The Gatekeeper's Secret: Gatekeeper's Saga, Book Five (The Gatekeeper's Saga) (15 page)

“Hey,” she said to Hip.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“You don’t know?” she challenged.

“Know what? What’s happened?” Hip asked through the globe.

“I saw Pete’s dream. I know about the prophecy.”

Hip’s concerned face transformed to understanding as his pinched brows relaxed. So he
had
known.

She narrowed her eyes at the glass. “When were you going to tell me about it?”

“Honestly? Never.”

She wanted to throw the globe across the room. Maybe he didn’t care as much about her as he had led her to believe.
“Why not? Didn’t you think I should know?”

“What good would that have done anyone?”

“Seriously?”

“Seriously.”
Hip looked at her blankly.

“Well, for one, I could have started spending every moment I have with my loved ones instead of dreaming about you all day and night.”

He looked hurt by that last comment. She’d wanted to hurt him, but now she felt bad.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I know you were trying to keep me from freaking out.”

“It’s driving all of us crazy,” he said. “Trying to guess who the poor soul will be.”

“What are you talking about?” Jen asked.

“What are
you
talking about?” Hip said, his face full of confusion.

“The message my father’s ghost gave to Pete,” Jen clarified.

“Which was…”

“He said on the day Therese marries death, the lord of Mount Olympus will fall, and I will perish,” Jen said.

Hip’s brows shot up and disappeared beneath his hair. “You? That’s not what I was told.”

“What were you told?”

“That someone close to Therese would die. That’s why I didn’t tell you. No name was given.”

“But I heard him—my father—say it to Pete in his dream,” Jen said, trying to control her trembling hands. “He said
I
would perish.”

“That wasn’t your father’s ghost,” Hip insisted. “That was a figment. You can’t take what happens in the
Dreamworld at face value, and you certainly can’t believe it.”

But sometimes dreams were prophetic. Even Jen had once had a dream that she’d failed her chemistry test, and the very next day she did. Of course, it hadn’t taken a dream to know it would happen. “Then why do people’s dreams sometimes come true?”

“There are two kinds of dreams, and each passes through a different gate—one of ivory and the other of horn. The one you saw in the globe was a false dream, because it came through the ivory gate. It’s not to be trusted, Jen. Do you hear me?”

“How do you know?” She wanted to believe him, but she worried he was just trying to make her feel better.

“Seriously?”

He appeared in the hospital room beside her. Before she could react, she yawned. It was half-yawn and half-smile. She found the energy to stand as Hip wrapped his arms around her. He smelled fresh and felt warm. His solid arms around her made her feel safe. She yawned again and relaxed against him. Then he disappeared, and she nearly fell on the floor.

As she staggered to her chair, he appeared again in the globe.

“Thanks,” Jen said. “I needed that.”

“So did I. It wasn’t enough. Not nearly enough.”

Jen let out a heavy sigh and closed her arms around her.

“Listen,” Hip said. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about the prophecy.”

“I don’t understand why they don’t just call off the wedding. I mean, if someone’s going to die, why get married?”

Hip rubbed his chin. “First of all, they are in danger of being imprisoned by Zeus regardless of whether or not they have the wedding. Now that he’s heard the prophecy, Zeus won’t take any chances.”

Therese was in danger, and the only reason Zeus knew of the prophecy was because her brother had told him. “So it’s Pete’s fault,” she muttered.

“Well, I wouldn’t say that.”

“Because you’re too kind.”
Her stomach suddenly felt queasy.

“Trust me when I say this is a complicated situation and the chances of a favorable outcome are higher if we go ahead with the wedding.”

Jen narrowed her eyes. “Favorable for whom?”

Hip didn’t reply, but he didn’t have to. She already knew the answer. In the short time she’d known the gods she’d come to realize that the needs of humans were rarely their top priority.

***

Than searched the sea for signs of Therese and Artemis as he flew with his souls from a sunken ship, but he saw no sign of them. Why hadn’t they answered his prayers?

Therese? Where are you?
He reached out again.

Sorry
, she finally replied.
The tidal wave had me too flustered.

What tidal wave?

You won’t believe what we’ve discovered,
she rattled on.
We’ve found the island. It’s hidden by a cloud above the Denmark Straight.

Than disintegrated and flew toward that location.
I’m on my way.

Don’t. You’ll attract attention.

Therese was right. He didn’t want to be seen by Zeus. He hovered several miles away and used his excellent vision to investigate the region. Thick, dark clouds gathered above the straight.

Are you in the middle of those clouds?
he asked.

Amphitrite cloaked us. Dione and
Callisto are with us as well. You won’t believe what Polyphemus is doing. I actually feel sorry for him. Zeus is horrible for making him do it. We have to stop him.

Before
Than could ask what Therese meant, a flash of lightning struck. It lit up the clouds with a halo of fire before fading into a thunderous roar. Then, like eagles toward their prey, the five goddesses fell toward the sea. Than god travelled to them, but they plunged into the water like cannons before he could catch them.

He struck through the water and disintegrated into five, each racing after a goddess toward the bottom of the sea. Although he managed to reach
Callisto, Artemis, and Therese, a swarm of sharks circled protectively around Amphitrite and Dione, and when he tried to pass, they opened their jaws threateningly.

“I want to help them,” he said to them. “I swear on the River Styx.”

With his oath, the sharks allowed him to pass, and he took the two sea goddesses. Then all five of him made a bee line for Poseidon’s Palace, all the while praying to the other gods for help.

