Chapter 20 Aphrodite Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
ISN’T THIS THE COOLEST THING ever?” Fifi squeals as she grabs my hands and starts spinning us around in circles as fast as she can.
I start to pull away—it’s totally impractical to spin like this in a room full of furniture. We’re either going to hurt ourselves or break something—neither of which an Athena girl would ever risk.
But in the end, I just go with it. Because it’s fun and because she’s right—even with everything that’s happened today, being at Anaximander’s really is the coolest thing ever.
Plus, things are looking up. I’ve been assigned an amazing muse who I’m sure will help me put everything to rights very soon.
We laugh as we spin and spin and spin until we’re so dizzy we can’t stand up anymore. Then we collapse on Fifi’s bed and wait for the room to stop twirling around us.
“What’s the first thing you want to do here?” Fifi asks, her voice muffled by the mattress she’s currently got her face pressed into.
I start to say “get into Athena Hall,” but that seems unnecessarily harsh, considering it means leaving her without a roommate when she’s been so incredibly kind to me.
Which is why I settle for a smaller but no less important truth: “Take a shower.”
“No kidding.” The mattress makes her snort sound more like a sneeze. “How did you end up like that anyway?”
“How do you know I didn’t start like this?” I shoot back.
This time, even the mattress can’t hide the loudness of her snort. “Oh, please. I’m not good at much except directions and people. And you are so not the type of person to leave your house unless you’re perfect.”
If someone else had said that to me, I might take offense. But there’s no condemnation in Fifi’s voice, just the same curiosity I have about her. “Let’s just say nothing today has been easy—and even less has gone my way.”
“I don’t know about that,” she tosses at me, rolling over so that we’re both on our backs, lying crosswise across her bed. “You did get the best roommate in all of Aphrodite Hall.”
It’s a no-brainer for me to answer, “Can’t argue with that.” Aphrodite or not, Fifi is really great.
And that’s before she reaches into her backpack and pulls out the largest pack of gummy bears I’ve ever seen. After tearing the corner open, she holds it out to me.
I start to refuse, but then my stomach growls loudly enough to be heard all the way in the amphitheater. We both crack up as she dumps a bunch of gummy bears in my hand.
I pop one in my mouth—yum, pineapple—as I look up at the ceiling. For the first time I realize there’s something there—it’s faint and hard to see, but it’s definitely there.
“What is that?” I push up until I’m standing on the bed so I can get a closer look.
“Probably the map,” Fifi answers as she, too, stands on her bed.
“Of the school?” I press up onto my tippy-toes to get even closer. “I thought we didn’t get a map?”
“We don’t—not of the whole school. But after the school changes at night, one side of it is shown on the ceiling. We have to figure out where everything else is based on the location of things on that side. It’s a logic problem that lasts the whole time we’re here.”
Sure enough, directly in the center of the map are the words Lake Drakolimni.
Dragon Lake?
“Where is this?” I ask, wondering if this is where the waterfall I jumped in earlier is located.
“Looks like it’s showing the location of all the halls today,” she answers, pointing to one of the buildings on the right side of the lake. “That’s us.”
She’s right—the big building directly to the right of the lake is definitely Aphrodite Hall. Next to us are Poseidon and Hades Halls, while Zeus and Athena are all the way across the lake.
That means Paris is across the lake from me.
I wonder what his roommate is like. And who his muse is. And what Mom and Dad have said about me not making it into Athena.
Embarrassment washes over me at the thought and has the gummy bear I just ate feeling like a giant rock in my belly. My mother’s spent my whole life teaching me what it’s like to be an Athena girl—an Athena woman. How am I supposed to face her now that I’m neither?
Paris is in Athena Hall. I should be there too.
And where is my muse?
“I’m going to go take a shower,” I say suddenly, grabbing the towel and robe I left on my bed earlier. I need a moment to myself.
“Oh, okay.” Fifi blinks at me for a few seconds before getting down too. “Are you all right, Ellie?”
“I’m fine.” I brush off her concern as I head for the bathroom door, which is on my side of the room. “If Calliope comes while I’m in the shower, will you get me?”
“Of course!” Fifi’s smile is bright, if a little uncertain. “I can’t wait to see what you’re wearing to the party.”
I don’t have the heart to tell Fifi I don’t care what I wear to the party. I don’t even want to go, and hope I won’t have to.
