The Gatekeeper's Sons (The Gatekeeper's Trilogy) (7 page)

“You mean the god of death?” she asked with some hesitation. This was sounding a little crazy. Maybe this wasn’t Hip. Maybe he was a figment. “Figment! I command you to show yourself!”

Hip rolled his eyes again and said, “Give it a rest. I never should have taught you that.”

“Hip, please tell me what you’re trying to say.”

“My brother’s coming for you.”

“What? The god of death is coming for me?”

Pound, pound, pound!

“What was that?” Therese asked.

“No! Don’t wake up! I want a real kiss this time!”

Pound, pound, pound!

“Hello?” a woman’s voice called out.

Therese opened her eyes and saw an ultra-thin woman with chocolate skin and blonde hair and outlandishly colorful clothing enter the hospital room. She carried a sketch pad.

“Therese?”

Therese gave her a nod and then winced from the pain. Her neck was better but still tender.

“I’m Margo Brewster. Lieutenant Hobson sent me over to sketch a suspect.”

“Oh, yeah.”

“How you feelin’?” The artist sat down in the chair next to the bed and opened her pad to a blank page. She pulled a pencil from behind her ear, which was studded with rings.

“Okay.”

“Well, I’m so sorry you’re here and can’t imagine what things are like for you, but I’m here to help, okay?” A little diamond shone on the side of one nostril.

“Okay.” Therese described the face she had seen in her car window as best as she could, fighting the tears without success.

The artist would show her the drawing in progress, and ask, “Eyes like this? No, how ‘bout more like this? Okay.” And then, “So, okay, more of a pointed jaw, like this?”

Eventually they came up with something that Therese thought looked eerily like the man she saw before the shooting began. Chills ran down her spine. “That’s him.
Wow, you’re really good.”

Letty
came in and checked on Therese, took her temperature, checked the machines, and asked how she was feeling. “Do you need more medicine for your pain, mija?”

“Yes, please.”

Letty left the room.

Margo Brewster was nice, but Therese was glad when she left and
Letty gave her the pills, and she could close her eyes again and go to sleep.

When she found herself running through the hospital, Therese was immediately suspicious. She stopped at the end of a hallway and walked into a room. Todd, Ray, and Jen lounged around on living room furniture laughing at something on the television.

“Hey,” Todd said. “Look who finally made it.”

Therese sensed something behind her, outside of the door in the hallway. It felt bad, dangerous, frightening. She sprung to the door and pushed it closed, but it didn’t have a lock. In fact, the door didn’t even fit properly in the door frame, as it was bordered by a one-inch gap all the way around. Even the hinges seemed loose. Whatever was out there would have no problem getting inside.

Therese quickly recognized that she wasn’t in a hospital room, but in her grandmother’s house back in San Antonio. Strangely, she recalled that her grandparents had both passed away—her grandfather several years ago and her grandmother in more recent years. So she wondered now how she could be standing in their living room trying to keep their front door from being busted open.

A bright light spilled through the one-inch gap around the door.

“What is that?” Jen asked.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Todd added.

“Very good, Obi Wan Kenobi,” Ray sneered.

“Wait a minute!” Therese burst out. “This can’t really be happening.” She jumped into the air and turned a somersault. Then she turned to her friends. “Figments, I command you to show yourselves!”

Three scaly, eel-like creatures flew about in a tizzy, giggling wildly.

Then the door crashed in and the bright light illuminated the room. The three figments rushed out through the opening and into the light. Out of the light a figure emerged.

“Figment, I command you to show yourself!” Therese said.

“None but my father commands me.” The figure stepped within inches of her. He was tall and muscular and wore a fierce look on his beautiful face.

It was
Than.

Therese dropped with weakness to her grandmother’s old green carpeting, which still smelled like wet dog.
Than rushed to her side and helped her to sit up. She leaned against him. Her grandmother’s blue merle Australian Shepherd, who had died the same year as her grandmother, strolled over to Therese and licked her cheek.

“Hello, Blue,” Therese said to the dog in a faint, weak voice.

“I don’t have much time, so listen,” Than said. “I came to tell you three things.”

Therese felt inexplicably drawn to him. “Am I dying?”

“Not if I can help it,” he replied. “Now shut up and listen to me.”

His cold, hard glare suddenly frightened her, so she kept her mouth shut, her eyes wide.

“First, I’ve asked the Furies to seek you out. Look for them in the waking world of the living. They can help you solve your parents’ murder.”

“Who or what is a Fury?” She felt faint.

“I’ll let them explain. You could die if I don’t hurry. Let me speak.”

She gave him a weak nod.

“Second, don’t let my brother keep teasing you. He respects your powers but not you, and I don’t like it.”

Therese managed a smile. “Jealous?” She would never be so bold outside of her dreams.

“Absolutely.” He looked deeply into her eyes, his face close to hers.

“Do you w
ant to kiss me?” The air left her body and her mouth flooded with moisture.

“Absolutely.”

She closed her eyes and leaned in.

“Listen,” he said, swallowing hard. “I haven’t stopped thinking about you since that day you kissed me, and that brings me to the third thing I want to say. Thank you for your affection. Know that I stay away, not because I want to
, but because if I don’t, you’ll die.”

Therese found it hard to breathe. “Don’t go,” she barely managed to say. “I want to die. I want to be with my parents. And then you and I could, we could spend some time getting to know each other.” She was really faint now, on the verge of collapse.

