The Gatekeeper's Promise: Gatekeeper's Saga, Book Six (The Gatekeeper's Saga 6) (29 page)

“We were tired of all the strangers that come and go over there, especially now that Lynn is getting a
round more outdoors. So we made the Melners an offer, and after some going back and forth, they accepted.”

“
What are you planning to do with it?” Than asked.

“We
were
planning on finding a long-term renter,” Carol said. “But I’m sure Richard would agree that you would make us the happiest grandparents in the world if you would move in!”

Therese frowned.
“Well, the thing is…”

Than interrupted her. “It sounds like too good a deal to pass up.”

“Wonderful!” Carol said. “I’m calling Richard right now to tell him the good news!”

Carol went to the phone in the kitchen to make her call.

Therese turned to Than and muttered, “What are you doing? I don’t want to live alone with the twins in the Melner Cabin.”

“I’m not giving up,” he whispered. “Somehow, some way, I’ll make our dream happen.”

Therese studied his face and noticed he had the same expression he had worn four years ago, when she had failed to kill McAdams and he had promised to come back for her.

She filled with hope.

Carol hung up the phone and returned to the family room. “It’s all settled.”

“I just need to go home and take care of a few loose ends first,” Than said to Carol. “
Can Therese and the twins stay with you until I return?”

“Of course!” Carol said. “I’d love that!”

***

Hypnos was having a hard time teaching Jen to fly.

“Why can’t you just trust me?” he a
sked her from the tip of Mount Ida, where he had introduced Jen to Asterion and Ariadne.

Dionysus was off dancing and drinking with the Maenads and Curetes at the bottom of the mountain and had no interest in night Frisbee.

“Just give her time,” Ariadne said. “It takes practice.”

“I’m scared to death,” Jen said. “It’s not natural to me. Put me on a horse, and I’m fine, but just free-floating in the wind? That’s creepy.”

Hip threw his hands in the air. “But it’s hard to play night Frisbee on Stormy’s back.”

“And harder still if she won’t fly,” Asterion pointed out.

“Can we please just god travel back and get Stormy?” Jen asked.

Hip took her hand. “Fine, but if you don’t practice, you’ll never master it, just like with the bow and arrow.”

“I don’t like the bow and arrow,” Jen said. “And I’m not the goddess of animal companions, okay?”

“Then what are you the goddess of?” Hip asked.

“I don’t know yet. But not that.”

Hip groaned. She
’d better figure it out soon. If she didn’t within three months, she’d lose her immortality and Therese’s sacrifice will have been for nothing.

He’d never known anyone who could make him so angry and so happy all wi
thin five minutes.

Before they god traveled away, Than appeared.

“Hey, bro’!” Hip clapped a hand on Than’s shoulder. “God, am I glad to see you.”

“I need your help,” Than said solemnly.

“Anything. Name it,” Hip said, as the other three gathered around Than on the mountain top.

“Is there something we can do?” Asterion asked.

“Maybe.” Than glanced at each of them with a determined look on his face. “I need ideas. There has to be a way for me to live a mortal life with the rest of my family without renouncing my immortality and going mad, or choosing some random mortal to make a trade.”

“You want to die?” Ariadne asked. Then she murmured, “Death wants to die. How strange.”

“You don’t get it,” Than said. “I don’t want to die; I want to live. Before I met Therese four years ago, I wasn’t really living. I was going through the motions, but I wasn’t
alive
. My life began when I met her. Without her and the twins, my life is over. I’ll go back to feeling like a puppet, like Sisyphus and his rock.”

He looked at Hip and added, “This isn’t about choosing death. It’s about choosing life. Understand?”

Hip
did
understand.

“That’s freakin’ beautiful,” Jen said.

“All my life, I’ve accepted things without question,” Than said. “I’ve done my duty with few complaints.”

“Ain’t that the truth,” Hip said.

“Well, I’ve changed. I want to shape my own destiny.”

“We’re here for you, Than,” Asterion said.

“Maybe we could ask Pete,” Jen said. “If we find a mortal willing to give him some blood…”

“Wait!” Hip snapped his fingers. “That’s it!”

“What are you talking about?” Asterion asked.

Hip took Jen by the shoulders and gave her a quick peck on the mouth. “You’re a genius!”

“Will you just spill the beans?” Ariadne demanded.

“Pete saw himself as the god of death,” Hip replied.

“That makes no sense,” Than said. “He has no corporeal body. He can’t become a god.”

“No sense,” Jen said. “That’s exactly what he muttered over and over again.”

“Maybe Apollo knows,” Hip said. “Someone must. If Pete saw it…”

“The visions of seers aren’t as reliable as those of the Fates,” Than reminded him.

Hip squeezed his brother’s shoulder. “Isn’t it worth checking out?”

Chapter Twenty-Three: The Gatekeeper’s Promise

Jen rode on Stormy’s back across the morning sky toward Colorado. Hip flew beside her, still worried she didn’t know what she was doing.

“I’m telling you, I got this,” she told him.

“What if I just want to be with you?” He winked.

She grinned. “You liar.”             

Flying was much less scary to Jen with a horse beneath her. In fact, seeing her house from up here, with the sun sparkling on the reservoir, the tree-tops on the mountain peaks already dusted with snow—well, it was downright magnificent.

“Where are you going first?” he asked her.

“Therese’s.” She began to descend toward the San Juan Mountains behind Carol and Richard’s house. “I’m saving my visit with Mom for last. We have a lot to talk about before the wedding.”

“Oh, boy. Better you than me.”

