The Pantheon (25 page)

hidden ‘neath the meat.

Prometheus was the one who had ordered

the mortals to make this deceitful exchange.

He laughed as he tore open the cow’s stomach

to find meat inside.

The thunder-god had a terrible temper.

The rest of The Pantheon had tried to calm him.

With a word every spark on earth went out,

taking fire from man.

“
Eureka! I’ve got it.”

-Archimedes

XX.

Astin Hill had set his computer to burn a demo CD for his new band before bed on Friday night. His new band featured the same bassist and drummer as his old band, but had booted Ritchie Waverly and axed his bad name ideas. Astin took up the role as singer, in addition to being the lead guitarist. It was better this way.

Astin hit play to listen for glitches in the recording while he got dressed the following morning. When the four songs were over he took out an indelible marker and wrote “Astin Hill” on the CD. He hadn’t come up with a better band name yet, but his own name was starting to stick.

Diana came in with his cell phone. He’d left it on the dining room table before bed. The ring tone was an Mp3 of one of his own songs and it sounded out in crappy cell phone audio.

“
Hey,” Astin answered. It was Teddy Wexler.

“
Astin, feeling up for some recon?”

“
Excuse me?” Astin changed the phone to his other ear.

“
Evan wants to investigate that jar the Titans stole. We’re going to bust into the museum tonight.”

“
You and Evan?”

“
And Nick. You in?” Astin could hear the Wexler’s housekeeper singing in the background. It was a heavily accented version of “Sweet Caroline.”

“
Yeah. Okay. I’m sick of waiting,” he said.

Diana watched him curiously, missing half of the conversation.

“
You wanna bring Diana?” Teddy asked.

Astin knew that Diana wanted to help. Lewis was her friend. Astin lied. “Uh, no, she’s busy.”

“
Alright. My house. Nine.” Teddy hung up.

“
Who’s busy?” Diana asked. “What did Teddy want?”

“
Oh he’s gonna go get--” he searched his brain for a suitable lie. It had to be quick. “Get... we’re gonna hang out tonight, watch movies. Tired of waiting to see that new road trip flick.”

“
You and Teddy and Evan?” She made a face.

“
Yeah, and Nick. I figured you didn’t wanna hang out with Nick, you know, ‘cause he’s an asshole and will spend the whole night trying to get in your pants.”

Diana nodded, “Yeah, thanks for saving me from that one.”

Astin realized she had her pet hamster in her shirt pocket. He pointed. “Is that--?”

Diana nodded. “Garfunkel. He wanted a blueberry, so I took him to the kitchen.”

Astin laughed, “You’re so weird.”

“
Like you aren’t, Sunshine?”

“
I like boo-berry,” Garfunkel said to Diana.

“
I know you do,” she said as she rubbed behind his head.

Teddy told his parents that he was going to a late movie with Nick, Astin, and Evan. They all rode in Teddy’s purple car, which didn’t blend in well enough to be used for such a legally and morally questionable purpose. They really needed a white van or a Camry to commit a crime. Everyone on earth seemed to drive a green Camry.

The crack team parked on the street so that they wouldn’t be the one car in the empty museum parking lot. When they were sure that nobody was looking they got out and went to the back door. Astin cast a small ray of white light on the alarm panel while Evan opened it up and rewired it. Nick and Teddy stood watch. Their powers were useless here.

“
Got it,” Evan whispered triumphantly. “Hurry, someone could still come by.” Evan had reset the default settings on the code lock through the alarm panel. He pressed 1-2-3-4 and they all heard a buzz and a click. The door was unlocked. The teens closed the door quietly behind them and ran up the stairwell.

“
This way,” Astin cast the light from his hands down a hall. Nick batted his hand down. “Are you a moron?” he asked. “We don’t need light showing through the windows.”

Teddy opened the door to the curator’s office. “Damn,” he muttered. The computer and most of the manila file folders were gone. “Police took ‘em.”

“
Well, the old dude couldn’t have had the only computer in the building,” Nick suggested. “There’s gotta be a file on the jar somewhere else in their system.”

Evan nodded, “The database is probably on the museum server.”

The team went back into the figure painting exhibit and out into the main hall. Evan kept jumping at the shadows of mummies and vases. “Chill out, limpy,” Nick snapped. The last thing they wanted was to knock over a priceless vase and alert the guards.

They went into another office. This one was in the hall, off the Egypt exhibit. There were no windows, so Astin was safe to cast light for them to see by.

Evan was into the computer in minutes. He opened the museum’s catalogue database. “Okay,” Nick read over his shoulder, “we’ve got six Pithos listed. Which one did they take?”

“
Not that one,” Teddy pointed to the photo. “Hermaphroditis was in the exhibit. We saw it.” He tried not to laugh, but he was a teenage boy. They all laughed.

Evan cleared his throat. “Okay. Serious now.” He clicked through the database until he found one with a status listed “MIA.” “This has got to be it.”

They all leaned over Evan to read. Astin spoke up when he found what he thought was relevant. “The jar depicts the presentation of Pandora to the Titan, Epimetheus.”

“
She’s holding a jar,” Nick pointed to the photo.

The door handle turned. They all looked up. A night guard looked into the illuminated room. Astin clapped his hands together, blanketing the room in darkness. The guard’s flashlight clicked on, the beam falling on Evan at the computer. “Hey! Freeze!”

