The next morning, Penelope and Iaso arose earlier than the rest of the servants, making sure they would be able to make use of the bathroom freely before it became crowded.
Penelope wrapped a scarf tightly around her head to keep her wig in place while she showered and Iaso did the same.
It was too risky for them to shower without the wigs on, even though it was quite early.
“I can’t believe the things I have to accommodate on this quest for you” Iaso mumbled as she inspected the communal showers, her fingers clutching onto her towel.
“I don’t believe I forced you to come along” Penelope said and rolled her eyes.
“No you didn’t, but you could have warned me”. Penelope just laughed at her friend’s predicament. “I miss Leia” Penelope said with a sigh. “Me too. She better be ok in your brother’s company”. “She will be. Actually I think she might be too ok, you know? She’ll be forced to come out of her comfort zone, that will be good for her”.
“If you say so” Iaso said and stepped into the mucky shower. “Gods! I should have worn socks or something!”. Within less than fifteen minutes, Penelope and Iaso were showered and dressed. They headed out to their rooms and still, nervously peering around the quiet building.
“We need to somehow get to Heracles today. I need to know if he managed to get word out to Hecate” Penelope said as she looked in the mirror in their room and untied the scarf from her head. “That’s going to be almost impossible to do, Pen”. “I know, but it makes me uncomfortable not knowing if the foundation of our cover is set”.
“I know, I know. Perhaps we could slip him a note during breakfast or lunch. That’s really all the chance we will be able to get. During the feast tonight, it will be too risky”. “Breakfast, maybe. And remember we need to steal Oswald’s clipboard in the morning as well, before our duties are assigned to us”. “Right. Who could forget about Nyctimus’ plan”. “Why do you sound like that?”. “Like what?”. “Like you are jealous” Penelope said playfully. “I’m not jealous” She answered Penelope quickly. “Mmhmm”.
“I’m really not jealous, Pen, just cautious. I don’t know if I can trust him”.
“Ok, ok” Penelope murmured and put her hands up in surrender.
Penelope and Iaso hurried along towards the kitchen and tied the aprons around themselves. “Oswald better not get suspicious when Nyctimus distracts him” Iaso complained. “Shhh!” Penelope hissed with her eyes wide.
She noticed that one of the chefs were looking at them, so she smiled at him awkwardly. “You need to control your mouth, you’re way too loud”. “Sorry, damn” Iaso replied and walked away from her friend.
Penelope noticed Nyctimus in the hallway and decided to walk over to him. “Are you ready for today’s sting operation?” He asked, his usual smile on his face.
“No. I’m feeling very uneasy about all this”. “Don’t stress, we’ll handle this” He said and placed a hand on her shoulder. Penelope glanced at his hand nervously and he immediately let go. “Where’s Iaso? I’m going to speak to Oswald now” Nyctimus asked and started walking over to Oswald. Penelope walked over to Iaso. “Iaso, let’s go” She whispered to her friend and moved her head in the direction of where Oswald was. “Ok, let’s do this”.
Oswald had his back to them from where Penelope and Iaso were standing.
Penelope saw Nyctimus casually taking the clipboard of out Oswald’s hand and replaced it with a mug of steaming hot coffee. Nyctimus carelessly threw the clipboard onto a counter behind Oswald and make a joke with him, to which Oswald, surprisingly laughed.
Penelope saw her chance and hurried over to the counter, with Iaso right behind her.
She checked the roster for her name, but she couldn’t find it. Not knowing what to do, she looked at Iaso with her hands up in the air, her eyes wide.
Iaso looked back at Penelope and held her face in her hands. “Thanks for the coffee man, but I should get to work now” Penelope heard Oswald say to Nyctimus.
She slid the clip board back onto the counter and grabbed Iaso’s hands, quickly walking away from there, to the same hallway where the store room was.
“How could my name not be there?” Penelope asked her in a hushed voice. “Maybe you don’t have any chores to do today?” Iaso suggested. Nyctimus walked over to Penelope and Iaso as soon as Oswald was out of eyesight. “Did you change it?” He asked gleefully. “No. My name wasn’t even on the roster” Penelope whispered to him. “What? Are you sure you didn’t miss it?”. “I’m sure. I checked it twice”. “He must not have assigned you anything yet”.
And just then Oswald rang his bell. “Right, so let me begin by reading out everyone’s duties…”. Oswald announced all the waiters’ names and their assigned duties for the day.
Iaso was paired up with a scrawny looking girl to clean up Hera’s rest room and Nyctimus was again assigned to the garden with a much younger looking guy.
