The Gatekeeper's Challenge (14 page)

His hand moved to her cheek, along her chin, down her neck, and gently caressed her collarbone at the top of her sweatshirt.

A moan escaped her lips as she slipped one hand from his neck and circled it around his back, pressing him to her. She tugged his dark wavy hair, pulling his lips harder against hers. Then she stopped, full of panic, and looked, wide-eyed, at Than. Were they going to have sex? She wasn’t so sure she was ready for that, even in a dream.

“Therese? What’s wrong?”

“I, it’s just that, you can’t get pregnant from a dream, right?”

His eyes burned with desire. In a low, steady voice, he said, “Right.”

“Does that mean you, I mean, are we going to, you know?” She swallowed air, then sucked in her lips.

He smiled down at her. “We’re not doing anything you’re not ready for.”

She hadn’t realized she was holding her breath, but she let the air out now.

“Okay?” he asked.

“Okay.”

He kissed her again and held her in his arms. “Besides, we still need to talk. I have something serious to discuss with you.”

He rolled onto his back with his arm beneath her shoulders. She nestled in the crook of his arm, her cheek against his warm bare chest, her palm against his ripped abdomen. She’d never touched him like this, so freely, probably because she felt less inhibited in the dream world than in the real. She caressed his belly, feeling the muscle tone, every ripple, just above his waistband.

He moaned and stopped her hand, lacing his fingers into hers.

“What are you thinking?” she prayed. “Talk to me.”

His answer came to her mind without him uttering it. He said, “I’m going to make you a god so you can come down here and be with me forever. But it’s going to hurt.
Really bad.”

She gasped and prayed, “How did you do that? Communicate with me without talking?”

“This is a dream. The rules are different.”

“Oh.”

“You know Vicki would have taken the ketamine with or without you, don’t you?”

“She didn’t have the money. I don’t know.”

“She would have found a way.”

“Maybe.”

He stroked her hair and then her cheek. “Would you want to live here with me?”

“Yes.”

“My grandmother knows a way. See, only Zeus can confer immortality on a human the normal way on Mount Olympus—where a mortal can drink ambrosia—but without Zeus’s power, we have to use a more painful method. I’ll understand if you can’t do it. To be honest, I’ve had my doubts about asking you.”

“What is it?”

“I’ll take you to my grandmother’s winter cabin where I’ll anoint your body with ambrosia—to drink it without Zeus would kill you. Then I’ll light your body on fire.”

“What?”

“And your mortal body will burn to death as your immortal body rises from the ashes.”

“Are you serious?”

“You don’t have to do it. Forget it.”

“No. I want to.” Therese tried not to let the terror into her thoughts as she wondered if she could allow herself to be set on fire, if she could endure being burnt alive. She shivered at the thought, silently gasping for air, and tears came to her eyes. Though she doubted herself, though she worried at the last moment she would run away from it, she prayed to
Than, “I can do it. I’d do anything to be with you. But what about the maenads?”

He put a hand on her cheek and looked into her eyes. “It’s like you said: I’d do anything for you. I don’t care about that. Once a year, what’s that compared to an eternity without you?”

She gave him a sad smile. “Will your father allow this?”

As they lay quietly stroking one another, he told her what his father had proposed. He’d give them his blessing and aid, forcing Dionysus to help, if she proved herself worthy. He described the five challenges.

She sat up and spoke out loud, “You don’t think I can do it!”

He sat up, too. “You think you can?”

She hopped off the bed and paced around the room. “No. But I want you to believe I can. Maybe I can. Maybe I can.”

“No mortal can. He’s giving you a set of impossible tasks to punish you for what you did last summer on Mount Olympus.” He moved to the edge of the bed.

“If I fight the dragon, the Minotaur, and the Hydra, you’ll be spared. Right? With Dionysus’s help, the maenads will leave you alone.”

He nodded. “Don’t do it, Therese. At least, if we do it ourselves, your life won’t be in danger. I can’t risk losing you.”

“But it’s my choice, right? You’ll honor my decision?”

He nodded again and took her in his arms. He sat on the bed with his feet on the floor and his legs spread open. She stood between his
knees and held his head against her belly while he circled her waist with his arms.

