The Gatekeeper's Secret: Gatekeeper's Saga, Book Five (The Gatekeeper's Saga) (24 page)

What a way to treat your mother, Hip thought.

Afraid that Zeus would imprison her, Rhea changed herself into a hermaphrodite and called herself Adgistis, not realizing Zeus would find a god of both sexes a threat to his power. Rhea eventually became Cybele after Dionysus set her up for castration.

Metis had discovered all of this last fall when Zeus had returned Athena and had captured Cybele. Cybele had hoped that by revealing herself as his mother, Zeus might have pity on her. But he did not.

Zeus had dangled his mother from the middle star of Orion’s Belt.

Just the thought of treating his mother in such a way brought a bad taste to Hip’s mouth. He shook it off and focused on their journey toward the clouds. The chariot jolted when it breached the ozone and Earth’s atmosphere to enter outer space. Orion’s foot reached above them, and his belt, though made of stars light years away, manifested itself in a single layer around the hunter’s waist.

“There she is!” Persephone cried.

From the center of the belt, Cybele hung on an iron chain fastened around her torso. Her long purple gown covered her feet, and her arms were lifted over her head, her hands curled around the chain.

“At last!” the manly goddess called as tears poured down her cheeks from behind her blindfold.

Chapter Eighteen: Face Off

Before Therese could god travel from where she perched on the peak of Mont
Forel in southern Greenland, Zeus bounded down from the floating Cyclopes Island and snatched her up in his mighty hands. She barely had time to blink before she was whisked away to Mount Olympus, where Hermes and Ares were waiting.

When she tried to pray to
Than and the others, she realized Zeus had her blocked. She had no way of communicating with the Alliance. No way to call for help!

Why, oh why had she told
Than to retreat and to trust her? Here she was about to be eaten. How could she spend eternity in the belly of another? How ironic that Metis was freed only to have her replaced with Therese.

“Chain her to my throne!” Zeus commanded his sons.

Instantly, they wielded chains and cuffed and shackled her onto the double golden seat. She gave Hermes her most pleading gaze and prayed to him to help her, but he ignored her.

Don’t let him swallow me!
she begged Hermes.

“You have been a thorn in my side from the moment
Thanatos laid eyes on you!” Zeus bellowed. “You failed to avenge the murder of your parents, you failed the challenges issued to you by Hades, and you persuaded Thanatos to break his oath to make you one of us. I might have tolerated you in spite of those shortcomings had you not become one of the major instigators of the treason against me and my kingdom.”

“But…”

Zeus pushed his palm toward her and glared at her, his nostrils flaring. “You don’t get to speak, Therese, goddess of animal companions! Your time is up!”

“You can’t silence me!” she shouted just before she transformed herself into an eagle and flew above her captors.

Zeus immediately transformed her back, and this went on several more times before Ares caught her in her human form and pierced her side with his sword. The pain burned in her side like a hot flame that couldn’t be extinguished. Blood poured down her hip and leg and onto the marble floor of the great hall.

Therese was returned to the double throne and to her shackles. Feeling dizzy and light-headed, she struggled to find the words to express to Zeus how she felt.

“When I first visited this place, I adored you,” she said, breathless from the loss of blood. “You are so beautiful, so charismatic, and so strong.”

Zeus did not interfere with her speech, so she continued.

“Everyone loved you,” she said. “Still loves you. The members of the Alliance don’t want to replace you, but to have you agree to certain conditions. Can’t you see?”

“I’m not unreasonable,” he said. “You and your allies didn’t have to resort to such treason against me!”

“And you were just,” she added. “Or so you seemed. The way you treat females, well, it’s wrong.”

“I have been faithful to Hera for hundreds of years!” Zeus said defensively. He turned to his sons. “What am I doing? I owe this girl no explanation!” Then he towered over Therese, his face red with rage. “But, yes, I’ve acted impulsively in the past, and the consequences haunt me. I was in the process of trying to restore harmony to my house when you and your allies interfered.”

Therese’s blood continued to seep from her body. “But what about Cybele? How would you like to be imprisoned away from the ones you love for all eternity?” She thought of Pete as tears slipped from her eyes.

“She betrayed her king!” Zeus thundered.

“To save Athena!” Therese thundered back.

“Enough of this!
Athena was never in danger!” Zeus pointed a commanding finger her way.

Therese did not back down.
“And Melinoe?”

“Cut her up into pieces!” Zeus ordered Hermes and Ares. “She’ll be easier to eat that way.”

Zeus turned and walked away.

“Where are you going, lord Zeus?” Hermes asked.

“I’ve lost my appetite. I’m going to rescue Hera and spy on the others. Have the goddess of animal companions ready when I return.”

Once Zeus had left, Therese searched the eyes of her captors with fear and anxiety. “Please,” she begged. “Please don’t do this.”

Hermes stood on her left and Ares on her right. The two brothers seemed to be speaking silently to one another.

“You don’t have to hide your words from me,” Therese said.

“I will not cut her into pieces,” Hermes said. “I love my father, but I cannot follow that order, Ares. And I cannot allow you to follow it either.”

“You will betray our father and our king for this girl?” Ares asked. “You would fight me for her?”

“I would rather not fight you,” Hermes said. “But Zeus is wrong in this. He’s gone too far.”

Thank you, Hermes!
Therese prayed.
Thank you!

Therese lifted her face to Ares, filled with a new hope. “You have always stood for a level playing field between enemies. Isn’t that right? It’s what made you try to weaken the US through the murder of my mother.”

“So?” Ares glared at her. Unlike Hermes, he showed her little mercy.

“Wouldn’t the god of war wish to see the females fight for their right to power?”

For a brief moment, Therese recognized a gleam of understanding in Ares’s eyes.

