The Gatekeeper's House (13 page)

Therese comforted Hecate while Apollo
revived the two Furies. Meg and Tizzie were able to sit up, and
after eating a handful of pomegranate seeds, were fully
recovered.

“
What kind of beast was
that?” Tizzie asked. “I’ve never seen one before today.”

“
A giant squid,” Hades
replied. “No doubt sent by my dear brother, Poseidon.”

“
Perhaps he meant only to
avenge the wrong we did to his son,” Than suggested.

Therese loved the fact that Than looked
for the good in everyone and assumed innocence until proven
otherwise.

“
Perhaps,” Hades said. “But
we should think on it more as we listen to what Cybele has to
say.”

Therese wondered how the prisoner
figured into the drama unfolding before her. She’d not heard much
about this goddess, except that she was sometimes prayed to by
mortals when they wanted to have a family. She’d also heard that
Cybele was born with both male and female parts and was somehow
castrated and made decidedly female. Than once said Cybele was like
Dionysus—a rebel god who lived on the fringe of the pantheon and
had little to do with the rest of the immortal world.

The gods and goddesses moved their
seats into a circle resembling the court at Mount Olympus. Therese
guessed this was how groups of deities discussed things. All of the
major gods of the Underworld were present except for the Fates and
Charon. Athena and Apollo had remained, too. Therese hoped they
would make saving Jen, Cubie, and Galin their top
priority.

Hades said, “I’ve asked Athena and
Apollo to stay and hear what Cybele has already told me. They have
sworn on the River Styx that they were not involved in the recent
strikes against us and have no more information than we do.
Cybele?”

Cybele’s curly black hair fell to her
shoulders, and although her eyes and nose were soft and feminine,
her chin, Adam’s apple, and voice were manly, making her overall
appearance to be that of a manly female. When she spoke, she looked
around the room at everyone, and not just at the most powerful
gods.

“
The attack on the
Underworld was a diversion,” Cybele began.

“
A diversion from what?”
Athena asked.

“
That was my question, too,”
Meg said.

“
You,” the manly goddess
said, pointing at Athena.

Therese gasped. Why would someone
strike the Underworld to get to Athena? That made no
sense.

The Furies turned to one another with
looks of confusion.

“
What do you mean?” Athena
asked. “What has it to do with me?”

“
For centuries, you have
asked Zeus to free your mother from his body,” Cybele said. “He
swallowed Metis while she was already pregnant with you, isn’t that
right?”

“
He’d heard a prophecy,”
Athena said. “Metis would have a son who would overthrow Zeus as
Zeus overthrew his father, Kronos.”

“
Inside Zeus’s belly, your
mother nurtured you and made your armor,” Cybele said.

Therese furled her brow and wondered
how that was possible. The gods amazed her more and more with their
powers, and she had to constantly remind herself that she was one
of them.

“
I wear it every day. It
reminds me of her. My memory is weak, though.” Athena frowned. “I
suppose Therese and Than have shown me that it’s possible to stand
up to Zeus for what you want, as long as you accept the
consequences. I admire them for that.”

Blood rushed to Therese’s cheeks. The
goddess of wisdom admired her? She shared a smile with Than, though
looking at him only reminded her of the pain she had caused
him.

“
I want my mother here with
me, but Zeus refuses to allow Hephaestus to break open his skull
again.”

“
It’s not the pain alone
Zeus fears,” Cybele said. “Your mother is believed by many to be
the source of Zeus’s wisdom. Without your mother inside his body,
he might become an incompetent king.”

Hades said, “Even if Zeus felt he could
free Metis without freeing her son—your brother—he wouldn’t do it
because he wants your mother’s wisdom for himself.”

Therese frowned at the level of
selfishness necessary to swallow a person whole and keep her inside
of you so you could benefit from her wisdom.

“
But every time I ask, he
seems more open to the possibility,” Athena said. “I’d begun to
hope that soon…”

“
He’ll never agree,” Cybele
said. “And rather than face you and tell you the truth, he wanted
you turned to stone.”

Athena gasped. “Me? His favorite
child?”

“
Cybele speaks the truth,”
Apollo put in.

“
Then why turn me to stone
as well?” Persephone asked.

“
You and Hestia were never
meant to look upon Medusa,” Cybele said. “And although Zeus
reversed the curse on his beloved servant, Hestia, he kept you
imprisoned in the stone, Lady Persephone, because he wanted to keep
the gods of the Underworld distracted. He needed to appease
Melinoe.”

“
The Malevolent?” Hip
asked.

“
But how?” Tizzie
cried.

“
Impossible!” Alecto
snapped.

“
How does Melinoe figure
into Zeus’s plans?” Persephone asked.

“
Yes, do tell us,” Hades
said. “You and I had not gotten to this part yet, and I am anxious
to know the answer to that question.”

“
Brace yourself,” Cybele
warned.

“
I’m listening,” Persephone
said.

Therese gripped the arm of her chair
with a sense of foreboding.

Cybele said, “Zeus is the real father
of Melinoe.”

“
How can that be?” Hades
roared, jumping from his seat and crossing to the center of the
circle. He looked to Apollo.

“
Cybele speaks no lie,”
Apollo said.

Therese flinched from the deafening
roar of the voice of Hades. She wanted to cup her hands to her ears
but feared making him angrier. Than and his siblings looked at one
another in horror.

“
I’ve never been
unfaithful!” Persephone cried, also standing.

The King and Queen of the Underworld
glared at one another in fear and horror.

“
Persephone speaks the truth
as well,” Apollo said.

Athena gawked. “How can they both be
telling the truth?”

