The Gatekeeper's Daughter (17 page)

She pushed him away, but not with her full strength so as not to hurt him. “It’s okay. I’ll protect you.”

“
You’ll
protect
me
? Yeah, right. Now let’s get this over with. They won’t bring us food or water till the deed is done.”

He came at her again, and this time she forced him to the ground. “Give it up! I’m stronger than you.”

“I didn’t believe them when they told me you’d be.” He took a vial from his trouser pocket and removed the cork.  “Didn’t drink their damn elixir, sure it was a sleeping potion.” He swallowed its contents and tossed the vial to the ground. “Didn’t quench my thirst, but they said it would give me strength. I’m so thirsty. I’ve been their prisoner for days without food or water. Now come on. Please. Let’s get this over with. I promise to be gentle.”

Chapter Twenty-Six: Interrogation with the Furies

“You have your methods,” Tizzie growled at
Than, her dark serpentine curls coming alive, like the hair of Medusa.

“And we have ours.” Blood dripped from Meg’s eyes as she bent over the former Queen of the Amazons.

“But she says she doesn’t know where it is,” Than objected. “This is a waste of time.”

The two Furies had Hippolyta connected to their stretcher in the upper pit of Tartarus, not far from where Tantalus lay with water dripping on his forehead and grapes dangling just out of his reach. Even though Hippolyta was as transparent as all souls in the Underworld, her raven hair sparkled, as did the metal trim on her boots and armor. Her dark eyes were wide with fright and her teeth clenched with pain. Than fought the impulse to rescue her from his sisters, who were trying to help him.

Tizzie cranked the stretcher. “You’d be surprised what souls can remember with a little help from this machine.”

Hippolyta shrieked. “I told you, I gave the girdle to Hercules!”

Meg leapt on top of the table, her blond hair flying like golden flames, the falcon on her shoulder, ready to peck. Meg straddled the Amazon, allowing the blood from her eyes to spill onto Hippolyta’s face. “That’s not what he says. He says he stole it from you and then gave it back, after his labor was complete.”

Hippolyta pressed her mouth and eyes closed to avoid the blood and then screamed, “Liar!”

“Why aren’t you interrogating Hercules?” Than insisted.

Tizzie cranked the stretcher. “He’s next.”

Hippolyta said in a frantic, pleading voice, “I gave it to Hercules! He wanted everyone to think he bested me, for the sake of his labor, but I fell in love with him and gave it to him as we sailed together to Athens. But, but then he betrayed me!” Tears flowed from the corners of her eyes and down to her ears.

“Betrayed you, how?” Meg demanded.

“Hera wanted him to fail,” Hippolyta said through gritted teeth. “She spread a rumor that he abducted me. My sister Antiope believed it and led an army of Amazons to attack Athens. Hercules…” Hippolyta stopped, fighting off sobs.

“Speak!” Tizzie hissed, echoed by the serpent curls. “Speak!”

“Hercules gave me back, refused me!” Hippolyta said as she wept. “His men were more important to him!”

“And the girdle?”
Meg demanded.

“I think Hercules gave it to Theseus, but I’m not certain.”

“Aha!” Tizzie loosened the stretch machine and turned to Meg. “I’ll fetch Theseus while you take her to Erebus to purge her pain.”

“What about Hercules?” Than said. “I thought you said he was next.”

“Come with me, brother,” Tizzie said. “If you want him so badly, I’ll let you interrogate him.”

Unlike his former arrogant self, Hercules was docile where he sat in the Elysium Fields. He didn’t resist when
Than beckoned him to follow, but the moment he was strapped to the stretcher, he became aware. Pain was the great tool of awakening.

Tizzie strapped Theseus on a second machine so that the two fallen heroes lay side by side, their armor mirror reflections of each other. Only the color of their hair—Hercules blond and Theseus black—kept them distinct from a distance. Meg returned from Erebus and leapt onto
Theseus, frightening him with the blood from her eyes and the falcon at her shoulders, threatening to peck his face.

Than bent over Hercules.
“What do you know of Hippolyta’s girdle?”

“I returned it to Hippolyta when I gave her back to the Amazons.”

“Lies!” Tizzie hissed, and her serpent hair echoed. “Lies!”

In the distance, Tizzie’s wolf howled while she cranked the stretcher.

Hercules grunted. “Theseus, old friend! I’m sorry!”

“So you did give the girdle to him!” Than said.

“No one was to know, but yes. Now get me down!” Hercules cried.

“Why was no one to know?” Than demanded. “Tell me!”

Tizzie pulled the crank as Meg brought her falcon down to Theseus’s face.

“What became of Hippolyta’s
girdle!” Meg shrieked.

Hercules panted as sweat poured from his skin. “Tell them, Theseus!”

“I gave it to Antiope, to woo her!” Theseus cried with pain.

“Hippolyta’s sister?” Than asked.

“She fell in love with me and turned against her own people after they attacked us. She fought alongside me and protected me from her own sisters.”

“Keep going!” Meg prodded, blood dripping from her face to his throat.

“She believed me when I told her of Hera’s lie, but she couldn’t convince the other Amazons of our innocence, so she killed for me. But…”

“But what?”
Than said, rushing to Theseus’s side. “Get to the point!”

“When I gave the girdle to Antiope, she was horrified. She thought Hercules and I had killed Hippolyta, even though Hippolyta died at the hands of her own people. The Amazons didn’t recognize her when they killed her.”

“Did you tell Antiope this?” Meg asked.

