The Gatekeeper's Promise: Gatekeeper's Saga, Book Six (The Gatekeeper's Saga 6) (14 page)

Jen’s
tears flowed down her face. She became a mess in her mother’s arms as she recalled the days when she first realized what her daddy was doing was bad. And she became so ashamed. She was so ashamed that she didn’t dare tell anyone. That’s when she started asking him to stop. And he did, for a little while.

But then, his drinking got worse, and, oh! She wanted her mother. She needed her mother. But she was too afraid her mother would hate her if she knew.

“Thank you, Mom,” she said now, through her tears. “I’m sorry, too. I’m so sorry I never told you.”

“You have nothing to be sorry about, sweet girl. This is all on your dad and me. You are a good girl. A sweet girl. You are my precious girl.
You understand?” Her mother lifted Jen’s chin.

Jen managed to nod.

“I have always loved you, baby doll, and that will never change.”

Jen took a deep breath, and when she let it out, it felt like it went on forever.

They decided not to try another store that day. Instead, they went home. As they drove the winding roads from Durango back toward Lemon Dam, Jen prayed to Hip.

She asked him to please give her a sign that the dream she had had of him was real. Did he really love her? Did he want to be with her for the rest of her life? Or had it just been a dream? A dream from the gates of ivory?

***

Thanatos hadn’t been gone long when Hermes appeared and summoned Therese back to Mount Olympus.

“Zeus wants you to accompany the volunteers to interrogate the Hesperides,” he explained.

“Why me?”

“He thinks you might be able to use your gifts to make Atlas fall in love with the sheep, like you did with Polyphemus,” Hermes explained. “Then maybe Atlas wouldn’t be able to use the lightning bolts.”

They god traveled to Mount Olympus, where Zeus enlisted her help. Hades was still there, and Therese avoided making eye contact with him, sure she would give away what she and Than had done.

She went with Apollo and Artemis in Apollo’s chariot to Morocco, but when they arrived, they found no sheep. The only animal
, other than the one-hundred-headed serpent in the tree, was a pig. It was tied to the bottom of the tree, and clearly was not happy about it. Just now as Ares was speaking with the Hesperides, the pig squealed and snorted as though it was aware it was headed for slaughter.

When Therese tried to speak with the pig, she received no answer
.

“Where’s Atlas?” Artemis asked as the new arrivals approached Ares.

“Atlas?” Ares turned to face them. “What do you want with him?”

The Hesperides scattered, but it was easy for the Olympians to capture them.
Therese flew faster than an arrow and grabbed one of the nymphs by her wrist.

Once the daughters of Atlas were tied to the thick roots that lined the g
round beneath Ladon’s tree, Apollo filled Ares in on what Therese had learned from Polyphemus, and what Thoosa had confessed at court.

Ares swore he was not in cahoots with Atlas.

“You speak the truth,” Apollo said. “However, I sense that you did free Atlas with the hope of future conflict.”

Ares shrugged. “Guilty as charged. I never thought Atlas had a fighting chance, but I thought it might be interesting
to see what he would do.”

Artemis put her hands on her hips. “Well, you should be satisfied in knowing that the Titan now has both the trident and a handful of lightning bolts. If he were to ever get the helm…”

“He would be invincible,” Apollo finished.

Therese’s mouth was suddenly as dry as a stale cracker. She couldn’t even swallow. The helm? Could Atlas be aft
er the helm? And was there a remote possibility that her husband was about to enter a trap?

***

“Come on, Hypnos. You’re no fun,” Circe pouted as she ran her fingers through Hip’s hair.

Hip laid back on his pillow, closed his eyes, and pretended he was somewhere else. He imagined the bed of leaves near the stream behind Jen’s house in the mountains of Colorado. Jen was at his side, stroking his hair. She kissed his shoulder, licked his neck, and whispered in his ear.

“You’re so fine.”

Okay, maybe that wasn’t exactly what Jen would say, but he went with it.

She brushed her lips across his cheek and landed on his mouth. Hip thought only of Jen as he returned the kiss, brought his arms around the warm body that had climbed on top of him.

“I’m sorry to interrupt,” came an unfamiliar voice.

Hip opened his eyes and was mortified to see Circe on top of him. A part of him had known it was her, but he’
d been thinking of Jen. He was even more mortified to see Atlas standing over them with a mocking look on his face.

“Having fun?” Atlas asked.

“What are you doing here?” Hip demanded.

Circe sat up and used her fingers to tidy her hair. Hypnos wondered why she didn’t seem too surprised by Atlas’s arrival.

“Were you expecting him?” Hip asked. This could be a good thing. Maybe she would take Atlas as her lover and let Hip go free.

“Your timing is impeccable,” Circe said to Atlas, her words laced with sarcasm.

“Go get me one of the sheep,” Atlas said. “We need to be ready. He could be coming any day now.”

Hip sat up
and furrowed his brow. “Who could be coming?”

“Your father,” Atlas replied.

Circe left the room, presumably to get a sheep, but why?

“My father?” Hip was completely confused. “What’s going on?”

Atlas took a seat at the bedside table and steepled his fingers. “He’s coming to recue you because he knows the only way to get past Circe is by using the helm.”

“My father’s got other things on his mind. I doubt he’s coming to rescue me.”

“He will eventually,” Atlas said. “It may take days, weeks, months…but eventually he’ll come for you, and when he does, I’ll be waiting.”

“That’s a foolish plan,” Hip said.

“You have no idea,” Atlas laughed. “I’ve had centuries to plan. This one’s foolproof.”

“So what are you going to do once my father arrives?”

“Steal the helm, of course.”

