Free Hello, Hollywood! by Janice Thompson

if it is too late.”
    Milo winked, the soft wrinkles around his eyes becoming more pronounced. “You wait. I bring him in.”
    “Him?” Mama’s face paled, and she fanned herself with a napkin. “Oh, heaven help us. Don’t tell me Mean-Athena had a son no one knew about. I don’t think I could take another shock.”
    “Not a son . . . exactly.” Milo’s expression shifted, but I couldn’t quite read it. What was this guy up to?
    Moments later he returned with a crate in hand. A dog crate. He set it on the ground and nudged it along with a push. “Pappas family, I give you Zeus, Athena’s only child. He’s a Greek Domestic Dog.”
    Milo opened the door to the strangest-looking dog I’d ever seen. The little mongrel bounded out of the crate, heading straight for the cheese display. Once there, he leaped up on the table, pouncing on the plate of feta samples. Next he headed to the meat aisle, where he attacked a package of salami and chewed through the plastic. Then he set his eyes on me.
    Uh-oh. I formed a cross with my index fingers as if to ward off the evil spirit dwelling inside the beast, then took giant steps backward as he lunged my way.
    Aunt Melina went a little crazy at this point. She spit three times—as was her custom whenever she encountered demon spirits—and muttered, “Ftou, ftou, ftou!”
    It didn’t work. The dog leaped up, knocking over my cup of coffee, which spilled all over my white blouse. My foot landed in a wet spot on the floor and I went sprawling. The ornery mutt took this as a sign that I wanted to play. He jumped me—literally—licking my face, my ears, my hair, and my hands. I found myself pinned to the ground, the smell of doggy breath nearly causing me to hurl.
    “Get away from me, you mangy mutt,” I hollered. “What do you think you’re doing?” I clamped my eyes shut, willing the dog away. Still, the licking continued, though Milo did his best to pull the dog away. Disgusting!
    A decidedly male voice rang out, merging with the other sights, sounds, and smells. “Athena, if you’re gonna run with the big dogs, you’re gonna have to move faster than that.”
    I looked up, my gaze landing on Adonis. Er, Stephen. Perfect. Couldn’t have planned this any better if I’d tried. Rex and Lenora stood behind him. I noticed that Lenora wore a glittering white gown and carried a scepter. Well, at least I thought it was a scepter. She’d obviously made it out of tinfoil. It took me a minute to figure out her costume, but I finally got it. Glenda, the good witch.
    Apparently the sequins in her gown interested the dog too. He bolted her direction, yapping to beat the band. Stephen intervened, grabbing the dog by the collar and yanking him back. His voice remained low but steady. Firm. “Don’t even think about it.”
    In that moment, I wished Lenora could wave her magic wand and send Toto—er, Zeus—right back to Kansas. Or Greece. Whatever.
    Mama, never one to miss an opportunity to marry me off to any available candidate, set her eye on Stephen. “Who do we have here?”
    “Stephen Cosse. I work with—” He never got to finish the sentence because the dog jumped up and licked him in the face.
    My brother appeared from the back room, concern registering in his eyes as he saw Zeus. “Someone want to explain why we have a dog in the shop? Do we want the health department to shut us down?” His gaze shifted to Lenora in her shimmering getup, then back to the dog. No telling which one brought more confusion.
    “This is Zeus!” Milo proclaimed. “Your inheritance from the motherland.”
    “We inherited a dog?” Niko took a few steps in our direction and extended his hand to help me up. Thank goodness.
    “Not just any dog,” I said, brushing off my pants legs. “A Greek dog.”
    The cantankerous canine turned and offered a low growl, as if willing my brother to stay put. Never one to be outdone, Niko reached for the broom and began to wave it in the dog’s