The Gatekeeper's Promise: Gatekeeper's Saga, Book Six (The Gatekeeper's Saga 6) (7 page)

“Yes,” Pete said. “It’s really me.”

Bobby’s eyes widened. “This isn’t a dream?”

“No.” Pete took another step toward his little brother.

“And you’re okay?” Bobby asked.

“I am now that I’m with Tizzie.” Pete smiled at the Fury.

“Is Daddy down here, too?” Bobby asked.

“No,” Tizzie answered. “His soul is still lost.”

“What does that mean?” Jen asked.

“It’s a long story,” Pete said.

“Well, we have time, baby boy,” Mrs. Holt said. “Let’s hear it.”

“Not a
ll souls make it here,” Pete said. “Am I right, Tizzie?”

“Yes
.” The Fury stood beside Pete. “Melinoe and other malevolent entities will entice some spirits with lies. If they aren’t judged and sentenced, they aren’t bound here.”

“What happens to them?” Mrs. Holt asked.

“They usually haunt the places where they last lived. Once they’re lost, they can never be brought back here. They wander the earth forever.”

“That’s so sad,” Bobby said. “Daddy will never have peace.”

Jen didn’t say what she was thinking, but a part of her was glad he would have to suffer—for a while, at least.

“Can’t we pray for him or something?” Mrs. Holt asked.

Tizzie shrugged. “I suppose you could pray to Hades, but I’m not sure what he could do.”

“T
ell me what happened to your eyes,” Mrs. Holt said to Pete.

“It’s easier for me to see without them,” Pete explained.

“That doesn’t make a lick of sense. I don’t understand.” Mrs. Holt stood up and moved closer to her son. “You can see me, then?”

“No, I can’t,” Pete said. “But I can sense you. I don’t know how to explain it. I got rid of my eyes because they were getting in the way of my ability to see the future.”

“You can see the future?” Jen asked.

“Not all of it,” Pete replied. “Just bits and pieces.”

“Can you see my future?” Jen asked.

“I might if you gave me some of your blood to drink,” Pete said.

“That’s disgusting.” Their mother shook her head. “No blood-drinking, alright?”

But Jen didn’t listen. She was so anxious to know something about her future, especially with all that h
ad happened between her and Hip, that she slid her finger across a sharp rock and drew blood.

Pete sniffed in her direction. “Mmm.”

“This is too weird,” Bobby said.

“I agree,” Mrs. Holt added.

Tizzie’s snake hair raised in a great hiss. “Don’t be rude.”

Mrs. Holt and Bobby huddled together in one c
orner and watched in horror as Jen held up her bloody finger to Pete. Pete drank the blood with relish.

“So?” Jen asked.

Pete’s head started bobbing up and down. “This makes no sense. No sense at all. No sense. No sense. No sense.”

***

Therese flew on Stormy’s back to the gates of Mount Olympus and asked to be let in. She took Stormy to the stables, said hello to Pegasus and the other horses there, but noticed Cupid wasn’t at home. When she entered the court, she saw why. He and
Hades and everyone who lived on Mount Olympus, including Athena and Metis—and even Poseidon—had assembled there. In the middle of all their shouting was her husband!

She broke through the crowd and rushed to his side where he wrapped his protective arms around her.

Zeus has accused you of committing treason against him
, Than warned her through prayer.

Hades moved closer to Therese and Than, ready to defend them. Poseidon followed suit.

“It was your lightning bolt!” Poseidon said. “It wasn’t the first time I have been struck!”

“How dare you accuse me!” Zeus roared.

What’s going on?
Therese prayed to Than, and he filled her in.

A lighting bolt?
she repeated.

“I swear I had nothing to do with that attack!” Zeus continued.

“Swear on the River Styx!” Poseidon insisted.

“I swear on the River Styx!” Zeus repeated.

A lightning bolt?
Therese prayed to Thanatos again. Then, out loud, she shouted, “Wait! I have an idea!”

Than lifted his eyebrows and asked, “What are you doing?”

Everyone’s eyes were on the two of them.

Therese stepped past Poseidon and faced Zeus.

Zeus pointed a finger at her and said, “You have some nerve coming before me after going behind my back and undoing my work.”

“Some of Polyphemus’s sheep still have your lightning bolts sewn inside their bellies. They weren’t all killed on my wedding day.”

Zeus’s eyes looked about to bulge from their sockets as his face took on a pale red and his brows lifted into his hair line. “What? How is that possible?”

Therese’s knees felt weak, but she stood tall and narrowed her eyes. “As the goddess of animal companions, it was my duty to save them.”

Zeus held her in a stare-down for many seconds, while the room remained deadly quiet. Once his rage had subsided, he said, “That was very irresponsible.”

He didn’t clarify which of their actions he was referring to: her act of saving the sheep or his of planting the lightning bolts inside of them. In her opinion, it was definitely the latter, but she knew better than to express it now.

“This means anyone could have been behind the attack on Poseidon,” Hades said.

“But who else w
ould have motive?” Poseidon pointed out.

Persephone rushed to her husband’s side.
“Aside from the lightning bolt, what made you suspect Zeus?”

“Poseidon should tell the story,” Hades said.

Poseidon told them all about Ladon’s part, and Hera winced.

“My poor Ladon!” she cried. “Who would put him up to this?”

Ever since Than had slaughtered Ladon, Therese had felt sorry for the one-hundred-headed serpent. He’d only been doing his job, and he was loyal to Hera. What would provoke him to leave the garden?

“You thought I w
anted to punish you!” Zeus accused Poseidon.

“What would you have thought
in my place?” Poseidon said without apology. “Lightning bolt, Ladon, your history of exacting punishment.”

“Now wait one minute!” The pale red of rage returned to Zeus’s complexion.