Now it was Hip’s turn to laugh. “That’s impossible. You won’t see him coming, and
, as soon as he touches me, we’ll both disappear.”

Circe returned with a sheep in her arms. “That’s where you’re wrong.”

“How do you figure?” Hip asked as Circe crossed the room and tied the sheep to the bedpost.

Another sheep followed behind, and Atlas shooed it away.

Circe finished the knot and then looked down at Hip. “My spell is too powerful to be broken by even your father. You may become invisible when he touches you, but you won’t leave my bed.”

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that,” Hip warned.

“And your father knows this,” Atlas added.

Hip shrugged
. As Mrs. Holt would say, none of this made a lick of sense. “Then why would he come? Wouldn’t it be a waste of his time?”

Atlas leaned forward in his chair. “Your father knows there’s only one way to break the spell.”

Hip arched a brow.

“He’ll have to kill you,” Circe said.

“You’re forgetting one thing.” Hip grinned. “I’m immortal.”

“What she means is that your father will have to sever your body from your soul,” Atlas explained. “That
alone will break Circe’s spell.”

Hip began to feel fain
t. “But the only way to do that…”

“Severe damage to the body.” Atlas answered for him. “Decapitation is best.”

Circe knelt on the bed beside Hip and caressed his cheek. “That’s how we’ll know you’re father’s here: when your beautiful head rolls off the bed.”

Chapter Eleven:
A Trap

Thanatos stood in a copse of trees on the outskirts to the clearing surrounding Circe’s house. Luckily the wolves and mountain lions were unaware of his presence. As anxious as he was to save his brother, he was feeling conflicted about this entire mission.

First, he couldn’t believe he’
d stolen the helm. He’d never done anything like this before, outside of turning Therese. He was always obedient, reliable, and loyal to his parents and to his duties.

Throughout
his ancient life, Than had observed that some people were thrilled by breaking the rules, by rebelling against authority, and by being what Hip called a “bad” boy. How many times had Hip teased Than for being too serious?

So here he was being a “bad” boy, breaking a major rule and rebelling against his father’s authority, and did he feel excited? Liberated? Thrilled?

Not one bit.

He felt like throwing up.

To make matters worse, in order to save his brother, he’d have to sever Hip’s body. The least painful way would be to cut off his head in one clean slice.

Than shuddered as he recalled what Hermes had d
one for him and Therese not four weeks ago.

So Than felt sick about stealing the helm, and even sicker for what he was about to do to his brother, but he couldn’
t see any other way to rescue Hip.

And e
xcept for Therese, there was no one in the world he loved more.

He took a deep breath, clenched his fists, and headed toward the house.

He was used to not being noticed by most of the life around him as he gathered the souls for the Underworld, but usually an animal or two, and even a human, would turn a head his way, sniff in the air, and know he or she was in the presence of Death. The absolute lack of awareness by any of the mountain lions and wolves in Circe’s front yard was jarring. It was the helm, of course. It took some getting used to.

As he stood in the doorway,
his eyes were drawn to a magnificent tapestry. It hung in long folds, like thick, heavy curtains, all along the back wall, reaching up to the cathedral ceiling. Centuries of work must have gone into the making of such an enormous fabric.

Everything
else in the house was white—even the furniture—except for the black cauldron sitting on the hearth across the room and the witch’s grotesque jars lining the shelves.

At the sound of voices, Thanatos turned down the
hall to find the bedroom. Hip sat with his back against an iron headboard. Atlas ate at a table next to the bed, and at his feet was a sheep tied to the iron bedpost.

Than suspected it was one of Polyphemus’s sheep, and he realized as Circe’s laughter rang throughout the room at something clever Hip had no doubt said, that maybe, just maybe, he’d been expected.

He stood there for a long while, taking in the scene.

Hip said, “My father knows better than to walk into this trap you’ve set for him.”

“Make him shut up,” Atlas said. “He’s trying to warn Hades.”

“Unfortunately, I can’t put Hypnos to sleep.” Circe leaned back on the bed beside Hip and stroked his cheek. “If Thanatos would have been the one to come to me for help, I could have made that brother silent. But this one…well, as long as he’s under my spell, no one can sleep
, not even Sleep.” She cackled at her joke.

“Too bad it wasn’t the other brother,” Atlas said. “We would have seen faster results. People can afford to go wit
hout sleep for a few days, but death cannot wait.”

Beneath the helm, Thanatos gnawed on his lower lip. If this was a trap designed for Hades, then that meant Circe
had targeted Therese at Scylla’s cave, knowing someone from the Underworld would come to the witch to make a deal. Atlas must have enlisted Circe from the beginning. He had lightning bolts, he had the trident, and now he wanted the helm; and here Than was, about to deliver it to him.

Circe pinched Hip’s cheek and said, “I’m glad it was this one. I’m rather fond of him.”

“Don’t get too fond,” Atlas said. “We have work to do.”

As much as he wanted to save his brother before he was brainwashed into wanting to stay, Than had to go back and report to
Mount Olympus, even though he would have to admit that he’d stolen the helm.

It was the right thing to do.

He backed up toward the door and lost his footing. He fell flat on his back as a loose sheep scurried past him. The helm tumbled from his head and slammed against the white marble floor.

Atlas stood from his chair and pointed a thick finger. “Than
atos!”

Circe and H
ip both looked at Than in shock.

Circe and Atlas scrambled for the helm.

Thanatos flew and snatched it up just as the other two had nearly reached it. He flew to the ceiling, fumbling with the helm, and finally had it back on. He hid in the corner and waited, panting and full of relief.

“Damn that boy!” Atlas shouted. “He’s probably gone to tell the others our plan.”