He leaned close and took a breath of her scent. Then he clenched his jaw. “You’re not the same when you die. You lose your free will, and that’s what is so attractive about you. It’s what sets you apart from the others. You have a strong will.”

Therese gasped for air and none came.

Than vanished.

Therese heard a loud beeping sound next to her ear. She gasped and gasped, and finally her lungs opened up and the air rushed in
, burning her chest. Someone rushed up beside her.

“
Mija!” the nurse shrieked. “You okay?”

Therese lay on the hospital bed. Was she awake? “Figment, I command you to show yourself!” she said to the
Letty.

The nurse bent her brows. “
Mija, what are you talking about?”

“Oh. I thought I was dreaming.” Okay, Therese thought. I’m not saying that ever again.

Letty looked at the oxygen monitor. “Well, what is wrong with this thing? It was beeping like crazy just a second ago, but now it looks fine.” She checked the probe taped to Therese’s big toe. “Maybe it’s come loose. Well, it looks alright. You feel alright?”

Therese nodded. “I’m fine.”

“Well, alright then. Call me if you need me. I’ll be back in a little while with your dinner tray.” The nurse left the room.

Chapter
Eight: A Deal with the Gatekeeper

“Why should I do this?” Hades asked from his jewel encrusted throne. The one beside him was empty because Persephone was gone in the summertime. Her absence made Than’s father irritable. This wasn’t the best time to ask for favors.

In fact, the cavernous
room of golden walls inlaid with precious stones was usually brimming with bustle as Persephone and Hecate discussed the affairs of the Upperworld and of Mount Olympus. With his mother and her assistant gone, the chamber echoed with the silence of slinking shadows caused by sleeping bats that barely moved and would not fly till nightfall. The nearly vacant castle had not even ghosts to move the air, for all the souls were in their proper places, and even the formidable form of Hades could not fill the room. Hades, who now slouched and picked at his beard, would, in a few months’ time, with the first chill of autumn, sit erect and commanding and proud like a peacock before his mate. Despondence, however, was his only companion until then.

Than spoke with confi
dence. “Because I can help the Furies find the killer and bring him to justice.”

“They can do it
without you. So I say again, why should I do this?” Hades’s voice was not ignited. He sounded bored and unmoved. “You know it’s impossible for Hypnos to disintegrate between two duties. He’d have to take your place.”

Than grasped for ideas. “
Hermes at one time conducted the dead.”

“He’s busy with other duties now. He can’t possibly take on your job.”

“Humans can go without dreams for a few weeks while Hip escorts the souls.”

“Why,
Thanatos? Dreams are more important than you seem to realize. Humans need dreams to work through the range of experiences and emotions they deal with during their waking hours. Without dreams, they’d shut down, die early deaths, and that’s not how I want to build my kingdom. I want honorable souls. Just souls. The unjust ones can usually learn to be honorable with a series of behavior modification courses, courtesy of your sisters.”

“And Sisyphus? Tantalus?”

“Serve to amuse.”

“Amuse, Father? Are you amused by their suffering?”

“When it’s deserved. I find it both amusing and satisfying.”

Than caught on to a glimmer of hope.
Hades was known for saying that life wasn’t fair, but death was. Over the centuries, Hades had made it his utmost goal to level justice at every soul that crossed his path, complaining that Zeus showed favoritism and that most of humankind suffered for it. “You are just, Father, and it is for this reason you should let me go to earth as a mortal and force my brother to take my place escorting the dead. You know that, of the two of us, my brother got the better lot.”

“So it is with me and my brothers. Do you think I chose the
Underworld?” He moved his hand above him through the air as if to dismiss the splendid emeralds and diamonds and rubies around him. The golden palace would be a pleasure from which any lesser god would willingly rule, but the open skies and the expansive seas were superior in the eyes of Than’s father. “Don’t you think I’d prefer the sky or the waters? You must learn to accept your calling. Believe me, you’ll be much better off.”

“But you have mom, at least for half of the year. Hip has the company of hundreds, thousands of girls. I can think of no other god, save Charon, who is expected to live
a lonely existence without end, and even he finds companionship from time to time in Cerberus, who’s like a puppy to him. Why shouldn’t I have a chance to find a queen? You have the power to grant me this request. You have the authority to make my lot more equal to that of the other gods of my rank. You should do this because you are just and because you can.”

At that moment, Hermes entered the room. “Excuse me, Lord Hades. Should I come back later?”

“No. We’re finished for now. What do you have?”

“Hello, Than.”

Than gave a nod to his cousin but was in no mood for light conversation.

Hermes turned back to Hades. “A message from Poseidon regarding the small colony of white abalone beneath the coast of California. As you may know, the white abalone are headed for extinction, and because this particular colony is underground, Poseidon wants to be sure you stand beside him on his conservation efforts.”

“Of course. He knows I support diversity. How dull of him to send you all this way.”

“Something’s brewing, my lord,” Hermes said. “I think he fears your alliance won’t last.”

“Do you have wind of it?”

“I know nothing yet. I’ll report back when I know something.”

“Yes. Do that.” Hades rubbed at his temple.

Than
moved closer to his father as Hermes left the room. “I’m sorry to have burdened you further with my request. I know you have a lot of business to manage.”

“You may think I don’t care about your happiness, son, but I do, and in this matter, you are right. You deserve a chance to find a queen, and I do have the power to grant you this chance. So be it.
You have forty days and no more.”

Than’s
mouth fell open. “Thank you, Father.”

“Wait. There is something she must do. Remember,
nothing in this world is free.”