Uranus and the Bubbles of Trouble (11) (Heroes in Training) - Softcover

Joan Holub has authored and/or illustrated over 140 children’s books, including the Goddess Girls series, the Heroes in Training series, the New York Times bestselling picture book Mighty Dads (illustrated by James Dean), and Little Red Writing (illustrated by Melissa Sweet). She lives in North Carolina and is online at JoanHolub.com.

Suzanne Williams is a former elementary school librarian and the author of over seventy books for children, including the award-winning picture books Library Lil (illustrated by Steven Kellogg) and My Dog Never Says Please (illustrated by Tedd Arnold), and several chapter book and middle grade series. She also coauthors the Goddess Girls and Thunder Girls series with the fantastic Joan Holub. Visit her at Suzanne-Williams.com.

Craig Phillips has been creating cover art and drawings for books, comics, and magazines for nearly two decades. He is most at home working on tales about myth and magic. His latest book—Giants, Trolls, Witches, Beasts: Ten Tales from the Deep, Dark Woods—is a 200-page graphic novel about just that! It will be in stores in May 2017. When he is not drawing and writing, he likes to swim in the lakes and walk in the forests and mountains of New Zealand. Visit him at CraigPhillips.com.au.

Uranus and the Bubbles of Trouble



CHAPTER ONE

The Ruler of the Sky

Ten-year-old Zeus and his band of ten Olympians stood on an island in the Aegean Sea and craned their necks to stare upward. The sky above them had started to turn as black as night—in the middle of the day! Obviously, this was no ordinary darkness.

“Guys, this doesn’t look good,” he said. The others—all kids Zeus’s own age—nodded gravely. They had been gathering coconuts and berries before setting sail in a ship they’d stolen—um, borrowed.

“Yeah, something’s not right,” agreed his curly-haired brother Hades. “We just went from day to night in a few minutes!”

“It’s like time sped up,” added their red-haired sister, Demeter.

Besides Zeus, Hades, and Demeter, the Olympian members included another brother named Poseidon, and sisters Hera and Hestia. Onshore nearby were also Apollo and his twin sister, Artemis. With Athena, Ares, and the newest member, Hephaestus, that made eleven Olympians in all.

Black-haired, blue-eyed Zeus was the leader of the group. Though he and the others looked like normal mortal boys and girls, they were actually immortals and their actions were mighty. And they were absolutely determined to stop their giant enemies, the evil King Cronus (ruler of the Titans) and his Crony henchmen, from taking over the world. This was an outcome every citizen in Greece lived in fear of!

What the sudden strange sky had to do with Cronus, Zeus wasn’t sure. But he guessed there must be some connection. No sooner did he think this than a deep voice boomed from overhead.

“I am Uranus, ruler of the sky!”

Zeus froze. Because Uranus’s voice sounded oddly familiar. Also, because the sky didn’t usually talk.

Poseidon—the god of the sea—jabbed Zeus in the shoulder with his magical three-pronged trident, jolting him from his frozen state. “Which guy?” Poseidon asked, confusion showing in his turquoise-blue eyes.