Pandora Gets Greedy (14 page)

“
That
I have decided to sell to the Gauls.”

Pandy and Alcie rushed through their dinner and evening chores. Each girl thought the other was making a great show of being incredibly tired; then, when Alcie fell over a chair, they realized that neither had slept much the night before. Varinia sent them up to bed early, although no one else much cared that simple
slave girls had been overworked. Pandy checked and double-checked that the senator's water pitcher was full to the brim in his private chambers; if he didn't need to call for her in the morning, it might buy a little extra time just in case she wasn't actually back in the house by then.

Later, in their tiny room, they listened as everyone in the household retired for the night and the last of the footsteps on the stairs echoed through the entryway. Finally they heard the heavy front door being bolted for the night and, peeping through the privacy curtain with bleary eyes, saw the last of the downstairs lamps being extinguished.

Right on cue, they heard the soft whoosh of another curtain down the corridor being drawn aside and, within moments, Iole was padding her way toward them.

“First of all,” she said softly but intently, after they were all seated on Pandy's cot, “do you know anything about what has befallen Rufina? We all saw her last night, and I'll concede she wasn't thin, but now she's the size of a chimera!”

“We think it was the rolls topped with olives that Venus and Aphrodite gave us to give to her,” said Alcie.

Iole just stared at her blankly.

“Oh … yes. Had to be,” Iole said dryly after a moment. “Venus and Aphro … oh, certainly.”

“Let me explain,” Pandy said, smiling and yawning.

“That would be appreciated,” said Iole.

“We went out early this morning to buy bread,” Pandy started. She related everything that happened at Profit Rolls, including the fact that there was a candied-violet roll for Iole and it would give her six hours of whatever she needed.

“And here they are,” Pandy finished. “One for each. Which means, I think, that they knew you were coming with us tonight, Iole.”

“There isn't one for Homer,” Iole said.

“Homie doesn't need anything but me,” Alcie replied, biting into her roll. “Oh, generous Aphrodite; this is insane, it's so good! All right, I need a … um … a new hair clip!”

She squeezed her eyes tight as she chewed the roll.

“Anything?” Alcie asked.

“Nope,” Pandy said.

“Well, then it doesn't give you what you need,” Alcie said. “But, snapping serpents, that was
fantastic
!”

“It didn't give you what you wanted,” Iole said, taking a bite. “But want and need are incongruous. Pandy, anything?”

“Don't think so,” said Pandy, feeling no difference whatsoever.

“I concur,” Iole said. “Nothing.”

“Okay, well then, we ate some flowers,” Pandy said. “The house is quiet and we have to get out of here. Homer's probably down in the garden by now. Let's go.”

Pandy reached into her leather carrying pouch and pulled out the magic rope. After its enchantment in Persia, Pandy had been a little concerned about the rope's powers, but it had performed beautifully the previous night, lowering her, Alcie, and Iole out of their tiny window, untying itself and then raising them all up again in the wee hours of the morning. Walking to the window, she secured the rope again. She looked back at Alcie and Iole, still sitting on her cot. Then she caught sight of her sleeping pillow and her warm blanket. She realized how incredibly tired she was and that all she really wanted to do was to crawl beneath her coverlet.

And the next instant, it was gone. All her weariness simply vanished. In its place were energy, awareness, strength, and vigor.

“Whoa!” she said, feeling the sensation melting down from the top of her head.

“Whoa is right!” said Alcie, sitting up.

“What? What?” asked Iole.

“I'm not tired anymore,” said Pandy.

“Me neither … like,
really
not tired! I feel like I could run around the entire city!”

Pandy threw one end of the rope out the window.

“Rope, secure and hold.”

Alcie let herself down first, but with such speed and agility, she was down on the ground an instant after Pandy saw her long, reddish hair disappear.

“Toss down the kid,” she whispered up loudly. “I'll catch her!”

“Is she speaking about me? ‘Kid'? Seriously? Can I just smack her?” Iole asked, looking out the window.

