The Gatekeeper's Secret: Gatekeeper's Saga, Book Five (The Gatekeeper's Saga) (22 page)

Athena said, “We don’t want to overthrow you, Father. How can you get that through your thick head?”

“The head you plan to slice open,” Zeus said.

“If you hadn’t swallowed my mother, I wouldn’t need to slice it open.”

“Enough of this!” Poseidon shouted again. “I’m sick of this petty bantering. We are going to free Metis, like it or not. And we will not unbind you until you swear on the River Styx.”

“I swear nothing,” Zeus said calmly. “Except this: When I break free of these binds,
Thanatos—yes, I sense you out there—when I break free, the very first thing I’m going to do is swallow your sweetheart.”

Chapter Sixteen: Freeing Metis

At the hospital, after the doctor had come and said there was nothing that could be done, Therese apologized over and over to Jen, but Jen clung to her mother and ignored Therese.

Therese couldn’t say she blamed her.

Mrs. Holt, who sat between her two weeping children, kept saying, “It’s not your fault, Therese. No one can control the weather.”

Jen said nothing out loud, but through prayer, she said,
Stay away from me! All of you gods stay out of my life! If you hadn’t married Than, Pete would be alive. He’s dead because of you!

Jen was right.

Therese and her aunt and uncle drove home, where Lynn had been staying with Richard’s parents and brother, house guests for another few days. After a somber evening, everyone readied for bed. Therese offered her room to Richard’s parents—whom she called Nanna and Paw-Paw—but they insisted on sleeping in the basement. Richard’s brother took the couch. Therese couldn’t very well explain that she didn’t need her bed—that she wouldn’t be sleeping in it, but she resigned herself to their wishes and pretended to go to bed, too.

Up in her room, she opened her window to talk to her parents. She tried to explain to them what had happened—what had really happened.

“Oh, honey!” her mother chirped. “You’re just trying to do what’s best for everyone.”

“You can’t blame yourself,” her father added. “This is so much bigger than you or Jen or Pete. This is about fairness and justice for all.”

“Life isn’t fair, though” Therese said. “Only death is.”

“But as gods, it’s your jobs to make it as fair as possible,” her mother sang. “And that’s what you were trying to do.”

“But this was about Zeus treating goddesses fairly,” Therese argued. “It had nothing to do with mortals. Maybe it was a mistake.”

“If Zeus treats goddesses so poorly, then he can’t think much of females in general,” her father said.

“He’s right,” her mother said. “What you’re doing is trying to protect the voice and power of females, whether they are immortal or not. It’s the right thing to do.”

“You have to act if you want change,” her father added. “Change rarely happens on its own.”

That was true, Therese thought. And this gave her an idea. “I’ve got to go.”

“Where are you going?” her dad asked.

“To Tartarus. To see Pete.”

Therese found Than sitting on a rock beside Pete, trying to explain. Not wanting to interrupt, she remained back in the shadows, though she was sure they could both sense her presence.

“Forever?”
Pete asked. “I don’t even have a chance at redemption?”

“Playing god is one of the unpardonable sins,” Than explained.
“But you won’t be tormented like most of the souls in Tartarus. You’ll have a quiet, peaceful life.”

“Away from everyone I love.”

“Not everyone,” Therese said, stepping into view. “I’ll come visit you every day. And when your mother dies, I’ll bring her in here to see you whenever I can.”

“She won’t know him,” Than said.

“No, but he’ll know her.”

“Hip got Hades to agree to one visit from Jen,” Than said.

Therese arched a brow. “How did he manage that?”

“How else?
He made a deal my father couldn’t refuse. Hip didn’t say what it was.”

She wondered what Hip would have to do in exchange.

“I can see Jen?” Pete asked.

“I’m not sure when,” Than said.
“But hopefully, soon.”

“I’m going to do everything I can to help you, Pete,” Therese promised. “Everyone deserves redemption. No sin should be unpardonable.”

Than’s face changed into a grim expression. “What are you saying, Therese? Zeus now, and next my father?”

“If that’s what it takes,” she said, though she hoped it wouldn’t come to that.

***

The gods of the Athena Alliance gathered around and watched with baited breath as Hephaestus raised the hatchet above the sleeping Zeus’s head. Athena stood opposite him, ready to help her mother to be reborn. Than became vaguely aware of his balled fists and clenched jaw as he carefully watched the drama unfold.

So many things could go wrong. He held his breath and glanced at his father as the hatchet came down and blood spurted in one long spray before settling into a slow leak. Zeus awoke with a wail, and he glowered at Hephaestus and the others gathered around him from his chair where he remained bound. Than expected Metis to leap out and shout for joy at her liberation, but when she
didn’t, he wondered if she was ever really in there.

“Mother!”
Athena shouted. “Mother, come out!”

Than stood ready to take Zeus’s soul to await his body’s rejuvenation.
Than had never, in his history, had to escort the lord of the gods to Tartarus. He’d taken countless other gods, including Apollo, but never Zeus. Than admitted to himself that he was a little frightened, but he was ready. He wanted this to be over. He wanted to get back to Therese and begin their lives together as husband and wife. Yes, Than was ready, but the lord of the gods would not die.

Apollo dared to widen the opening in the side of Zeus’s head. Still, nothing happened.

“Let’s try the belly,” Apollo said. “Hypnos, put Zeus back into the deep boon of sleep.”

“Yes, please do,” Poseidon murmured.

“Don’t you dare!” Zeus shouted. “I want to be awake to witness your treachery against me!”

“As you wish,” Apollo said.