“But please, think seriously about this,” he said with his cheek against her sweatshirt. “I promise I can handle the maenads. If you can endure the fire…”

“But that’s one time, Than. The maenads will rip you to pieces every year for, like, forever.”

He lifted his eyes to hers, his chin against her stomach. “I only told you about the five challenges because
Alecto said the choice should be yours, and she’s right. But please don’t make a hasty decision. You’ll break my heart if you die.”

She ran her fingers through his hair and kissed his forehead. “I won’t let myself die.”

He sighed. “Do you know how many times I’ve heard that right before I’ve led a soul here?”

“I won’t let it happen. I’ll think of something. I can feel it. You and I were meant to be together, I know it. I tried to love Pete. I’m sorry, but I did. And it felt so wrong.
So wrong. And this, between you and me, it feels like it was always meant to be. So I can’t die. I can’t.”

He stood up and pulled her into him. “I love you.”

She looked up at him, feeling brave for the first time in her life, feeling more determined than ever to achieve something she wanted. “I  . . .” But before she could utter her thought, she woke up in her bed next to Clifford, and Than was gone.

Tossing and turning and checking her clock every few minutes for over an hour, she couldn’t stand the idea that this was her one night with
Than and she couldn’t get to him because she couldn’t fall asleep. “Help me,” she finally prayed. “Help me fall asleep.”

He appeared beside her, shocking her. She hadn’t expected him to come.

“My presence won’t kill you,” he said, stroking her cheek. “But it will make you . . .”

Before he could complete his sentence, she was back in the dream, only now on the bed beside him.

“Tell me what you were about to say,” he whispered.

They lay against
one another on his round bed facing each other with the waterfall trickling beside them. The glimmer from the river of fire sparkled in Than’s eyes.

“I was going to say, I love you, too.”

They held one another in the dream world for the rest of the night, but at dawn, Than kissed her once more and vanished. She found herself floating in the clouds above her grandparents’ old neighborhood. Hip appeared beside her.

“He had to go back to guide the dead, but I’ll hang out with you, if you’d like.”

“Do you know about the five challenges?”

“Yeah.
You’ve got to try, Therese. Don’t let the maenads have my brother.”

“I’m going to try. I’m going to try my hardest. Your dad said I had to do it alone, but he didn’t say I couldn’t use the gifts I already have, right? I can use Aphrodite’s traveling robe and Artemis’s invisibility crown. I wonder where the sword and shield are that Hephaestus made me last summer.”

“I’ll find out.” He moved closer. “Hey, you’re waking up.”

She opened her eyes to the bright sunlight streaming into her room, and though she was frightened of what lay ahead, she also felt excited to finally have some control over her own destiny.

Chapter Nineteen: Than Prepares

Than should have known Therese would choose to fight for him, but he wasn’t going to stand by and let her die. He would hover from a safe distance, so as not to drain her life force, and the moment she was mortally injured, he would carry her off to his grandmother.

He stood outside the palace at Mount Olympus and said, “
Spring, Summer, Winter, and Fall, open the gates of Olympus so I, Thanatos, may enter.”

A loud roar carried through the air, and a tunnel of cold wind lifted in front of him. As the wind settled and the rain cloud emptied its contents and dissipated, the giant wall of clouds opened,
and Than stepped through. The wall of clouds closed behind him as he crossed the golden-paved plaza and passed the fountain spraying water beneath a rainbow from the spout of a golden whale. He took the rainbow steps, passed the marble columns, and entered the palace.

He was on his way to see Hephaestus to ask after Therese’s sword and shield and had put his hand on the knob to the forge when the sound of voices raised in anger coming from the courtroom made him pause.

A movement across the foyer caught his eye, and he turned to see Hestia clearing dishes from the dining room table. She put a finger to her lips and beckoned him inside.

He crossed the foyer, and once beside her, asked, “What’s going on in there?”

“Alecto’s been here. She told your mother about the five challenges. She also told her about your desire to make Therese a god without Dionysus’s help.”

“They know I plan to break my oath.”

