“Nope. Not a word.”
“Good. I believe it’s in your best interest to keep it that way.”
Just because she’s smiling again doesn’t mean that doesn’t feel like a threat. “I’m sorry?” I ask. “I thought Anaximander’s was all about learning as much as you can.”
“Of course we are. But ancient Greek isn’t exactly a skill you can take out into the world with you, is it? You’re so bright, I just think you should be concentrating on things that will help your future, not drag you down.”
Wow. How many ways can she find to warn me off this book in a ten-minute conversation? And what is so dangerous about it—and about a woman named Hera—that three people have felt the need to warn me off as strongly as they can?
But all I say is, “I’ll remember that.”
“See that you do. For your own sake and for the sake of your friends.” Then she pats my shoulder and walks away as quickly—and quietly—as she appeared.
Which leaves me staring after her and wondering what it is I don’t know. And why everyone I run into in this place seems so determined to keep it that way.
52.This Gift Is on Fire
I’M STILL TRYING TO FIGUREout what’s going on several minutes later when Arjun and Fifi finally make it downstairs. Fifi looks awesome even though she’s wearing the same dress uniform as the rest of us. But with heart jewels near her eyes and iridescent red and pink ribbons threaded through her hair, she looks amazing—almost as glamorous as Aphrodite herself.
Arjun, also in the required dress uniform, is wearing a tie with dinosaur cutouts all over it and he looks adorable—especially since he’s liberally glittered his hair.
To be honest, I feel a little plain next to both of them—even with my lip gloss and flower tie. But I guess that’s the way it is when you’re an Athena girl who just happens to be best friends with the two most fabulous Aphrodites there ever were. Besides, I like my tie and my nonglittery hair.Though next time I just might borrow one of Fifi’s rhinestone hearts…
“Ready for your first Panathenaea?” Levi asks as he walks by us with a wink. He doesn’t have any glitter on, but then, he doesn’t have to—his smile lights up the whole room. Well, that and his neon-pink tie and socks. “Make sure you grab a few of the loukoumades as soon as you get to the Stoa. They’re absolutely delicious, but they go fast.”
“Really fast,” Charlie adds as she and Leah walk by, arm in arm. “Last year they disappeared before we even presented the gifts.”
“We’ll make sure to grab some,” I promise them as I loop my arm through Fifi’s and drag her away from the mirror she’s currently primping in front of. I love the girl to death, but she really has never met a mirror she didn’t like.
“Speaking of gifts,” Fifi says as she jokingly swats my hand away. “What did Paris get for Athena?”
“Oh…” I pause, a little embarrassed to admit I don’t know. The truth is, Paris almost never responds to my texts lately, and when I see him, he’s always with Rhea and it feels like they can’t get away from me fast enough. I don’t care about her, but to have him treat me like that really, really hurts.
But there’s nothing but kindness in Fifi’s eyes, and I know if there’s anyone I can trust to be vulnerable with, it’s her. “I actually don’t know. He and I haven’t really spoken much lately.”
Fifi takes my hand and gently squeezes it, then bumps myshoulder with hers in a way that tells me she gets it and also that it will be okay.
“Siblings are seriously overrated,” Arjun adds, and we all laugh. The twobestbest friends ever.
Amazingly, Anaximander’s has cooperated for once, and the Stoa and amphitheater are actually really close to the residence halls tonight. Which means we’re not soaking by the time we make it up the hill to them. Which is especially nice considering the weather has definitely turned colder lately. As soon as we get to the top of the hill, we can see the Stoa all lit up like New Year’s Eve, and it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. Long garlands of multicolored flowers wrap around the hundred or so columns that line the perimeters of the open-air building, and the whole place is draped in a canopy of fairy lights. Long strings of lights have also been woven through the branches of nearby trees.
Fifi gasps when she sees it, her eyes lighting up as she demands we take a selfie in front of the columns. We end up taking several, hanging off each other and making faces at the camera. A part of me is still thinking about Paris, and another part is worrying about the talk I had with Dr. Dione, but I decide to put it all out of my mind for tonight. Tomorrow is soon enough to worry about those things—tonight is for the festival.
I glance over at the amphitheater, which is also lit up—not with fairy lights, but with dozens upon dozens of torches illuminating the many different game stations set up in various areas. And right in the middle stand the cauldron and poor PT, still trying to light it.
He catches me looking at him and raises a hand, so I wave back. The guy has been trying to light that thing for ages now, and he’s looking pretty stressed. When is the school going to just give up and let him rest?
When he turns back to the cauldron, I step inside the Stoa with my friends. And if the outside has had a glow-up, the inside has had a full-blown transformation from what it usually looks like.
Running directly down the center of the building is the longest buffet table I’ve ever seen. It’s decorated in giant swaths of gold and white fabric and strewn with hundreds of flowers and tiny, twinkling candles. Plus it’s piled—and I mean piled—with the most delicious-looking dishes I’ve ever seen. My mouth waters just looking at them. Judging from the expressions on my friends’ faces, theirs do as well.
“Where do you want to start?” Arjun asks once we walk inside.
They have dessert tables set up in every corner, piled high with every kind of treat imaginable. But I know what he wants, so I say, “With the loukoumades, obviously.”
Arjun pumps a fist in the air, then proceeds to cut through the crowd like a pro, his eyes on a platter piled high with the deep-fried honey balls. It turns out they’re even more delicious than Levi and Charlie told us, and I end up eating three, one right after the other, before my jumpy stomach forces me to stop.
“Want to grab a seat before everything starts?” I ask as more and more people file into the building.