He exposed the king’s belly before taking a scalpel from his medical bag and slicing through the skin. More blood bubbled to the surface as Zeus grit his teeth. Than thought for sure Zeus’s soul would detach, but it did not. It held on to its body with fervor.

“Mother?
It’s me, Athena! Please come out and see me!”

“Dear sister, please emerge!” Amphitrite cried from where she clung to Poseidon’s arm.

“She’s probably terrified,” Persephone said gently. “She’s been in there for centuries.”

“You have nothing to fear,” Hephaestus said. “You are surrounded by friends.”

“Do you think she can hear us?” Dione asked.

Aphrodite held her mother’s hand. “That’s what I was wondering.”

“Could she be asleep?” Meg wanted to know.

“Hypnos?” Hades asked.

“She’s not asleep,” Hip replied.

Artemis stepped forward and thrust her hand inside Zeus’s belly. “I’ll come in after you, if I must.”

At that moment, Than thought Artemis to be the bravest of them all.

“Be my guest,” Zeus, breathless, spat. “There’s room for two of you in there.”

“Hypnos, please put this bastard to sleep,” Artemis said.

Than noticed Therese’s face lose its color. Beads of sweat clung to her pretty forehead.

Are you okay?
he asked her.

She looked his way and gave him a subtle nod.

“Should I put him to sleep?” Hip asked Hades.

“Do not defy me, Hypnos! I will make you regret it! You don’t think I will take that mortal girl you fancy and ruin her even more than I have already?”

Than saw his brother pale.

“Do it,” Hades said to Hip.

Hip then stepped forward and waved his hand over the lord of the gods.

Zeus’s head drooped in the chair, his body held upright by chains.

“You can speak freely now, Metis,” Artemis said, with her hand still inside Zeus’s belly. The huntress narrowed her eyes before seeming to land on what she was searching for. “Aha.” She yanked with great force, and the upper body of Metis emerged from Zeus.

Her gray eyes, as fair as her daughter’s, looked upon the Athena Alliance with horror. “Let me be!” she cried in a raspy voice, unused to speaking. She looked down at Zeus’s mangled body and gaped, despite the fact that her own black hair was soaked with blood and her skin was pale from no sunlight. “Lord Zeus?” She glared at the gods around her. “What have you done?”

Than was at a loss as to how this prisoner could be outraged by the treatment of her captor.

Not what I was expecting
, Than prayed to Therese.

No
, she agreed.

***

“But, Mother,” Athena said. “Don’t you want to be with me?”

Like Than, Therese was befuddled by Metis’s reaction to what was supposed to be her liberation.

Metis’s eyes alighted upon her daughter. “Athena?”

“It’s me, Mother.” Athena stepped closer to Metis, who remained half in and half out of Zeus’s body. “Won’t you please come out and embrace me?”

Therese thought of how badly she had missed her own mother and of how happy she was to be reunited with her again. Therese had gone three years; for Athena, it had been centuries.

“Oh, my dear child!” Metis exclaimed. “I never believed I would ever look upon you with my own eyes again!”

Metis broke into sobs as Athena rushed to her and put her arms around her mother.

Hades and Poseidon both stepped forward and each took one of Metis’s elbows in an effort to lift her from their brother’s belly.

“No!” Metis shrieked. “Leave me!”

The two brothers—the god of the Underworld and the god of the sea—hesitated.

“Why would you not want to be free?” Artemis asked.

“Perhaps she’s been a part of Zeus for too long,” Hephaestus offered.

“He’s my lord and king,” Metis sputtered. “I, I love him. I can’t betray him.”

“She suffers from what is known as the Stockholm Syndrome,” Apollo explained. “I’ve seen this many times. From feelings of terror and infantile helplessness, victims become grateful to their captors and develop a kind of love for them.”

“It is a perverted love,” Aphrodite said. “I do not like it.”

“A survival mechanism,” Hades surmised.

“Indeed,” Apollo said.

“Are we leaving her in or taking her out?” Poseidon demanded to know. “Dear gods, let’s do something already.”

“Patience, brother,” Hades said.

“I have none.” With that, Poseidon eased Metis from his brother’s body. “Come on out and face the world, mother of Athena!”

Therese flinched as Poseidon and Hades lifted Metis from Zeus. The goddess trembled and wept. Athena took a quilt and wrapped it around her mother before helping her to sit in a nearby chair.

“There, there,” Athena whispered gently. “You will feel better soon.”

Apollo immediately began working to heal Zeus’s body. First, he sewed up his belly, and then he stitched up his head. The other gods in the Alliance looked on silently until Apollo was done. Then Persephone recommended that they leave Athena alone with her mother for a while.

Therese agreed that this was a good idea. She remembered how she had hoarded her parents’ company when they returned to the Upperworld as ghosts, just after Zeus’s attack on the Underworld. She couldn’t get enough of their company. She could imagine that Athena needed even more time than Therese. Centuries stood between Athena and Metis.

As the gods began to depart, Aphrodite touched Therese’s arm and whispered, “I’m so sorry your wedding was ruined.”

Therese smiled at the goddess of love, glad to have her back on the same side. She’d missed Than’s aunt and had felt so hurt by her snubs—which she now knew were caused by Zeus. Tears rushed to her eyes at Aphrodite’s show of kindness.

“It was for a good cause,” Therese replied.

“Maybe now you can spend some time with your love.”

Therese glanced across the room at
Than who seemed to be waiting for Zeus to die. There was still so much to do, but maybe Aphrodite was right.

“I hope so,” Therese said before going to
Than and linking her fingers with his.

***

Hypnos returned to Tartarus to visit Pete. He discovered
Tizzie already there talking to the seer.