Chapter One: Mad Maenads The little horse''s wings flapped slower and slower as he flew over the sea. The smell of salt filled Demon''s nostrils, and gentle waves splashed and rippled below him. The water was so clear that he could even see tiny shoals of fish darting about the seabed. The sharp peaks of Mount Pelion cut into the pale pinkish-blue dawn sky ahead, with tiny coves and beaches of blinding white sand strung at its feet like a necklace. "Come on, Keith," he said, patting the shiny black neck. "Only a little farther. You can do it." But poor Keith had no breath to spare for even a small whinny.
He spread his wings wide and began to glide downward, lower and lower, until Demon''s toes were nearly skimming the water. "Hey!" shouted a familiar voice. "Watch those big feet of yours!" Demon looked down. There was his friend Eunice the Nereid, King Poseidon''s Official Handmaid to the Hippocamps and Damsel to the Dolphins, surrounded by her dolphin charges and riding her own dolphin steed, Seapetal. But Demon had no time to greet her. Just then, Keith''s wings gave one last weak flap, and the winged horse collapsed into the water. "Help!" Demon scrambled off his back as Keith started to sink, trying to hold the small beast up and swim at the same time. Then a wave hit him.
Demon swallowed a big gulp of seawater and began to choke and thrash, letting go of Keith. Why couldn''t he breathe? Had King Poseidon''s spell for keeping him alive underwater worn off? Almost immediately, a smooth dolphin body lifted him up, and he clutched at the big fin, spluttering frantically as water and snot ran out of his nose and down his chin in slimy streams. Demon didn''t care how disgusting he looked, though. "S-save K-Keith," he gurgled. He needn''t have worried. Eunice already had things under control. Two dolphins were under Keith''s wings, and were swimming him in to shore. As soon as he felt the land under his hooves, he staggered up onto the sandy beach and collapsed again, whinnying pathetically.
Eunice and Demon were not far behind. Eunice stumbled toward Keith on her flipper feet, and Demon managed to wheeze out a brief thank you before he fell to his knees beside the little winged horse''s head. He stroked Keith behind the ears and made soothing sounds, then unknotted the sacks that were tied to him. Demon peered inside them. Luckily nothing had been damaged by the seawater--including the precious notebook Athena had given him as a reward for saving the phoenix, the ball of fire-ant nectar, and the precious phoenix feather. "Where in all the world''s oceans have you come from?" Eunice asked. "And what were you doing flying over the sea? If you needed transport, I could have taken you in Poseidon''s chariot. He trusts me to drive it on my own now, you know," she added in a proud voice.
"Long story," said Demon. "I''ll tell you in a minute. Right now I need to get some sand flowers out of my sack for Keith here." Reaching in, he pulled out a handful of damp yellow blooms. "Come on, Keith," he said, holding them out. "Have a few of these and you''ll soon feel better." A soft black nose nuzzled at his palm, and the flowers disappeared one by one. "Yummy scrum," Keith neighed, scrambling upright and shaking himself in a flurry of sand and wings.
He nudged the sack. "More," he demanded. While he was munching, Demon sat on the beach and told Eunice all about his adventures with Antaeus the giant, about saving the phoenix from the fire devils--and about his friend Prince Peleus''s surprising alliance with the enormous Myrmex fire ants. Eunice''s eyes got rounder and rounder. "You are lucky," she said. "I love my new job, but since you left Poseidon''s realm, nothing exciting has happened--well, apart from my sister Thetis falling in love with some human prince she saw walking on the island of Aegina. Now he''s disappeared, and she swears she''ll never be happy till she finds him again and he marries her. She''s cried so much that she made the sea even saltier.
" Eunice snorted. "If it makes a person that dopey and silly, I''ll never fall in love." Demon frowned. "My friend Peleus comes from Aegina, and he''s a prince. But it couldn''t be him, could it? He''s far too young to be thinking about getting married. Anyway, he''s back in the Mountains of Burning Sand, taking wrestling lessons from Antaeus. I had to leave him behind with Keith''s daughter, Sky Pearl." Suddenly he yawned, his mouth gaping wider than a whale''s.