“Of course, but she wouldn’t believe me. She took her own life and broke my heart. I lied about her death in our treaty with the Amazons, claiming they had killed her along with her sister. I also lied about the girdle, worried they’d jump to the same conclusions as Antiope.”

“What became of the girdle?” Than’s urgent voice echoed throughout Tartarus.

“The sea nymph Dione promised me safe passage back to Athens if I gave it to her, so I did.”

Than’s mouth dropped open. “Dione?”

Theseus nodded.

“Are you speaking the truth?” Than asked.

Tizzie cranked the machine.

“I swear! I swear! I gave the golden girdle to Dione!”

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Tunnel Vision

“Leif! No!” Therese jumped to her feet and pushed against the Norwegian, but he clung to her.

He crushed her in his arms and kissed along her neck. “Can’t we make this pleasant?” he murmured.
“Mmm. You smell nice.” He clutched her hair and lifted her face to his.  “And fortunately for me, you’re beautiful.” He covered her mouth with gentle lips.

She spat at him. “I promised myself to someone else!”

He wiped his mouth on her black shirt, over her right breast.

“Stop!”

His sky blue eyes pleaded with her. “You’ll never get out of here alive unless you bear them a girl. I’ve heard the stories. Please. Let’s make the best of it.” He kissed her again.

She bit down on his lip.

“Ah!” He loosened his hold on her.

She stepped back and kicked him in the chest. He staggered back.

“Fine!” He raised both hands in the air. “I give up. Dig your tunnel.”

She watched him warily as she found her rock and returned to her digging.
“Nothing against you. I’m in love with someone else. We’re going to get married.”

“Keep dreaming,” the Norwegian said. “Even if you do tunnel all the way out, they’ll only capture you again. This place is heavily guarded.”

“I told you, I’ll find a way.”

For another hour, she worked, tunneling up the other side of the incandescent wall. The loose dirt and rock fell in her hair, mouth, and
eyes, making her cough and spit and blink, but she kept going, desperate to escape. She resented the Norwegian, who’d made himself comfortable in the middle of the pit, lying on his back, sometimes watching her, sometimes closing his eyes. She could no longer see him now that she could stand on her feet and crouch in the three-foot tunnel she’d made. Every fifteen minutes or so, she had to stop digging to push the fallen debris into the pit and out of her way.

“Oh,
Than,” she prayed. “If only you could hear me.”

“Therese?”

“Than? You can hear me?”

“Yes! But I can’t sense you! Where are you?”

“I don’t know! The Amazons have me in some kind of enchanted pit. I’m trying to dig myself out.”

Before she could explain more, the Norwegian grabbed her by her sneakers and pulled her from her tunnel, her head and arms hitting and scraping against the rock. He tugged her into the middle of the pit and climbed on top of her.

“Worn out yet?” His body was flush on top of hers, but he lifted his head to look at her, elbows propped on the ground on either side of her. He pushed her hair out of her eyes. “I’m starving and dying of thirst down here. Forgive me for what I’m about to do.”

He pinned her down with his body as he ripped open her black jeans and tugged them past her hips.

“Stop!” she screamed. “Please!”

When he lifted himself to undo his own trousers, she reached back for an arrow from her quiver and stabbed him in the chest. He immediately transformed into a yellow canary, fluttering above her.

“What’s happened to me?” he chirped.

“I didn’t know what else to do.”

“Change me back!”

“I can’t. I’m sorry.”

“Then I’m getting out of here!” He flew toward the grate above them.

“No! You’ll get fried!”

He ignored her and flew up. Like her arrow, as soon as he broached the grate, he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

“Leif!”
Therese covered her face and wept. “I had no choice,” she said again, this time to herself. “I had no choice.”

A few minutes later, she wiped her eyes with the back of her hands, fastened her jeans back at her waist, and found her rock.

Then it came to her. It came so fast she squealed with surprise, clutching the locket near her throat. If Than could hear her prayers while she was in the tunnel, maybe she could god travel, too. With her bow and quiver slung over her shoulder, she crawled beneath the incandescent wall and into the three-foot tunnel she’d made on the other side. As soon as she focused on Than’s chambers, she was there, safe in his room. Hades appeared a moment later.

“Well played,” he said.

“You knew where I was?” Therese asked with astonishment.

“Not in time to do anything about it.” Hades scratched his beard. “The Amazonian Pit is the only territory underground I cannot control. Even Poseidon’s sea caves are subject to me and my power.” He narrowed his eyes. “Are you hurt?”

She shook her head. “I’m fine. Where’s Than?”

“He must be well distracted not to sense your presence here.” He crossed the room and sat in one of the club chairs in front of the fireplace, crackling with flames and wood.

“I thought he’d be here.”

“He’s in Tartarus, among other places, torturing souls.” He steepled his fingers and smiled, as though delighted by the idea.

“What?”

“He needs information to help you.”

“Never mind. He can’t come with me, anyway. I need to go.”

“Go?
Where?”

“On a quest.”

He motioned for her to sit in the chair opposite him.

“I don’t have time. My sister’s life is in jeopardy. Artemis gave me a quest in exchange for her help.”

“What would the huntress have you do?”

“It’s a secret.”

“Ah, a secret quest. Wonderful. As soon as you leave my kingdom, Ares will hurl you back into the Amazonian Pit. This time, free of sharp rocks for digging.”

She sank into the chair opposite him. “What can I do to protect myself? Artemis made it very clear that I can’t involve
Than.”