Chapter 9 On a Wild Coin Chase
OF COURSE IT’S A HANDSOME, self-assured boy who caught me. Everything else about this day has been like a movie about the new girl who needs to be saved, so why not this part too?
So what if Athena girls can totally solve their own problems and stand on their own two feet?
Let’s bring a boy in just to make everything a little more embarrassing—or a lot more.
Just to be clear, I am currently in the arms of a boy with short blond hair, chocolate-brown eyes, and a dimple on the left side of his mouth.
More, that boy doesn’t look like he has any intention of putting me down—at least not anytime soon.
My mind goes blank.
Like “empty sheet of paper” blank.
Like “nothing is working” blank.
Like “completely, absolutely left the building and doesn’t care where I am or what kind of predicament I’m in” blank.
Which is pretty blank, considering when he asks “Hey there, you okay?” all I can do is giggle.
Again, to be clear, I didn’t even know I could giggle. I definitely didn’t think I could do it for a boy. My humiliation is complete.
“I’m fine,” I finally manage to choke out, because what else am I supposed to say? I mean, besides “Thanks for catching me. Can you let me down now, please?”
“Oh, right.” His grin grows even bigger as he sets me on my feet. “Did you get it?”
“Get what?” I ask, because my brain still isn’t firing on all cylinders.
“The coin. That’s why you were up there, right?”
“Yes! The coin. I got it!” I hold out my hand to show him, only to realize that it’s empty.
The coin is gone.
“I must have dropped it,” I mutter as I fall to my knees to look for it. It can’t have gone far, right? Sure, the thing has got a mind of its own, but it’s only been a few seconds.
The boy squats down next to me, so close that I can feel the brush of his hair against my cheek. It’s surprisingly soft. “Do you need help looking for it?”
“No, I’ve got this,” I answer, even though I’m not sure that’s the truth. Still, he has his own coin to find. He already saved me from a whole lot of pain. He doesn’t need to waste any more time helping me out.
“You sure?” He sounds skeptical. Probably because I’m currently crawling around on my hands and knees like a baby as I search for a coin I’m not even sure I want. The thing is definitely more trouble than I need right now.
“I’m fine,” I tell him more forcibly. “Thank you.”
“Okay, then.” He shrugs before standing back up. “It was nice meeting you…”
“Penelope,” I fill in, because it seems rude not to.
“Nice to meet you, Penelope. I’m Sullivan.” He gives me a little wink before sauntering away. Seconds later, a coin comes flying straight at him. He catches it, then turns back to see if I’m still watching him…which, I’m ashamed to admit, I am.
“I guess I’ll see you back at the amphitheater, Penelope. Good luck with that coin.”
“Good luck with yours,” I call after him, even though he’s already got his. Could I be more embarrassing?
When he laughs, I duck my head and go back to searching for my coin. A glance at the timer on the wall tells me thirteen minutes have passed—which means I’ve only got fourteen minutes left to find this annoying coin and get back over to the amphitheater.
Athena girls never fail, I remind myself as I look everywhere. And I’m not going to either.
I finally find the ridiculous piece of gold, right between Perseus’s sandaled feet. Thank the gods. But when I reach for it, the obnoxious thing jumps straight into the air again.
Ugh. What is even happening here? And why is it happening to me?
“Fine, whatever.” I tell the coin as I push to my feet. “I’ll just go find another one.”
I turn around to do just that, but the moment I take a step away from it, I feel a tug deep in my belly, like some kind of invisible string is pulling me back to it.
Darn it. Looks like this really is my coin, after all.
I scan the room, hoping my brother is still here to help me corner this thing.
But I don’t see Paris anywhere. And while I’m glad he found his coin, I’m also a little sad that I’m really going to have to do this alone.
He might be annoyingly obsessed with video games, but he’s also my twin.
And we’ve spent a lot of years doing almost everything together.
It feels weird that he’s already left me behind twice when we’ve only been at Anaximander’s about an hour.
What does that say about how the rest of the year is going to go?
Not that I have time to obsess about that right now—how can I when I still have to worry about the fact that the coin that is very definitely my coin wants absolutely nothing to do with me?
To be fair, at this point the feeling is completely mutual.
Then again, what I want has had very little to do with how today has gone. Why should this be any different?
Determined to end this wild coin chase once and for all, I bend my knees and use every ounce of strength I have to jump as high as I can, arms fully stretched out above me.
And I almost get it. My fingers slide against the coin’s rough edge right before I sink back down. Which seems to be the signal it was waiting for to take off all over again.
This time it races through the door a few yards away and straight into the wing dedicated to Anaximander’s life, complete with a giant hologram of Anaximander standing in front of the solar system at the far end of the room.
But even that doesn’t make me hesitate as I dash after my coin.
Maybe I can corner it against one of the displays—it’s got to run out of steam sometime, right?
Only the moment I step through the huge, arched doorway, the ground beneath me starts to move.
For one brief second I think we’re having an earthquake, even though Massachusetts doesn’t get earthquakes.
But then I realize it’s not just the ground that’s moving.
It’s this entire part of the museum—walls, ceilings, even the plants outside the perfectly symmetrical windows.
Everything is moving forward and down at what feels like a ninety-degree angle—including me and my coin.
As I start to topple over, I do the only thing I can think of. I grab onto the biggest infinity sign I’ve ever seen and hold on for dear life.