"Look out!" someone yelled.
The voice sounded like Julia's, but Brody wasn't sure.
He couldn't take his eyes off the huge snake flying toward his face.
Its mouth was wide open, and its fangs looked huge and razor-sharp.
A sickly yellow liquid dripped from the pointy ends.
Beside Brody, Apollo's champion stood frozen in place, staring at the snakes with a terrified look on his face.
Brody wasn't afraid of snakes. He'd even kept one as a pet for a while until he'd forgotten to put the lid back on the tank and it had escaped.
But he didn't like the look of these snakes.
Especially with that stuff dripping from the fangs.
"Duck!" he yelled, leaping sideways and tackling the other athlete, who was still just standing there like a dope.
Both boys tumbled to the ground. The snakes flew over them, hissing loudly.
Then came the sound of loud, cackling laughter.
As he sat up, Brody saw Ares striding toward them.
"It seems you did find a good champion, Hermes!" Ares declared.
"You're quick, boy." He bent down and clapped Brody on the back so hard that Brody almost fell over again.
Brody stared at him for a second and then laughed.
"Thanks, dude," he said. "That snake thing was cool. Can all you gods do stuff like that?"
By then Hermes and Apollo had run over to the boys, along with Julia and Markos.
"Are you all right, Brody?" Markos asked, his face pale and anxious. "That was close!"
"Yes." Hermes scowled at Ares. "A little too close."
"I'm fine." Brody jumped to his feet. "No big deal. It was just a joke."
"A joke that could have killed you," Julia said. "I'm guessing those snakes are venomous."
"Oh, they are," Ares said with a smirk. "Extremely venomous."
Brody shrugged. "Okay. But they didn't bite us. Like I said, no big deal."
Apollo was glaring at Ares too. "It might be a big deal if it happens again," he snapped.
"Is that a threat, sun god?" Suddenly Ares' smile disappeared.
He clenched his fists and stuck his face in the other god's face.
"I don't make threats," Apollo retorted, his eyes flashing with fury. "I take action."
"Boys, boys." Artemis strolled over, looking amused by the gods' bickering.
"You're taking this far too seriously," she said.
"Shouldn't we all be saving our best tricks for Zeus' champion?"
"Don't tell me what to do, sister," Apollo muttered.
But he took a step back from Ares and looked less angry.
As the gods continued bickering with each other, Julia pulled Brody away.
"No matter what the gods say, Alcides obviously isn't their only target," she whispered.
"Markos told me the gods constantly try to sabotage each others' champions.
Now are you ready to escape? It's not exactly safe for you."
Brody shook off her hand. "Don't be such a wimp," he said.
"Like I said, it was just a prank. My teammates and I do stuff like that all the time in the locker room."
"You throw deadly reptiles at each other?" Julia said sarcastically.
Brody shrugged. "Why is she making such a big deal about this?" he thought. He could handle a few pranks.
If he couldn't handle them, he'd never survive being on the football team back home!
Hermes hurried over, still looking annoyed. "Back to work, boy," he told Brody.
"We must show Ares that his ridiculous stunt hasn't rattled you. Grab another javelin and let's try again."
Hermes worked Brody hard for the next couple of hours.
Finally, after a particularly fast sprint, Hermes smiled.
"Well done," he said. "That's enough for today. I have other business to attend to.
Go wash up, and then Markos will take you home."
Markos pointed Brody toward a bathing chamber nearby.
Brody was dismayed to find only a bare room with a mosaic floor, a stone tub, and no warm water at all.
Still, it was a very hot day, and the cool water felt pretty good.
He rinsed off the sweat and wrapped a towel around himself.
As he reached for his grungy chiton, the door opened.
"Excuse me!" Brody started to call out a warning.
"I'm—oh!" Brody gulped as Aphrodite slipped into the room.
"Greetings, Brody," the goddess of beauty purred.
"I was very impressed with your training today."
"You . . . you were?" Brody said. His face flushed.
"I didn't even know you were watching."
Smiling, she came closer. "Oh, I was watching," she said.
"Would you do me the honor of taking a stroll with me and explaining how you came to be so fast and strong?"
"Sure!" Brody blurted out. "I mean, yeah, that sounds cool. Whatever."
"Wonderful." Aphrodite beamed at him. Then she pulled something from behind her back.
"Here's a fresh chiton. Why don't you put it on? I'll wait for you outside."
"Uh, thanks." Brody took the garment, hardly believing that this was happening.
Back home, he'd never even had a girlfriend yet.
But here in ancient Greece, an actual goddess was practically throwing herself at him!
Being an Olympic athlete was even more awesome than Brody had expected.
"Don't be long, mortal champion," Aphrodite said with a wink.
"I'm really looking forward to our stroll."
As she headed for the door, it opened again. This time Athena looked in.
"There you are," Athena said to Aphrodite. "I've been looking for you. I heard that you and Hera were seen—"
Her gray eyes suddenly went wide. "Drop that garment, boy!" she commanded.
"Huh?" Brody said. "Why?"
Athena reached him in three long strides and snatched the chiton out of his hands.
"I said drop it!" she shouted. "It's poisoned!"