“Enough!” Hades said. “Let’s focus on the problem at hand. Who would benefit from the trident?”

“The Old Man of the S
ea,” Apollo declared.

“Is that a vision?” Zeus asked, turning to the god of light.

“No,” Apollo admitted. “Only speculation.”

“It would be wise to bring him in for questioning,” Athena said.

“Or send someone to interrogate him,” Ares said. “I volunteer.”

“I think we should question
Polyphemus,” Therese suggested.

“He would never turn against me!” Poseidon shouted.

Therese clutched her abdomen where the twins were turning somersaults. “I only meant he might know who stole his sheep.”

Poseidon calmed down and shook his head. “He’s not very bright. I doubt he’ll know anything.”

“I have little faith in the Cyclopes,” Zeus agreed. “They work and follow orders, but might not be of use to us otherwise.”

But Polyphemus
loves his sheep
, Therese prayed rather than stated.

No one acknowledged her point.

“Everyone swear before Apollo and on the River Styx that you had nothing to do with the attack and have no knowledge of the whereabouts of Amphitrite and the trident,” Zeus commanded.

Every god and goddess in the room swore.

“Process of elimination,” Zeus said. “Now we confront those not in our presence until we’ve questioned everyone, including Phorcys and Keto. Ares?”

But what if it wasn’t a god?
Therese prayed to Than.

He gave her a reassuring smile.
Let’s let them handle this one.

Therese was not reassured. Everyone was wrong to discou
nt Polyphemus as a possible witness, and as soon as she could, she was going to Cyclopes Island to pay him a visit.

Ares stepped forward. “Ready to serve.”

“It would be unwise to send him alone,” Metis said.

Hermes raised a hand. “I’ll go.”

“No,” Zeus commanded. “I want you to question Dionysus. Apollo should see the Muses and the Centaurs. Artemis should call on all forest nymphs. Athena…”

“Send Thanatos
with Ares,” Poseidon said. “The creatures of the sea are used to his presence and ignore him.”

Therese’s heart skipped a beat.

Than gave her a nervous glance but said to Zeus, “Ready to serve.”

***

Hypnos searched all over the Underworld and could not find his father.
He went to Tartarus and found Tizzie comforting Pete, who sat slumped on a rock as though he had just ran a foot race and couldn’t breathe.

“Hey,” Hip said. “What’s wrong with the seer?”

Tizzie’s snake hair flared up and down. “He saw something that was too much for him.”

“What?” Hip asked.

“No sense,” Pete muttered with his head bowed.

“I brought Jen and her family down to see him,” Tizzie explained. “Therese asked me to do it. And I wanted to do it, so don’t get all in my face.”

Hip took a deep breath. “How did it go?”

“Fine
, until Pete drank Jen’s blood right in front of the others,” Tizzie explained. “They turned pale as ghosts.”

“And Jen?”

“She was okay with it, actually,” Tizzie said, “Until Pete started seizing.”

“No sense,” Pete muttered again.

“Then Melinoe came to ask me a question, and Jen and her family freaked out.”

“Oh, no.” Hip shook his head.

“Melinoe seemed to enjoy it,” Tizzie added. “I just don’t think Therese has a good case for Melinoe’s redemption.”

“Therese swore an oath…” Hip said.

“I was there. I know it. But the Malevolent needs a lot of work. Meg is with her now.”

“
Where are the Holts?”

“Alecto took them home for me a few minutes ago,” Tizzie added. “I’m afraid to leave Pete alone.”

Meg appeared. “Where’s Father?”

Hip shrugged. “I came down to ask the same thing.”

“Well, don’t look at
me
,” Tizzie said.

“Something weird is going on,”
Meg insisted as her falcon squawked. “Something’s not right. Hecate and I were in the middle of a conversation about Melinoe when she cut me off and said she had to go.”

“Have you tried contacting her since?” Tizzie asked.

“Of course,” Meg said. “She doesn’t answer me.”

“Have you tried talking to Hades?” Hip asked.

“No way,” Meg said. “He’s obviously pretty busy if he’s not at home.”

Father?

Not now. In fact, come to Mount Olympus immediately.

“I’ve got to go,” he said to his sisters and then disappeared before they objected.

As soon as Hip arrived, he was questioned by Zeus. He couldn’t believe someone had the gall to capture Amphitrite and the trident. Hip swore an oath that he was not involved, but as sorry as he felt for Amphitrite, he was more concerned about finding a way to communicate in person with Jen. He’d hoped to get his father’s permission to hand off his duties temporarily to someone else, like Hecate, but Hades was clearly in no mood for making deals unrelated to this most recent threat to the Olympians. Hip didn’t blame him, but maybe Hip would find a way around asking his father’s permission.

Therese?
he prayed.
Where are you?

Chapter Six:
Scylla’s Revenge

Therese returned Stormy to the Underworld stables because she worried he might be too tempting a delicacy for Polyphemus. She gave all the horses there a quick brushing and a handful of oats before flying west of Greece to the Ionian Sea.

As she neared Cyclopes Island, she saw the b
right flash of Zeus’s chariot descending into the ocean toward the ancient castle belonging to Phorcys and Keto. Ares and Than were on their way to question the parents of the monsters of the sea about the abduction of Amphitrite. Therese wished she had been asked to go, too, because she wanted to know what the Old Man of the Sea and his wife had to say, and because she feared for Than’s safety. She hovered above the water for a moment, trying to sense Than without giving away her position. She didn’t want him to know what she was up to; he would only try to stop her. And she wouldn’t blame him. Going to see Polyphemus was risky. Yet she truly believed she could use the Cyclops’s love for his sheep to get him to cooperate, and she wouldn’t take such a risk now that she was pregnant if she didn’t like her odds.