The Gatekeeper's Sons (The Gatekeeper's Trilogy) (3 page)

Another voice sounded above her. “Therese?”

“Who
is
that? Who keeps calling me?”

A vague inkling of a car in a lake threatened to impose itself into memory, but Therese turned back to the boy and took in his beauty, forgetting all else.

Hip said, “They’re trying to wake you up. But I’m not ready for you to go yet. You’re such a nice diversion from what can sometimes be my dreary existence.”

“How old are you?” She turned and floated on her back and looked down her body at him where he hovered near her shoes.

“Ancient.”

“You look eighteen. I’m fifteen. I’ll be a sophomore this year.”

Down below, she noticed a raft floating across what she now saw was a river. There were four people on it, but she couldn’t make out who they were. She swam the breaststroke through the air toward the water to get a better view. Her teeth felt loose. They started to crumble. She willed her teeth back into her mouth and licked them to be sure they were set correctly. Satisfied, she smiled.

Hip was fast behind her. “You’re so incredible. People usually wake up when their teeth fall out.”

She saw an old man standing on the raft dragging a long paddle through the water. Alongside him stood two familiar people and one other she didn’t know. “It’s my mom and dad. Hey, wait up.” She flew above them, but they didn’t seem to notice her.

The old man and the other passenger, whom she could now see was another
guy, as cute as Hip, looked up at her. He looked sad and serious, like the silent moody type.  His eyes were blue, and his hair was nearly black. He’s so awesomely beautiful, she thought. He wore loose white pants and an opened white shirt like Hip had worn earlier, and, as with Hip, she willed the shirt to disappear. The boy looked startled, but her parents didn’t react. They stood expressionless on the raft.

Hip laughed at the other boy’s bewilderment. “That’s my brother,
Thanatos. Everyone calls him Than. I’m pretty sure that’s a first for him.”

“He looks a lot like you.”

“We’re twins, but not identical. I got the sense of humor, the easygoing disposition, and the charm with all the ladies. He got, well, not a whole lot, actually. I suppose he’s trustworthy. My father says dependable and responsible, but those are pretty boring qualities, if you ask me. I sometimes feel sorry for him.”

“What’s he doing with my parents?”

“He’s taking them to the Underworld, where all the dead go.”

“My parents aren’t dead.” Again, the vague inkling threatened to return to memory, but Therese shook her head. She willed herself back home in her own cozy bed with her dog, Clifford, curled beside her. Hip was not with her.

“Time to wake up,” she said to Clifford.

The brown and white fox terrier licked her cheek.

Therese tossed back her comforter and climbed out of the bed, the warm, wooden floor familiar beneath her feet. She dropped some hamster food into Puffy’s hamster cage and turned on the lamp over her Russian tortoise’s tank.

“Good morning, Jewels,” Therese said.

The tortoise winked at her.

Therese headed downstairs. Clifford bounded behind her, as usual. Her parents were in the kitchen sitting at the granite bar drinking coffee and reading the paper, as on any Saturday morning.

They were still in their pajamas, but she was in her blue formal gown.

She replaced the gown with a nightshirt.
Poof
: There, better.

“Good morning,” she said to her parents.

She went through the screened front porch and out into what she was expecting to be the sunny morning on their wooden deck in the mountains but was instead the night sky over the foggy river. Hip greeted her.

“Nice outfit.”

“So this really is just a dream,” she said. “None of it’s real.”

“What makes a dream any less real?” he challenged.

“Hip, let her go!” the boy from below on the raft warned. “They need to revive her or she’s going to die!”

“Therese?” a voice came from somewhere above.

Than flew up and pulled Therese away from Hip. “Let her go, brother. You’re endangering her life.”

Therese felt weak and she tried to wriggle free but nearly fell from the air.

Than held her up. “You shouldn’t be here,” he whispered, close to her ear. He sent a shiver down her spine, but his breath was sweet.

She didn’t like the direction this dream was going. In the dreams in which she was about to die, she usually bolted into the air and changed the events into something happy. Although she couldn’t find the strength to jump up and twirl around, she did manage to throw her arms around the good-looking boy holding onto her. She could make the dream into a new romance. “My dream,” she managed to say as she clung to him. Sh
e put her lips against his lips. “You’re…so…lovely.”

“Whoa, brother,” Hip said. “Today’s full of all kinds of firsts for you, man.”

Than seemed shocked. He looked at her like she was an alien. “You can’t do this,” he said, but he didn’t push her away. His eyes closed, he sighed, and, almost reluctantly, it seemed, he put his strong arms around Therese, who felt weaker. She could feel his mouth near her forehead. A sound came from his throat, something like a groan.

She liked being in his arms. “You’re…so…lovely,” she murmured, growing weaker and weaker.

“Take her back.” Than seemed to be fighting an inner battle. “I’m to take her parents, but not her. It’s not her time.”

Therese willed herself up. “My parents? Where are you taking them?”

Than looked into her questioning eyes. He looked as though he wanted to kiss her. She wanted to kiss him, too. His face moved closer. She nearly lost her breath. But her parents! She flew from his arms and down to the raft.

“Charon, don’t board her!” Than growled, fast on her heels. “She’s not to go across.”

“Mom! Dad!”

Her parents didn’t seem to hear her.

“This is my dream, dammit. Look at me!”

Her parents turned toward her. “Therese?”

Than gave Therese a look of astonishment. “How did you do that?”

Therese flew down to her parents.

Strong arms went around her and pulled her away from the raft. The brothers were on either side of her. She was fighting a futile battle. The brothers were much too strong for her to break free from them.

