The Gatekeeper's House (21 page)

“
Athena threatened our
king,” Hermes said. “What would you do if someone threatened your
father and lord?”

“
Your father swallowed her
mother,” Than replied. “She’s not threatening Zeus’s life. She just
wants a chance to know her mother.”

“
There’s only one way to get
Metis out,” Hermes said.

“
Zeus recovered once
before.” Than swung his legs from the bed and put both feet on the
floor so that he sat square to Hermes.

“
Times were different
then.”

Than stood up, anger coursing through
him. “Your father is the one who attacked us, Hermes. Have you
forgotten? Do you know what we’ve been through these past weeks? I
almost lost Therese to the Malevolent!”

Hermes crossed one leg over the other
and examined his fingernails as though he hadn’t registered Than’s
words. Was he not taking Than seriously?

Hermes said, “That was an accident.
Zeus expected everyone to god travel out.”

“
I had to save my animals,”
Therese said from behind Than. “I couldn’t just leave them here to
die.”

“
They would have revived,”
Hermes said. “All of your animals are immortal, are they
not?”

“
With the Malevolent about,”
Than interjected, “there was no guarantee.”

“
We sent Ares and Aphrodite
to help rebind the souls,” Hermes said. “The souls were never meant
to be in any real danger.”

“
What?” Therese exclaimed.
“Aphrodite…”

“
Are you saying Aphrodite
and Ares were in league against us as well?” Than asked.

“
No,” Hermes replied. “They
had no knowledge then. Everything got out of hand. If Cybele hadn’t
betrayed Zeus, we’d all be at peace by now.”

“
That’s doubtful,” Than
said.

Hermes softened his voice. “Look, this
was supposed to be a quick and easy fix to a nagging problem. Zeus
was going to get Athena turned to stone, anoint her with the
forgetting potion from Cybele, and then turn her back to normal.
The potion was designed to make Athena forget everything that had
happened before her birth, leaving her with no knowledge of her
mother. Nobody was meant to get hurt. My father knew Hades could
restore his kingdom.”

“
And what about the promise
he made to Melinoe?” Therese asked. “She was promised to rule the
Underworld.”

“
Zeus never swore on the
River Styx. She was to be the one casualty in all of
this.”

“
What do you mean by
‘casualty’?” Than asked.

“
Zeus was going to frame the
Malevolent for the attack on Hades and condemn her to Tartarus,”
Hermes said.

Than turned and met Therese’s eyes. He
knew exactly what she was thinking. Poor Melinoe. And Than had to
agree. Zeus had been willing to sacrifice the quality of life of
one of his daughters to get another daughter off his back. One
daughter might be a tormentor of mortals and the other a vessel of
wisdom and peace, but the first might have been different had she
not been injured in the womb and misused by her own
father.

When Than turned back to face Hermes,
Hermes said, “So you see, this talk of war is unnecessary. Tell
your father to withdraw your plans to rescue Athena and let Zeus
deal with her. He promises to make things up to you and to Hades
and to everyone who dwells here. And he will find a way to
reconcile with Athena as well. Turn over Cybele, condemn the
Malevolent to Tartarus, and abandon your rescue mission, and peace
shall be restored.”

Than was speechless. Anger simmered
within him, but he had no words to describe how he felt.

Hermes said, “Please deliver that
message to your father,” and then he left.

***

Jen was surprised that afternoon when,
after lunch, as she and her family entered the barn to do the
chores they’d missed that morning, Hip was already there, brushing
Hershey.

“
There you are,” he said. “I
wondered where you were.”

Jen arched a brow. So this was his
plan? To pretend nothing had happened?

“
We had a bizarre night,”
Pete explained.

“
You wouldn’t believe it if
we tried to describe it,” Bobby added. “We think it happened on
account of our father passing away during the night. Maybe somehow
we all felt it, and it gave us this super crazy
nightmare.”

“
I’m sorry for your loss,”
Hip said. “I can finish up here, if you all want to take a day’s
rest.”

Jen blinked back tears. She wasn’t sure
why his kindness made her feel more vulnerable.

“
Working with the horses
helps us,” Mrs. Holt said. “But thank you kindly for your
offer.”

“
It’s therapeutic,” Jen
added, taking her brush to Satellite.

“
As a matter of fact, Hip,”
Mrs. Holt said, “I hate to say it, but now that the trail rides are
over, and I have a funeral to pay for, I can’t afford to keep you
on.”

“
I don’t need payment. When
I asked if I could help, I intended to be a volunteer
worker.

Jen’s mouth fell open. He had never
meant to get paid?

Mrs. Holt gave him a look of
astonishment. “Why ever would you do that?”

“
It’s therapeutic,” he
replied with a wink at Jen.

“
Mighty thanks,” Mrs. Holt
said, looking from Jen to Hip with understanding. “We can always
use an extra hand for however long you’re in town.”

Jen felt the heat rush to her face.
Evidently, her mother suspected Hip was interested in Jen. Sure he
liked her…but enough to volunteer on their horse ranch just to get
to know her?

Despite their smiles and expression of
gratitude, none of the Holts were in the mood to talk, so it was
quieter than usual in the barn that afternoon. Jen stole
surreptitious glances at Hip as they worked on the horses and
turned them out, still unable to believe that she had attracted the
attention of a god. After the last horse had been turned out, Hip
came up beside her.

“
Wanna walk me to the Melner
Cabin? I’ll give you a ride back,” he said.

She shrugged, even though her heartbeat
had dramatically increased. “Sure.”

As they walked down the gravelly drive,
Hip took her hand and held it. “I’m so sorry, Jen. For
everything.”