“Go on,” Pandy said, laughing softly. “Rope, lower Iole.”

Iole was on the ground and found both Alcie and Homer waiting for her. Suddenly, Pandy simply landed in front of them.

“I jumped,” she said, tugging on the rope and stowing it back in her leather pouch. “I feel
that
good! Everybody ready?”

“I'm ready to take on the entirety of the centurion guard if they get in our way,” Alcie said, running in place. “And what exactly is our ‘way'? Thoughts? Notions?”

“The sewers,” Pandy said, leading the way out of the darkened courtyard.

“Oran…,” Alcie started, then abruptly stopped herself. “I will not swear. I am a noble maiden and I will not swear. No matter if I have to wade through poo, I will not swear.”

“You know, I never thought I would like this,” Mercury said, following Hermes along the dark, cramped corridor. “But I do!”

“Like what, Brother?” Hermes asked, expertly negotiating each corner with no light whatsoever.

“Walking!” Mercury replied. “Ambling, ambulating, trooping, tromping, traipsing, treading, stomping, sauntering, striding … you know, the ol' shuffle? The gentle glide? The sassy sashay?”

Hermes heard his counterpart start sliding and shuffling his steps.

“Much more interesting than simply popping in and out of someplace.”

“That's why we're doing it this way,” Hermes said. “I am so sick of popping I could spit. Persia, Syria, Rome. If I never pop again, I'll be satisfied. We're almost there, right?”

“Just two more corners,” Mercury said. “Listen, I have been meaning to ask you something.”

“Shoot.”

“Well, Pandora now knows that she's ten years into the future, right?”

“Unfortunately, right.” Hermes sighed.

“Which means that the rest of the world is ten years older,” Mercury went on.

“Including her family, yes I know. If you're going to berate me as well, I just don't think …”

“No, no, you'll hear nothing like that from me, Brother,” Mercury said. “The evil is in the
here and now
, not the
back then.
You did what you had to do, of course. My question concerns certain pieces of Hera. You stored her head and torso with Douban the Physician, the young boy who liked Pandora so much. Isn't he …”

“Older?” Hermes finished. “Yes, by ten years. Still living in the same home, still completely cooperative with keeping Hera under wraps, as it were. Under the couch was more like it. He's an even more astonishing physician than his father was. The pride of the East.”

“But has he never married?” Mercury asked.

“Nope,” Hermes said, stopping and turning to face his Roman self. “He and I have chatted briefly over the years, and guess what? He loves our girl. And so he's waiting. Hoping that Pandora will put everything back in the box, return to her proper time and then … then
he plans to come a-callin', all the way to Greece. Silly humans. Silly, ridiculous passions. I told him she might be killed at any moment, but he's refused to even consider another option. Says that one look was all it took; ‘Pandora or pass,' he's said for years.”

“I like him,” Mercury said.

“Me too,” agreed Hermes, pausing. “Have you ever wished you could remain faithful like that? Loving just
one
goddess forever, or even a mortal woman—y'know, until she died? Having just that one love that makes all the difference?”

“Well, yes, certainly,” Mercury said, after puffing out a breath of air. “Sure, that would be just … oh, who am I kidding? We're immortal. Time is no object. There are too many choices, too many bee-u-tiful creatures out there. No way!”

“Yeah, me neither. I
have
tried, but it just doesn't work for us. Still, it's a nice thought,” Hermes said, turning one last corner and entering the small storage room. “Here we are.”

But both gods were struck silent.

The tiny storage room was completely empty. Stunned, Hermes blew on the torch ensconced on the wall, causing it to flame brightly. But there was nothing to be revealed in the light; no pieces of Hera, no wrappings, nothing.

“Jupiter's armpits!” cried Mercury, as Hermes flung
himself from one corner to another, trying in vain to find anything. “How could she have disappeared?”

“I'll tell you how,” Hermes spat, kicking at the dirt floor. “Juno! I'll bet all seven hills of Rome that she overheard us talking at some point, I don't even know when, but she found out where we were hiding her ‘sister.' Now, they're both loose. The fates alone know what those two have in mind.”

