Zeus and the Skeleton Army

By Joan Holub, Suzanne Williams, Tracey West and Craig Phillips

Zeus and his fellow gods-in-training attempt to capture the king of hell’s hound in this latest Heroes in Training chapter book!

Zeus and his fellow gods-in-training face a new challenge in the underworld when they attempt to capture Cerberus—the three-headed guardian and cherished pet of Zeus’s brother Hades. But they find themselves up against even more than they anticipated when they have to face off against Melinoe and her skeletal minions.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Aladdin
• Release date: Sep 21, 2021
• ISBN: 9781534432994

Joan Holub

Joan Holub is the New York Times bestselling author of Mighty Dads. She is also the author and/or illustrator of over 130 other books for children, including the picture books Zero the Hero and Little Red Writing, a School Library Journal and Kirkus Reviews Best Book, and is coauthor of the bestselling Goddess Girls and Grimmtastic Girls middle grade series. She has two cats named Chip and Boo. You can visit her online at www.joanholub.com.

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

A Ghostly Warning

The soldiers swarmed into the village. Their silver armor gleamed in the sunlight. The screams of the fleeing villagers drowned out their war cries.

Zeus watched from the top of Mount Olympus as the soldiers kept coming… and coming… and coming…

Then the stone underneath Zeus’s feet began to shake. The ground cracked and opened wide, and a chariot flew up from the depths of the earth. The rider, a black-haired boy, pointed at Zeus.

Why have you betrayed me, Brother?

Zeus bolted upright in bed. Cold sweat covered his arms, and he shivered.

It was just a dream, he said, but it had felt so real. Too real. And Zeus knew exactly what it meant. He glanced over at the blond-haired boy sleeping on a cot on the other side of the room.

It’s all his fault, Zeus thought as he climbed out of bed. I wouldn’t be in this mess if I hadn’t agreed to help Hercules.

Feeling restless, Zeus left the room and began to walk around the temple of the gods. The marble floors felt cool under his bare feet. Suddenly hungry, he made his way to the kitchen, thinking as he walked.

It had all started in his throne room, when Hercules had shown up. Hercules had been followed by his cousin King Eurystheus, who’d been angry at Hercules for throwing stinky monster bird eggs at his palace. Hercules had lied and said that Zeus was his half brother, and so the king had been mad at Zeus, too. Eurystheus had threatened to attack Mount Olympus with his army.

Then Apollo had gotten involved. As the Oracle in Training of Delphi, he had proposed a way to keep the peace. He would consult the oracle, and whatever the forces from beyond suggested, everyone would agree to.

I should have remembered that the forces from beyond don’t always make sense, Zeus thought now, scolding himself. He’d reached the temple kitchen, and he shooed a mouse away from a loaf of bread, tore off a chunk, and chewed thoughtfully.

First the oracle had sent Zeus and Hercules to get one of the scales off a sea serpent, then to retrieve a magical belt from the queen of the Amazons. He and Hercules had succeeded, but not without a cost. Zeus’s brother Poseidon and some of the other Olympians, Aphrodite and Hephaestus, were pretty angry with him.

And now Apollo says I need to go to the Underworld and steal Cerberus, who’s my brother Hades’s favorite pet! Zeus said out loud, looking at the mouse. If I steal Cerberus, Hades will be really mad. And if I don’t steal Cerberus, King Eurystheus will start a war. I have no idea what to do. Do you?

The mouse twitched its whiskers in response. Then…

Whoosh! An owl swooped past Zeus’s face, scooped the mouse up in its claws, and then landed in a corner of the kitchen and gulped the mouse down.

Hey, Glaukopis, I was talking to him! Zeus protested.

A brown-haired girl