"Wow," Brody said to Hermes as the crowd murmured in reaction to Zeus' announcement.
"I guess we'll get to check out this Alcides guy for ourselves soon, huh?" He glanced around.
"Look, there are Markos and Julia. Let's see if they bought those eels for dinner. I'm hungry!"
Hermes didn't seem to hear him. He was still staring at Zeus.
Meanwhile Ares pushed forward. Brody gasped when he saw the god of war.
Ares' hair always looked as red as flames. But now it had turned into real flames!
The people near Ares shrank back, looking nervous as sparks flew from the god's head.
"We'll be ready for your champion, Zeus!" Ares called out. "I hope he's ready for us."
Zeus smirked. "Trust me when I say that you won't be ready, Ares.
Nobody in Greece has ever seen anything like Alcides before.
Now excuse me while I go prepare for my champion's arrival."
"Pay my husband no mind!" Hera's sharp voice cut through the noise of the crowd.
"I don't know why you're all making such a fuss over his mysterious champion.
Nobody in Olympia has seen Poseidon's champion yet, nor Hades' champion either."
"That's different," Ares snarled. "Poseidon and Hades aren't telling outrageous tales about their champions."
"Yes," a man in the crowd called out. "I heard Alcides can read people's minds!"
"Nonsense," Hera spat out. "No mortal can do that."
Zeus smiled at her. "We shall see, my dear wife. Now I really have to go."
Thunder boomed, and lightning sizzled on the dais, so brightly that Brody closed his eyes.
When he opened them again, Zeus was gone.
"Whoa!" Brody said. "How'd he do that?"
Instead of answering, Hermes grabbed Brody's arm and dragged him over to Apollo, Artemis, and Caerus, who were all standing nearby.
"What do you think?" Hermes asked the other gods.
"Will Zeus really show his champion soon?"
Brody didn't pay attention to the other gods' responses because Julia and Markos had just joined the group.
"Did you see Zeus' lightning trick?" Brody asked them. "Totally cool, huh? And Ares' hair—"
Julia cut him off. "Never mind that, Brody. We've been talking to some of the other champions, and—"
She stopped talking as Hermes suddenly yanked Brody forward.
"And my champion will beat Alcides at every event!" Hermes bragged loudly.
"He's the best mortal athlete Olympia has ever seen."
"So you keep saying." Artemis looked Brody up and down.
"I suppose we'll find out soon enough if it's true."
"Being the best athlete won't help your champion if Alcides is as sneaky and ruthless as everyone says," Apollo remarked.
"I heard he killed his music teacher as a boy, and . . ."
Just then Brody spotted Aphrodite approaching.
"Don't worry, I'll beat Alcides," he said loudly, hoping that the goddess of beauty would hear him.
"I'm going to win every event, like Hermes said—just watch!"
He ran forward and went into a bodybuilder pose right in front of Aphrodite.
"Oh, my," she said with a smile. "What an impressive display!"
"Thanks." Brody puffed his chest out. "But this is nothing. You should see me catch a football!"
Aphrodite tilted her head, looking confused. "Catch a football?" she echoed.
Julia darted over and pulled Brody away. "Forget about Aphrodite, Brody!" she whispered.
"We need to talk to Hermes about the chariot thing!"
"What chariot thing?" Brody asked, but Julia was yanking him toward Hermes.
Brody looked back over his shoulder at Aphrodite.
The beautiful goddess had already turned away to talk to another goddess.
"Excuse me, Hermes," Julia said when they reached the god.
"What is it, girl?" Hermes asked, sounding distracted. "I'm very busy right now."
"I thought you should know that Brody doesn't know anything about horses or chariot driving," Julia said.
"He's never done it before. Perhaps it would be best to work on that event next?"
"Are you telling me how to train my champion, mortal girl?" Hermes thundered. Then he blinked.
"Wait. Perhaps you're right. I've been meaning to practice for the chariot race."
He patted Julia on the head. "Thank you for the reminder, mortal. I'll contact Poseidon right now."
He hurried off.
Brody whirled toward Julia. "What was that about?" he demanded.
"You made me sound like an idiot. I can drive a chariot!"
"Have you ever driven one before?" Julia asked.
Brody shrugged. "No. But I'd never thrown a javelin before, and look how great I am at that!"
Just then Markos emerged from the crowd and hurried over.
"Listen," he said. "I was just talking to a friend.
His father is a guard at the Temple of Hera.
He says Hera already has a plan to humiliate Zeus."
"That doesn't seem like a big surprise," Julia said.
"I know, but listen," Markos went on. "Hera doesn't only want to beat Zeus' champion with her own.
She also plans to banish Alcides to Tartarus through some trickery!"
"Tartarus? Really?" Julia said.
"Tartarus? What's that?" Brody asked. "Is it where they make tartar sauce?" He laughed loudly at his own joke.
Markos looked confused, and Julia frowned.
"This isn't funny, Brody," she snapped at him.
"Tartarus is part of the underworld. It's the most terrible part, actually."
She glanced at Markos. "Can Hera really banish someone there?"
"I don't know," Markos said. "But one should never underestimate Hera."
"Right," Julia agreed. "Brody almost found that out the hard way."
"I did?" Brody said.
"Yes. You don't remember? She got Aphrodite to try to poison you with that chiton! But there's also some good news.
If Hera stays focused on Zeus and Alcides, maybe she won't try to sabotage Brody anymore."
"Maybe." But Markos looked troubled. "Still, I wouldn't bet my life on it."