The Gatekeeper's Daughter (18 page)

“Hmm.”
He tugged at his beard. “Take the Furies with you.”

“Thanks, but I promised I would go alone.”

“Alone? With Ares after you? Impossible.”

“I have to try.” She stood up to leave.

“Then wear this.” Something appeared in Hades’s hand. A golden helmet? “My helm of invisibility.”

“But…”

“Even the gods can’t sense you while you’re wearing it.”

She sat back down on the edge of her chair. “Are you serious?”

“Quite. Though Zeus and Poseidon can sometimes become suspicious if you travel by sky or sea.” He brought the helm to his face to inspect it carefully. “I’ve never been able to figure out what gives me away to them.” He stood up and took her hand, helping her to her feet. “In any case, if you stick to the land, you’ll be safe.”

The sky and the sea were the two places she
must
go to complete her quest. She hid her fear and gave Hades a grateful smile.

Hades added, “And don’t god travel. The helm won’t protect you if you do. Now, come. I’ll take you home in my chariot.
Persephone’s home. She can mind the store.”

“I don’t know how to thank you.” She followed him from the room, presumably toward the garage.

“Oh, don’t worry,” he said, turning back to her with an unnerving smile. “I’m sure I’ll think of a way.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight: A Bear in the Woods

Wearing Hades’s helm of invisibility, which wobbled uncomfortably, being a bit large for her head, Therese checked in on Carol and Richard to find Richard on the deck feverishly typing on his laptop and Carol eating a bowl of soup in front of the television, sobbing to some soap opera, rubbing her swollen belly. Therese couldn’t tell if it was the knowledge that the baby was dying or the drama on the television or both that was making her weep. She wondered for a moment what it must feel like, carrying a baby you could not protect, knowing your own body was killing her. Hope kept Carol from terminating the pregnancy. Although the doctor warned her that she would likely have to suffer through a stillborn birth, Carol hoped he was wrong.

Therese took consolation in the fact that neither was concerned with her whereabouts, even though she’d been gone for seven hours. Given the note she left them on the bar, they must think she was at Jen’s.

Not that the chariot ride with Hades had taken much time. Swift and
Sure flew from a chasm of the Underworld and up into the bright afternoon skies of Colorado faster than Therese could swallow. At least she didn’t have the burden of making small talk.

Next, she checked in on the Holts. Their trail ride season had ended the weekend after Labor Day, and today was the end of September, but the horses still had to be exercised on Saturday and Sunday now that Jen and Bobby were back at school during the week. Nevertheless, Therese was surprised to see Jen and Bobby riding even though Pete was missing. He wasn’t missing, of course, for Therese saw him, still in the form of a golden retriever, sitting forlornly by the pasture gate licking his wound and waiting for Jen to return. Therese entered the house under the
helm of invisibility to find Mrs. Holt on the phone, a pen and a cigarette in each hand, and a list of nearby hospitals written on a pad at her elbow. All but three were crossed out.

“Can I leave my number in case he’s there and you just don’t know it?” Mrs. Holt said into the phone.

Therese watched on, feeling terrible, as Mrs. Holt relayed her contact information to the woman on the other end. Mrs. Holt then hung up, sucked at her cigarette, and ran her hand through her gray-blonde, bowl-cut hair.

“Maybe I should try Therese again.” She punched the numbers on her phone. “Maybe this time someone will answer.”

What? Therese pulled at her hands, trying to think of what to do. If Mrs. Holt called her aunt and uncle, they would know she was missing and become concerned. What to do? What to do?

“Hello, Carol?” Mrs. Holt said. “I’m sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if I could speak with Therese.”

Therese stepped outside through the exterior wall, removed her helmet, and knocked on the back door before entering. “Mrs. Holt? Jen asked me to…oh, sorry. Didn’t know you were on the phone.”

“Never mind, Carol.
Therese is here. Sorry. Yeah, I didn’t realize. Thanks anyway. I’ll tell her.” She hung up the phone and looked at Therese. “Thanks for all the work you did for us in the barn and with the horses this morning. That must have taken you hours.”

“Not really.”

“I didn’t realize you were still here. I’m going crazy trying to find Pete. What hospital did the ambulance take him to?”

“Um, gosh, they didn’t say. But I bet he’s left by now. The cut wasn’t
that
bad. I think the blood just freaked us all out. You know Jen.”

“I’ve called a dozen different places and none of them claim to have seen him. And he’s not answering his cell phone.”

Therese knew the longer she went without the helm, the more vulnerable she’d be to Ares finding her.

“What’s that in your hand?” Mrs. Holt asked.

“Oh, um, this?” What could she say? “This is part of a costume, for larping. You know, live action role play? Heard of it?”

Mrs. Holt shook her head and stood from the kitchen chair. “No, but I better get to work. Maybe you’re right and Pete called a friend to come get him. Maybe he’s milking his wound to get out of working today.”

“Maybe.” She headed for the back door. “Listen, would you mind if the golden retriever hangs out here for a while until I find him a home? Pretty please?”

“Oh, sure.
One more animal won’t make a difference on this ranch. I like him. He’s fond of Jen, isn’t he? Maybe we’ll keep him.”

Great.
Therese gave Mrs. Holt a forced smile. “Well, I have to um, join Jen.” She needed Mrs. Holt to think she was hanging out at their ranch in case Carol called.

“Sure thing.”
Then she added, “Didn’t you say Jen wanted you to tell me something?”