But Penelope’s name hadn’t been called yet. Oswald looked down at his clipboard and flipped a few pages, then scratched his head with the back end of his pen.
“Sophia, it seems I might have missed your name when I was drawing up the schedule, no worries, you can join Amelia and Ry in cleaning the harem room in the west wing of the castle”. And with that he clutched his pen and rang the hand bell.
Penelope looked at Nyctimus who gave a reassuring smile before picking up the silver trays. Iaso appeared at Penelope’s side. “I managed to write out a note with my eyeliner to tell Heracles to meet us after breakfast”. “That’s great, Iaso. Now all we need to do is give it to him without anyone noticing”.
“Hopefully it will go smoothly” Iaso said and picked up two trays. Penelope did the same and followed Iaso to stand in line.
The bell rang and they all proceeded towards the dining hall. As Penelope entered the room, she saw Heracles talking ecstatically to a non-responsive Erebus. Zeus and Hera were nowhere to be seen and neither was Hermes.
She took that as a good sign and followed the ritual of the waiters.
She was now standing behind some deity’s chair; someone she did not recognise. To the left of her was Heracles, so as soon as she placed the silver trays down, she ducked down at the table and threw the note onto Heracles’ lap. He immediately looked down at it, and then quickly around to the rest of the deities sitting at the table.
No one was paying him any attention, so he snatched the note and read it to himself.
“Did he get it?” Iaso asked Penelope while they hung up their aprons. “Yes, and as I was leaving I saw him read it”. “That’s good”.
“Did Nyctimus and that boy leave for the garden already?”. Penelope didn’t know how she was going to be able to convince the boy to swap places with her, but she knew she had to at least try. “I think so, although, they shouldn’t have gotten too far ahead”.
Penelope hurried out of the kitchen and looked around the courtyard for Nyctimus.
She saw him leaning comfortably against a pillar, talking to that boy. “There she is!” He exclaimed happily when he saw Penelope. Penelope looked at Nyctimus and then at the other boy. “Sophia, this is Benni, he wanted to meet my girlfriend” Nyctimus said and nudged Penelope’s shoulder with his own, before pulling her into a tight embrace.
Penelope gave a wide eyed look at Nyctimus and uncontrollably blushed as he let her go. “I asked Benni if he would mind swapping duties with you, just so we could spend some time together” He said and gave her his signature smile. “Yeah, and I wouldn’t mind being in the harem room” Benni answered with a mischievous smile.
“Oh, thanks Benni” Penelope said shyly. “Hey, if I can be the reason you guys have a chance at getting it on, I’m happy” Benni said and winked at them before leaving. “I didn’t think that would work” Nyctimus admitted and watched Benni walking away. “I told him there’s toys in the harem room”. “There aren’t any” Penelope said with a laugh. “Oh shit. Well then he’s in for a surprise” He said and Penelope laughed even louder. “Come on, girlfriend” He sang and pulled Penelope by the hand as they walked towards the garden.
“How did you think of a solution so quickly?” Penelope asked Nyctimus as they were walking up to the garden shed. “Oh! Back there with Benni?” He asked, looking slightly awkward. “I don’t know, I just thought of the obvious” He answered with a giggle and fetched the baskets from the shed, locking the door behind him. “The obvious?” Penelope inquired, her eyebrows creased. “Uhm, yeah, the rest of the waiter’s sense the chemistry between us” He breathed softly.
Penelope’s cheeks immediately flushed blood red. Nyctimus noticed the expression on Penelope’s face and smirked.
“Do you think there’s something between us, Penelope?” He whispered, his eyes watching hers.
Desperate to change the subject Penelope turned around and picked up the ladder before Nyctimus could get to it, and put it up against a tree.
“You don’t need it. Can’t you take out your claws and climb the tree?” She joked and earned an eye roll from Nyctimus.
He knew she was feeling nervous and embarrassed and so he didn’t push the matter. “I can’t do that unless I fully transform, and I can’t do that here. Anyways, you and ladders are dangerous”.
“Why can’t you transform here?” Penelope asked, ignoring his taunt. She carefully climbed onto the ladder, holding on to the tree branches tightly. “It’s not safe for anyone here. Once I am in wolf form, I can’t think straight. I’ll probably go straight after Zeus and tear him to shreds” He laughed nervously.
“He deserves to be ripped to shreds for all his followers and family to see” Penelope commented under her breath, but of course he heard her.
“Damn. I think you should maybe take your frustration out on the apples hanging above you”. “That is exactly the plan” She said and dropped a handful of apples into the baskets below her.