“Well, we have a clue … and it isn't rosy; not for you and me anyway. Look.”

Mercury pointed high up to the corner of one wall where they saw a message written in a childish scribble with silvery blue ink:

Errand boys, so swift, so fleet,
Take extra care when next we meet.
Juno's spilled all Zeus's plans,
Like me, in pieces, in far-off lands.
My husband, yes, will know my wrath;
And you two boys? Stay off my path!
First the brats will feel it most,
Next, then, our gracious Roman host.
And for your part in these adventures;
Happily, we'll destroy the Messengers!

Homer had to begin carrying Iole in order for them to keep up with Pandy and Alcie, so boundless was their energy. For the next hour, they all scoured the streets of Rome, looking for an entryway into the massive sewer system. Finally, when they were passing through the Roman Forum, Iole noticed a circle of stone set directly in front of a large building. It was slightly less than three meters in diameter, but there was a set of stairs leading down into the earth. Immediately, she had Homer set her on the ground.

“It might be a cellar,” she mused to herself, while Pandy and Alcie jumped around in the moonlight. “But normally, in a building this large they would put a cellar entryway on the inside. It has to lead to the sewers.”

Then, while Pandy tried to teach Alcie how to mimic the wheels on a chariot by throwing her feet over her
hands and down again, Iole noticed many muddy footsteps leading downward. There were also a number of tools, marble blocks, pulleys, and hoists lying behind a makeshift barricade.

“This is where they're doing all the new construction!” she thought, then she called out to Pandy and Alcie, who were playing toss with a sizable hunk of marble. “Over here … I'm certain this is a way down.”

“Great!” said Pandy, tossing the marble chunk to Homer, who doubled over with a cough when he caught it. “Let's go get that artist!”

“Right behind you,
sistah
!” said Alcie.

In addition to tremendous energy, Pandy and Alcie, it seemed to Iole, also now had the confidence of gladiators. Gladiators who won … a lot.

“Hang on,” Pandy said, pushing back past Iole and Homer and grabbing the first large stick of wood she could find.

“We need a light,” she said, focusing her power over fire on the tip of the stick. Instantly, it burst into flame. Without so much as a glance at them, Pandy marched back into the sewer entrance and took the lead. Instantly they were plunged into a pitch black tunnel with only Pandy's torch to guide the way.

“Yeeesh!” Alcie said, hanging on to Homer's hand; actually, she was dragging him behind her since she
and Pandy were moving so fast. “Okay, I'm just gonna say that I haven't smelled anything like this since I walked in on one of my cousins changing her baby's didy at a family reunion. Made me think that baby was way less cute. And that's all I'm gonna say.”

“I highly doubt that,” said Iole, once again being carried by Homer.

“Iole,” Pandy called back, trying to walk on the upward curve of the large tunnel and not in the waste water flowing by. “You must know something about this place. If anyone does it's you, so what's up? Where do we go?”

“All right,” Iole began. “The sewer system of Rome is an immense collection of huge connecting stone tunnels running directly underneath the city. Aqueducts bring water from the mountains to various public bathing houses, then
that
water is used to flush the sewers. Clay pipes take any waste away from both men's and women's public lavatoriums, some of which can seat up to one hundred people at once …”

“Interesting,” mused Alcie.

“… and private homes in some of the more expensive areas. Almost everything then drains into the Tiber River out of the Cloaca Maxima—or the main drain. And I have no idea which way to go.”

“Well,” said Pandy coming to a junction of several
tunnels. “We could be down here forever. Does anyone see anything; any light of any sort beyond the end of this torch?”

Everyone peered into the darkness.

“Nothing.”

“Nope,” said Homer.

“I don't see anything, per se,” said Iole. “But why don't we follow the music?”

Pandy turned and held the flame up to look at Iole.

“Lovely,” said Alcie. “Her roll gave her a case of the crazies.”

“What music?” asked Homer.

“The music and the voices. The singing! Don't you hear it?”