The Gatekeeper's Secret: Gatekeeper's Saga, Book Five (The Gatekeeper's Saga) (19 page)

She was impressed with herself, too. She didn’t visit the
Dreamworld often anymore, and she’d forgotten how much she enjoyed controlling her dreams.

“So what’s going on? And don’t say it’s none of my business. She’s my best friend, and I have a right to know, especially since you’re a god and she’s only human. I feel like I need to stand up for her.”

A few seagulls cried out above the sea, and below them, a pair of humpback whales waved at them with their tales.

“Did you do that?” Therese asked.

“I’m trying to calm you down.”

“I
am
calm. You’re just stalling.” She stopped to watch the magnificent humpbacks and muttered, “And it’s working.”

A cool, refreshing breeze blew her hair back from her face and lifted her spirits. Oh, he was good. He was real good.

“So talk,” she said. “I’m waiting.”

He stood beside her and gazed out to sea. “I left the relationship because I’m in love with her. I mean
really
in love with her.” He shoved his fists in his trouser pockets. “I’ve never felt this way before.”

She turned to him, moved and shocked. “Then why leave?”

“For her own good.”

They were silent for a while as she thought about that. Was it better for Jen if Hip wasn’t a part of her life?

“You’re not interested in having her become like us?” she finally asked him.

“Think that proposition through to its inevitable end,” Hip said. “I have a million times.”

It didn’t take her long. “Ares?”

“He barely tolerates you. I’m sure you haven’t forgotten all that he did to you, and
still
attempts to do to you. Don’t you think he’s working with Zeus to keep your wedding from being consummated? You’re not out of the water yet.”

A quiver raced down Therese’s spine.

“Do you think I want Jen in that kind of danger?” he asked.

Therese sighed. “No. And although I have no regrets, I don’t want her in danger either.” She turned and faced him. “But I think it needs to be her choice. I think you should tell her everything you just told me and let her decide.”

***

Than stood up when Therese finally returned to their rooms.

“Everything okay?” he asked.

She took off her bow and quiver and moved to the couch. “Yeah.” As she curled in the corner and he sat beside her, she told him about her talk with Hip.

“Well,” he said, “I guess Hip and I have something in common tonight.”

Her head jerked up and she sought his eyes, perplexed. “What do you mean?”

Than
smiled and gave her a light kiss. “There’s something I want to talk to you about, that’s all. Nothing bad, really.”

He wasn’t sure how she’d take his proposition. He thought it was a good idea. He hoped she’d feel the same way.

She squared herself to him in the corner of the couch with her legs curled in front of her—knees bent and open, lower legs crossed, in what people once called “Indian style.” She looked adorable, even with that look of apprehension on her face.

He licked his lips and cleared his throat. Now that he needed to say it, it didn’t come so easily.

“What do you want to talk about?” she prompted gently.

“Our wedding vows,” he blurted out.

She pinched her eyebrows together. Then she relaxed and smiled. “Not what I was expecting, but a pleasant surprise.”

He let out a breath. “Since things will be dangerous and chaotic during our wedding ceremony, I want to tell my vows to you tonight, so you’re sure to hear them, and so you can focus on just me and you and not Athena’s plan and Zeus’s threat. Okay?”

Tears glistened in Therese’s eyes. He couldn’t resist leaning in and kissing her.

She uncrossed her legs and moved her feet to the floor so she could maneuver closer to him. She felt soft and warm as he ran his hands down her arms and took her hands.

“Are you ready?” he asked her.

She nodded, and he noticed a tear had dripped to her cheek. He gently rubbed it away with his thumb.

“Before I met you,” he said, his heart rate picking up speed, “my life was a chore and a duty. I was like Sisyphus with his rock, doing the same things over and over. Unlike Sisyphus, I had a sense of purpose, but that was all that drove me. I didn’t know real happiness and joy until you came into my life.”

Tears welled in Therese’s eyes, and he took a shaky breath before continuing.

