The Gatekeeper's Sons (The Gatekeeper's Trilogy) (26 page)

He gave her his brilliant smile and stroked her hair. “Aren’t you too upset to play?”

Of course she was, but she wasn’t stupid. “Not for this company.”

“That’s a good girl,” Hermes said.

Hermes smile cheered her. She stood up, took
Than’s hand, and together they traveled to her room where Clifford jumped from her bed and yelped with surprise.

“It’s okay, Clifford,” she said in a soft voice so Carol and Richard wouldn’t hear. She slid her case and music stand from beneath her bed, grabbed some sheet music from her desk, and took
Than’s hand. “I’m ready,” she said. Then to her dog, she said, “Be a good boy, Clifford. I’ll be back.”

Although the pressure made it hard to breathe for a few seconds, the trip to her house and back was otherwise effortless with the robe
and Than’s guidance. Her feet nearly fell out from beneath her both times she landed, but, fortunately Than was there beside her, with his arm around her waist, ready to catch her.

Therese played on her flute with Hermes on his pipe for a solid hour, which seemed a worthy investment since he said more than twice how much he liked her. And after, the four gods shared many stories about their lives, especially in the
Underworld. Therese finally heard the complete story of Hercules and understood from Than’s contributions and his reactions to the others that his opinion of Hercules was very low.

“His emotions got the best of him,” Than complained. “He never stopped to use his head.”

Meg laughed, “I’m not sure his head would have done him much good.”

“Now there’s a wonder,” Hermes said. “Perhaps it’s
a testament to the values of humankind that such a one like Hercules, with no apparent intelligence, would be considered the greatest hero among the Greeks.”

Tizzie
added, “His temper got the best of him. Even I know the importance of temperance.”

“He killed his wife and sons while enraged,” Meg said. “Normally
Tizzie would persecute such a heinous crime, but Hercules
wanted
to be tormented. He begged us to make him suffer. So Apollo told his oracle to send Hercules to a king he knew would come up with a just punishment. So the king commanded Hercules to complete twelve harsh labors.”

“Hercules wasn’t very smart,” Hermes said, “but he was resourceful. First he had to kill a lion that no weapon could injure, and he solved that problem by using his own hands to choke the beast. Then he had to kill the Hydra, which had nine heads that would only grow back multiplied each time Hercules hacked one off. He eventually seared the necks as he chopped them to keep the heads from growing back.”

“Iolaus brought him the iron,” Than said. “Hercules didn’t think of that on his own.”

“He spent a year catching Artemis’s sacred stag,” Hermes continued. “Then he spent another year capturing a great boar from Mount
Erymanthus. Let’s see, after that he had to clean the Augean stables in a single day, which he did by shifting the flow of the river.”

“But most of his labors required no cleverness,” Than said. “Just brute force.”

“True,” Hermes agreed. “He had to drive away the birds plaguing the people of Stymphalus, fetch the savage bull Poseidon gave to Minos, and round up the man-eating mares of Thrace. What else? Oh, yes, bring back the girdle of Hippolyta, the queen of the Amazons. You’ve got to wonder why Apollo didn’t intervene with that one.”

“Now that right there is an example of what I mean when I say Hercules allowed his emotions to get the best of him,” Than said. “He acted rashly, witho
ut reason. After all the help Hippolyta gave, he assumed she was responsible for the Amazon attack stirred up by Hera. He killed her without even offering her a chance to explain.”

“We should have been granted access to him
then
,” Meg snarled.

“But Hermes has told of nine. There were three more,”
Tizzie said. “He had to bring back the cattle of Geryon, who was a three-bodied monster, and then he ran into trouble with Atlas when he had to fetch the Golden Apples of Hesperides.”

“But the hardest labor of all,” Hermes said, “was the last. Hercules went to the
Underworld and captured Cerberus, with Hades’s permission. Poor Cerberus had to find his own way back.”

