The Gatekeeper's House (17 page)

In his father’s chambers, Hypnos turned
to his parents. “Wait! I have a message!”

Back in the Fields of Elysium, he put
his hand on the shoulder of old Odysseus and asked, “What does she
say?”

Odysseus bowed and said, “She and
Thanatos, along with Hecate’s familiars, have been taken to a cave
beneath the highest mountain on the island of Crete.”

Hypnos thanked the old demigod and
again, turned to his parents with a joyous grin. “I know where
Thanatos is!”

Cybele smiled when Hip conveyed the
news from Odysseus.

“
Metis must have withdrawn
from counseling Zeus,” Cybele said. “Perhaps, even in his belly,
she’s aware of Athena’s abduction.”

“
What leads you to this
conclusion?” Hades asked.

“
Zeus has imprisoned
Thanatos and the others in his infant home, forgetting about the
close proximity of my Curetes,” Cybele explained.

“
I’m not familiar with your
Curetes,” Hip said.

“
My dancing warriors,”
Cybele replied. “When Rhea hid Zeus in the cave of Mount Ida, my
Curetes crashed their shields together to drown out the sound of
Zeus’s cries, so Kronos would suspect nothing. The Curetes live
near that mountain still.”

“
Can they help us?”
Persephone leaned toward Cybele with a hopeful
expression.

“
Of course,” Cybele replied.
“But first, we need a plan.”

***

Jen’s mother came to check on Jen once
more before turning in for the night.

“
You sure you’re okay, baby
girl?” her mother asked. “You still look as white as a
ghost.”

Her mother’s choice of words sent a
shiver down Jen’s spine. “I’ll be alright. I just need some rest.”
She felt chilled from her time in the snowy mountains.

“
I wish I would have known
you were up here all this time. I was worried sick. Thought you’d
gone off with Hip.”

“
I’m sorry. I did go for a
walk with him, but then I started feeling worse, so I came up to
bed,” Jen lied. She couldn’t very well tell her the
truth.

“
I hope you feel better,
baby girl.”

“
Thanks, mom.”

“
Good night then.” Her
mother leaned over and kissed Jen’s forehead. “Sweet
dreams.”

When her bedroom door clicked shut, Jen
closed her eyes, hoping to find Hip. She couldn’t believe all that
had happened that day—being told Hip was a god, being taken to his
Underworld home, then being kidnapped by a grotesque and evil
monster, freezing in a mountain cave, and then almost plummeting to
her death. Than had caught her just as she was about to hit the
ground and long after she had peed in her pants. A hot shower still
hadn’t warmed her back up after so many hours in the snow. Nor did
she feel confident that she hadn’t lost her mind. Maybe none of it
was real and she’d finally gone off the deep end after years of
trying to hold it all together.

“
Please, Hip,” she
whispered.

“
Don’t freak out,” a voice
came close beside her.

She opened her eyes in a flash and lay
still, like a statue.

“
It’s me, Hip.”

She sat up so fast, she made her head
hurt. Both hands rushed to her skull and held it until the spinning
stopped.

“
Are you okay?” He took
several steps back.

“
No. What the heck happened
today? I’m so confused! Is Therese okay?”

“
I can’t stay long,” he
said. “I’ve taken my brother’s place as the god of death, and my
presence is a danger to you. I just wanted to tell you…I’m sorry I
got you mixed up in my problems.”

“
You can’t stay?” She hadn’t
heard much except that he had to go.

“
I’ll be back as soon as I
can. But can you tell me if Cubie and Galin are still with the
Malevolent?”

“
Yes. She’s got them tied
up. And Therese, too. What’s she going to do with them?”

“
Let me worry about that.”
He moved closer and gave her a quick kiss before backing to the
edge of the room.

Jen felt herself growing weak and short
of breath.

“
I’ll be back,” Hip said
just before he vanished.

***

Therese was shocked when shortly after
the two nymphs had lectured her about the sacredness of their dank
cave, a man with a bee hive in his hands and a swarm of bees around
his armored head entered the cave and addressed them angrily. He
wore armor on his chest but nothing more than a loin cloth on the
lower half of his body, as if he’d forgotten to finish
dressing.

“
Ida and Andrasteia!” the
man roared.

“
Father?” they replied in
unison.

“
Come with me, now!” he
shouted, his voice echoing throughout the cave.

A single bat fluttered past Therese and
flew into the light.

“
But the prisoners!” the one
called Andrasteia objected.

“
They are not your concern!”
he commanded. “You’re in danger here. Now, come!”

“
What of our goat?” Ida
asked.

“
Leave her and come!” he
said before he vanished.

The two nymphs gave Therese a
suspicious glare and then disappeared.

“
I wonder what that was
about,” Cubie said when she was left alone with her fellow
captives.

“
I wish I knew.” Therese lay
on her side and rolled across the dirty cavern floor, around the
edge of the pool, and to the back side of the cave where Than lay
motionless near the water. Dragging herself by the elbows, she
maneuvered herself to his side and put her face near
his.

“
Than? Can you hear
me?”

She longed to touch him, but her wrists
and ankles remained bound, and the leather straps were
unyielding.

“
Is he breathing?” Galin
asked.

“
I can’t tell,” Therese
replied. “I think I see a slight movement in his chest, but it
could be my own wishful thinking. Oh, Than!”

Squirming and scooting into position,
she put her head against his chest and listened. “I hear a
heartbeat! It’s faint, but there!”

“
Thank goodness,” Cubie
said.

“
Keep trying to wake him,”
Galin suggested.

“
I will,” Therese said. “Can
you reach out to Hecate and tell her where we are? I swore an oath
to tell no one, but maybe you can.”

