45_Unnatural Causes

The next morning Brody felt good. He was ready to start competing again. “ We’re halfway there, ” he told Heracles, who was stretching beside him. All the athletes were on the track preparing for the first event of the day, the short footrace known as the stadion. Most of the gods were already seated in their golden chairs, and spectators filled the rest of the stadium. Brody spotted Julia and Markos. However, Iphicles was nowhere to be seen. Brody knew why— Heracles’ brother was already in position, waiting to foil the gods’ next prank.

Suddenly Brody noticed someone else among the spectators. “ Dude! ” he exclaimed, poking Heracles in the shoulder. “ Is that Apollo’s champion over there? The guy who fell into the pit yesterday? I didn’t expect to see him again! ” Heracles nodded. “ I was wondering about him too. But Zeus says he’ll be fine. He injured his arm and bumped his head, but he’s recovering well. ” “ Cool. ” Brody was relieved. Just then Agon called for the stadion to begin. The runners lined up at the starting line.

Brody ended up between Heracles and Ares’ champion. “ Well, what do you think?” Ares’ champion asked Brody in a low tone. He shot a glance at Heracles. “ Will Zeus’ mighty hero make us all look like fools again today?” “ Probably, ” Brody said. He slapped the other athlete on the back. “ Winning isn’t everything, bro. Just do your best. ” Ares’ champion gave him a strange look. Brody understood why. Before coming to ancient Greece, Brody never would have said something like that. In fact, his favorite saying back home was “ Winning isn’t everything—it’s the only thing. ”

A famous football coach had said that, and Brody had believed it. But here in ancient Greece, the circumstances were completely different. For the first time ever, Brody wasn’t focused only on winning. Agon lifted an arm, interrupting Brody’s thoughts. “ Champions, get ready! ” Agon shouted. Then a trumpet blew and the race began. Brody took off. Pumping his arms, he ran as fast as he could alongside the others. Suddenly the stadium was plunged into complete darkness.

“ Whoa! ” Brody cried. “ Who turned out the lights?” A runner bumped into Brody and almost knocked him over. But Brody stayed on his feet, staring ahead. He’d been expecting this prank. He just hadn’t imagined that the stadium could get quite this dark. He couldn’t even see his hand in front of his face! A second later a light flared ahead on the track. It was Iphicles holding a torch. He tossed it to Heracles as the athlete raced past. Heracles caught the torch easily as he ran by. Brody grinned and took off after him, using the light of the torch to stay on the course.

But then he stumbled over a fallen runner and went down with a loud “ oof! ” He jumped to his feet and started running again. By now most of the other runners had caught on as well and were racing after Heracles. But the race was short, and they’d already lost too much ground. Heracles won easily, with Brody coming in near the back of the pack. “ Uh-oh, ” he thought. “ I hope Hermes didn’t see that! ” Luckily Hermes hadn’t seen it. Nobody had been able to see anything except Heracles crossing the finish line first.