Raining Bugs

Two hours later Brody had moved on from practicing for the hoplitodromos race to practicing for the wrestling event again. Brody hadn’t wrestled much, but he wasn’t worried. Today he was practicing against Demeter’s champion, a tall, thin youth with a big nose. “ Got you! ” Brody cried as he pinned the other athlete for the third time in a row. Demeter’s champion gritted his teeth. “ Never mind, ” he said. “ I may not be the best at wrestling. But I’ll beat you at boxing every time! ” Brody let him go and stood up. “ Boxing?” he said to Hermes. “ Do I have to do that?”

“ Of course, ” Hermes said. “ We’ll practice that tomorrow. I’ve already started setting up some sparring partners for you. ” Before Brody could say anything else, a loud buzzing sound filled the gymnasium. “ What’s that?” Julia exclaimed. Markos covered his head. “ Look out above! ” Brody glanced up just in time to see a huge black cloud descending on the gymnasium. When it got closer, he saw that it was actually a swarm of large insects.

“ Gross! ” Brody covered his head as the first insects hit him. “ What are those things?” “ Cicadas. ” Hermes sounded disgusted. “ Apollo! Did you have something to do with this?” Apollo was standing nearby, grinning as the other gods’ champions raced for cover from the rain of singing insects. Meanwhile Apollo’s own champion continued to jog around the track, untouched by the cicadas. “ What makes you think I had anything to do with this?” Apollo asked, still grinning. Cicadas were pelting every inch of Brody’s head and body. One even crawled into his mouth.

“ Yuck! ” he exclaimed, spitting it out and then running to join Julia and Markos, who were huddled beneath the shelter of an overhang. “ Enough, brother! ” Artemis stepped forward, frowning. Ignoring the insects raining down on her, she lifted her bow. “ Feathered friends, help us! ” A loud, piercing shriek seemed to tear the sky in two. A moment later something scurried into the gymnasium. “ What’s that?” Brody asked, peering through the veil of cicadas.

“ It looks like a bird, ” Markos said. “ It’s eating the cicadas! ” “ It’s a guinea fowl, ” Julia explained. “ My neighbors used to raise them. They’re really noisy. And they’ll eat anything. ” “ Look! ” Markos pointed. “ Here come more of them! ” Dozens of guinea fowl were running or flying into view. They immediately began gobbling up the cicadas. Some of them let out sharp cries as they fed. “ This is ridiculous! ” Ares marched over to Apollo and Artemis, cicadas crunching beneath his feet. “ How can any of us train under these conditions?”

“ Sorry. ” Apollo shrugged, not looking sorry at all. “ I was just testing out a little trick I might try on the mighty Alcides. ” “ Hmm. ” Ares suddenly looked much less angry. “ Now that you mention it, I have a few things in mind for Zeus’ mighty champion as well. ” He raised his spear to his own head just as his red hair burst into flame. He lit his spear, and then twirled it, shooting fire at the cicadas. A guinea fowl let out a squawk as a spark just missed its head. “ Maybe we should get out of here. ” Julia sounded nervous. “ Things are getting a little dangerous. ”