The Gatekeeper's Secret: Gatekeeper's Saga, Book Five (The Gatekeeper's Saga) (25 page)

“Any sign of her?” Hades asked.

“She was taken by Zeus,” Apollo replied.

Than appeared beside Hip. “I followed them as far as Mount Olympus. I couldn’t get inside.”

Athena raised her spear. “We must storm the gates.”

“And we must act now,” Persephone added.

“Mount Olympus is impenetrable,” Hephaestus said. “Zeus added reinforcements after your sons exposed its weakness.”

Hera stood from where she had been kneeling beside the sleeping form of Cybele. “What Hephaestus says is true. Zeus put wards around the wall that are more powerful than I’ve ever seen.”

“We can’t give up,” Than urged.

Hip had never seen his brother look more desperate.

“How dare you suggest we might,” Hades retorted.

“Let’s rally up every ally we can find,” Athena said. “We’ll show my father that we’re a force to be reckoned with.”

Chapter Nineteen: The Athena Alliance

Ares stood near the door to the great hall. “Zeus is on his way back. No one leaves. Understand?”

Phobos
and Deimos appeared on each side of Ares with their arms crossed looking like barroom bouncers. They glared at Therese.

We can overtake them
, Therese prayed to Hestia and Hermes.
We have a daughter of Rhea on our side.

Hermes went to the side of Ares and said, “I stand with my father. I will not cut you up, but I will remain on my father’s side for as long as I can.”

Therese sought Hestia’s eyes and found a weak smile on her lips. Without the help of Hermes, and with Therese in chains, they were doomed.

Then Zeus appeared and assessed the situation. He looked at Hestia with shock and pain playing havoc with his face muscles.

“My dear sister?” Zeus said gawking. “Do you betray me, too?”

So it was true about Hera. Therese had never seen such a look of sadness on Zeus’s face.

“I love you more than anyone,” Hestia said. “But what you’re doing is wrong.”

Zeus amazed Therese by bending down on his knees. “I’m only fighting for my kingdom, dearest. Do you want to see me fall?”

“None of us want that,” Therese chimed in. “We want justice.”

“Silence!”
Zeus’s face transformed from supplicating to threatening in less than a heartbeat. “There will be no justice for you!”

Therese shrank back. She could see he was determined to eat her. Sweat broke from her pores.

“But you are the lord of justice,” Hestia said gently. “Are you not?”

“Justice is not for one’s enemies,” Zeus said. “So tell me, darling sister, are you my friend or my enemy?”

Hestia’s eyes were full of tears. “You leave me no choice.”

“You have broken my heart.” Zeus stood up and turned his back to her.

Hestia covered her face with her hands and fell to her knees. “As you have mine.”

***

Apollo and Hip, Amphitrite and Artemis,
Alecto and Meg, and Hecate and Hephaestus had left in teams to recruit more allies when Cupid appeared with two Graces where the remaining members of the Alliance gathered around Cybele’s bed. Than observed an expression of worry on the faces of the new arrivals and braced himself for the worst. He knew they weren’t a threat. His father wouldn’t have let them in if they were here to attack.

Aphrodite stood from her chair and crossed the room to her son.
Cinny and Algaea embraced their mistress as tears flowed down their cheeks.

“We couldn’t get
Pasithea or Thalia out,” Cupid said. “We barely escaped ourselves before Zeus returned.”

“Now no one can get in or out without Zeus’s permission,”
Algaea added.

Athena crossed her arms. “I was afraid of this.”

Than stepped forward. “Is Therese…”

“Still chained to Zeus’s throne,” Cupid replied.

Than dropped to a chair and held his stomach, which was tied in a million knots.

“And Hestia has taken her side,”
Algaea said.

Than looked up.
“Against Zeus?”

The Graces nodded.

Cinny mopped her face with her sleeve. “Hermes refused to cut Therese into pieces. He even stood up to Zeus.”

“But as we were sneaking away, we heard him rejoin Ares against the goddesses,” Cupid said.

Hera jumped to her feet and clutched her chest. “Oh, my dear gods!”

Everyone in the room turned their eyes to their queen.

“What is it?” Hades asked.

“Hera?” Poseidon moved beside her and took her arm. “Are you under attack?”

Hera glanced around the room at all of the eager faces. “Therese is pregnant. I can feel them.”

“Them?” Than leapt from his chair to her side. “You can sense Therese, too?”

“No,” Hera said. “Not Therese. Your twins. Therese is pregnant with twins.”

Than fell to his knees before Hera.
“Can you save them?” He hoped beyond hope her answer was yes.

Hera gazed down at him with kind eyes. Never in his ancient history had the Olympian queen been kind to him. He hoped that, if it were to happen only once, it would be to help him save his family.

Hera said, “If Zeus swallows them, they will continue to grow inside of him, just as Athena did. And maybe we can bind him again and rescue them all.”

Than doubted that the third time would be the charm in this instance. If Zeus swallowed Therese and his babies, the Alliance would have to trick him somehow, some way. He couldn’t give up. It had taken Athena centuries, though. How long would it take him?
Dear gods
, he prayed.

Hera continued, “But…”

Than’s heart seemed to stop altogether. “But what?”

“If he cuts her up into pieces,” Hera said, “which would be stupid, since…”

“Wait,” Than said. “That’s it. We
want
him to cut her up, right? As painful as that would be—and I know firsthand—it’s a way out of this mess. Her soul will call to me, and nothing will hold me back! I will disintegrate into the hundreds and overtake Zeus and his allies. I will save Therese and our children and help us restore harmony among the gods!”

Just as
Than jumped to his feet with renewed hope, Hera put a hand on his shoulder and said, “But if Therese dies, you will lose the twins.”

He froze. “What? Why? Aren’t they immortal?”

