The Gatekeeper's House (19 page)

Just then an enormous monster with six
long necks and grisly heads and twelve long, dangling legs, emerged
from a large corridor yelping like a dog. Apollo released a silver
arrow right into one of Scylla’s eyes, which bought them more time
as Hip and Apollo dropped their bags of rocks and swam at their top
speed out of the crude castle to the chariot. Outside of the
palace, the Furies were a few yards away swimming toward
them.

“
Retreat!” Apollo
shouted.

The god of truth whipped up the reins
of his blazing chariot and picked up the Furies on his way up to
the surface, with Scylla shrieking at their heels.

Once they emerged from the sea, it
wasn’t long before a deluge of thunderbolts poured from the clouds.
Apollo maneuvered the chariot side to side, to avoid getting hit,
but one struck the middle mare, and she floundered. Dragged by the
two outside mares, the chariot dove into the nearest chasm into the
Underworld where all five gods sighed with relief.

“
Well, that was a colossal
waste of time,” Apollo noted.

It was at precisely that moment that
Hip heard the distress prayer coming from Jen, and also the exact
moment that Hades and Cybele finalized their plan for saving
Thanatos and the others.

Chapter Sixteen: Rescue
Missions

Out of love for Therese, the goat left
behind by Ida and her sister broke through the magically warded
leather straps around Therese’s wrists, which enabled her to
conjure her sword and cut through the leather around her ankles.
After freeing herself, Therese rushed across the cave to release
Cubie and Galin. Cubie licked Therese’s cheek with thanks, and
Galin leapt into Therese’s arms with joy. Then the three of them
went to Than’s side.

“
Oh, baby, can you hear me?”
Therese asked, gently shaking him. When he didn’t respond, she
turned to her companions. “I suppose I’ll have to carry him
out.”

“
Wait,” Cubie said. “I doubt
we can fly out of this cave without notice. Don’t you think we need
a plan? We might
all
end up paralyzed otherwise.”

Therese slumped her shoulders as she
plopped onto the ground beside Than and the pool. “I swore an oath
on the River Styx to tell no one. Since Odysseus once went by the
name of ‘No one,’ I took a chance and reached out to him. I know he
heard me, but I can’t sense anyone outside of this cave. It’s like
there’s a block around us. I don’t know if he gave Hades and
Persephone my message.”

Galin leapt into her arms again and
said, “You’re a genius, Therese! I never would have thought of that
loophole.”

“
Hades may be coming up with
a rescue plan as we speak,” Cubie added. “Good thinking,
Therese!”

“
Well, we can’t just sit
here and do nothing,” Therese said. “You two stay here with Than,
and I’m going to poke my head outside.”

“
No,” Galin objected. “We
should stay put and wait for help.”

“
I agree with Galin,” Cubie
said.

“
I won’t go far,” Therese
said. “I’ll just take a peek.”

***

“
I hope you understand why I
must take the precaution of keeping you here,” Hades said to
Cybele.

Hip studied the manly goddess, who only
nodded.

Hades continued. “If you mean to double
cross me, and I allow you to go on this mission, I would
essentially be handing my kingdom over to Zeus on a
platter.”

“
I understand perfectly,
Lord Hades,” Cybele said.

Hades crossed the room to Hip. “I will
remain behind to guard the Underworld from possible attack. You
must lead the others to the cave at Crete.”

Hip glanced at Apollo. Why should Hip
be in charge of this mission when Apollo outranked him? Especially
when, unlike the others, Hip was in hundreds of thousands of places
at once?

As if he had read Hip’s mind, Hades
placed his hand on his son’s shoulder and added, “Apollo will
attempt to block Zeus’s attacks from Mount Olympus. The Furies will
aid you in the capture of the Malevolent, and Hecate and Persephone
will accompany you to Crete. Are you ready, son?”

Hip looked around at the other gods and
goddesses, and then returned his gaze to his father. “I’m
ready.”

***

Therese crept toward the opening of the
cave beneath Mount Ida, the whole while wishing she could solicit
the aid of Asterion and Ariadne. The palace ruins at Knossos were
only a short flight to the north, and the siblings could be there
to help her in no time. On the other hand, she worried she’d put
them in danger. Plus, the Olympian court might hold her accountable
to the oath she swore on the River Styx. Asterion and Ariadne were
certainly not “No one.”

The predawn sky outside the cave looked
innocent enough. She shielded her eyes and took a cautious step
into the dim light. So far so good. She glanced back into the cave
at her two furry friends and the goat, who watched her beside Than
with worried faces. She turned back to the sky to see Helios in his
golden cup preparing to rise.

Then several things happened all at
once. A loud clanging echoed from the mountain top and the sun
seemed to explode and fall from the sky. Therese held her breath,
unable to move from the spot at the cave entrance as she watched
the scene unfold. Her sharp goddess eyes soon discerned the source
of the loud crashing sound: nine warrior spirits dressed just like
Ida’s father—with helmets and chest armor from the waist up and
loin cloths on their lower bodies—paraded over the mountain peak
and danced in a chorus toward her as they smashed together their
heavy shields. Ida’s father, whom she recognized by the swarm of
bees around his head, led the group. Therese feared he was on his
way to finish what his two daughters had started, but before she
retreated back into the cave to prepare herself for battle, she
caught sight of Apollo’s chariot of fire descending beside the
dancing men, and at the reins was Hip!

***

Jen watched in horror as the Malevolent
poked her misshapen head around the mattress and cried,
“Boo!”

All four Holts screamed in terror. The
mattress was pulled away, and an entourage of ghosts, all visible
to Jen and apparently to the rest of her family, surrounded them.
The Holts held onto one another, shouting their cries. Bobby threw
bottles of shampoo and conditioner at them, but he stopped when the
Malevolent emerged once again in the center of the ghoulish ring
with someone they knew entwined in her leather whip.