“You are my teacher. I learn from you every day. I’ve learned to be more compassionate, more grateful, and more aware of the Upperworld. I’ve learned to make friends outside of my immediate family. I’ve learned to feel more confident in myself and to see that I am as good as the gods on Mount Olympus, and as worthy of honor and respect as any of them.”

She nodded, encouraging him along, in spite of the tears that now poured down her lovely face. Tears filled his own eyes as he went on.

“You are my connection to things,” he said, feeling breathless now. His hands were shaking, because he’d never given such a speech to anyone, and he wanted this to be right, to be perfect. “You have made me feel connected to life and to the world in ways that I hadn’t experienced before you. Even my relationships with my own family members have become stronger because of you. You inspire me to be curious about the Upperworld. I didn’t know what chocolate and coffee and tea were before we met, because I never cared or paid attention to anything but my duties. You opened up a whole new world for me and have made me feel connected to it.”

Therese’s mouth had stretched into something between a smile and a frown, and it trembled as quiet sobs began to overwhelm her. He squeezed her hands.

“You are my equal,” he said. “Except for my power of disintegration and maybe for my skills in night Frisbee.” He laughed, and so did she. “You are my equal in serving others, in defending people and other gods, in taking action to overcome injustice, and in doing everything to ensure that goodness and right always come out ahead of badness and wrong. In many ways, you surpass me. I admire your compassion and aspire to love other beings as much and as hard as you do.”

Her entire body quivered uncontrollably now. She looked like she was falling to pieces before his eyes. He took her face in his hands and gazed into her eyes, which were streaming with tears.

“You are my love. My one and only, deep and passionate and eternal love. I cherish you more than anything in existence. I promise to love you, hard and true, and to protect you and that love, and to foster it into something new every day. I promise to be the one you can count on forever, and I will spend eternity doing everything in my power to make you happy.”

There. He’d finished. He let out a sigh of relief. But before he could tell her he was finished and ask her what she thought of his speech, she closed the distance between them and gave him a wet, intense, lingering kiss that left him breathless again.

***

Jen leaned against the fence. Sassy came up behind and nudged Jen’s hand.

“I don’t have any treats, girl,” Jen said. She was exhausted. With Pete still sick and the trail riding season upon them, she’d been working double time. Plus, she hadn’t been able to sleep.

That wasn’t exactly true, she thought to herself as she caressed Sassy’s face. Jen hadn’t
wanted
to sleep. Hip hadn’t communicated with her through the dream globe or in her dreams in over two months. A few times she dreamt of him only to discover they were figments. She used the saying Therese had taught her to command the figments to show themselves, and Hip would disappear only to be replaced by a giggling, flying, eel-like thing. It gave Jen the creeps.

Her mom approached, bringing Jen out of her reverie.

“You go on and eat lunch and rest,” her mother said. “John’s going to help out again today.”

Mr. Stern had been hanging around the Holt place more and more. Although Jen had felt awkward around him at first, she’d been grateful lately for his help.

“Are you sure?” Jen asked.

“Yep.
Now go on.”

After a quick sandwich, Jen put on her bikini and crossed the road to the lake for a swim. She missed the days when she and Therese would spend hours swimming and sunbathing together over the summers. It didn’t take long for those feelings of nostalgia to shift to missing Hip. No matter how much she missed him, now that Therese had confirmed that he was okay and not chained to a mountain peak, Jen refused to pray to him. She might feel desperate inside, but she would never allow him to see it.

***

Therese turned down the dark corridor toward her favorite bat cave to think. Than’s vows had filled her with love, but they had also filled her with fear. Hearing him promise to spend eternity trying to make her happy made her really think hard about what eternity would be like for her if Zeus succeeded in separating them. An eternity away from Than would be worse than death.

