Hidden Worlds

by Kristie Cook

  He put his arms around her waist and put his face inches from hers. She felt light headed and weak kneed. “You’ve got it all wrong,” he said. “Once I thought more about the way you were with nature and the animals, I realized you belonged among the living. Therese, the Underworld would be a dull place for someone like you. There aren’t any animals except the delusions created by the psyches of the dead. You said yourself you couldn’t live without animals. The souls of dead animals are like those of dead humans—without freedom and full of delusions.”

  Even though she could barely control her arms because of the trembling, she put them around his neck and pressed her body against his, so warm compared to the ice cold water. “It should be my decision.”

  He licked his lips and looked at her mouth. “Then you’ve got a lot to think about.” He gave her a playful smile and then picked her up in his hands and tossed her high across the water.

  She had a feeling as she flew above the water, squealing like a pig, that he hadn’t used his full strength. She plunged into the water as though she had been on a high slide in a water park. She swam underwater back to him, and when she returned to the surface, she dipped her head back to pull her hair from her face, looked right into his eyes, and said, with her own playful smile, “You’re gonna pay for that.”

  She dove under water and pulled his legs out from under him, but when his head went under, he merely looked at her and laughed. He could breathe underwater and talk underwater. She shook her head at him, folded her arms to show she was pouting, and resurfaced.

  “What’s wrong?” he laughed as he came up to meet her face.

  “You’ve got to have a weakness. It’s not fair otherwise. Achilles had his heels.”

  He pulled her into his arms and she gladly yielded into his warm embrace. “I do have a weakness now.”

  She didn’t need to ask what he meant, even though she couldn’t believe it was true. How could such a remarkable being feel so strongly about her?

  He walked with her to the bank and said, “Wait here. I’ll be right back.” She blinked and he was gone.

  “Than?” She felt totally unnerved. It was creepy, surreal. He had been standing right in front of her and now he was gone. She suddenly felt the need to sit down, but before she could move, Than reappeared, and he was holding a quilt in his hands.

  Her mouth dropped open as she watched him spread the blanket out a few feet from the bank in the tall grass.

  “What did you just do?” she asked.

  He grinned and shook his head. “Give me a break, Therese. You don’t expect much from the gods, do you.” It wasn’t a question.

  “Um, I’ve just never personally known one. I’m trying to adjust. Excuse my human ignorance.” She hadn’t meant that to come out as mean as it sounded.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. He had fixed the blanket neatly across the grass, and now he reached over to her and took her hand. “I need to be patient. I’m so unused to the company of living mortals.” He pulled her close and kissed her cheek. “Why don’t we dry off in the sun before heading home?”

  She lay down on her back beside him. Both of them turned their faces up to the sun, eyes closed. He held her hand, and she couldn’t decide which was warmer: he or the golden orb above them.

  “Tell me about your parents,” he asked suddenly.

  His question took her by surprise. She was almost always thinking about her parents, longing for them, but over the past several minutes they hadn’t crossed her mind. “What do you want to know?”

  “What was your mom like? Tell me about her first. Was she like you?”

  Therese gave a short laugh. “She was nothing like me. She loved solving problems, you know, problems in science and discovering answers to things. Ironically, she was afraid of unreasonable things, like heights, planes, and elevators. She hated escalators, too. She was even a little afraid of the water, I think, and I love the water. I feel the most at home there. I sometimes think if I had a previous life, I must have been a dolphin. My mom and nature didn’t get along. I sometimes got the feeling that as a scientist she was trying to conquer nature by understanding it. She was scared of spiders and snakes, I’m talking about ones that aren’t even poisonous. A lizard would have her in hysterics.” Therese laughed. “Dad and I used to have a lot of fun with that.”

  “What was your dad like?”

  “He was more like me. We used to go on hikes. Nearly every evening we’d sit on our deck with our binoculars and study the wildlife across the reservoir. My dad was a writer, so sometimes months would go by and I’d hardly see him, but then he’d finish a book and we’d have months together before he’d start on another. The thing I liked most about my dad was that he was the best practical joker I’ve ever known, and luckily my mom, and not me, was his most common victim. But I think she liked being victimized in a strange kind of way. He always made us laugh. My dad and I were often in collusion together against my mom, but she never minded. She even seemed to like it.”

