Free Heaven Sent by Clea Hantman

here,” I said truthfully. “But don’t worry—leave it up to me, and youshall have your unshaven man.”
    “ No! Thalia, no! I beg you, no. I forbid you to interfere.”
    “You can’t forbid me. Forbid me? Forbid me from doing you a favor. Oh, please, Polly.”
    “I’m serious, Thalia—don’t do anything. Anything at all. Don’t you remember, you’re the one who’s always saying that we did not come here to meet boys? Don’t start making efforts for love on my part. I’m perfectly happy just as I am, just as things are.”
    “You’re clearly not. You’ve been mooning around the house since we got here. You’ve been dazed and confused. You’ve been…”
    “Lovesick,” said Era.
    “Take it from someone who knows,” I said, putting my hand on Era’s elbow. “You are lovesick.”
    “Stop! I mean it. You are to do nothing. Leave him be.” Polly sighed. “Let’s just get home—I’d like to watch that TV thing some more.”
    “All weekend!” enthused Era.
    I, too, had become totally addicted to TV during the short time we’d been on earth. The talk shows, the reruns, the WB. I loved the drama, the clothes, the way people talked. Not to mention it helped me pick up all the modern words and phrases.
    “TV works for me,” I chimed in.
    Just then a shiny jet-black chariot, which I now knew was called a car, slowed down alongside us.Inside were my least-favorite girls: You guessed it, the Backroom Betties. The three evilest ones from science. They just stared us down as they drove on by. I felt that familiar tingly feeling again, like something bad could happen at any moment, and I had no idea what it was or how to stop it. The feeling went away, though, as the car pulled out of sight.
    “Yep, those girls are evil,” said Era.
    I couldn’t have agreed more. In fact, something about them reminded me of home.
     
    Yes, we three Furies have a brand-new name,
    The Backroom Betties, we are one and the same.
    With some crafty time travel, we arrived first
    To ensure that the Muses’ bubble is burst,
    Which will be easy, we cannot tell a lie,
    Since the eldest has fallen for that unshaven guy,
    And, of course, poor Polly will not make such a match
    For this is our plan, which we have just hatched:
    Thalia’s efforts will all amount to a sham,
    And Polly will be betrayed by her man.
    She’ll be so ashamed, she’ll give up on school
    And break one of Hera’s strictest earth rules,
    For we know something that the Muses do not
    Since Hera confided to us three her plot
    That if the Muses give up on going to class
    A new punishment will soon come to pass,
    The streets of earth they will no longer roam,
    Tartarus will become their permanent home.
    Now let us get back to our craft, our own little coup,
    We need to make more trouble so there is a book two!

NINE
    “Y our father, he said you wanted to see me,” Apollo practically whispered. I had been waiting for him in the Prism Gardens, and he had snuck up on me from behind. I could feel his breath on my neck. The little hairs at my nape tingled. I was most certain it was a draft, because I had never noticed that happening around him before. Surely I had been this close to Apollo in the past.
    I turned around quickly and found myself just inches from his face. His face, which at that moment in time looked nothing like the Apollo I knew. His jaw was clenched tight, his gaze cast down his perfectly straight nose at me solemnly.
    “Your father said you had something to tell me,” he said stiffly.
    “Yes, I have something to say.”
    I tried to manufacture a smile. This was far harder than I thought. And not just because I didn’t want to get married. I hated lying to Apollo. He was my best friend. And right now he looked so serious, so foreign to me.
    “Thalia, now first, listen to what I have to say, please,” he said, his eyes softening into the eyes of the Apollo I knew, only warmer, deeper. You’d never have known that he was a brave,