“That’s not all. Persephone went to Zeus and begged him to intervene by convincing your father to forget about the challenges. She wants Zeus to force Dionysus to help you. She’s so upset with Hades. But Zeus sees no reason to contradict him. Ares got wind of it, and now he’s offended that Hades would work in league with Dionysus against him. He’s against the challenges, too, but for different reasons than your mother.”

For most of his life,
Than was spared from the constant conflict among the gods at Mount Olympus, one of the few advantages of dwelling in the Underworld; but now he found himself the center of their attention, and he didn’t like it. Why should they control his fate? He was tired of being another cog in the wheel. He wouldn’t stand for it. He thanked Hestia and swiftly left the room to confront the other gods.

When
Than entered the court, the room became quiet and all eyes turned to him. Every throne was occupied except for those belonging to Hades and Poseidon, who spent their time in their respective palaces beneath the world and sea. Before Than could speak his mind to those present, Zeus spoke in his angry, earth-quaking voice.

“If you break your oath on the
River Styx, Thanatos, you will never be allowed to enter these palace walls again. Do you understand?”

So they would exile him. Wasn’t he already exiled most of the time? “I understand, Lord Zeus, but my problem could be remedied if Dionysus would do me the favor. He took no oath.” Than glanced at Aphrodite, who quickly turned her gaze to the marble
floor.

“If Hades hadn’t already made this deal with you, I might have intervened, but now I can’t risk turning my brother against me over this minor matter.”

Than looked across the room at his mother and grandmother, seated on their double throne. His mother was in tears, his grandmother holding her hand and comforting her.

“Can’t you just forget this girl?” Artemis suddenly said.

He knew the virgin goddesses would never understand him, so he turned to Aphrodite and Hera, natural enemies most of the time, and silently prayed to them. “Aphrodite, goddess of love, stand by me. Queen Hera, patron of all wives and mothers, feel my aching heart.”

Hera’s face softened. Than thought she would speak, but it was Hermes who crossed the room to
Than’s side. “These two lovers won’t give up. Therese is willing to fight for Thanatos. I say let her. Thanatos is willing to accept the consequences of breaking his oath. What more is there to say? If he’ll withstand the maenads and exile for the rest of eternity, justice will be served.”

Persephone stood from her throne.
“Justice? I’m so sick of justice! What happened to mercy? Two souls love one another. Why can’t we let them be happy?”

Aphrodite stood and said, “Hear, hear
!”

The room roared with angry voices until Zeus’s thundering growl silenced them. “To answer your question, Persephone, there are too many interests at stake. The girl had her chance to avenge her parents’ death last summer. She made her choice. The court agreed on a plan of action. The power of this court would be undermined if we didn’t uphold its decisions.”

“Hear, hear!” Ares said, mocking Aphrodite with a mischievous smile.

“This discussion is over,” Zeus commanded. He stood from his throne and left the room by way of his chamber door, directly behind his throne.

Than went to his mother and grandmother. “Trust me. Don’t make any more trouble for me here.”

“The thought of my son being torn to pieces every year…”

“Please, Mother.” He kissed the top of her head and then crossed the room to Hephaestus.

“Sir, you made a sword and shield for Therese last summer. Do you know what became of them?”

Hephaestus put a hand on Than’s shoulder, smiled kindly—his ugly, misshapen face taking on a kind of beauty—and said, “I have them in my forge. I recovered them from the battleground. I don’t like to see my handiwork wasted. Listen, I’m sorry for your troubles. And if there’s anything I can do to help, I will. I hate that dastardly god of war, for reasons I’m sure you know, and like my wife, I like to see lovers united in marriage.”

Than
smiled for the first time that day.

Chapter Twenty: The Little Black Box of Beauty

Therese climbed out of bed, recalling the dream. As she turned on
Jewels’s lamp and headed to her bathroom, she thought it was probably just an ordinary dream—a nice one, the best, but ordinary. It reminded her that her heart belonged to Than no matter how hard she tried to love Pete. But when she climbed beneath the warm water of the shower, the realness of the dream came back to her. Than had come to her in the dream world. They spent the night together in his room. He told her what he’d been doing to get them together again—about the maenads, Dionysus, and the Minotaur. He told her about the five challenges. The determination she felt when she had first awakened returned. It hadn’t been an ordinary dream, and she was eager to get started.