She wondered if it was too late for the transformation to immortality to be reversed. If Zeus swallowed Therese, could he take away her immortality so she could die a natural death? The idea of living for all eternity inside Zeus’s gut and perhaps hearing but not seeing or touching or loving
Than, terrified her.

She’d never see her parents, her aunt and uncle, her sister, her best friend. Would she be able to communicate with her parents? Had Athena been able to communicate with her mother?

To add to the fear was her doubt that she could come up with vows worthy of Than’s. His were so beautiful and touching. What could she say that would be anywhere near the same level of awesomeness?

This is important
, she said to herself.
These last few weeks may be our final days together. I want him to know how I feel.

As Therese sat with slumped shoulders on a ledge of rock among the baby bats waiting for the return of their parents, Athena appeared.

“Athena?” Therese asked in surprise. “What are you doing here?”

“Hello, Therese,” the goddess of wisdom said. “I came here to talk to you.”

“Oh?” Therese wasn’t sure whether she should stand or remain sitting. Since her knees suddenly felt shaky, she opted for the latter.

“It’s difficult for me to be open with you about all I want to say.” Athena glanced around the cave.
“Especially in this abysmal place.”

Therese’s face flushed. She frequently forgot how much the gods of Olympus despised the Underworld, and it shocked her every time she was reminded of it. This bat cave was special to her, and Athena found it repulsive.

“But,” Athena continued, “I want you to know how pleased I am with the way you have conducted yourself since you joined our ranks. You and Thanatos may have begun your lives together hated by the other gods—looked down upon as oath breakers and as love-sick fools—but you have proved yourselves worthy to be among us.”

Therese climbed to her feet, utterly astounded by Athena’s compliments.

“Your willingness to take risks and to make great personal sacrifice, Therese, has not gone unnoticed.” In spite of the darkness, Athena’s gray eyes shined as brightly beneath her helmet as the glow exuded by her godly form. “I owe you many thanks.”

Therese clutched her locket—the one that hung lower of the two on her chest, the one from Athena—and said, “As do I you.”

Athena lifted her brows above her dazzling eyes.

“After meeting
Thanatos, I have received many magical gifts from the gods, but the words inscribed on this locket have helped me more than any other.”

“Indeed. Words are the most powerful tools of all,” Athena said just before she disappeared.

***

Hip had been searching for Jen through both the dream globe and the Dreamworld ever since Therese had confronted him, and that had been two days ago. How had Jen managed to stay awake for forty-eight hours, and why would she do it?

After several more hours, he sensed her as she sunbathed on the banks of the Lemon Reservoir across from her home. She was entering his realm, and he was waiting for her.

Chapter Fourteen: A June Wedding

The day before the summer solstice, Therese couldn’t stand it anymore. She still hadn’t shared her vows with Than, and this was eating her up inside. His speech to her had been so perfect. So beautiful. After trying for weeks to think of what to say, and fearing she would never have another chance to say it, Therese stormed into their room, where he was eating, and, in a tone that sounded angry—she couldn’t help herself—she said, “I need to tell you something.”

He stood up. “What…”

“Sit down.”

He sat, looking up at her, lines of worry crossing his face.

“I haven’t prepared anything. I tried—believe me. So I’m just going to speak from the heart”—a heart that was pounding loudly in her ears as she fumbled for the right words. “My speech won’t be as long or as eloquent as yours, but it will be just as heartfelt, just as honest and true.” Now if she could only think of it. “You told me I am your teacher, your connection, your equal, and your eternal love. And that meant so much to me.” A sob threatened to choke her into silence. “Well, you are all those things to me, too.” Really? Come on, Therese. Be original. “And, and I would add one more thing.” She grasped for ideas, and it actually took no time at all to find the right one. “You are my reason.” She was so pleased with this, because it was absolutely how she felt. The words finally came. She was on a roll. “You are the reason I became a god and the reason I try so hard to be a good one. You are the reason I strive each day to be better than I was the day before. I admire you so much, and I want, more than anything, to be worthy of your love.”