“
Run!” Nick ran to the door, knocking the guard backward. Astin and Teddy ran after him. The stunned guard steadied himself and shone his light back into the room. Evan just put his head in his hands. He couldn’t run.

The other three boys didn’t get far. The guard had hit his personal panic button, a device he kept on a lanyard around his neck which was wired to a backup alarm box. Nick, Astin, and Teddy tore down the halls of the museum, tennis shoes squeaking on the freshly-waxed floor as they rounded corners. Nick’s left Croc slipped off and caused him to trip down half a flight of stairs. Astin shoved the emergency exit open and ran out into the cool night air. Two police cars met them in the parking lot, sirens whirring.

“
Persuasion is often more effectual than force.”

-Aesop

xxi.

He was made as the template for all mankind:

average height, hair that lightened in the sun,

and ever-shifting, brown, blue, and hazel eyes.

He had a strong frame.

He stood outside the doors, waiting for someone.

Earlier he had pulled a nasty prank on

one of the younger gods and retribution

came down on his flock.

He knew that he had a to set things right again

Athena, the wise and beautiful goddess

who had born herself from Zeus’ head, entered

from the feasting hall.

She stopped when her eyes fell on Prometheus.

“
Can I help you?” she asked in a trenchant tone.

“
I’m looking for Zeus,” he calmly answered her,

“
I came to make peace.”

“
Zeus is hosting a feast, now. Come back later.”

She knew that Dionysus had already

gotten Zeus drunk and, thus, shortened his temper.

It was dangerous.

“
Please,” Prometheus begged, patting his satchel.

“
I have an offering for him, as payment

I would like to bestow it before it spoils.”

His tone seemed sincere.

She looked back at the hall-- the door he’d intended

to get past all along-- and nodded quickly.

“
If you pick a new fight,” she warned the Titan,

“
I’ll break you myself.”

She went into the hall and back to her meal.

Prometheus waited until she was gone.

He raised his fingers to absorb the torch light

from the mounted flame.

When the stolen flames were crackling cheerfully

and he was sure the fire had taken, he fled.

Athena saw him leave with the fire in hand

but it was too late.

“
Ten soldiers wisely led will beat a hundred without a head.”

-Euripedes

XXI.

Minnie turned on her cell phone after church. A text message sat in her inbox. It was from Dr. Davis asking them to meet at noon. That was fifteen minutes from now.

The cars pulled up one by one outside of Dr. Davis’ apartment. When everyone was settled they were down to ten. That included Dr. Livingstone.

“
Where are the others?” she asked. Three more people were missing than she had first estimated.

“
Frank, Diana, and Zach have the athletics booster they have to work at. They’ll be here later,” June explained.

Minnie couldn’t decide how much that bothered her. This was likely very important, but they still had appearances to keep up. If too many people made excuses to duck out of obligations, someone might get suspicious. Still, at least Zach should have been here.

“
So what’s going on?” Valerie asked. “Why are we here? Do we have a lead?”

Nick grinned, “We do.”

“
We spent the night in jail to get it,” Evan explained with a glare at Nick and an edge in his voice. He was still bitter about how they’d all run and left him behind. “Nick, Teddy, Astin, and I broke into the museum last night. They let us off with a warning, thankfully. We’ve got info on the artifact they stole.”

Astin pulled a sketch he made out of his pocket. It was by no means worthy of the Louvre, but it conveyed what it needed to. “It showed the presentation of Pandora to Epimetheus.”

Minnie’s brain clicked. “The jar,” she said before he could even finish his sentence.

“
What?” June asked.

“
Pandora’s box was a jar. It was given to her after the Olympians-- after we created her. It was our revenge. We made Pandora a beautiful but insanely curious woman and gave her a jar of all the evils: Famine, Pain, Forgetfulness, Folly, Lies... and so on. Epimetheus married her, even though his brother, Prometheus, warned him not to. She opened the jar on their wedding night. It was a myth to explain why bad things happen, only we know now that it’s probably not just a myth.”

“
It’s a jar?” Nick asked. “Why do we say it’s a box, then?”

“
That’s neither here nor there, it’s just how phrases evolve. This must be her jar,” Minnie’s eyes were wide. She got a rush from the logical connection.

“
Okay, so they stole Pandora’s box-- jar.” Evan ran his fingers through his hair. “Why?”

“
Because we needed it.” A voice came from the front hall. Two men stood there, blocking them from the front door. June recognized them first as James and Mark Alvarez. Minnie wasn’t into high school sports and had never been to a game against the Miami West Team, yet she remembered James from a dream.

James, the Miami West football coach, held the faded jar. Once rich blacks and dark reds, the paint was now more orange and brown. Mark, the younger brother and the captain, held his hand out, palms up, and fire erupted in them.

Nick, with his act-first, think-later style of problem solving, charged them without hesitation.

“
Not so fast, Aquaman,” Mark said, catching Nick around the shoulders and grappling with him. James yanked the lid off Pandora’s box. He spoke a single word in Greek. Minnie recognized it as the word for “catch.” Mark pushed Nick off of him. Nick staggered back. With just a tip of the jar from James, black tendrils swiftly reached out and engulfed Nick. The tendrils formed a black net that distorted Nick’s form, like a funhouse mirror. With a quick jerk, James pulled the jar back. The tendrils and Nick rolled right into the mouth of the Pithos like a yo-yo.

“
One more down,” Mark said. He cracked his neck.