Greek Gods
Public School
V
Hermes
Hermes ran out of the door, grabbed his bag and sprinted into the playground. "SCHOOL'S OVER!" he yelled, jumping up and down in circles.
Shortly after, Poseidon came out. "YES!" He punched the air.
Slowly, one by one, the others came out and rejoiced about the end of school day, even Athena. "That woman has pure Hades and more coming for her," she announced. "So what do we do now?"
"We find someplace where there's shelter," Artemis said, "Just in case the weather gets bad."
"I suggest finding shelter in a tree." Demeter said.
Aphrodite sniffed. "Sorry, I don't do trees."
"Well, what about a nice tent on the beach?" Poseidon suggested as the thirteen of them began to walk outside.
"What if we get wet?" Zeus challenged.
"What about that?" Hermes asked, pointing to a luxurious and modern looking three storey house just outside the school gates.
"What if it's inhabitedby someone else?" Ares asked.
"What if it isn't?" Hermes dared. "It's our best option, and as Hestia says: "This may well be all part of a plan."
Ares relented. "Fine, but you're knocking."
"LOL, how do you think this looks to other people?" Hera laughed. "Thirteen kindies all crossing the road with no adult supervision."
Zeus smiled. "Pretty lolish."
"HAHAHAHA, yeah" Artemis agreed.
They climbed up the stairs and into the house; Hermes took a deep breath and knocked. Thud, thud thud. The door slid open, there were lights on inside, but there was no-one there. He mustered all of his courage and called to the others. "Hey, guys, I think that we can come in now. The door's open."
Inside, the lounge room was bare and empty.
"Welcoming." Hephaestus muttered.
"Who do you think lives here?" Apollo whispered, tracing his hand along a dusty window sill.
"No-one, I think," Athena said
Dionysus took advantage of the bad condition of the house and signed his name along one of the walls.
"What are you doing?" Hera demanded.
Dionysus shrugged off-handedly. "Leaving a lasting impression."
Hestia sighed. "I wish there was a fireplace. Something that lets us call this place home."
"OH MY GODS, what is happening?" Artemis yelled. The wall where Hestia was standing was glowing, faintly at first, then brighter. "Hestia, move!"
Everyone scrambled away from the wall. Suddenly, the wall dimmed again and there was a roaring fireplace in the room.
"So, um, does anyone have any idea what happened?" Poseidon asked nervously.
Hestia smiled. "I do. It's all been planned out. Someone, try asking for something as well."
Hermes took a deep breath. "I want sofas, please. Soft and made out of cow's leather."
Hera glared. "Cow's leather , did you say? Is this displaying cruelty to cows?"
But the room was glowing already. With a poof, sofas appeared in the middle of the room.
Dionysus rushed over. "Heck, these are soft! Can I have an ebony table and some bottles of Chardonnay?" Sure enough, they appeared in the middle of the room.
"Apples, please," Demeter called.
"Maybe some pure water," Poseidon requested.
"A laptop?" Athena implored the room. It glowed brightly, then the requested items appeared on the table.
"This place is amazing," Artemis breathed. "Come on, brother, let's explore the rest of it."
"Sure," Apollo said. "Anyone else want to come?"
"Umm… We'll leave the exploring to you guys. You never know what might be lurking in the other room." Ares said hurriedly. "I mean, I'm brave and all, but we need me here just in case anything ambushes us."
Apollo raised an eyebrow. "You're superstitious?"
"No." Ares protested. "Just trying to keep safe,"
"If you say so," Artemis said. "Come on." She pointed to a door near Hestia's fireplace and donned her bag, along with Apollo. "Let's go through there."
They walked out. "So, what do you want to do while they're gone?" Hera asked.
"Why don't we play a game?" Demeter suggested.
Poseidon and Hestia gazed at each other for a while then blurted out: "Truth or Dare Extreme Version!"
Demeter and Hera groaned.
Ares looked confused. "What's that?"
"It's basically truth or dare, but the victim has to do the dare or tell the truth, no matter what it is, unless someone volunteers to do it for you." Demeter explained. "We used to play it… you know, inside Kronos."
"You choose the victim and the person who chooses the truth or dare by spinning a bottle. The victim gets to choose how many people do the dare or tell the truth with him or her, but the chooser gets to choose who does it with them." Hera added.
"That's cool. Though what I don't get is how you managed to get a spinner inside the Lord of the Titans." Athena said.
Just then, Artemis and Apollo came in.
"That's ten bedrooms, five bathrooms, three linen wardrobes, a kitchen, and a dining room." Apollo recited.
"You're just in time for Truth or Dare!" Hermes said. He requested a bottle from the room and placed it in the middle of the room, whilst explaining the changes to the normal game to the twins.
"Spin it! Spin it!" chanted Zeus and Poseidon. Hermes spun- and it landed on Aphrodite.
"Ooh, Aphrodite," Hera said, "I wonder who'll be the chooser."
"It's…" Hermes trained his eyes on the bottle. Everyone leaned in. "HEPHAESTUS!" yelled Hermes.
Aphrodite whimpered. "Please, darling husband, be merciful…"
"I dare you," Hephaestus smiled, "To wear neon pink and maroon nail polish for one week."
"Noooooo!" Aphrodite screamed attractively. "My manicure- ruined!"
Athena smiled, and revealed two bottles of nail-polish from behind her back. "Hands on the table, please."
The goddess screamed, whimpered, convulsed and laughed hysterically throughout the manicure treatment.
"I'm spinning again!" Hermes announced when it was done. This time, the victim was Zeus, the chooser Dionysus.
"I dare you," Dionysus said, "To do ten pushups with me sitting on your back. But you have to kiss the floor every time you go down!"
"Gross," Demeter said, "But funny."
They began to count while Zeus worked out. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten!" Zeus collapsed on the floor, his kindergarten body worn out from the annoyingly gross dare.
"Let's do one last dare before we go to bed." Athena said.
"I'm doing the chooser first." Hermes announced, spinning the bottle. It was Demeter. Then he spun the bottle again for the victim. Every single turn seemed to mesmerize him. One turn, then another, then another… the hypnotic turning of the bottle was too hard to tear his eyes away from. It spun in continuous circles, until… the bottle... finally reached… a grinding halt… at… him.
Demeter grinned malevolently. "I dare you… to watch one straight hour of Pink Fluffy Unicorns Dancing on Rainbows."
That night, Hermes was unable to sleep.