For books 9 and 10, we're focusing on two of the most prominent background characters: Pandora the Curious and Pheme the Gossip.
Pandora's book takes one of my least favorite concepts and makes it fun. There are multiple plotlines going on. First, two Titans (Prometheus and Epimetheus) have been admitted to MOA. The godly students are wary of them, because the Titans fought Zeus in the war. So there's tension there. The main plot is that Pandora accidentally opened Epimetheus's box and let out nine "trouble bubbles." When each bubble knocks into someone, they take on the personality characteristic of that bubble. This is the concept I'm not fond of: the personality switch. Thankfully, the book never really focuses on Athena the Ditz, Artemis the Vain, Persephone the Angry and Aphrodite the Rude. They're there and they're altered, but Pandora is always the focus of the story. After the bubble release, the next plotline is the science fair. Pandora teams up with the two Titans and they go to Earth and learn that the mortals have no more fire, because Zeus got bumped with the lazy bubble. With the kind of non-help of Athena, Aphrodite, Prometheus (now Prometheus the Thief) and mostly Epimetheus, who remains unbubbled, Pandora figures out how to solve their problems. I'm not going to spoil everything, but she totally saves the day. Pandora will never be one of my favorites, but this book does give a nice insight into her and why she thinks curiosity is such a great thing.
Pheme is a bit of an odd one for me, because I normally HATE gossipy characters, yet I love Pheme. Maybe it's because she's the goddess of gossip and she kind of has to do what she does. It's also because she loves orange and has short, spiky orange hair. She's adorable. That's what Eros points out a few times in the book and it's true. How can she get in trouble for gossiping when it's her whole thing? Pheme gets herself in a mess right away, because she's snooping in the girls' rooms under the pretense of doing "safety checks." She finds Athena's diaryscroll and unlocks the curse on it, making her literally caught red-handed. Then she meets Phaeton, who snuck up to MOA on Hermes' delivery chariot. He claims his dad is Helios, the god of the sun. Pheme uses her tricks to get him enrolled in school in exchange for him telling her who his father is. Naturally, she can't keep her mouth shut and everyone ends up not believing Phaeton, because he's not immortal. So he storms off and says he'll prove it. Pheme had put some concealer on her red hands, but soup splashes them and Athena confronts her. Athena's punishment for Pheme is that she agrees to no longer snoop in unoccupied rooms and she has to go one full day without gossiping. Athena places a spell on her and the next day, whenever she tries to gossip, she makes animal noises or says words that sound similar to what she wants, but not exactly. Unfortunately, the spell doesn't seem to understand what gossip actually is. Pheme sees Phaeton stealing Artemis's chariot, but the spell won't let her tell anyone. That's not gossip though! That's telling something that's happening! Pheme struggles throughout the day, including taking a trip to see the Gray Ladies (the school counselors), and finally realizes that Phaeton is going to fly up to Helios's palace and try to drive the sun chariot. She manages to draw her message and Athena figures it out and follows her. The two girls have a rather wild adventure, but arrive at Helios's too late. Phaeton's in the sky and he's losing control. Athena stays with Helios to construct another chariot. (She did invent them, after all.) Pheme jumps in Artemis's chariot and, now free from the anti-gossip spell, quickly spreads the word about what's happening, asking the mortals to pray to Zeus and ask him for help. Zeus comes to the rescue on Pegasus and manages to blow up the sun chariot (read: the sun). Pheme saves Phaeton as Helios rides in on the new sun chariot. Phaeton is sorry, but not really sorry, because his stunt earned him his immortality. (Passed on by a tattoo/birthmark/whatever.) Zeus says if he behaves well in his school on Earth, he may be invited to MOA next year. Pheme is rewarded by Zeus for her heroics and asks for a pair of wings like Eros's. She's learned something of a lesson, but hey, she still is the goddess of gossip. This book is one of my favorites in the series, because it's got drama and a lot of action. There's never a dull moment!
The pairings in Goddess Girls change somewhat frequently, so I thought I'd take a moment to list off who likes who for the time being.
Athena and Hercules
Aphrodite and Ares
Persephone and Hades
Artemis did like Orion, but now she likes Actaeon.
Medusa did like Poseidon, but now she likes Dionysus.
Pandora did like Poseidon, but now she likes Epimetheus.
Pheme and Eros
Hephaestus and Aglaia
I think those are all the bigger players. In the next book, we finally focus on Persephone again!
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