The Gatekeeper's Promise: Gatekeeper's Saga, Book Six (The Gatekeeper's Saga 6) (26 page)

“They’re with Hip and Jen,” she said, trying not to cry.

She reminded herself that she would visit them often, and that this was the only way she could be a part of both her children and her husband’s lives. Ares was wrong: she didn’t have to choose. She couldn’t be their mother, but she would be in their lives as often as possible.

She fitted one arrow after another to her bow and shot down zombies while avoiding blast
s of lightning from the palace. At the same time, she sought out her twins and entered their dreams.

Not knowing if she’d ever have a chance
to speak to them subconsciously again, she created a peaceful dream for each of them. She brought in figments to people their dreams with members from both Than’s family and hers. She introduced them, pointing out their father and grandparents, and aunts and uncles.

This is Hades
, and this is Persephone. And here are Carol and Richard. See these red birds? These, too—all of them—are your grandparents. And this is your Uncle Hip and your Aunt Lynn.

She
showed them who they were named for. She wanted the babies to know how special they were, and how loved. She told them in the dream that they would one day restore faith to humanity.

So while one of her was destroying monster after monster in a whirlwind of chaos, blood, and fire, another of her was building dream after peaceful dream in a symphony of beauty, hope, and love.

***

Thanatos disintegrated into the hundreds and brought the Cyclopes to their knees. This enabled Hades, under the protection of the helm’s power of invisibility, to get close enough to Circe to bind her, and for Poseidon to paralyze Menoetius with the trident.  Zeus then took charge of the Cyclopes, and regained his power over them and the lightning bolts. Soon after, the black magic controlling the zombies was broken. The zombies fell to the ground, and their souls called to Thanatos.

The sheer numbers of dead were overwhelming. Never in his history had he been called by so many souls in a single day. What was worse,
there were many who were past the time for calling and who were in danger of becoming lost forever. He sensed them as he was gathering others. He was about to ask his father about the problem when he ran into Melinoe in New York City, where the zombie population had been out of control.

Surprised to see her outside of Tartarus, he stared dumbly at her for a few moments
where she was walking along 44
th
Street toward Time Square leading a parade of confused souls. She clicked her tongue, in a kind of cat call, and the souls flocked to her like ducklings. He watched for several seconds before she noticed him.

“Shocked, are you?” she s
aid defensively.

“No, I…”

“Well, I’m just doing my job,” she snapped. “Your father’s orders.”

“He asked you to do that?”

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t worry. I’m bringing them to Charon.”

He arched a brow, unsure whether he could believe her after so many centuries of enduring her sabotage.

She turned her back on him and resumed her clicking. He supposed he would have to trust her, and it was a credit to her that she’d been freed from Tartarus.

Back on Mount Olympus, the Olympia
ns had finally ended the war and had captured their adversaries. It was decided that the court would convene in twenty-four hours to question the prisoners, determine their punishment, and delegate the duties of reparations. There was also the matter of the decision made by Hypnos to trade places with Jen Holt. All agreed to meet the following day.

Although Thanatos continued to guide the massive number of souls to Charon, he also met with Therese in their rooms, where they tried to comfort one another over the loss of their twins.

They sat together on their new couch facing the flames in the fireplace. Therese’s legs were curled beneath her and her head lay against Than’s chest. He stroked her red hair, as red as the flames of the Phlegethon. She traced her finger along his chest.

“We’
ll convince my father to allow us to switch duties from time to time,” Than said. “While I’m Death, you can visit the children, and while you’re Death, I’ll visit them.”

“But we’ll never be together at the same time,” Therese said.

“No.”

“And they won’t know who we are to them,” she said. “They’ll think of us as their aunt and uncle.”

“But
we’ll
know.”

She lifted her tear-filled eyes to his. “I miss them so much. I can still feel them in my arms, their sweet little faces looking up at me. How long before I forget what that felt like?”

He had no words for her as tears brimmed in his own eyes.

“There are moments when I say to myself I can do this,” she added. “But most
of the time, I feel like I’m falling apart.”

“I know.” He stroked her hair and cupped her cheeks. “I miss them, too.”

“What if I
can’t
do this?” she asked him.

“What do you mean?”

“What if I end up like Dionysus because I just can’t continue in my purpose?”

“You mean…”

“What if I go to earth and live with the twins and turn my back on my duties?”

“I don’t think…”

“What about my duties to
them
?”

Than kissed her forehead and closed his eyes, afraid for what he was about to say next. It was an idea he’d been toying with, but it would break his heart if
she decided to act on it.

“There is one way you could avoid the madness,” he started.

Her face transformed from anguish to hope so quickly that his heart stopped beating.

“How?” she asked.

“You could give your immortality to Hip and take his place as a mortal.” Than was suddenly nauseous at the thought of losing her.

Therese’s face fell. “But then how would I be with
you
?”

Again, he had no words.

***

Hip took one of the babies from Jen and followed her toward the house. Indoor lights showed signs of people still awake in the Holt household, so as Jen opened the door and went inside, Hip wondered how she would explain.

Mrs. Hol
t and Mr. Stern looked up at them in surprise from the kitchen table where Mrs. Holt was sitting with the phone against one ear and a pen in her hand. She’d been scrawling on a notepad but had dropped the pen as soon as they had entered.

“She just walked in the door!” Mrs. Holt said into the phone. “Yes, officer, that’s right. I’ll call you back in the morning.”