“
Zeus deceived Persephone,”
Cybele explained. “He disguised himself as you, Lord
Hades.”

Persephone lifted her hand to her mouth
and closed her eyes. Hades took her into his arms and comforted
her, wearing obvious relief on his face.

Therese was glad when the tension
between Than’s parents was dissolved. She could read the same on
the faces of the others.

“
How do you know this?”
Apollo asked Cybele.

“
Zeus told me. I was
originally part of the plan to ruin the House of Hades.”

Hades spun around and bellowed, “What
did you say? You told me none of this before.” The voice of the
King of the Underworld thundered throughout the cavernous
room.

“
There was not time before,
Lord Hades.”

Therese sought Than’s eyes, which were
already trained on her. She wished he was beside her rather than
across the room.

I’m
frightened
, she said to him.

I’m sorry about all of
this
, he replied.

I love you, Than. I’ve
always loved you.

He closed his eyes.

I was afraid romantic love
could not withstand immortality
, she
explained.
But Aphrodite helped me to see I
was wrong. I’m so sorry.

Than opened his eyes and
lifted his head.
Are you saying you want to
marry me?

Yes
.
Therese gave him a subtle smile, and she saw the corners of his
mouth twitch, too.

The voice of Hades interrupted their
private exchange. “How does Zeus plan to ruin my house?”

“
He doesn’t,” Cybele
replied.

“
No riddles, please,” Athena
said.

Cybele shook her head. “No riddle. Zeus
never intended to bring down this house. He only wanted Melinoe to
believe it. He wanted me to believe it, too. His attack was meant
to create a diversion as he set Medusa and Sisyphus free. Zeus knew
Medusa’s first priority would be to reclaim her head from Athena’s
shield.”

“
So his only intention was
to turn me into stone?” Athena asked.

Therese glanced back at Than. Hip and
the Furies exchanged looks of shock as well. All of this to turn
Athena to stone? But why?

“
Only until he could give
you my forgetting formula, which I told him would make you forget
everything prior to your birth,” Cybele said. “He planned to return
you to your former state after anointing you with my
potion.”

Hades crossed the room and returned to
his seat, as did Persephone beside him.

“
She speaks the truth?”
Hades asked of Apollo.

Apollo nodded. “I sense no
deceit.”

“
So all Zeus wanted was to
get Athena off his back about her mother?” Hades
surmised.

Zeus had put them all in jeopardy to
maintain his power, Therese thought. She wondered if that made him
a good or a bad ruler. She supposed a good ruler needed to maintain
control, but at what cost?

“
Yes,” Cybele said. “But
there never was a forgetting potion. When Zeus came to me, asking
me if I could produce one, I told him yes, so I could expose him to
you and to Melinoe, who has been misused by Zeus for
centuries.”

Persephone stood up again. “Misused
how?”

“
After revealing himself as
her father, he told her that Hades tried to kill her while she was
in Persephone’s womb.”

Persephone’s mouth fell open and Hades
frowned.

“
I would never do such a
thing to my own child!” Hades said. “No wonder she despises
me.”

“
But Zeus would,” Cybele
said. “When Zeus realized he’d made Persephone conceive a child, he
tried to destroy it before it was fully formed, worried it would
resemble him and betray his deed to you and to his
queen.”

Persephone put her face in her hands
and began to weep.

“
Persephone awoke before
Zeus could carry out his plan,” Cybele continued.

“
Poor Melinoe!” Persephone
cried. “My poor child! Deformed by her own father!”

“
She may be poor, indeed,
Lady Persephone,” Cybele said, “but she believes her father Zeus to
be in league with her against you, and at this very moment she
plans to do everything in her power to bring down this
house.”

Therese shuddered.

“
Zeus told her that Hades
was responsible for her deformities,” Cybele continued. “And he
told me that Hades was responsible for mine.”

“
But that’s not true!” Hades
shouted.

“
I know,” Cybele assured
him. “I found the truth for myself, which is why I could no longer
help our lord. Just as Zeus was responsible for Melinoe’s
deformity, so, too, he was responsible for maiming me.”

“
But why?” Persephone
asked.

“
I can see his motivation
for wanting to destroy Melinoe to protect himself,” Hecate said.
“But why did he harm you?”

“
He was afraid that a god
that was both male and female would be more powerful than he,”
Cybele replied. “So Zeus ordered Dionysus to choose a gender for
me. The wine god’s sensibilities were apparently too delicate for
him to carry out the deed himself, so he waited until I was drunk
from his wine and sound asleep. Then he tied a cord from my manly
part to my ankle, so that when I got up…” Tears streamed down
Cybele’s cheeks.

Tears pricked Therese’s eyes and a
shiver worked its way down her spine. Poor Cybele. Zeus was a
monster.

“
I’m so sorry,” Hecate
said.

“
That’s terrible,”
Persephone added.

The other gods were silent for many
minutes until Apollo broke it.

“
What role does Sisyphus
play in Zeus’s scheme?”

“
I only know that the ghosts
of Sisyphus and Medusa were promised to Melinoe,” Cybele said. “And
I believe Zeus hopes to make her content with that in the end, once
she sees he will not hand over the Underworld.”

“
But why my Cubie and my
Galin?” Hecate asked.

“
And Jen,” Hip
added.

“
Melinoe believed she was
getting Therese and perhaps Hecate. I’m sure she’s furious at
having kidnapped a mortal, whom she will see as utterly useless to
her. She will likely kill the mortal girl and enslave her ghost as
part of her army.”

“
No!” Therese
cried.

“
An unfortunate casualty, to
be sure.” Hades said. “I’m sorry, children.”