“Oh.” Therese stopped at the back door, hand on the knob. “I can’t remember what it was. Sorry.” She bolted out, put on the helmet, and ran back to her own house, to the woods behind it.

Once she caught her breath, she reached out her consciousness to sense the beings inhabiting the national forest up the mountain. “Than?” she felt him nearby.

“Where are you?” he prayed.

“In the forest. Where are you?”

“What a relief!
In your room. I can’t sense you.”

“I’m wearing your father’s helm.” She jogged down the path toward her house.

“Really? He never lets anyone borrow it.”

“Meet me on the back deck.”

“Okay. But watch out for you uncle.”

“I see him.”

When she spotted Than, she threw her arms around his neck. “Thank God!”

He reached for her, but his arms moved through her. “I can’t feel you. I can’t sense you at all. I can only hear your prayer.”

She removed the helm for just a moment and pressed her lips to his. They both remained invisible to mortal eyes, their words inaudible to mortal ears, which was necessary since her uncle was typing on his laptop less than twenty feet away.

“Mmm. Thank goodness,” he moaned, pulling her close against him.

She kissed him back, but quickly returned the helm. “I’ve got to go.”

“Where?”

“Artemis’s quest. I promised her I’d keep it a secret. It’s the only way she’ll help me.”

“I don’t like this. Take me with you.”

“Goodbye, Than.” She backed away from him.

“Wait! Therese! Please! I want to protect you! Come back!”

She ran up the path despite his pleas for her to return, blocking his prayers as best she could as she wiped the tears from her cheeks and scrambled toward the top of the mountain, where she could sense the bears.

It felt cruel, leaving
Than like this, but she had no choice. Lynn’s life—and Pete’s—hung in the balance. For now, getting the apple from Artemis seemed her only hope of saving either of them. Than would understand, but that didn’t mean her heart wasn’t aching to have him by her side.

It wasn’t long before she saw them—a mother and two cubs. The cubs were walking toward her across a log ten yards away while the mother looked warily from the mouth of a cave partially shrouded by chokecherry bushes. The mother lifted her black head and snorted.

Although Therese was a god and completely invisible, old habit made her tremble with mortal fear. She slowly backed away.

The mother bear took three strides from her den and called to her cubs, as though she sensed Therese’s presence.

The cubs were older, and would probably go on their own in the spring, but Therese needed a bear that could leave now. This mother bear was not for her. She turned and ran around to the other side of the mountain.

She sensed other mothers with their cubs and a few solitary males, but none she thought would be willing to spend eternity in the sky. She kept searching, feeling frantic and foolish. What was she thinking, running around the mountainside? Was she crazy?

The warm scent of pine lingered in the forest air as the gray clouds gathered above for their typical afternoon shower. Birds sang or cried. Chipmunks jumped from tree to tree.

Further up the mountain, she sensed an old female bear, alone, fishing in the spring that fed into the Holts’ pasture miles below. Less agile, less quick, and with patches of fur missing along her back and flanks, this bear was exactly what Therese was looking for.

“Hello!” Therese called out to her from ten feet away.

The bear turned in Therese’s direction, and, seeing and hearing nothing, resumed her fishing in the stream.

“How would you like to live forever?”

The bear moaned something incoherent and trudged further up the stream.

As Therese was about to speak again, the old bear growled and ran toward a young female fishing several yards away.

“My territory!” the old bear roared.

“Huh?” came a snort of surprise from the younger female. When she saw the old bear running toward her, she wailed, “Wait! My mother drove me away. I have no place to go!”

The old bear hurled herself at the younger. “Leave!”

A cacophony of growling followed, along with threatening looks and gestures from both bears. Therese stood still, wondering how she could grab the old bear and carry her off.

Before Therese could intervene, the older bear struck the younger, and as the two bears fell against the banks of the stream, Therese heard the snap of the brittle spine of the old female, and then its body lay limp on the wet rocks.

“No!” If only Therese had been quicker. She ran to the side of the unmoving bulk on the bank as the younger bear moved away, downstream. Therese lifted the old bear’s head and gently stroked its mouth as it panted and moaned. “You’re alive. I may be able to save you. Tell me, old bear. Do you want to live forever in the sky?”

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Dione Revisited

While Meg and Tizzie escorted the two demigods to Erebus,
Than communicated his new knowledge to Athena and Hephaestus, who’d been flying above the seas combing their depths for the lost girdle. He also shared Dione’s earlier deception and his bewilderment over her motive. The three gods met on the northern shore of Turkey, at the banks of the Black Sea, where Than last spoke to the deceitful Oceanid.

“Therese escaped,” Than said.
“I just spoke to her. But until we find that girdle, I fear for her safety.”

“Surely she’s safe in the Underworld,” said Athena.

Than frowned. “She’s off on a quest for Artemis, hoping to save her sister’s life.”

“Honorable but foolish under these circumstances.”
Hephaestus scooped up a handful of sand and carefully sifted through it.

“Hades gave her his helm.” Than turned to face the breeze off the water. It felt good after so much stress, but there was no time to rest.

Athena arched a brow. “He must like her a great deal.”

“I sense Dione nearby.” Hephaestus clapped his hands together to clean them of sand. “I think I know why she deceived you.”

“Is that so, Hephaestus?” Dione’s silver hair and eyes shimmered in the foam clinging to the rocks at their feet.