  The memories swept over Therese and she nearly forgot where she was and what she was doing as she relived brief moments with her parents. She giggled when she remembered the time she and her dad got her mom with the plastic rat they had planted beneath the kitchen sink.

  Than squeezed her hand and brought her back, and she looked at him with gratitude. “This is the first time I’ve gone down memory lane with any kind of joy since the shooting. You have a way of keeping me happy and on the bright side of things.”

  He returned her warm smile. “I’m glad. You already know what you do to me.”

  “No I don’t. What is that exactly?”

  He closed his eyes and turned his face back to the sun. She watched him, studied every line and feature of his golden face and chest as he spoke. “You make me feel human, in a very good way.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Humans often envy the gods because of our power, but the truth is we have far more responsibilities than freedoms. We have duties, obligations we can’t neglect without significantly affecting the world—the whole world and the life on it. My entire life has been about serving. I have been a dutiful son to my father. This is the first time in my ancient history that I have ever done something solely for me, and it feels great. It makes me realize that I need to strike a balance, more like my brother, who has always managed to find time for both work and play.”

  Therese laughed. “That’s an understatement. I’m not sure he works nearly as much as he plays.”

  “You’re wrong. Dreams are more important than most humans realize. Hip plays around a lot, but he also works hard to make sure people are inspired, fulfilled, provoked, challenged, comforted. It’s a big responsibility.”

  Therese was quiet while she let that information sink in. She hadn’t thought of Hip as rendering an important service. She had only seen him as a playboy. “It sounds like you love your brother.”

  “I do. I love all the members in my family.”

  She turned on her side and put her free hand—the hand he wasn’t holding—on his heart. She wondered if it beat like a human heart. She could feel it thumping in a regular, humanlike rhythm beneath his chest, and it picked up speed as she moved her hand across his skin.

  “I don’t want this afternoon to end. I hope my aunt’s not worried.”

  “She and her boyfriend have lost track of time sightseeing in Durango.”

  “That’s so weird that you know that.”

  He laughed softly.

  “Do you really have to leave so soon?” she asked.

  “Yes, I do.”

  “But what if we don’t find the person behind the shooting? What if I can’t avenge my parent’s murderer in time?”

  He opened his eyes and looked at her. “Would that make you sad?”

  She nodded. She never liked someone so much and couldn’t imagine it ending so soon. “I want more time with you. I’m just getting to know you. Can’t you use your powers to freeze t
ime for everyone else or something?”

  He chuckled and his body moved beneath her hand.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “You freak out when I disappear and reappear, but you expect me to stop time.”

  She laughed, too. “But why can’t you? You’re a god.”

  “Like I said, we have more responsibilities than freedoms. I doubt even Zeus could pull that one off.”

  From high above, a streak of light flew from the sky and struck a boulder not twenty feet from where they lay, sending sparks and smoke and a loud crack in all directions in the echoing valley. The boulder was split in half and was as black as coal.

  “Holy crap!” Therese cried, falling against Than. “What was that?”

  “Oops. My apologies,” he muttered, but it didn’t sound like he was talking to her. “I made someone angry.”

  “That scared me to death. Does that happen often?”

  “No. Never to me. But this is an exceptional time in my life.”

  Therese now realized she had flattened her body against Than, on top of him from the waist up. He wrapped his arms around her and held her against him. Heat surged through her. She reached her lips to his.

  His mouth was warm and wet. A tingling sensation surged through her and she could hear nothing but her heart thudding in her ears.

  He said softly, “If I could stop time for you, I would.”

  In her mind, she said, “I’d rather die than be parted from you,” and then he looked at her with shock, as though he had heard her thoughts.

  “What?” she asked, mortified by the possibility that he could read her mind.

  He leaned his head back and closed his eyes. “I can’t stand the thought of causing you pain.”

  “Then don’t.” Her words sounded hostile.