He wished he could god travel, but he wouldn’t dare risk the safety of the goddesses, so he swam as hard as he could though the Atlantic toward Morocco. He turned east through the Mediterranean Sea and cut through the Strait of Messina toward the Ionian Sea, but as soon as he did, he was sorry. He had forgotten about Scylla and Charybdis and their hatred for Amphitrite. Charybdis sucked in
a mouthful of water and then blew it out in a powerful whirlpool that tossed him and the five goddesses toward the rocks off the coast of Italy. Scylla, with her six long necks and grisly heads and her twelve dangling legs, lurched from her cave and pounced on him and Amphitrite. Her claws dug into his skin, sending sharp pains up his arms and legs.

Than held fiercely to the goddesses, who remained limp in his arms, as he struggled against Scylla’s
attack. Scylla’s yelping cries pierced his eardrums. He cried out with rage against her and knocked her back toward the rocky bank. She recovered and lunged toward him, but before she reached him, Poseidon emerged in his chariot, and Than—all five of him—leapt into the golden seat behind Poseidon with the goddesses in tow.

“To my palace!” the god of the sea shouted to his three white steeds.

Than had never been so glad to see Poseidon.

Riptide, Seaquake, and Crest charged through the straight, across the Ionian Sea, around the southernmost tip of Greece, and, at last, into the Aegean.

Apollo met them in his chariot at the palace entrance. The gods quickly swam into one of Poseidon’s private chambers where they stretched the goddesses onto couches, weighting down Artemis, Callisto, and Therese to keep them from floating away. Than knew they were not close to death, but he feared their paralysis could be permanent.

“They were paralyzed by a direct hit from Zeus,” Than explained to Apollo.
“Can you help them?”

While Apollo worked his magic on each of the goddesses, Poseidon questioned
Than.

“Why would my brother attack my wife and these others?”

Than noted the ferocity in Poseidon’s eyes.

“They were investigating the disappearance of Cyclopes Island.”

“And did they find anything?” Poseidon asked.

Than told him what he knew.

“Did they discover why my son was so distraught?” Poseidon asked.

“Yes, but they were struck before Therese could tell me.”

Poseidon lifted his trident and roared, unleashing his ferocity. The earth shook.

“Please, Lord Poseidon!” Than shouted, though he was afraid. “You’ll draw suspicion to us.” That was all they needed: Zeus noticing the quaking of the Aegean Sea on the heels of his strike.

Poseidon quieted down, but turned his back to Than and paced angrily around the room. Than stepped away to give the god of the sea some private time. He was relieved to see the goddesses stirring.

“
Than?” Therese called to him from across the room, and, with his boulder in the crook of his arm, he went to her.

***

Therese blinked several times before she realized she was underwater. Where was she? She looked around but couldn’t move her arms and legs.

“Than?” she called, hoping he was nearby.

When he reached her side, he held her hair from floating in her eyes. “Therese? Are you okay?”

“I can’t move. I think I was struck by Zeus.”

He nodded. “I saw it happen.”

“What about the others?” she asked.

“They’re awake now too. Soon you’ll all be healed. It just takes time.”

Now she knew how he had felt four months ago when he had lain paralyzed by Zeus’s thunderbolt in the cave at the base of Mount Ida. A dull ache penetrated her muscles. She could lift her head and wiggle her fingers and toes, but that was the extent of her mobility.

He kissed her forehead, and a wave of warmth circulated throughout her body.

“Tell me what you saw,” he said.

“Poor Polyphemus,” Therese said.

Poseidon moved nearer to the couch where she lay. “Is he Zeus’s prisoner, then?”

Therese looked up at the fierce god. “The Cyclopes are creating an arsenal of thunderbolts, and Polyphemus is being forced to…” Therese’s voice trailed off.

From her couch, Artemis said, “He’s being made to cut open the bellies of his sheep and hide the thunderbolts inside. Then he has to sew them back up.”

Poseidon narrowed his eyes. “There must be more to it than that, to make the giant weep.”

Therese closed her eyes. “A while back, when we needed his eye to save Persephone and Athena, I shot him with my arrow to make him love his sheep.”

Amphitrite licked her lips. “We heard him tell his sheep that he would never fling them to the ground, as he’s been ordered.”

“He’s afraid of Zeus’s wrath,” Dione explained. “Polyphemus wants to protect his sheep at his own peril.”

“Can’t you reverse the effects of your arrow on my son?” Poseidon asked Therese.

“I could,” she allowed. “But I have a better idea.”

Chapter Eleven: Homecoming

Two weeks passed before Therese and the other goddesses regained mobility in their arms and legs, and it was another week before Therese felt she was completely back to normal. The best explanation for their long recovery was that Zeus must have used several thunderbolts at once to knock the goddesses from the sky. Than told her she was lucky to have recovered at all. He knew of a wood nymph who remains paralyzed forever. Artemis took mercy on her and turned her into a tree so she could at least have a sense of purpose.

Poseidon had made Therese comfortable in a room of her own in his palace. She spent her weeks lying in a soft bed of silk, loosely packed with sand, the most comfortable mattress she’d ever slept on. More than once, she played her flute, and Poseidon asked if he could sit near her bed and listen. Her bed faced two enormous windows shaped like clam shells, and on the other side of them the colorful marine life passed by. She had never before realized how busy the underwater world actually was until she had watched it for days, full of fascination. Despite the pleasure she took in seeing the dolphins, sharks, starfish, stingrays, crabs, sea horses, and vast range of various other fish species, she was anxious to get out of the water and onto dry land. She’d loved the water all her life and had been swimming since the age of two, but after living in it nonstop for three weeks, she was ready to leave it for a while.