“
Are you saying it wasn’t
all one big fat nightmare?”

He led her across the dirt road to the
reservoir. The sun sat above the mountains on the other side of the
lake and would be setting in another few hours. “What do you
think?” he finally asked.

“
Is she gonna come back? The
Malevolent?”

He stopped and put his hands on her
shoulders, sending waves of heat through her body. “I promise I
won’t let anything like that ever happen to you or to your family
again. I will personally come to your house every night to make
sure you all get a good night’s sleep. The only way the Malevolent
can torment you is if you’re awake. If you’re asleep, and she
comes, she can’t do anything to you.” He cupped her face. “I
promise, Jen. Do you hear me? Will you forgive me? Please say you
will.”

Before she could answer, he kissed her,
and she closed her eyes and kissed him back.

***

His father had been summoning Hip for
over an hour, but Hip did not want to leave his mortal form until
he’d had a chance to pour his heart out to Jen. When she returned
his kisses and wrapped her arms around his neck, he felt his body
might catch fire from the physical sensations. Never in his ancient
life had he ever kissed a mortal in the above world quite like
that. He ached for more, but she was only eighteen, and he couldn’t
bear to hurt her any more than he had already.

He lifted his face from hers and waited
for her to open her eyes.

“
What is it?” she
asked.

He traced his thumbs along her cheek
bones and said, “I have to go.”

“
Now?”

“
Hopefully, I’ll be back in
the morning, but I’m not sure.”

“
Why?” She took a step back.
“Have you come to say goodbye?”

He wrapped his arms around her waist
and pressed her against him. “No. My father needs me. Look for me
in your dreams tonight, and I’ll return in my mortal form as soon
as possible. I promise.”

He kissed her again, but this time, he
sensed hesitation and fear in Jen’s return kisses, and he wished,
for the first time in his life, that he could be a regular mortal
with the responsibilities of an average man.

***

When Hermes vanished from their
bedroom, Therese sat on the bed behind Than utterly bewildered by
the message Hermes had just related to them. Her heart beat rapidly
and she was at a loss for words. Over and over, she thought to
herself, “This can’t be happening.” At some point, she said it out
loud. “This can’t be happening.”

“
I’m relaying the message to
my father and the others now,” Than said, stroking her hair.
“They’ll know what to do.”

“
Wait!” She jumped from the
bed. “Don’t leave me out of this. I want to be a part of the
decision. I’m a god, too, you know.”

“
Don’t god travel,” Than
warned.

“
I know, that, Than,” she
said with a huff. “You don’t have to tell me.”

She scrambled through the rooms and
down the corridor with Than on her heels.

“
You don’t have to follow
me, you know,” she shouted without looking back. “You’re already
there, for god’s sake.”

“
Are you angry with
me?”

“
No, but sometimes I feel
you don’t have much faith in my knowledge and abilities.” She
hastened around the corner near the Lethe.

“
You’ve only been a god for
two years. I’ve been one for centuries. I’m trying to
help.”

“
Don’t I get a vote in this
decision?” she asked, slowing for a tight squeeze where the
corridor narrowed. “Your father said he was democratic in his rule
down here. Doesn’t my voice count?”

She felt him at her elbows. “Of course,
but you couldn’t be in two places at once, and I, I…”

The corridor widened again, but as she
started to run, Than grabbed her arm and brought her to a
halt.

“
Thanatos!” she cried in
frustration. “Come on.”

He pulled her into his arms and pressed
her against the stone wall, reminding her of the way he had pinned
her against the wooden door of his chambers not more than a half
hour ago—except this time, they were panting from their run, and
they both glistened with sweat.

“
I’m sorry, Therese,” he
said with his lips close to hers. “I didn’t mean to leave you out
of any important decision-making among the gods. And just now, I
alerted the others that you are on your way. I’ve made it clear
that we should wait for you before any further
discussion.”

“
And are they waiting?” she
asked, unable to believe Hades would wait for anyone, not to
mention her.

“
As a matter of fact, they
are. Hades thought it might be a good time to feed everyone. They
haven’t eaten in almost a week.”

“
Oh.” She lifted her brows
and then sighed, her breathing gradually returning to normal.
“Thank you.”

“
So you see, I didn’t take
you to my rooms because I wanted to exclude you,” Than said,
pressing his body up against hers. “I took you there, because I
wanted to do this.”

He covered her mouth with his, and she
smiled against his lips. He smiled, too, and met her eyes with a
wink.

“
I’m sorry I got so
frustrated,” she whispered.

“
Ssh. It’s okay.” He moved
his big hands from her shoulders down the length of her arms and
squeezed her hands. “You were right. You should be there. I, um,
got distracted.” His face broke into another grin.

Chapter Nineteen: The
Underworld Council

Therese slipped inside the meeting
already in progress among the other gods, though at the moment they
ate ambrosia and drank wine and spoke of trivial matters around a
table that had been placed in the center of their ring. Thanatos
had escorted her through his parent’s foyer and into the sitting
room, but then integrated into the place where he had already been
sitting beside Hypnos. Than pulled a chair from the back of the
room and brought it beside his own for Therese. She gave him a
grateful smile and joined the party.

In addition to Thanatos and Hypnos and
their sisters—the Furies—and their mother and father were Hecate
and Apollo. Cybele was no longer among them, and Therese wondered
why.

“
Welcome, Therese,” Hades
said as she took her seat.

“
Thank you, Lord Hades,” she
said. Her earlier feelings of outrage at having been excluded had
dissipated into humility. No one had set out to exclude her, so
there was no reason to complain.

Persephone scooped ambrosia into a bowl
and passed it around the table to Therese. Hecate passed her a
cup.