“That’s not when Hercules most offended me,
even though he tied me up until I told him of Hades’s permission,” Than said. “I was there when he took Cerberus, and he wasn’t cruel to the poor beast. I made sure of it. It was much later, after the Fates made their deal with his friend Admetus, that he angered me.”

“What happened?” Therese asked.

Hermes shook his head. “When Hercules heard that his friend’s wife had died, he rushed to the Underworld to retrieve her. If only he would have waited for more explanation.”

“What do you mean?” Therese asked. “What explanation?”

Hermes said, “Long before, the Fates had hinted to Admetus that his life was about to end, and Admetus begged them to let him live. They said they would if he found another to take his place. Admetus asked everyone he knew, including his elderly parents, but no one wanted to die for him, until he asked his wife. So his wife took his place and went with Than to the Underworld.”

Than grimaced. “I should have stopped Hercules
when he came for her years later, but he was such an arrogant ass. I took pleasure in watching him put his foot in his mouth. When he came to me and pushed me aside, I was ready for him this time and could have easily taken him, but I knew that as soon as he delivered the woman to Admetus, Admetus would die, and Hercules would realize what he had done.”

“That’s not Disney,” Therese mumbled.

Than had heard. “What?”

“Nothing,” Therese didn’t want to attempt to explai
n the Disney story of Hercules.

Than shook his head. “What man asks his wife to die in his place? That’s plain cowardice.”

Something clicked for Therese just then. Than was just, not cruel. Her admiration for him multiplied like the heads on the hydra.

“What?” he asked after she had looked at him for many seconds.

“Nothing,” she smiled. In her mind, she said, “I’m falling in love with you.”

He gave her a huge grin
, as though he had heard her thoughts.

It was four in the morning when Therese and Than returned to Therese’s bedroom. Now she was utterly exhausted, and Than had just a little over an hour to rest before getting up and heading to the Holt ranch for pen and barn duty.

Than
waited with Clifford curled in his lap on top of her bed comforter while she changed clothes in her bathroom. When she returned to her bed in her nightshirt, Than pulled back the bedcovers for her. Her heart skipped a beat with anticipation. She crawled in between the sheets and lay back on her pillow. She looked up at him expectantly, suspecting he wrestled with his own desire, for she could see it in his face. Kiss me, she said in her mind. Oh, please, Than. Kiss me.

He pulled the covers over her body and up to her neck and tucked her in so that she was under and he over the comforter. He leaned down close to her face and brushed a few strands of hair from her eyes. “Your skin is so soft.” He rolled onto his stomach and propped himself on his elbows and touched his fingers to her cheek. He ran a finger along her lips.

Therese closed her eyes as the longing swept through her. Please, Than. Kiss me.

He moved closer to her so that when he spoke, she could feel his breath on her skin. “You feel so good beneath my fingertips.”

Her breaths came rapidly, and she felt like she was flying.

He whispered, “I’ve never touched someone as much as I’ve touched you.” He smoothed her hair away from her face. “I’ve never longed for anything as much as I long for you.”

Kiss me, she said in her mind. Please, Than. Kiss me.

“But I’m afraid,” he whispered.

She opened her eyes. “Of what?”

“I’ll take more of you than you’re ready to give,” he said breathlessly.

“I’m ready,” she sighed, but she was frightened and excited and nearly out of breath.

His breaths were as rapid as hers, his brow bent in agony. “I might not have the strength to let you choose. If I kiss you now, if I take you now, I want it to be forever, but it’s too soon, too soon for you to decide.
I don’t want to be like my father was with my mother.”

“I want you,” she breathed.
“So you see, it won’t be like that.”

“Forever?”

She nodded. “Please kiss me.”

He swallowed hard and then ever so gently touched his lips to hers.

She closed her eyes and was soaring now, spinning, her heart going wild. She touched her hands to his face and held him to her. Something electric passed between them. Oh, Than, she thought. I want to be with you forever!