Two, but none immortal.

“Gods don’t become immortal until they are born,” Persephone explained as she put an arm around
Than. “That’s why Zeus tried to kill Melinoe while she was still in my womb.”

Than wanted to scream, but when his words came out, they were low and coarse, as though his throat had constricted into a tiny tube.
“That’s what the Fates meant!” he said to his open, trembling hands as every world ever created dropped out from under him. “Oh my gods, Zeus is going to destroy my babies before they’re even born!”

“Calm down,” Hades commanded him.

He wanted his brother.
Hypnos!

Hip appeared beside him in an instant. Than reported everything to his brother, who propped him up at the shoulders.

How many times had he taken the souls of tiny babies before they were born? Now that it was happening to him, he couldn’t stand it. Never before had he understood with greater clarity what it was like to be a man.

Two, but none immortal.

Even if he could save Therese, he couldn’t save their babies.

All hope was lost.

***

Hypnos listened to his brother brief him on the latest. As he did his best to console Than in the Underworld, promising him that they would do everything in their power to save Therese and their babies, back in Apollo’s chariot, he turned to the god of light and shared
Than’s story.

“This is grave indeed,” Apollo said as they plowed through the clouds toward Helios.

Hip disintegrated once again and found Artemis and Amphitrite swimming the seven seas, recruiting the water nymphs of the world. He relayed Than’s story to them.

“We have no time to lose,” Artemis said.

Gods and goddesses came out of the woodwork to hear Hip tell Than’s story, and one after another was moved to join the Athena Alliance. Three sons from Poseidon came:  Aeolus, that wind bag, flew over from the Himalayas; Proteus and Triton came from the sea along with their sisters, Rhode and Kym. Briareos, Kym’s husband, blew in from the Arctic, and Rhode was joined by her husband, Helios, who brightened the Underworld more than it had ever been.

Rhode, who was also a daughter of Aphrodite, convinced her brother
Anteros and her sister Harmonia to join them. Apollo’s sons Asklepios and Aristaios also appeared, ready for battle. They were followed by the daughters of Hephaestus. Soon, many chambers of the Underworld were filled with gods and goddesses ready to charge Mount Olympus to demand justice from their king.

No doubt others flocked to Mount Olympus to side with Zeus.

As the members of the Athena Alliance prepared their attack, Poseidon asked Hip to wake Cybele, to ask if she was strong enough to help. With some hesitation, the god of sleep blew a waking breath on the mother of the Olympians and waited as she opened her eyes and stretched her limbs.

“How long was I sleeping?” the manly goddess asked.

“Twelve hours, Mother,” Hera replied before Hip could get the words out himself.

“We have assembled a massive army.” Hades bent over Cybele. “We are preparing to charge Mount Olympus, where Zeus has imprisoned Therese and threatened to swallow her.”

“Don’t forget Hestia,” Persephone said.

“Yes,” Cybele said. “I foresaw all you describe.”

What? Hip turned to find his brother pushing through the crowd to the bed.

“Do you foresee what will become of Therese and our babies?” Than asked gently but urgently. Sweat beaded on
Than’s forehead, and his chest rose and fell in rapid succession.

“My visions are hazy,” Cybele replied. “But I do see a great sacrifice done out of love. I cannot see whose.”

Hip wished he could silence the manly goddess for his brother’s sake, for he could tell by the look on Than’s face that his brother believed the sacrifice would be Therese.

***

Therese watched in horror as Zeus went from room to room and ordered the remaining gods and goddesses on Mount Olympus to assemble in the great hall.
Pasithea and Thalia clung to one another beside Ares, clearly frightened out of their minds. Hestia’s maidens crouched in fear behind the two Graces near the dining room door. The Muses held hands in a single line in front of Apollo’s throne. A group of satyrs stood firmly at the side of Hermes, not far from the forge. Two tiny sea nymphs crept from Poseidon’s chambers and stood, quaking, near the sea god’s throne.

“No one leaves,” Zeus bellowed. “And no one gets in.”

One of the Seasons, either Eunomia or Eirene (Therese wasn’t sure which), flitted into the room and announced, “Visitors claiming to be allies are demanding entrance outside the gates.”

“Do not let them in,” Zeus commanded. “It could be a trap. No one enters. No one leaves. Not until I’ve eaten the goddess of animal companions.”

Therese’s mouth was dryer than a field in drought. When she tried to swallow, her tight and scratchy throat had no salve. Her bleeding had stopped, thanks to Hestia’s bandage, but she was still light-headed and terrified. She knew at this moment she would be better off dead than alive. She prayed to Hermes.

Slice off my head. Make it quick. I beg of you, Lord Hermes. If we were ever friends, if you ever loved me, I beg of you to kill me now.

“I’m glad to know there are things about me you like, Therese,” Zeus said. “Because you will be spending eternity with me.” He pointed to his belly. “Right here.”

Please, Hermes. I will be your servant all my days. Spare me this fate.

“Who knows?” Zeus continued. “Like Metis, you may grow to love me. And like the goddess of wisdom, you might even make a fine advisor.”

Zeus grew closer. Every nerve in Therese’s body twitched. Every muscle flinched. Every bone was as cold as ice even while her dry, tight throat was on fire.

Zeus opened his great mouth and leaned over her.

Therese closed her eyes, but just before her lids shielded her sight, she saw Hermes grab his sword, and as she squeezed her lids tightly closed, she prayed once more to him.

Do it now!

She waited with her eyes shut tight, but no sword fell across her neck. Nor did Zeus envelope her with his mouth. She dared to peek at the scene before her.

At Zeus’s feet tumbled the bloody head of Hermes, and in the flailing, headless body across the hall, Hermes’s hand still held the sword that had severed it.