“Before Zeus took me here,” Therese continued.
“Than told me that your mother has sworn on the River Styx to support the Athena Alliance.”

“Why should we believe you?” Ares demanded.

“Your mother didn’t know Zeus planned to return for her,” Therese said, feeling physically weaker by the minute despite her new resolve. “She thought she’d been abandoned. Even Hestia got out with you, so you can imagine…wait, where is Hestia?”

“She’s probably in the kitchen cooking,” Ares muttered.

“No,” came Hestia’s voice from the entrance to the dining room. “I’m not cooking. I’m waiting.”

Therese wondered what the goddess of the hearth had in mind.

“For what?” Hermes asked.

“For you both to see how wrong Zeus is in this,” Hestia said.

Therese’s hopes soared.

“How you cannot cut up Therese and feed her to our king,” Hestia continued. “How you cannot stand by while Cybele hangs above the earth banished from the rest of the world. Do you know who Cybele is?”

“The manly goddess,” Ares said.

“Yes. And she’s also my mother,” Hestia said with tears welling in her eyes.

Therese’s mouth fell open. Cybele was Rhea?

“I did not know it until recently. It was bad enough to watch my brother forsake someone I believed to be a traitor, but to stand idly by while he persecutes our mother... I cannot stand by any longer. And so, I’m waiting to act.
Waiting for you to join me.”

“I will not join you against my father,” Ares said.

“Then cut her up as you’ve been told,” Hestia said, causing Therese to cringe. “Because when you do, Death will come to her, and no fortress, not even Mount Olympus, can hold him from a soul who calls. Zeus has forgotten why our father, Kronos, swallowed my brothers and sisters and me whole. If the soul isn’t trapped with the body, the body will be expunged eventually, and Therese will be free. So go ahead, Ares.”

The god of war looked first at Therese and then at Hermes. Therese trembled uncontrollably. Even her teeth chattered. Would he really slice her up like stir fry?

“We shall not cut her,” he said to Hestia. “Now fetch something for her wound.”

“I am not your servant,” Hestia said. “But for Therese’s sake, I will obey.”

Therese released the breath that had been frozen in her lungs, glad she would not have to endure the pain of being cut into bits. But the anxiety continued to mount within her as she wondered what would happen when Zeus returned.

***

Jen ran from the pen toward the house, found the dropped pie, ruined, on the grass, and looked up to the sky. 

“What’s happened?” her mother shouted from the pen. “Is Therese alright?”

“Hip?” Jen prayed, still looking up at the dark gray sky. Lightning flashed between the clouds and thunder shook the ground beneath her feet. “Please protect Therese.” As angry as she was at her friend, and as much as she blamed her for Pete’s death, she still loved her and didn’t want anything bad to happen to her. “Hip, can you hear me?”

Jen looked down at the ruined pie as tears welled in her eyes. She didn’t think she could handle any more loss. Her father, Pete, and now…“Hip! Please!”

Hip appeared before her, his blue eyes full of emotion, but she immediately knew he was not in his mortal form. Drowsiness crept up her body like hot bath water.

“Save Therese,” she managed to say just before she fell asleep in his arms.

***

Hip carried Jen into her house and laid her on the couch. Next, he went to the other mortals, and he put them all into the deep boon of sleep so they might not be confused by Therese’s sudden disappearance. One by one, he took them into the Holt family room and made them comfortable. He then used his powers to restore the pie, so it wouldn’t be a reminder to them of what had happened, and he placed it on the kitchen table. Before he left, he leaned over Jen once more and touched his lips to hers. He hoped she would call to him again.

Demeter appeared and said she would watch over the mortals while the war between the gods waged on. She did not want to be a part of the conflict, and someone needed to keep an eye on the earth and its inhabitants.

Back on his father’s chariot, Hip helped the other gods of the Alliance to unfasten Cybele from Orion’s belt. When she dropped into their arms, she breathed a heavy sigh and then begged Hypnos to help her sleep for a while. He did her bidding as Hades guided Swift and Sure back to the great chasm and into the Underworld. Then he carried Cybele into a large, comfortable room and laid her out on a feather bed. Metis flocked to Cybele’s side and stooped to her knees.

“Your poor mother,” Metis said to the Olympian gods gathered round the bed. “I am so sorry for my part in this.” She covered her face and wept.

Hip was moved by the solemn looks on the faces of the gods around the bed.

Athena put her hand on Metis’s shoulder. “Cybele was Zeus’s prisoner for six months, but you, Mother, were in his belly for centuries. I think we can all forgive you for your loyalty to Zeus.”

Hera pushed through the gods to her mother’s side. “Is it really true? Is Cybele Rhea?”

“So it would seem,” Hades said, moving closer to the bed.

Hip stepped back to make more room.

“Why would she not make herself known to us?” Poseidon said, standing opposite Hades.

“There was a time when women were revered in a place of honor,” Metis said. “Our grandmother, Gaia, is the Earth itself and the mother of all things, and the first creator of life, but in his desire to overthrow the Titans, Zeus diminished the role of females and cast his own mother out of his kingdom. He drew lots with his brothers, but why weren’t Demeter, Hestia, and Hera given kingdoms to rule?”

Hip had never thought of it that way. He wondered why.

Artemis raised her bow. “We will demand change. We will force Zeus to agree to share his rule with Hera.”

“And Persephone should have an equal say in my dealings in the Underworld,” Hades offered.

Hip noticed a smile creep onto his mother’s face.

Poseidon looked across the room at Amphitrite. “My wife already rules the sea more than I.”

Amphitrite grinned. “Indeed.”

“But what of Hestia and Demeter?”
Metis said. “They still have no kingdom to rule.”

Back on
Apollos’s chariot, Hip returned through the chasm with Alecto and Apollo without having found any trace of Therese. They entered the chamber where all were gathered around Cybele.