He lifted his face.

She opened her eyes, and they shared a smile.

“You feel nice,” he said. “But I want to give you more time. I want you to be absolutely sure. A week isn’t long enough for such a decision.” He kissed her lips once more and then stood up from the bed. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

And before she could beg him to stay, he disappeared.

Chapter Twenty-Six: Tortured Than

Than
returned to his chambers in the Underworld wishing he could be more like his father and sisters. They seemed less moved than he by feelings of compassion. They saw right and wrong, and they acted on justice.

“
I’m weak. My father would find these thoughts pathetic.”

If he could be more like the rest of his family, he would not be tormented now, tortured by the wrestling emotions, human
emotions, disturbing every atom of his being. If he could be more like them, he would bring Therese down straight away without another thought the moment McAdams was found and brought to justice.

But he couldn’t do it. He wanted to be sure she would be happy, and it seemed more and more plain to him that she could never find joy in such a dismally dark and lifeless place as his home.

He studied his rooms, looking at them as though for the first time, contemplating what Therese would think of them. The entrance was rather imposing, but he had to have Hephaestus make the jutting iron bars, like a giant jaw with jagged teeth, to keep away the constant threats by demigods. How often had Than had to listen to their arrogant claims to immortality as he guided their souls to Charon? “My father will punish you for this!” “Hermes will have your head!” “Zeus will never let you get away with this!” They spoke as though Than had any choice in the matter.

And of course, there were the powerful human souls who made themselves rich and famous, and when their threats failed to move Than, they resorted to bribery. “I can give you all the gold you desire.”
As if Than needed gold! The Underworld was full of it, and Than could have as much as he desired, if he desired it. But Than found gold to be worthless, overrated, and not the most comfortable material for adorning his home.

Of course, there were also the desperate souls, not necessarily powerful, but cunning, who every few centuries would find a way back to
Than’s door after the judges had proclaimed their sentence but before reaching their final destination. None of them succeeded in binding Than except Sisyphus and Hercules, but they had tried. The iron jaws at his entrance were made after Hercules’s stunt, and since then, Than no longer had to deal with unexpected intruders.

But once one passed the intimidating entrance, the first chamber w
as quite pleasing. The dome shape of the rock walls provided a beautiful symmetry to everything in the room, from the leather club chairs by the cozy fireplace to the marble cabinets where he kept his goblets and wine and dishes that had been given to him by various gods, including the best wine from Dionysus. Along the opposite wall across from the fireplace flowed the Phlegethon with its bright flames illuminating all the rooms. Several instruments made for him by Hermes, Athena, and Apollo hung above the flames, and in the middle of the room were a table and two chairs. The second chair was rarely used, so seldom did he have visitors. But the occasional visitor from Mount Olympus, such as Aphrodite and her son, Cupid, Hera, Hermes, and his grandmother, Demeter, though they came for favors or information, would always find this chamber comfortable and welcoming, even if it did lack sunlight and wind. The flames from the Phlegethon produced no heat, and underground rock kept the room consistently cool, and although the humidity could be stifling at times, the running waterfall in the next chamber, where he slept, usually kept the air fresh and circulating.

From this front chamber, he entered his
bed quarters, where the trickling waterfall helped him to sleep every so often when he needed rest. Unlike humans, he did not sleep every day, and not regularly, just when he needed to, perhaps once a month or less. The water fell from a high point in the dome-shaped room and cascaded over a series of rock shelves where Than kept a collection of shells given to him over the centuries by various people, such as Aphrodite, two different sea nymphs, the Maenads, and once, even Poseidon. A thick and living stalagmite growing in the center of the room served as a table for other possessions, such as the clock given to him by his father and made of precious stones, a tablet of Cyprus and a golden quill given to him by his mother, a moon rock from Hecate, and a pair of slippers that his brother made for him of lamb’s wool. Leaning against it was a quiver with a dozen arrows made of bone.