerve!”
    â€œI wouldn’t blame them if they turned you two into drunken raccoons after you stole their things,” Minerva agreed, taking the goddesses’ clothing, placing it on a chair, and turning back to the cooking pot. “Now, Sister, which wine to use? Diluted or undiluted?”
    â€œI say undiluted,” Athena said, turning to the storage shelves and reaching for the bottle. “Where’s the wine?”
    â€œI hear someone calling,” Bacchus said, tearing out of the room. “Don’t you, Brother?”
    â€œHuh?” said Dionysus. “Oh! Oh, yes! Coming, Zeus!”
    â€œThey’ve stolen the wine!” Minerva cried.
    â€œI’m going to turn them into raccoons myself. Father
isn’t
calling you, you overgrown Satyr!” Athena said, tossing her wooden spoon onto the counter. “Now give me that wine!”
    Both gods fled on their goat hooves to the upper levels of the insula as Athena and Minerva tore after them, trying in vain to grab the wine bottles from their hands.
    Hermes and Mercury tiptoed over to the cooking pot and Mercury was about to lift the lid.
    â€œDon’t touch that!” yelled Minerva from the stairwell.
    Mercury yanked his arm back.
    â€œHow do they always know?” he whispered.
    Just then, there was a shriek from the stairwell and Aphrodite and Venus ran into the food-preparation area, completely unclothed with only their long, golden hair covering everything that needed it, followed by Bacchus and Dionysus.
    â€œDo you have our clothes?!” Venus shouted.
    â€œGosh,” said Hermes, all innocence. “They were around here somewhere.”
    â€œThere!” shouted Venus, pointing to the chair.
    â€œWe just want to say we’re sorry!” pleaded Dionysus, he and Bacchus racing after the goddesses as they dashed away, hurriedly flinging on their garments.
    â€œHow about a hug?” called Bacchus.
    There was a long moment of silence as Mercury and Hermes just stared at the spot where Venus and Aphrodite had been only moments before.
    â€œI think that may have been worth the entire trip,” Hermes said, slowly.
    â€œEven if Pandora doesn’t succeed,” agreed Mercury, still rapt.
    â€œPandora? What’s a Pandora?”
    Athena and Minerva bolted back into the kitchen. Hermes and Mercury simultaneously pointed in the direction everyone had run off.
    â€œHow did they get
by
us?” Athena said, sprinting with Minerva close behind.
    Suddenly there were two loud thuds.
    â€œOW!”
    â€œSorry,” Hermes heard Minerva—or was it Athena—say. “We’re after the wine.”
    Diana and Artemis stumbled into the kitchen, each one rubbing her shoulder.
    â€œEveryone has completely lost their minds!” Artemis said. “They’re running around like a spooked herd of sacred cows!”
    â€œZeus and Dad are getting ticked off. They want to leave already. Now,
we
are ready to go,” said Diana to Mercury. “You?”
    â€œReady,” said Mercury.
    â€œ
Stop sneaking up on me!
” Juno screamed from an upper floor.
    â€œIt’s like she’s here in the room,” Artemis said quietly.
    â€œIt’s a voice that carries, certainly,” agreed Hermes, flicking a piece of lint off his toga.
    â€œ
And stop shooting arrows at me, you little gorgons!
” they all heard Juno shout.
    â€œCupid and Eros still trying to make her fall in love with the furniture?” asked Diana.
    â€œ
I will take those arrows and give you both such a …
”
    â€œLooks that way,” said Mercury.
    No one said anything for a long time, but everyone was trying to