Read Pandora Gets Heart for Free Online Page A

laughed. Pandy saw a strange, thin pale line zigzag down his face. Then another. All at once, he began to grow. As he became larger and larger, his wrinkled brown skin began to crack, peel away, and drop to the ground, revealing taut, perfect white skin covering bulging muscles. The dirty toga was transformed into a clean, bright, silvery fabric, and the grayish hair became golden and curly, topped with a beautiful winged helmet.
    “Down!” Pandy cried to the other three, who were staring, stupefied.
    Instantly, all four were on their knees, heads bowed.
    “Pears! Is that who I think it is?” Alcie whispered.
    “Yes! Shhhh!” Pandy hissed back.
    After a second of silence, she lifted her eyes.
    “Okay, missy,” Hermes said with a grin, his arms folded across his massive chest, staring straight at her. “You are getting spunky !”
    “I’m so sorry,” Pandy began.
    “What’s with the ‘sorry’?” Hermes said. “I like it! All right . . . everybody up!”
    Instantly, Pandy and the rest were on their feet.
    “Eyes on me.”
    Everyone looked straight at Hermes.
    “Try not to look terrified,” Hermes said to the group as he walked toward Alcie.
    “Hello, Alcestis,” he said softly, and then turned to the others. “Oh, I just realized . . . Pandora is the only one who’s actually met me. And yet I feel like I know all of you so well.”
    “Mighty Hermes, swift and fleet footed,” Alcie began.
    “Yes, Alcestis, thank you. I know,” Hermes said. “You’re doing very nice work.”
    “Uh, thanks,” Alcie said.
    “Homer,” Hermes said, approaching the youth. “Now, aren’t you glad you didn’t try to flatten me? It would have gotten out of hand . . . probably a little ugly. But you kept your cool and, hey, good times!”
    “Uh . . .”
    “I like you, Homer. We all do. Not the brightest lamp in the temple, but you have heart. And a noble soul.”
    “Yes. Thank you. I think,” Homer said.
    “Well, you try to and that’s what matters. Hello, Iole.”
    “Wondrous Hermes . . .”
    “Ach, can’t anyone just say ‘hello’?” Hermes rolled his eyes. “Okay, enough! Now, instructions first, questions afterward. I could be all godlike and get a little flowery but that would get us nowhere fast, and since you all need to get somewhere fast, I’ll put it to you straight. You’re going back in time. All of you. Many centuries. What you seek has traveled the river of ages— sorry, that was flowery. I’m going to get you there and bring you back, that’s if you’re all still alive. Here’s the rule: don’t change anything in the past or it will alter the future. Seriously. And it might not be good. Any questions?”
    “Uh, yes,” Iole said, thinking fast, as the others just looked at one another, confused. “How far back are we going?”
    “Roughly thirteen centuries. Next?”
    “Lust is . . . is . . . back in time?” Pandy asked.
    “Alcie, what’s the word you always say when somebody says something obvious? Starts with a delta, I think,” Hermes asked.
    “Uh, ‘duh’?”
    “That’s it! Duh!”
    “Are you going to stay with us?” Pandy asked.
    “Let me put it this way. I’ll be there, and I’ll know you’re you, but don’t look to me for help of any kind until and only if you’re ready to come back.”
    “Oh!” gasped Iole suddenly.
    Hermes stared at her for a second.
    “You have it, don’t you?” he asked.
    “Mount Pelion . . . thirteen hundred years ago,” she started.
    “Give or take,” Hermes said casually.
    “Oh! Oh! And they’re all going to be here?”
    “What? Who!” Alcie cried, whacking Iole on her arm.
    “Almost all,” said Hermes, smiling. “Someone’s missing. But then, you knew that, didn’t you?”
    “Iole?” Pandy said, looking at her quizzically.
    “Enough gab,” Hermes said. “Time’s a’wasting, and how. Everybody grab a little piece of my toga—don’t get fresh—and we’ll be off.”
    Pandy, Alcie, Iole, and Homer each