“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.”

  Chapter Twelve

  An Empty Room

  “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!

  Chapter Thirteen

  Circus Sewerus

  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?”

  “No,” Pandy said.

  “Crazies.”

  “Quiet, Alce,” Pandy said. “You can hear singing?”

  “As clearly as I hear you,” Iole replied. “Better, in fact. And if you all cannot hear it, I would say my roll has greatly enhanced my eardrums.”

  “Here,” Pandy said, handing Iole the burning stick. “You lead.”

  Iole led the way through the twisting, turning maze of the sewers. Pandy and Alcie, forced to actually stay behind Iole and not race on ahead, were wearying of plodding along in the blackness when suddenly their ears caught notes of music and an occasional shout. The next thing they were all able to discern was a dull light coming from way down one particular tunnel. As they approached the light, now spilling into the darkness from a doorway, all at once someone was thrown out and landed right in the middle of the flowing sewer.

  “Now,” a young woman said, poking her head out of the doorway with a grin and staring at the youth covered in muck, “you really can’t come back in!”

  There was a chorus of laughter behind her.

  The young man was beginning to stand when he saw the flaming end of the piece of wood and then Iole’s face.

  “Crispus?” she said.

  “Oh … oh, w-wow,” he stammered. “Oh. Hi.”

  “What are you doing here? Why are you out of the house?” Iole asked, a slight panic in her voice.

  “Why did those nice folks throw you into the poo?” Alcie asked.

  “I could ask the very same thing about you all,” Crispus replied, trying to keep his voice even. “Except of course for the poo.”

  “What’s going on here?” Pandy said, stepping forward.

  “Come,” Crispus replied. “Let me show you.”

  He stood and wrung the water out of his clothes, then led them all to the doorway in the tunnel wall. He stuck his head in but before he could speak, a cabbage sailed out and nearly hit him in the head.

  “I bring guests!” he cried.

  Suddenly, the room inside became very quiet.

  “Highborn or low?” someone called.

  “Low,” Crispus answered. “And a Vestal.”

  “Ooooohhhhh!” sang out a few voices.

  “Let them enter,” said another; the phrase was then repeated around the room.

  Crispus stepped inside followed by the others. Pandy set down her flaming stick on the side of the tunnel, then actually had to shield her eyes from the brightness created by all the candles, lamps, and wall torches. She found herself in an enormous round room with a domed ceiling cut right into the bedrock underneath the city. Its circumference could have circled her entire house back home in Greece, including the courtyard and her father’s small but prized olive grove. This room was jammed full of men and women, young and old, each wearing the simple garments that indicated slave status. There were a few tables and fewer chairs; most of the people were standing. In a small space in the middle of the crowd, several couples had suddenly stopped dancing; beyond them, Pandy saw a group of musicians holding their instruments in the air, mid-note. Most of the revelers held cups of wine or other drinks; many had plates heaped with food. And all of them were now staring and whispering.

  “Fellows,” said Crispus, “I give you Pandy, Alcie, and Iole, the Vestal, so don’t touch. These three belong, as do I, to the house of Senator Lucius Valerius.”

  “Then that must be the maiden you were just talking about!” called out one youth from back of the room, staring at Iole.

  “AND THIS FELLOW I DON’T KNOW, SO…,” shouted Crispus over the youth to drown him out. “So why don’t you tell us who you are?” Crispus added, glancing at Homer.

  “I’ll tell you,” said a young girl close by. “He’s the gladiator who lost but won in the ring yesterday morning. You’re now held by Caesar, right?”

  “Uh, right. Hi. I’m Homer.”

  “HOMER!” the crowd shouted.

  “Welcome all,” said a large man standing with an even larger woman in the middle of the dance floor. “There’s food and drink; help yourselves. The evening is young and we have many hours before the cock crows. Musicians, play!”

  With that, everyone returned to whatever they had been doing—with the exception of a few looks to Iole, then Crispus, which didn’t go unnoticed.