She rinsed the shampoo from her hair and prayed to
Than, “I miss you already. It won’t be long. I promise. I’ll start today.”

After her shower, she dressed and went downstairs to take Clifford outside. Carol and Richard sat at the granite breakfast bar eating bowls of cereal. Therese had been avoiding them since Vicki’s death, but she knew they wanted to talk to her more about what had happened. She hoped it wouldn’t be today. She didn’t want anything to sour her mood and dampen her determination to face the five challenges. She gave them a smile and said, “Good morning,” on her way out the back door.

Once in the woods, she prayed to Aphrodite, asking her to bring her the little black box, or to tell her where she should go to find it. Following Clifford up the trail into the woods behind her house, where the birds chirped and flitted from tree to tree and an occasional chipmunk scrambled across her path, she looked for signs of the goddess.

“Come on, Clifford,” she said when he stopped to sniff the grass. “Let’s keep going.”

She heard a rustle in the brush ahead of her and froze. In her mind, she asked, “Aphrodite?” though she expected to see a deer. She heard the rustle again, and studied the brush in front of her. She could see no signs of an animal but definitely sensed a presence.

“Hello?” Therese said meekly.

A figure appeared before her, but it wasn’t Aphrodite; it was Jen. She held the invisibility crown in one hand and wiped tears from her eyes with the back of the other.

“Jen?
What’s wrong?”

“Same old, same old.”
Her voice quivered as she spoke.

“Your dad?”

Jen nodded.

Clifford noticed her from across the trail and ambled over to greet her.

Jen leaned down to pet him and gave him a smile. “Hi, Clifford.”

“You
wanna talk?” Therese asked.

“Sure. Can we go to your room?”

“Come on.”

They took the trail down through the forest, past the elms, when Therese noticed a little black box, the size of a Rubik’s Cube, on the wooden deck. She picked it up, her heart pounding.

“What’s that?” Jen asked.

“I’m not sure.”

“Open it.”

Therese clamped the lid tight. “Not now. Come on.”

They entered the house through the back door, by the kitchen. Carol and Richard stood at the sink rinsing out their breakfast bowls.

“Can Jen come over for a while?” Therese asked.

“What about breakfast?” Carol asked. “Are you hungry, Jen?”

“No thanks.”

“I’m not either,” Therese added.

Carol glanced up at Richard, who nodded and said, “Let us know when you’re hungry, and we’ll fix you something, okay?”

“Thanks.”

The two girls skipped up the stairs followed by Clifford. Therese put the wooden box in a dresser drawer, hoping Jen would ask no more about it. “So tell me what’s going on,” she asked as she refilled Clifford’s food and water bowls and added more water to
Jewels’s tank.

Jen sat on the bed, cradling the crown. “My dad won’t stop drinking again. My mom keeps threatening to throw him out, but I don’t believe her. She likes having him around to help with the ranch. It makes me feel like she loves him more than she does me.” Tears poured from Jen’s eyes.

Therese sat beside her on the bed, unable to imagine how Jen must feel. Therese’s parents would never have hurt her or put her in harm’s way. She shivered at their memory, and her longing to be with them resurfaced. Therese shoved it back down and swallowed. “She probably doesn’t know what to do. She’s human. And humans make mistakes and don’t always know the right answers. Have you thought about calling someone, like a social worker?”

“I’m afraid they’ll take me and Bobby away. I’d rather stay and use the crown.”

“Has it helped then?”

Jen nodded. “I don’t know what I’d do without it. I sleep on the floor in my closet with it on every night. I pin it to my hair so it won’t fall off. He’s only come in my room once, but still. It was terrifying. He acts like he j
ust wants a hug, but when he’s drunk, he doesn’t know how to stop.” Jen shuddered and put on the crown. “Don’t look at me.”

Therese lowered her gaze to the floor. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know what to say except that I’m glad the crown helps.”

Jen took it off. “How does it work? Where did you get it?”

“I told you not to ask.”