“
Daddy?” Bobby said in a
voice so soft that Jen had barely heard him

“
Look who I grabbed before
Death could!” the Malevolent screeched.

“
It’s not real, Bobby!” Pete
said, though the expression on his face said otherwise.

“
Daddy!” Bobby said again,
louder, in a voice that cracked. “What’s happening?”

Jen couldn’t speak as she gaped in
horror.

“
I-I don’t know,” their
father’s spirit replied with a look of fear on his face.

Then the Malevolent tightened the whip
around his throat and shouted something in a language Jen didn’t
recognize. The other spirits repeated the phrase and howled even
louder as Jen’s father’s ghostly eyes turned a demon red, his
translucent teeth grew into fangs, and the nails on his hands
became deadly claws.

“
What are you doing to him?”
Jen cried. “Stop it! Stop it!”

It was their father who replied in a
voice so loud that it rose above the howling of the motley crew:
“You thought you were rid of me, did you now, family of mine? Well,
now you can expect a visit every night! Just like the good old
days, right Jen?”

Pete wrapped a protective arm around
Jen, but she felt her entire body grow numb. The room started
spinning and she couldn’t breathe.

“
Harold!” Mrs. Holt
screamed. “Harold, are you really dead? How can you do this to
us?”

“
He cannot help himself,”
the Malevolent said in her eerily cheerful voice. “Where alcohol
controlled him in life, I control him in death. Hee, hee,
hee!”

“
You wish!” a young woman
with spiky red hair shouted as she came up behind and lopped off
the Malevolent’s head with her sword.

Jen closed her eyes for a moment, so
horrible was the sight of the severed neck looming before them. She
immediately opened them again, out of fear and
necessity.

Two more exotic-looking young women—one
with snakes in her hair (was that Tizzie?) and another with a
falcon on her shoulder (Meg?)—descended and chopped off each of the
Malevolent’s arms. The monster continued to shriek and howl—she
wasn’t dead! And her entourage of ghosts defended her against the
three women as the Holts helplessly looked on, screaming at the top
of their lungs, as if they were riding a runaway train.

In the middle of the chaos, a familiar
and welcome sight appeared. It was Hip!

***

Therese returned to the cave to tell
the others what she’d seen.

“
We have to get Than up and
ready to go!” she said.

The goat asked if she was coming, too,
and since Therese could never abandon an innocent animal, she said
the only thing she could say. “Yes.”

As Therese lifted the love of her life
into her arms with the help of her three animal friends, Hecate
rushed inside and shouted, “Hurry! This way!”

Persephone appeared, and together, they
helped Than and the goat into the blazing chariot before climbing
inside themselves. The warriors continued to dance and crash their
shields all around them, and Therese soon realized they were a
diversion and a cover for the rescue mission.

“
This will be the tricky
part,” Hip warned once they were all inside.

He eased the chariot up the mountain
with the dancing warriors singing and banging their shields all the
way to the peak.

“
Apollo is trying to divert
Zeus, but be prepared in case he fails,” Hip warned as they left
the mountain and the protection of the dancing warriors and
plunged, openly visible, into the morning sky over
Crete.

As they left the island, a huge wave
lifted from the sea and threatened to overtake the chariot. Therese
prayed to Asterion and Ariadne to help. Asterion said he would
distract Poseidon as best he could, but the wave did not subside.
Two giant claws reached from the water and latched onto the outside
flaming mares. Hecate leapt toward the crab and chopped off one of
the pincers with her sword. Persephone followed Hecate’s lead and
did the same on the other side. The injured mares faltered, but had
enough fight in them to leap past the sea and down toward the
Hydra’s hill, through the sinkhole of Lerna, and into the
Underworld.

Than lay unconscious as Hip pulled the
chariot to a halt. Apollo arrived to work his magic on Than and the
injured horses. At the same time, Cubie and Galin leapt into
Hecate’s arms and cried tears of joy.

Therese watched anxiously as Apollo
stretched Than out on the cold hard ground and placed his hands on
Than’s head and heart. Therese moved beside them, unable to prevent
herself from praying to Apollo.

Please help him, Apollo.
Please wake him up. Is he going to be okay? Will he be able to move
again?

Apollo didn’t reply as he focused on
his work.

Hip knelt beside Therese and gave her a
confident wink.

Than will be alright. He’s
in good hands.

Therese smiled gratefully at
Hip.

Persephone, Hecate, and the animals
circled around Than, and Therese could feel their prayers and
hopes, all of them willing Than to wake up.

After several minutes, one of Than’s
arms lifted, and he moved his hand to his chest. Then he bent each
leg, turning side to side, as if waking from a bad dream. Therese
covered her mouth and held her breath.

Persephone cried, “Wake up,
sweetheart!”

When Than opened his eyes and sat up,
Therese fell on him and cried like a baby.

He replied with a tender
kiss.

“
The party’s not over yet,”
Hip said.

***

Than felt his duties as god of the dead
transfer back to him, and he disintegrated into the thousands to
answer the call of the dying souls around the world. He was glad to
finally have Therese back in his arms, but it seemed their reunion
must be postponed.

“
The Furies and I need your
help with the Malevolent,” Hip informed them.

“
Where?” Than
asked.

“
The Holts’
place.”

Than and Therese exchanged worried
looks.

“
I’m already there with
Father’s chariot,” Hip said. “Than, you can disintegrate and
dispatch there immediately, but Therese, you should take Apollo’s
chariot, if Apollo will allow it.”

“
I’m glad to serve,” Apollo
replied.