"Sorry, Eunice--I''ve been flying for two whole days and nights. I''ve . . . I''ve . . ." His eyelids drooped, and his head nodded onto his chest, and soon he was snoring.
When he awoke, Helios''s chariot was halfway up the sky, and Eunice and Keith were asleep beside him. There was no sign of the dolphins. "Oh no!" Demon groaned, leaping to his feet. "Wake up, everyone! I''ve got to get back to Chiron''s cave. Hermes only knows what''s happened there while I''ve been away." He didn''t even want to think about what might be happening in the Stables of the Gods, up on Olympus. He''d been worrying about the griffin and his purple spots all the way back from the phoenix''s cave. "I''ve got to get back, too," Eunice said.
"It''s nearly the hippocamps'' feeding time! Come and see me soon." "I will," Demon said. "And thank you for rescuing us." "Anytime," she called, whistling for Seapetal as she dived into the sea and disappeared beneath the waves. ********** Outside Chiron''s cave was a small crowd of girls, dressed in an assortment of ragged animal skins, with wreaths of ivy and berries on their heads. Each carried a leafy staff with a pinecone on top, and they were huddled around someone or something lying in the shadow of a large rock. Just as Keith was about to land, he saw them. The winged horse let out a single panicky neigh and reared in the air, tipping Demon and the sacks off and over his hindquarters and onto the ground with a thump.
"MAENADS!" he whinnied, wings fluttering frantically. "Run awayheyey, Demon, run away fast!" But Demon had no breath to run away. He lay there, wheezing and trying to catch his breath, as the girls sprinted over to him, letting out wild shrieks and yells. They picked him up, one girl to each leg and arm, and whirled him around and around, howling like mad wolves, till he felt sick and dizzy as well as breathless. "Stop!" he croaked. "Put me down! Don''t tread on the sacks!" "But we''re having such fun," said one of the girls as the rest shrieked with laughter. "Well, I''m not!" Demon began to struggle, but it was no good. Now they were throwing him up in the air and catching him.
The sky and the rocks twisted and turned, till he didn''t know which way was up. Then he heard a loud groan. "My stomach!" said a trembling voice. "My poor stomach." Immediately, the girls dumped Demon unceremoniously on the grass, and rushed over to the figure by the rock. "Poor old Nicey," they cooed. "Chiron will be back soon. Just lie still.
You''ll be better soon." Demon crawled away and was quietly sick behind a tree. Wiping his mouth, he stood up, feeling rather wobbly. But Chiron clearly wasn''t here, and there was a patient to treat, so he stowed the sacks safely behind a big stone and tottered over to the little group to see if he could help. As soon as he saw who was lying on the ground, though, his heart sank straight down to his toes. It was the god of parties, Dionysus, and he didn''t look good at all. His face was the color of sour cream mixed with an unhealthy green glow, and his wreath of grapes and vine leaves drooped over one red-rimmed eye. He''d only treated one god before, and that was his dad, Pan, for a headache.
This looked much more serious. What would those girls do to him if he didn''t mend their precious god? He''d heard of the maenads before. They had a nasty reputation for tearing people to pieces. He started to tiptoe away backward, but it was too late. He''d been noticed. "Hey," said one of the girls, showing teeth that were pointed and stained with red. "Where do you think you''re going?" Demon took Keith''s advice and began to run. Screaming delightedly, the girls gave chase.
Demon dodged through the trees, panting with fear, breath catching in his throat as his legs began to slow. Now he knew what prey felt like when it was being chased, and he didn''t like it one little bit. He could almost feel the mad maenads'' breath on the back of his neck. Was this really how he was going to die? Frantically, he looked back over his shoulder. They were almost on him! "OOF!" He ran into something solid and warm and hairy. "What''s all this?" thundered a familiar voice above him as he ducked under a gigantic horse belly. "Stop this nonsense at once, girls." It was Chiron, the centaur god, and in his arms he was holding something that squalled like a herd of hurt hippogriffs.
Joined with the shrieks of the maenads, it made a truly infernal racket. Chapter Two: The Noisy Baby The good thing was that Chiron had returned, so Demon was now safe. The bad thing was that the squirming, squawking bundle his teacher held reeked of poo. "Here," the centaur god said,.