“So in one way, you and I are the only normal ones on this beach,” he said.

I blinked. It wasn’t a way I’d ever looked at it. The moon was rising now above the colosseum where the contest would be held tomorrow, silvering the pillars. It would eventually become an acropolis, and later a Venetian castle. The moon looked like a great glowing coin poised on the ridge. I remembered going there to talk to Artemis, standing on the dusty plains beside the lander from the ship that bore my name. “The gods have power. But humans have wonderful dreams and make them real, sometimes.”

Phaedrus took his hand out of the fire. “If only we had some fruit we wanted to bake,” Kallikles said. He put his own finger toward the flame and darted it back at once. “It’s funny how we all have different things.”

“Different freaky abilities,” Neleus said.

“Are you jealous?” Arete asked.

Neleus nodded. “How could I not be jealous? You all have magic god-powers, and you’ll get to live forever while I die. But on the other hand, I’m not a freak. You’ve always been faster and stronger than me. You’re weird. You scare people. I’m just strong and smart and, outside of this family, people like me.”

“We’ll have to die too,” Arete said, wisely sidestepping the issue of what happens afterward.

“And we like you,” Phaedrus said. He handed him the wine jar. “Or we do when you give us the chance.”

“That’s true,” Kallikles said. “When you give us the chance.”

“It just feels as if I have to be twice as good to be normal,” Neleus said.

“That’s what Simmea was afraid of,” I said. “When we brought you home. But you were smart enough to keep up. Not surprising, being her son.” I wasn’t good at this kind of thing. But it seemed to work. He smiled.

“So tomorrow,” I said, and their attention all switched back to me at once. “What do you think I ought to sing, to completely flatten Kebes, so much so that the judges will have no option but to be fair and give me the victory?”

20. Arete

20

ARETE

Phaedrus and I walked in with Father, a few minutes before the appointed hour.

Everyone was there from the Excellence, except for the watch that Maecenas had absolutely forced to stay aboard. Kallikles was one of those, though he had complained and protested until the last moment. It seemed as if the whole population of Lucia had turned out as well, even those who were old and sick. I saw people carried there in blankets, old people barely able to hobble, newborn babies, and pregnant women who looked on the point of popping. Everyone gathered in the colosseum, which was just like the one in Marissa.