  “Crispus?” Pandy said, turning to face him. “Start talking.”

  “What? Oh! This?” he said.

  “Yeah, this, smelly,” said Alcie. “What is all this?”

  “Well,” he started, “by day, this is a planning room for the supervisors reconstructing the sewers. But at night, it has become a gathering place for slaves from around the city. Here, we can at least have a little fun for ourselves before returning to scrubbing and milking and guarding cows.”

  “You don’t guard any cows,” said Iole.

  “He means Rufina,” said Pandy.

  “Appl…,” coughed Alcie. “I mean, hah! Good one.”

  “But what about the girl?” Pandy began. “The slave girl from the senator’s house who was caught outside and punished? Aren’t any of you worried about that?”

  “That girl had had a little too much wine,” Crispus said. “We tried to stop her—even tried to take the cup out of her hand. And several people offered to walk her to the senator’s house. But she wouldn’t accept our help. She started back alone. Someone tried to follow her but she sensed it and eluded him. Then the next morning, the centurion guards found her sleeping in a doorway. That’s how she caused herself so much trouble.”

  “So the masters and nobles don’t know about this?” Pandy asked.

  “Oh, they know all right. And they only permit it because they know it makes us happier and more productive as we toil away for them during the day if we can have a little fun on our own time. Every once in awhile, one of our masters will even join us. But the single condition is that we must all be in our masters’ homes by sunrise. And we take turns just in case there is an emergency. Tonight, Tacitus and I are here while Septimus and Priscus keep watch in case the senator needs something. Tomorrow night, we will stay in the house and those two can eat, drink, and dance until dawn.”

  “And you never told us,” Alcie said, “because …?”

  “I never talk to you,” he said, glancing at Iole. “To any of you, that is. And you all have been serving the senator as long as I have. I thought you knew about this place and just decided you didn’t want to be here.”

  “Oh,” Pandy said. “You’re absolutely right about that. We didn’t. Well, we did know about it. We just thought it had … moved. Okay, then. We have to be off now.”

  “But you just got here,” Crispus said as he stepped in front of Iole, guiding her a little farther away from several rough-looking slaves who were staring at her. “This way, Vestal.”

  “That’s the one you like, eh, Crispus?” said one out of the corner of his mouth. “Not bad. Not bad at all.”

  “Please be quiet,” Crispus begged softly to them. “Now, why do you all have to be going? You’ve only just arrived.”

  Pandy, Alcie, Iole, and Homer all looked at each other. For the first time in a long time no one could come up with anything clever or diverting.

  “Uh…,” said Alcie.

  “Yes … uh,” Iole said, looking at Homer.

  “Is there something wrong?” Crispus asked. “Something wrong at the senator’s?”

  Even though her enchantment still had her incredibly energized, Pandy forced herself to calm down as she scrutinized Crispus and tried to think logically; there were two possible outcomes if she were to take this youth into her confidence. He would either join them or run straight to Lucius Valerius.

  “Crispus,” she said, moving toward the doorway. “Will you join us out here?”

  “What are you doing?” whispered Alcie.

  “Maybe buying us some time,” Pandy said.

  Out in the large tunnel, everyone gathered around Crispus.

  “How well, would you say, do you know your way around these sewers?” Pandy asked.

  “Very well,” Crispus replied. “When I was very young, before I was given any responsibility at the senator’s, I was allowed to run in the streets with other slave children during a portion of the day. We played down here quite a lot. I know the outline of the tunnels like the back of my own hand. Why?”

  “What about all the new construction?” Homer asked.

  “There are some parts that are unknown, certainly,” Crispus said. “But the work goes slowly. Why?”

  Pandy looked at the others and took a deep breath.

  “I’m gonna keep it short,” she began. “It all started when I found a box underneath my parents’ sleeping cot and I decided to take it to the academy for a big project …”