It feels like I’m in the shower forever, trying to get all the tangles out of my hair. I spend the whole time listening for Calliope and wondering what my labors are going to be.
Calliope still hasn’t shown up by the time I’m finally done with my hair, so I dry off in a hurry. Maybe I can look at Fifi’s labors and get a general idea what mine will be. Although if people and directions are her strong points, we really don’t have much in common at all.
After drying my hair, I braid it again before heading back into our bedroom. But the second I open the bathroom door, I’m hit with an assault of color and noise so strong that it stops me in my tracks.
Girl-power music is playing at top volume while Fifi flits back and forth between the two suitcases she’s opened, both of which look like they exploded in the center of the room. Everywhere—and I mean everywhere—I look is covered with brightly colored clothes or towels or sheets.
Glitter, sequins, and plastic gems shimmer from the windowsill to the door while a hot-pink feather boa hangs from the cupid-shaped wall sconce next to her bed.
A variety of nail polishes, lip glosses, and face masks cover the surface of Fifi’s desk while a mishmash of lotions, body sprays, and contraband candles decorate her bookcase.
“Oh, there you are!” she shouts to be heard over the music. “Can you pleeeeease help me decide what to wear tonight?”
“I’m not sure I’ll be much help,” I answer as I gingerly pick my way through the chaos to my desk and closet where, thankfully, only the floor is a victim of the bright and shiny carnage.
“Of course you will be!” She holds up a white dress with red cherries all over it. “Should I wear this?” She grabs a pair of jeans and a glittery purple shirt with ruffles off her bed. “Or this?”
“Um—”
She cuts me off before I can formulate an opinion. “I mean, the cherries are total Aphrodite, but they pretty much scream she’s trying too hard, while the jeans are more low-key, but people might think I’m not trying hard enough if I wear them.”
She collapses on her bed, causing a tsunami of clothes to tumble onto the ground. “Help!”
“Are we still talking about the clothes, or do you need me to rescue you from that pile you just sank into?”
“Both.” She grins up at me.
I sigh. “Yeah, that’s what I figured.”
I grab her hand and pull her back to her feet. “What are we supposed to do at this party anyway?”
“I don’t know, that’s the thing. I think we’re just supposed to mingle, but what if there’s a quest or something?”
“A quest?” My brows shoot up. “Is Aphrodite Hall known for having quests?”
“I mean, we’re not not known for it.” She shrugs.
I have no idea what that means, and the not knowing causes a ball of anxiety to take up residence right in the center of my chest. Which I ignore, since I can’t do anything about it.
“Wear the jeans.” I cross to my closet, planning to take my own advice. If I have to do some kind of wild Aphrodite rooftop quest, I’m definitely not doing it in a dress.
Fifi looks doubtful. “They don’t say I don’t care?”
“They say I’m prepared for anything.” I grab a pair of jeans and my favorite long-sleeved navy-blue shirt.
“You say that like it’s a good thing,” she complains. But she ditches the dress on the corner of her bed before heading toward the bathroom.
It takes me about three minutes to get dressed—including my blue slides and pale pink lip gloss—so I take the rest of the time to try to straighten up the room.
Normally, I wouldn’t touch my roommate’s things without her permission, but surely Fifi won’t care if I clear a path to the door.
I mean, we do have to be able to open the thing if we actually want to leave the room.
Once I get the path cleared, I think about starting on the rest of the floor.
But then I catch sight of the gold frame on the wall and remember Fifi’s labors.
Part of me thinks I should ask her permission before looking at them, but she did hang them on the wall—in a room we’re going to be sharing, at least until I figure out how to get to Athena Hall where I belong.
If she’d wanted them to be private, she would have put them in a drawer or something, right?
But just as I move close enough to see what’s written in those elaborate pink letters, I hear the sound of a door opening behind me.
I whirl around, expecting to have to explain myself to Fifi, only to come face-to-face with a woman dressed head to toe in black leather.
Black leather pants.
Black leather moto jacket.
Black leather corset under the moto jacket.
Black leather boots.
Black leather cord wrapped around her neck.
In fact, the only things on her body I can see that aren’t leather are her black aviator shades and the black travel coffee cup she’s currently clenching in a death grip.
I have one second to wonder what I’ve done that could possibly have led to a visit from one of Hades’s minions when she lowers her glasses just enough for her shining silver eyes to meet mine.
“You must be Penelope,” she says in the most New York City accent I have ever heard. “Frankie told me you were looking for me.”