Pandora Gets Angry by Carolyn Hennesy

side of the room. “Um, oh, grapes.”
    â€œDried or pickled?” asked Cyrene.
    â€œOh, no, I meant …” Alcie looked over the platters of food heaped on the table. She was famished and she felt, somehow, that Persephone’s mood would alter toward her a bit if she turned up her nose at all of it. The least disgusting item on the menu was the pile of soggy green leaves.
    â€œI’d love to try those,” she said brightly, sitting down.
    â€œGood choice,” said Cyrene, heaping a plate high and setting it before her.
    Alcie poked at her wilted greens as she watched Persephone devour enormous quantities of everything. Then, and only because Persephone was looking directly at her as she spoke, she actually put a bite in her mouth.
    The sour, oily limp leaves … were the best things she had ever tasted in her life.
    â€œGotcha!” Persephone smiled. “Didn’t think you’d like it, right?”
    â€œOh Gods,” sighed Alcie.
    â€œI know ! It sounds disgusting! I mean, really, why do you think I basically starved myself the first time I was down here. I only ate six pomegranate seeds when I could have been stuffing myself. Here, try the dove. Don’t think about it … just taste.”
    Alcie hesitated, then popped a tiny black morsel into her mouth. In that instant she made a silent vow to be as noticeably heroic as possible for the rest of her natural life, just so she could spend eternity in Hades’ palace eating delicious food.
    When her very mortal stomach was distended over and under her girdle, Alcie pushed back from the table. Then she gave a thunderous belch.
    â€œOh, lemons, I’m sorry.”
    â€œThat’s the best compliment you could give them!” Persephone said.
    The shades, having hovered in the corners of the great room, all nodded appreciatively.
    â€œRight-o! And off we go,” Persephone said, rising. “Now, let’s see if we can talk to your friends.”

CHAPTER TEN

Out and About
    Fastening the hooks through her ears, Hera shook her head gently.
    â€œAnd now for a little test,” she said, satisfied the earrings were secure
    She willed the thousands of unsigned papers to rise out of the cart and hover in the air while the bodies of the two monkeys floated off the table and dropped into the bottom of the cart. Then she let the papers fall on top with a sickening thud.
    â€œIt’s good to be alive!”
    She strode back through the offices of the Bureau, catching from the corners of her eyes the smiling faces and nodding heads; after all, if she was wearing an egg, she must have been approved. She ignored everyone. Confidently, she walked out into the main room, cut directly through the long line of deities waiting to apply, and descended the staircase.
    But when she stepped out of the building, there was nothing below except the rooftops of Baghdad.
    She would have, at that moment, simply used her restored powers and dematerialized, but in the next instant, a new stairway appeared before her; step by step, Hera moved downward, negotiating twists and curves as the building overhead, now invisible, moved over the city.
    Finally, with her feet firmly on the ground, Hera decided to test the full effect of the eggs.
    â€œI wonder, where is my dear girl?”

CHAPTER ELEVEN

On the Dunes
    It had been eight days since Douban the Physician had placed the strange poultice in Iole’s mouth and, true to his word, she had been completely healed the following morning. Since then, the caravan had moved slowly across the Arabian desert and now, finally, it was within sight of the small town of Baghdad, situated on a bend in the Tigris River.
    Pandy and Iole sat atop a large sand dune as the last thin crescent of the sun sank below the horizon. Overhead, the stars began to twinkle in the twilight sky and lamps were flickering throughout the city, only several kilometers away.
    They were watching Homer toss