‘I don’t think he likes anything healthy,’ Emily said. ‘Look, he hasn’t touched the apples I left for him. Or the carrots either. All he wants is really sweet things.’
‘Well, he could have left me a little,’ Joel complained. ‘All that sugar can’t be good for him. It’s not like you can get it on Olympus …’ Suddenly Joel snapped his fingers. ‘Of course, now I understand. It makes perfect sense.’
‘What does?’
‘Don’t you see? Pegasus needs sweet foods. That’s all he eats on Olympus!’
‘How do you know?’ Emily asked.
‘Because I’ve read all about it.’ Joel sounded more and more excited. ‘The Roman myths are my favourite books! All the legends say that on Olympus, the Gods eat ambrosia and drink nectar. It’s what keeps them immortal. That’s why Pegasus wants it, to help him heal. Some say that ambrosia is very much like honey, so he wants sweet food. Do you have any honey in your kitchen?’
‘Honey?’ Emily repeated. ‘Joel, you’re crazy. Those are just legends. We can’t base our treatment of Pegasus on some dusty old myths.’
Joel nodded, ‘Oh yes, we can. Pegasus is real, right?’
Emily nodded.
‘And Pegasus is from myth, also true?’ When Emily nodded again, he continued, ‘So if he exists, the others must too.’
‘Wait,’ Emily said, holding up her hand. ‘You’re saying that Zeus, and Hera, Poseidon and all the others are real?’
‘Jupiter, Juno and Neptune,’ Joel corrected. ‘Zeus is the Greek name. Since I’m Italian, I prefer the Roman myths. The leader of Olympus is Jupiter.’
‘Zeus or Jupiter,’ Emily protested, ‘it doesn’t matter. But you can’t really think all those myths are true?’
‘Why not,’ Joel said jumping to his feet. ‘Look at him! Pegasus is standing right here, just as real as you or me. So if he’s real, why not the others?’
Emily also stood. ‘Because it they were, why haven’t they come to get him? If Zeus—’
‘Jupiter,’ Joel corrected.
‘All right,’ Emily said, exasperated. ‘If Jupiter is real, why doesn’t he know Pegasus is hurt and come to help him?’
‘I don’t know,’ Joel admitted. ‘Maybe he can’t. Or, maybe he doesn’t know yet. But I do know that if we don’t help Pegasus, Jupiter is going to be really angry with us when he does get here.’
‘I don’t care about Jupiter or any of the others,’ Emily said as she started to unpack the medical supplies. ‘All I care about is Pegasus. So let’s get started.’
They cleaned the wounded area around the spear. Then Emily said to the stallion, ‘I’m really sorry, but this is going to hurt.’
Standing beside Pegasus, towel at the ready, Emily helped support the heavy wing. Beside her, Joel wrapped his hands around the broken end of the spear. He braced himself against the side of the stallion. Together they counted down. Three, two, one, go! Using all his weight and strength, Joel started to pull.
Pegasus did his best not to buck as the spear was drawn slowly from his side.
‘Hurry, Joel,’ Emily cried, trying to hold the stallion steady.
Pegasus’s head was thrown back and was twisting in the air. His large, wild eyes revealed his agony and his front hooves ripped at the shed’s floorboards. His screams tore at Emily’s heart.
‘Hurry, it’s killing him!’
In one final, grunting heave, Joel drew the vicious barbed spear from the stallion’s side. Blood flowed from the deep open wound.
‘Put pressure on it!’ Joel panted, trying to recover from the strain. ‘We’ve got to stop that bleeding!’
Emily pulled down the towel from her shoulder and pressed it to the wound. Beneath her hands, she could feel Pegasus trembling.
‘You’re all right, Pegasus,’ she soothed. ‘You’re going to be all right. The worst is over, the spear is gone.’
‘We’re not done yet,’ Joel said grimly as he took over applying pressure to the wound. ‘Go get the glue, Emily. We’ve got to finish this.’
With Joel’s help, Emily was able to squeeze the open edges of the wound together and use the glue to hold it closed. They covered it in clean bandages and taped it in place using silver duct tape.
‘Well, it’s not pretty, but it might just work.’ Joel gently patted the stallion’s side. He turned to Emily. ‘That was a great idea about the glue. I would have never thought of that.’
Emily shrugged. ‘I’m just glad it worked. I don’t think I could have put stitches in him.’
‘Me either,’ Joel agreed. ‘Now, we just have to sort out that wing, and he’ll be well on his way to recovery.’
It was late in the afternoon when Emily and Joel finished setting Pegasus’s wing. Despite Emily’s concerns, it wasn’t nearly as awful as removing the spear had been. Joel’s idea of using the stallion’s good wing as an example worked perfectly. Before long, they had pulled the broken bones into place as best they could and were applying a splint and holding it steady with bandages and duct tape.
When they finished, even before they could celebrate their success, Emily’s phone started to ring.