Mrs. Holt stood up, dropped the phone on the table, and gawked.

Mr. Stern stood as well, and Bobby, who’d been upstairs, came running down in his boxers and t-shirt.

Everyone stared at Hip and Jen in disbelief.

“Could you have called?” Mrs. Holt said as bewilderment turned to anger. “We’ve been worried sick.”

“Calm down, Mom. It’s not what you think,” Jen said.

“I don’t think anything, young lady,” Mrs. Holt replied. “I don’t know what to think.”

“Can we sit down in the living room?” Jen asked. “And talk calmly like adults?”

Her mother
looked from Hip to Jen and from one baby to the other. “Are those Therese’s twins?”

“Can we please sit down?” Jen asked again. “You don’t know what I’ve been through.”

Hip followed Jen into the family room as Mrs. Holt said, “Alrighty, but you don’t know what
I’ve
been through.”

Jen’s mother
burst into tears.

Chapter Twenty-One: Aftermath

Thanatos stood in the great court beside Therese and his parents as Zeus and the others interrogated Circe and Menoetius. Circe ignored them in a cacophony of shrieks and cackles, punctuated with obscenities and, intermittently, “I don’t care!” and “I couldn’t care less!” and “Do what you will to me!” Menoetius, on the other hand, gave up everything. He and Atlas had hoped to subdue the gods and free the remaining Titans and had been using Circe to those ends. He promised that one day the Titans would reign again.

Atlas had already been returned to his post on the Atlas Mountains where he held Uranus on his shoulders and kept him from mating with Gaia.

It was decided that Menoetius would be returned to the pit of Tartarus where the other Titans were imprisoned, and Circe would join him. Than, his sisters, Hecate, and his parents would see to their internment.

Phorcys, Keto, Echidna, Chimera, Ladon, and Scylla were also brought in by Poseidon in his golden net. The monsters had all healed from their wounds with the return of their immortal strength, but as punishment for their collusion with Circe, they were confined to the ancient castle under house arrest indefinitely—except for Ladon, who would return to guarding Hera’s golden apple tree.

Poseidon wanted them all thrown into the dungeon of Tartarus with the Titans, but he was out-voted. To appease him, the gods agreed that the monsters should be at Poseidon’s beck and call, should he ever need them. The monsters were forced to swear on the River Styx to serve Poseidon and Amphitrite forever. Thoosa was included in that sentence, but seemed more than happy to serve.

It was determined that the Cyclopes who served Circe had been under an enchantment and so were not held responsible for their actions.

Ares, however, would stand trial in the following weeks for his part in freeing Atlas.

Then the duties of reparations were delegated
, because all four realms—Olympus, Poseidon’s palace, the Underworld, and the Upperworld—had sustained substantial damage.

Finally, the gods addressed
the decision made by Hypnos to trade places with Jen Holt.

“Is there anything we can do to reverse the trade?”
Persephone asked her colleagues.

Hades stepped forward and said, “I move that we call the Fates to court and question them on the matter.”

Than was surprised by his father’s motion. It made him wonder if there might be a chance to recover his brother’s immortal status. Why else would his father call upon the Fates?

Five minutes later, his three
great aunts appeared, wearing the same velvet suits he saw them in the last time he had visited, the time he and Therese had gone to ask how many children they would have. He and Therese had wanted to know so they could offer that number of golden apples to Ares and end his threat against them, but things hadn’t worked out as they had hoped. The Fates had said he and Therese would have two children, but none immortal.

And, of course, they had been right.

“What a pleasant surprise,” Lachesis, the measurer, and the plumpest of the three said as they entered from the rainbow steps. Her short curly hair appeared newly washed, and her blue velvet dress freshly pressed.

Clotho,
the spinner, slapped her hand through the air, as though she were swatting a fly, and complained, “Oh, dearie. We knew we were coming eventually. We just couldn’t see when.”

She adjusted the jacket of her pink velvet pantsuit as she moved toward the center of the court.
Some of her gray hair was piled in a bun on top of her head, and the rest of it fell down her back.

Atropos, the cutter, removed her lavender jacket, primped her bob with one hand, and said, “It’s warm up here.”

“Welcome to Mount Olympus,” Zeus said.

Hera said
, “Iris, please bring them some refreshments.”

Hera’s messenger goddess obeyed by flying across the hall to the dining room. Hestia excused herself and followed.

“How about a cigarette?” Clotho asked.

“It’s too bad we don’t get invited to places more often,” Lachesis said. “What a thrill when Hermes first appeared.”

“I thought you preferred isolation,” Hades said.

“
Oh, we do.” Clotho flapped her hand once again through the air. “It’s just the invitation we enjoy. That’s the only part we can’t see.”

Than recalled what the Fates had once told him:
The threads of gods are woven, but they are neither measured nor cut like they are for the mortals. The threads belonging to the Fates remain unwoven, for the sake of their sanity. They don’t know the details of their own futures, except when they cross paths with another.

“We’ll be sure to remember that,” Persephone said with a smile.

“We won’t come, you know,” Clotho said. “We just like being invited.”

“Why won’t you come?” Aphrodite asked.

“Because they’re accosted by those wanting to see their futures,” Apollo said. “I get that a lot, too.”

“Absolutely,” At
ropos replied. “And it never ends well.”

Iris
and Hestia returned with a small table full of pomegranates and ambrosia. Hermes snapped his fingers to conjure them each a chair and a cigarette.