“Please? I’ve just told you the worst secret ever. Can’t you tell me yours?”

Therese considered Jen’s question. Could she trust Jen not to tell a soul if she told her everything about
Than and the other gods? It would be nice to have someone, someone human, to talk to. “Well,” her stomach lurched. She couldn’t risk it. She couldn’t risk spoiling her chances to be with Than. “There’s no real secret, Jen. Someone gave it to me. I think she was my guardian angel. I’m not sure. Maybe my mom.”

“You could have kept it for yourself.”

“You need it more right now. But I might need to take it back, for a short while.”

“Why?”

“Not today. But maybe soon. I’ll give it right back.”

“You’re not going to tell me why?”

“Do I have to?”

Jen shook her head. “You aren’t going to take any more drugs, are you?”

“No.” Therese’s stomach felt sick as she thought of Vicki.

“Why’d you do it?”

“She wanted to see her mom. I wanted to see my parents.” Therese bit the inside of her lip.

“That’s crazy.”

“I know.”

Jen looked up at Therese and put a hand on her shoulder. “Thanks for loaning me the crown. I don’t know what I’d do without it.”

Therese hugged her friend. “You’re welcome.”

“Now let’s open that box,” Jen stood up and went to the dresser drawer, opening it.

Therese leapt across the room, her chest tight, her heart pounding. “No!” She reached for the box. For one horrible split second, the box slipped from the hands of both girls and dangerously dropped through the air. Therese gasped and caught it just before it hit the floor.

“You don’t know what you almost did.” Therese looked at Jen with wide eyes. Her future life with
Than would have vanished from the realm of possibility.

“What? What’s in there?”

Therese thought quickly. “My parents’ ashes.”

“I didn’t know they were cremated. They fit in that?”

“Yeah.”

“Then why were they out on the deck?”

“The box got wet, and I wanted to put it in the sun to dry.”

“Then why did you act like you didn’t know what it was?”

“I didn’t want you to know I like to carry the box around. It makes me feel closer to my parents.”

“Oh.” Jen sat on the bed. “Don’t be embarrassed about that. Okay?”

“Okay. Thanks.”

“Are you coming to groom Stormy today?”

“After lunch.”

Relief swept over Therese once Jen left. The thought of what had almost happened made her tremble. She set the box on her dresser, afraid to hold it in her quaking hands, moving it to the center, away from the edges, staring at it. Now what was she supposed to do? She silently prayed to Persephone and Aphrodite for further instructions.

Two figures appeared on either side of her.
Boys. Twins. They had deep red hair, long and thick like the mane of a lion, and fierce black eyes. They were beautiful, but they frightened her.

She took a step back, sucking in her lips, her heart speeding beneath her ribs. Clifford cowered beside her with his paws over his eyes.

“I’m Phobos,” one of them said. “And this is my brother, Deimos.”

“We’re sons of Aphrodite,”
Deimos explained.

Clifford started whining.

“Aphrodite?” Therese wanted to be grateful, wanted to believe they were there to help her, but fear choked her and panic gave her the shakes. “I-I-I’m Therese. It’s…” She fought the irrational terror taking hold of her. She wanted to attack the boys with her bedside lamp. How crazy was that? “A pleasure to meet you.” The air rushed from her body. She clinched her hands together to keep them from trembling and to keep them from flailing out.

The two brothers exchanged looks of surprise and laughed.

“A pleasure to meet us?”

“Us?”

Y-y-es. I adore your mother.” She wanted to flee from the room. She couldn’t breathe. In her mind, she screamed, “Help!” to Than, to Hermes, to anyone who’d listen. “Help me, please!”

The boys frowned.

“It’s never a pleasure to meet us.”

“You’re lying.”

“Try-trying t-to be p-p-polite!”

“Have you ever taken a good look at yourself in the mirror?”
Phobos asked. “You could use a pick-me-up.”

“The beauty charm in our mother’s box could serve you well, ugly. Think Than wants a plain girl like you at his side?”

Therese backed into the corner of her room. “Go away!” The panic and fear claimed her heart, erratic and mad, adrenaline pumping through every vein in her trembling body. She screamed. The twins laughed. She screamed again.