Jen laughed.

“I better go before I put the whole area to sleep.”

“See you tonight.”

Hip disappeared, leaving Jen to land Stormy on her own. Luckily, Stormy knew exactly what to do.

“I’ll be back in a bit,” she told the horse as she dismounted and headed for Therese’s back door.

Carol and Richard greeted Jen and congratulated her on her engagement. Lynn ran up to be held, so Jen complied and then carried her over to the couch to sit beside Therese.

“Hey, Jen.” Therese smiled up at her.

“Do you always have a baby in your arms?” Jen asked.

Therese laughed. “It’s hard to avoid with twins. I can’t get them on the same sleeping schedule.”

“That’s
my
baby,” Lynn said.

“Come out on the deck with us, Lynn,” Richard called. “We want to show you something.”

“Deer?” Lynn asked.

“Yep. And chipmunks,” Carol said.

Lynn scurried across the room to her parents, giving Jen and Therese some privacy.

“Do you have news for me?” Therese asked.

Jen held out her arms for Hermes. “Can I hold him?”

Therese passed the little guy over.

“He’s gotten so big.”

“A lot has happened here in two weeks,” Therese said. “They can hold up their heads on their own and sleep for four hours at a time.”

“Yeah for you, Hermes!” Jen said in a high-pitched voice. Then she turned to Therese. “Well, not much has happened for Than yet, but he’s not giving up.”

Therese frowned.

“He’s meeting with Hades today, though,” Jen added. “And Hip thinks they may have found a way.”

“I hope so.”

Hestia began fussing from her pallet on the floor, so Therese picked her up and began to nurse her.

“I came here to tell you something else,” Jen said.

“Okay?”

“Promise not to be mad.”

“Oh, no. What.”

“Promise?”

“How can I promise if I don’t know what it is?”

“I can’t be the goddess of animal companions,” Jen said. “It’s just not who I am. I mean, I love animals, but not as much as you do—except for horses, of course.”

“So, have you figured out your purpose?”

“Oh, good. You’re not mad.”

“I totally get it, Jen. Really.” Therese added, “It was
my
purpose, not yours. And it still is. I’m going to open my own shelter here in a few years, when the twins are older.”

“That’s a great idea.”

Therese smiled. “So what are you going to do, then?”

“Well, I have figured it
out. And, boy, is Hip relieved. I couldn’t get him off my back.”

“So? What is it?”

“I’m the goddess of abused children,” Jen said, with her chin held high. “I know how to help because I know how it feels.”

Jen was surprised to see tears spring to Therese’s eyes. “I’m so happy for you, Jen. I really am. I think that’s just great.”

Jen smiled. “Thanks. I do, too.”

***

Thanatos sat across from his mother and father in their chambers.

“What is this about?” Than asked, suspiciously. “There’s nothing you can say to change my mind. I love both of you, but I want to be with my wife and children, and I will keep searching until I find a way.”

Persephone reached over and squeezed Hades’s hand.

“There’s something I have to tell both of you,” Hades said.

Persephone’s eyebrows furled and
her lips parted. “What is it? You sound so somber.”

“The Fates asked me to make a promise to them a few months ago, and I have just been told today to share it with you.”

Than’s heartbeat increased as he took a deep breath. “I’m listening.”

“I was asked to swear on the River Styx not to say anything about the matter until they notified me. I had no idea what it all meant and was told my interference would ruin the lives of my children. So I said nothing.”

Persephone sat on the edge of her chair. “You’re frightening me.”

“I’m sorry, Dear,” Hades said, patting her hand. “
This news will not sit well with you, I’m afraid.”

“Please, Father,” Than said impatiently. “Tell us what it is.”

“When Peter Holt was struck down by Zeus’s lightning bolt on your wedding day,” Hades began, “the Fates ordered me to preserve the body.”

Than’s mouth fell open. The wheels turned quickly in his head. He dared not get his hopes up as he waited for his father to finish.

“Although they gave no explanation at the time, today they told me it was time to tell Thanatos. They said Pete had a special destiny and that you would know what to do.”

Thanatos jumped from his chair and was about to shout a hooray when his mother’s tears held him in check.

He bent close to her and kissed her cheek. She reached up, wrapped her arms around him, and wept.

The appearance of Tizzie a few moments later gave him the occasion to stand up and break from his mother’s embrace. As he listened to Hades’s explanation to his sister, Than noticed a smile of understanding creep across the Fury’s face.

Tizzie turned to Than. “Shall we ask him together?”

Than returned her smile, and, together, they went to Tartarus to the seers’ pit.

***

When Therese saw the bright yellow monster truck rolling down the dirt road toward Jen’s house, she picked up the skirt of her bridesmaid’s dress and ran out to greet it.

All decked out in their matching gray tuxedos, Ray and Todd climbed down and gave her a hug.

“It’s been forever!” she said.

“Tell us about it,” Ray laughed.

“We thought about taking a road trip to Texas just to see you,” Todd added as he lifted his arm up to the driver’s side to help out another passenger.

“Who’s that?” Therese asked Ray.

“His date.”

Therese’s jaw nearly hit the floor when Gina Rizzo climbed out.
Her golden curls were swooped up in a bun and her bright green dress looked beautiful on her.

“Hello, Therese,” Gina said.

“Hi, Gina.”

“So you’re a mom now,” Ray said, apparently trying to divert the tension. “Congratulations.”

“Twins,” she said. “Can you believe it?”

“No,” Gina said. “You look too good
to have just had twins.”