Table of Contents
Introduction ..................................................................................... xi
Chapter 1: Summer Vacation Begins ................................................... 1
Chapter 2: The Surprise ..................................................................... 5
Chapter 3: Surprise Number Two ........................................................ 9
Chapter 4: Getting Ready to Go to Greece ......................................... 13
Chapter 5: A Look at Athens ............................................................ 19
Chapter 6: Athens and the Parthenon ................................................ 25
Chapter 7: Traveling Back in Time ................................................... 33
Chapter 8: The Meeting of Two Friends ............................................ 41
Chapter 9: The Magic Loom ............................................................. 55
Chapter 10: The Secret ..................................................................... 63
Chapter 11: The Dream ................................................................... 75
Chapter 12: Sophia's Face ................................................................. 85
Chapter 13: Demeter, Persephone, and the Secret of the Fire ............... 95
Chapter 14: Focus .......................................................................... 103
Chapter 15: Little Details, Big Ideas! .............................................. 113
Chapter 16: The Bees of Artemis ..................................................... 119
Chapter 17: Aphrodite and the Well................................................ 125
Chapter 18: The Storm .................................................................. 133
Chapter 19: The Cave of Emergence ............................................... 137
Chapter 20: The Feast .................................................................... 145
Chapter 21: Wisdom Comes Back into the World ............................. 153
Glossary ......................................................................................... 163
Parent Guide ................................................................................. 169
Exercises ......................................................................................... 170
Meet the Author/Illustrator ............................................................ 174
Meet the SophiaDollsTM .................................................................. 175
Read an Excerpt
Chapter 11
The Dream
Sophie was lying in bed in her favorite summer nightgown. It was purple accented with little yellow stars. She had propped herself up on her pillows and was reflecting on her day. Seeing the tree had been an intense experience, and the face of the statue inside it was still in
her thoughts.
She had gone to the site shortly after getting back to the house. The graduate students had cleared away a wide sweep of earth, so that the uncovered statues stood with about twenty feet or more of empty space in front of them. They had discovered that the columns and the
two statues already excavated were connected to a base on the floor of the temple that formed a semi-circle.
The team believed, based on the measurements they had taken, that there had to be more statues, and they had located where the next two would be. The area in front of the statues concealed a floor of mosaic patterns, and to remove all the dirt might cause damage to
the floor, so it remained covered.
Tomorrow the crew was going to begin working on both uncovered statues at the same time, so the entire team gathered downstairs at the house to plan how they were going to make it happen. The whole group was excited about what they might find since they had uncovered
another mystery just before they had stopped work for the day. On the area in front of the statues, they had found the remains of a small pedestal. It looked like a statue had once stood on it, but nothing was there now.
If you had come upon the temple in the past, you would have seen this statue first and then the other statues behind it, forming a crescent. It puzzled everyone,because if all the other statues had been buried with the idea that they were to be found in the future, like Sophie's time capsule idea, then why was this statue missing?
It looked like it had been cut or broken off of its pedestal. None of the pieces of the missing statue had been found, and this just added to the 'what-could-it-possibly-mean' feeling that was running through everyone's mind.
Sophie was thinking of the story that Tena had told her earlier today. She remembered how Tena said that the Priestess Iris had hidden the statue in several places piece by piece. Sophie had seen the head of what probably was the statue missing from the archaeological site where her grandparents were working. It seemed almost impossible that she knew a part of the story that no one else knew.
The professor had hired men to guard the site at night, and he was also sleeping there to make sure nothing happened to the artifacts they were finding. Sophie had excused herself from the activity downstairs early, saying that she was tired. She had wanted to e-mail her friends and her parents a picture of the blue butterfly tapestry. The weaving hung on her wall, carefully tacked up so she could see it the first thing in the morning when she woke up and the last thing at night when she went to bed.
Soon, Sophie realized she was getting sleepy. She slid down and stretched out on top of her covers. The moon was full and filled up her entire bedroom. The tapestry's metallic threads glittered in the light. Sophie's eyes were open, but she thought to herself, "I think I'm asleep
and I'm dreaming." As she looked at the blue butterfly shining in the moonlight, she thought that something was moving inside the tapestry.
She leaned forward and sure enough it was like something was struggling to be released. Then an actual blue butterfly pushed its wings out of the cloth and broke free. It fluttered around the room slowly. It glided, more than fluttered, over her head toward the window. Sophie watched in amazement and thought, "I hope it doesn't leave without me." Instead, the butterfly just hovered, turning to look at her.
Sophie was thinking that this was a nice dream. She sat up on the edge of her bed. She stood up and walked to the window. The butterfly unexpectedly landed on her head. It just sat there exercising its wings, gently moving them back and forth.
Quickly, it flew around her head and out the window a foot or so above the windowsill. Sophie reached to catch it and tilted forward. As she did this, for just a second, both of her feet left the floor. She struggled to plant them back on the floor. Had she just become weightless? Had she actually flown?
It had been a long time since she had experienced a flying dream. She used to have them all the time when she was a little girl. Now, she was having one again. "Well, okay," she thought, "I love to fly."
Next, she jumped upward to help get off the ground. It worked, because she was now floating about a foot off the floor. The blue butterfly got excited and flew around in a little circle. Then it hovered just out of reach.
"Oh! This is s-o-o-o cool!" She tested things out, willing herself to climb higher and to be able to turn. She lifted her right arm and shoulder, and effortlessly turned to the right. "Wow!" She made a circle around the bed while looking at her arms that were now glowing silver from the moonlight. She laughed aloud. It was such an awesome feeling to be flying, to be weightless. Of course, she knew she was dreaming, but it was nonetheless an awe-inspiring moment.
"Well, let's go for it." Sophie tilted forward and glided out the window. Flying just a short distance from her head, watching what she was doing, the butterfly acted as her guide. It began to fly forward, and she willingly followed. Below her was the garden of the Blue House,
the clothesline, and the tool shed.
Sophie flew on, not minding that she was high above the ground. After all, it was only a dream. There was no real reason to be afraid of falling.
The butterfly led her over the forest behind the house, climbing upward so she would clear the trees. She called out to the butterfly to wait up while she sailed around a bit just to take a look at things. The house was very blue in the moonlight. Downstairs where the lights were on, everything was golden in color, with voices and laughter flowing out into the night. It seemed everyone was eating and was quite excited about whatever plans they were making.
The upper part of the house was quiet, her bedroom window still open. She could see the road, all dusty and quiet, with Nikos's van parked in the driveway. After drinking in the sights round the Blue House, she turned and continued on her flying adventure.
The butterfly fluttered over the tree line, and from time to time she could see the stream below gleaming in the moonlight. Like a ribbon of silver, it peeked out between the treetops, and she wondered if turtles slept at night or played with the reflection of the moon in the water.
The night was alive, the sky a deep violet and the full moon majestic. She heard birds and insects, and she thought she saw an owl flying far below her, hunting for something in the light. Later, when she looked over her shoulder, she could not see the house anymore.
But she did not care. She was having too much fun soaring, to worry about it. She wondered where the butterfly was taking her, since it seemed to know where it was going.
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