“
I’ve been trying,” Galin
said. “But the Malevolent made us drink something when she first
captured us, and I think it was a blocking potion.”

“
I think so, too,” Cubie
said. “She’s cut our abilities to communicate, or we would have
been rescued by now.”

Therese pressed her lips to Than’s
cheek, which was clammy and cool, but not deathly cold.

“
Than, baby, wake
up.”

She kissed him on the lips, again and
again and, when he didn’t respond, nestled her face against his,
praying to him about how much she loved him and wanted to be with
him.

As Therese lay beside Than, she
regretted having ever postponed their wedding, They could be united
in marriage by now, a complete family. She had allowed her foolish
fears of infidelity among the gods to cloud her judgment. She
should have never doubted Than’s love for her.

The goat that had been left behind by
the two nymphs brayed a complaint. Apparently it was time for her
to be milked, and her teats were full and uncomfortable. This gave
Therese an idea.

“
I can help you feel
better,” Therese said to the goat. “Come here.”

The goat hesitated, but then took a few
steps in Therese’s direction.

“
Come closer to me, and I
will drink from your teats and relieve the pressure for you,”
Therese said gently.

The goat, apparently desperate,
positioned herself over Therese and allowed Therese to drink her
milk. Although it felt strange to suckle the soft fuzzy teats of
the goat, the milk was warm, sweet, and delicious. Therese took
some in her mouth and then pulled away to drizzle it onto Than’s
parched lips.

When Than didn’t react, she tried once
more, instructing the goat to go to Cubie and Galin and let them
drink.

“
Do I really have to drink
from a goat?” Cubie asked. “It feels awkward, with my being a
Doberman and all.”

“
If we help her, she might
help us,” Galin said.

While the others drank from the goat,
Therese drizzled more of the milk across Than’s lips. At first the
milk dripped along the sides of his chin and there was no reaction
from him, but after a few moments, just as she was about to give
up, she saw his tongue move across his lips and lick up the milk.
Encouraged by this, Therese allowed more of the milk to drip from
her mouth into his and was relieved to see him drink. He blinked
and opened his eyes.

“
Than?” she asked with her
face near his. “Can you hear me?”

He blinked again and
groaned.
I can’t move
, he replied through prayer.

She asked the she-goat to
return to her so Therese could suckle more milk for Than. When her
mouth was full of milk, she prayed,
Drink
this
.

He swallowed the milk she passed to
him. She was so happy, that as soon as her mouth was empty of milk,
she pressed her lips to his.

“
Oh, Than! I’m so relieved
you’re awake. Are you in pain?”

Just sore and immobile. How
long have I been out?

I don’t know. Maybe an hour
or two?

“
He’s awake?” Cubie asked
from across the cave.

“
Can he speak?” Galin
asked.

“
He’s awake but paralyzed,”
Therese explained. “I think the goat’s milk is helping
him.”

Therese reached behind her shoulder
with her chin and grabbed an arrow from her quiver with her teeth.
Then she pierced the goat’s heart, to insure the goat would remain
loyal to them once she had emptied her milk.

“
Can you eat away the
leather on my wrists?” Therese asked the goat.

Chapter Fifteen: The Old
Man of the Sea

At the same time Hip was informing his
parents of Odysseus’s information about Than and Therese and a plan
was being hatched to save Thanatos and the others from the
Malevolent, a disintegrated Hip rode beside Apollo and his sisters
in Apollo’s shining chariot from a chasm in the Far East. Together
they soared high above the clouds and traveled beside Helios, the
sun god, who flew around the earth every day in his golden cup.
They did this to disguise their flight from Zeus and his spies.
Because they dared not go any faster than Helios, it took twelve
hours for them to reach the Ionian Sea, west of the mainland of
Greece, where the Old Man of the Sea and his wife, Keto,
dwelled.

Like a falling star, Hip and his fellow
passengers soared from the sky toward the island of Ithaca, led by
Apollo’s three flaming mares, and plunged into the sea, barely
missing a retinue of thunderbolts. Once underwater, they prepared
to defend themselves from attacks by Poseidon and his
beasts.

The fire of Apollo’s horses shined
brightly beneath the surface, and together with the golden chariot
and the five gods, they created an underwater spotlight for miles
and miles, unsettling the creatures of the sea.

“
You’re sure this is the
way?” Hip asked Apollo.

“
I know where Phorcys and
Keto live,” Apollo replied.

“
I mean storming into the
sea, bright and obvious rather than incognito.”

“
We can’t hide from
Poseidon, so we may as well be aggressive and fearsome in our
approach.”

That made sense to Hip, but it didn’t
make him feel any more confident.

Sure enough, as the chariot sped past
an underwater volcano, a great beast leapt from it like black lava
and hurled itself at the five gods.

“
It’s a giant octopus!” Meg
cried.

Hip grit his teeth and conjured his
weapon.

All five of them lifted their blades
defensively as the beast descended. Hip prayed to the Old Man of
the Sea to come to their rescue. He also reached out to Pasithea,
his old fiancé, and pleaded with her to come and calm the beast.
She appeared but seemed to have no effect on the sea monster’s
mood, so Hip sent her home.

Alecto swam from the chariot toward the
beast with her sword outstretched. Her serpent uncoiled itself from
her neck and opened his mouth to strike.

Go on without me,
Alecto insisted.
I’ll
distract the beast as best I can.

In spite of Alecto’s command, Meg and
Tizzie followed their sister into the manifold of enormous black
tentacles swinging wildly at them. Hip made to follow them, too,
but Apollo stopped him.