Than
smiled. “You’re right. She’s a powerful soul. I’ve never known someone to follow loved ones down this far.”

“You’re forgetting Orpheus and Hercules,” Hip pointed out.

“But they were demigods.” Than’s hands tightened their grip on Therese. Hip started to say something, but Than interrupted, “And Odysseus was sent down, so he doesn’t count, either.” Hip opened his mouth, but as before, Than was too quick with his retort, “And Aeneas had a guide and a golden bough, unlike this girl who came all on her own with no bribes.”

Hip finally got his say, “I
told
you this girl was powerful. You’re
making
my case, brother.” He pulled Therese closer to him. “I want to keep her.”

Therese wondered if they could possibly be talking about her.
Powerful?
She was anything but, as her inability to break free from them proved.

Than frowned. “If you try, she’ll die, and then what fascinates you about her will be lost.”

“Therese?” the voice from above called.

“Let her go!” Than implored.

Hip moved his lips to Therese’s ear. “Seek me out in your dreams. I want to find you again. Look for me. Call for me.”

Chapter Four: A Warning

Still jarred by his brother’s foolish risk, Than waited in the poppies, until he fell asleep, and then he sought out Hip in the dream world.

Than knew exactly what Hip would be doing when he found him.

“I’ll get you, my pretty! And you’re little dog, too!” Hip’s voice rang out over the abyss.

“Maybe not exactly,” Than thought, rolling his eyes at his brother’s projection of a little green woman in a pointed black cap. “Hey, witch!”

Hip turned in surprise and spoke in the voice of an old hag. “What are you doing here? I’m kind of in the middle of something.”

Than looked at the pretty girl cowering in fear before his brother. Then he asked his brother,
still in his witch form, “Since when has this been your style? What happened to lover boy?”

“Now come on, brother,” Hip said. “I’ve been doing this for over a millennium. Shows how often you come to see me.”

“What exactly is this?” Than asked. “I don’t think that particular character has been around for over a millennium.”

“Details, details,” Hip said. “I’m talking strategy here, not the details.”

“Scare them to death?”

“Never to death, brother. Then you’d get them. I just scare them e
nough to want a protector.” Hip changed his witchy projection back to himself and spoke in his own voice. “There, there, Melody. I’ll save you from that nasty witch.”

The girl ran into Hip’s arms.

Hip gave Than a smirk and a wink. “Works every time,” he said over the girl’s head.

Hip’s mouth fell on the girl’s. “Nice,” Hip said in between kisses.

Than remembered the feeling of Therese’s arms around him, her lips pressed against his.

Hip read his thoughts before Than could block him.
As twins, they had a special insight into one another’s minds.

“Aha!” Hip laughed, tossing the girl to the side. “That’s why you’re here. All these centuries you have chastised me, looked down on me for making the most of my lot by having a little fun with the girls, a little harmless fun…”

“Not always harmless,” Than murmured.

Melody faded into the background.

“And here you are now, wanting some tail now that you’ve had a small taste. What a hypocrite!”

“Tail? Is that what you so irreverently call human beings? They’re not playthings.”

“Oh? Says who?” Hip folded his arms at his chest. “Get off your high horse.”

“They’re our responsibility, not our amusement.”

“They are both, Than. That’s your problem. You take everything too seriously. You need to learn to have a little fun.”

“Switch jobs with me for a day and then tell me how that’s possible!”

“Broken record, bro’! That’s what you are! A scratched disc. I didn’t choose our lots. All I can say is, you need to make the most of yours, and you don’t.”

Than
moved closer to Hip, putting his face inches from his brother’s. “And you need to be more careful. You almost killed that girl before her time.”

“You’re just mad that I get to go to her
now, and you don’t.”

“Leave her alone, Hip. I mean it. She’s been through a hard time, losing her parents.”

Hip moved his face so close to Than’s, that they almost touched. “That’s exactly why she needs me, to help divert the pain. And believe me, bro’, I’ll show her a good time.”

Than shoved his brother out of his face.

Hip flew back to retaliate, but then didn’t. He smiled, took a relaxed stance. “Lighten up. I’ll leave her alone.”

“Good.” Than backed off, about to leave, about to wake in the field of poppies.

“I’ve never seen you like this before,” Hip teased. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you like this girl, Therese.”

Than ignored him and opened his eyes. Another death beckoned him to China. But as he met the old man to lead him to Charon’s raft, his mind went back to the red-haired girl who had kissed him.

Chapter Five: Figments and the Underworld

“She’s waking up! Sheila! She’s waking up!”

“Tell Dr. Burton her
patient is waking up.”

Therese grabbed the plastic tubing in her mouth and yanked. It scratched her throat, and tears welled in her eyes. Hands in latex gloves guided the tubing out and away. Therese gagged, heaved a dry heave. The latex-gloved hands held out a cup.

“Take a sip of water.”

Therese put her parched lips to the cup and sipped. Her neck hurt when she lifted her head, so she lay back again. She blinked and looked up, squinting against the bright lights. She cleared her throat. The crud was still there. She cleared again. Took anoth
er sip. Ow, my neck.

“Therese, can you hear me?” It was her Aunt Carol, her mother’s sister from Sa
n Antonio. What had happened to the brothers? They were right here, so close to her. How could they vanish like that? Carol kissed Therese on the forehead. “Oh, sweetheart!” Therese felt a flutter of kisses sweep over her cheeks. “Oh, Therese! I’m so glad you’re finally awake!”