Brody stared at Hera and froze. Markos looked nervous too, but he stepped forward and bowed deeply to her.
"Greetings, Queen of the Heights and Goddess of Cattle," he said.
"It's our good fortune that we've encountered you this evening.
We're searching for a calf that wandered away from the herd and got lost."
Brody was confused. Why was Markos blabbing about cows?
Hera was a goddess—the most powerful one around according to Julia, who seemed to know everything about that stuff.
Why would someone like Hera care about some lost calf?
Especially if she had truly been trying to poison Brody earlier.
To Brody's surprise, Hera's stern features relaxed into an expression of concern.
"I see," she said. "Our meeting is most fortunate indeed, young mortals.
Where did you last see the unfortunate creature?"
"That way." Markos pointed down the hillside.
"Perhaps I could show you while my friends continue to search in this direction?"
"Yes, of course." Hera barely glanced at Brody and Julia before turning her attention back to Markos. "Lead the way, boy."
Markos and Hera disappeared into the darkness.
Brody stared after them, still confused. "What was that all about?" he asked.
"Didn't you hear Markos? Hera is the goddess of cattle," Julia reminded Brody.
"That seemed strange to me when I read it in our textbook. But I guess it's true.
Markos must have guessed she'd want to help a lost calf."
"The goddess of cattle?" Brody scratched his head.
"I thought she was the queen of the gods."
"She is. Most of them are the gods of more than one thing. Like Hermes, for instance.
He's the messenger of the gods, but he's also the god of travelers and literature and I think sports . . . Oh, never mind."
Julia grabbed Brody's arm. "We've got to get to the temple before Hera comes back."
She bit her lip and glanced in the direction Hera had gone.
"I just hope she doesn't figure out that Markos was lying to her to help us escape. Otherwise . . ."
"Otherwise what?" Brody asked.
"Never mind. Just come on."
Brody was getting tired of Julia's "never minds," but she was already hurrying up the path, so all he could do was follow.
When they neared the temple, Julia stopped so abruptly that Brody almost bumped into her. "I'm walking here," he complained.
"Shh!" She pointed. "There's a guard."
Brody peered at the figure slumped at the top of the temple steps.
"Looks like he's asleep," he whispered. "We can just sneak past."
"Are you sure?" Julia asked. "What if he wakes up and catches us?"
Brody shrugged. "He won't if we're quiet."
Without waiting for an answer, he started forward.
He moved lightly but quickly, as if carrying a football through a tough defensive line of football players.
Julia's footsteps were louder, but the guard didn't wake up, and soon the kids were inside.
"I think the passage is back there," Julia whispered, pointing to an inner chamber.
Brody nodded and hurried in. He smiled when he caught a glimpse of sunshine through the crack in the wall.
A bird flew past, and Brody could see his school's playing fields and the familiar row of buildings on the far side.
"Awesome," he said. "What are we waiting for? Let's go home!"
When Brody neared the crack in the wall, it seemed to pull him forward.
He was almost close enough to step through it when he heard the clatter of footsteps behind him.
"Halt!" an angry voice shouted.
Brody spun around. It was Hermes!
Caerus entered the temple right behind him, dragging a frightened-looking Markos. Then Apollo sauntered in, smirking.
"I warned you, Hermes," Apollo said. "It seems your mighty champion isn't quite as loyal as you thought."
Julia gasped. "How did you find us?" she cried.
"Oh! It was the raven, wasn't it?"
Apollo nodded. "One of my minions. I've had the birds keep an eye on some of the competition.
When that raven saw what was going on, of course, it alerted me immediately."
"And Apollo alerted me immediately," Hermes said, his voice shaking with fury.
"We found the other boy on our way here."
He gestured briefly at Markos before turning his full fury back on Brody. "How could you betray me?"
Brody swallowed hard. Hermes seemed really angry. "Um . . . it was Julia's idea?"
Julia didn't say anything. She looked scared, which surprised Brody.
Usually she seemed pretty brave, especially for a nerd.
Hermes glared at Julia, and then spun to face the other gods.
"My sincere thanks for alerting me to this, Apollo," he said in a formal tone. "I appreciate the gesture of sportsmanship."
"Sportsmanship?" Caerus let out a snort.
"I would say it's more likely he just wanted to silence the bragging you were doing down at the agora, Hermes."
"Perhaps, perhaps." Apollo still looked amused by the whole situation.
"Or perhaps I don't want to lose a promising champion.
Better to listen to Hermes' bragging than Zeus' bragging." He shrugged.
"What your champion lacks in intelligence, Hermes, he makes up for in strength and speed."
"Thanks, dude," Brody said. Then he scowled. "Wait—you were insulting me!"
"Silence!" Hermes thundered. "Now get over here, boy. At once!"
Brody hesitated, glancing over his shoulder at the time passage. Then he looked at Julia.
The crack was so close—he and Julia might be able to jump through before Hermes could stop him. Should they try it?
Hermes seemed to guess what he was thinking. "Don't you dare," he warned.
He spun around, grabbed Markos, and dragged him forward.
"If you take one step toward that passage, I'll see to it that Markos and his entire family suffer the consequences!"