  He opened his eyes again and looked at her. “Should I go away before your feelings …”

  “No!”

  He cracked a smile. “Does this mean you’ve decided?”

  She couldn’t help but return his smile despite the conflicting emotions coursing through her. “First, I want to meet your sisters.”

  Chapter Twenty: Hunting with Tizzie

  Than and Tizze flew above hundreds of humans in an airport terminal in San Diego. Some sat at tables inside small cafes and sandwich shops. Others sat crammed together near gates. Still others walked quickly through the corridors dragging their bags on wheels behind them. The man they knew as Steve McAdams had short, blond hair and blue eyes and sat sharply dressed in a crisp white shirt, unbuttoned at the neck, black trousers, and shiny black shoes. He sat looking at a cell phone with another man, about the same age, mid-thirties, also sharply dressed but with dark, curly hair and glasses. Both men held their heads together looking at the phone and laughing.

  “This should be fun,” Tizzie said to Than as they landed before the men and made themselves visible.

  Tizzie stood in her tight black leather pants and silver halter top and tall black boots. She spread out her arms and legs and closed her eyes and smiled. The men looked up at her and then looked at Than and then looked at each other, perplexed. Tizze opened her eyes and smiled at the men as dozens of wolves appeared in the terminal around them.

  The humans were shocked and stopped what they were doing and backed into areas away from the hounds, and as the hounds lifted their heads into the air and howled their loud, screeching, blood-curdling cries, the humans dropped whatever they were holding and cupped both hands to their ears.

  The two men before Tizzie also dropped the phone and cupped their ears, tears streaming from their eyes.

  “Hear me, Steve McAdams?” Tizzie said coolly, barely perceptible to Than over the howls of the hounds.

  The flustered, frightened man nodded.

  “Do you know this man, Kaveh Grahib?” She made an image appear in the air over her head, an image of him in his jail cell slumped on a cot, staring into space.

  Steven McAdams shook his head.

  Tizzie beckoned one of her hounds to her side and then he bared his fangs at the man as he uttered a threatening growl.

  “Be truthful Steven,” Tizzie warned. “I do not like men who lie.”

  Steven McAdams looked at the growling hound and then back up at Tizzie, still cupping his ears and streaming tears. “I don’t know him!” he shouted but could be heard by none save the two gods.

  Tizzie lifted her arms higher in the air, and at once the howling stopped. The humans stared blankly as the wolves descended upon the humans in a rush and a flash, licking each one with a forgetting serum before vanishing into thin air. Than and Tizzie also vanished as Than heard her voice mutter with profound disappointment, “He’s not the one.”

  Chapter Twenty-One: The Furies

  Therese was glad when she came home Thursday afternoon to find herself alone—except for the company of her pets—because she could hardly contain her excitement. She couldn’t wait to have more of her questions answered, to find out what the Furies were like, and to spend more time with Than.

  The phone rang just after she had stripped down for a shower, but she picked it up in case it was Carol, or better, Than. It was Vicki Stern.

  “So can you go to the movies tonight?”

  Therese had completely forgotten her promise to call Vicki back. “I’m sorry. I’ve actually got plans again. I was invited to have supper with another friend.”

  “But I asked you first, Therese.”

  “This is a family thing that came up. I’m sorry. My aunt’s in town and …”

  “You just said it was a friend.”

  “A friend of the family. Hey, let’s shoot for next week, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  “Bye now.”

  “Bye.”

  “Ugh,” Therese said to herself. What was she going to do with that girl?

  After her shower, she threw on a comfy t-shirt and shorts and went downstairs to make a batch of brownies to take to tonight’s dinner. She hummed as she poured the chocolate batter into a pan and popped the pan in the preheated oven. Although she was humming “Poker Face,” it dawned on her that she wasn’t faking this new feeling of liberty as she had on the dance floor. Something about Than’s presence and his apparent love for her had freed her from the dark depression that had threatened to overtake her. She still wanted to go to the Underworld, but now she could do it without dying. She could be with her parents and the sweetest, sexiest guy she had ever met.

  Things hadn’t turned out so badly for her after all.

  As she made herself a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, she wondered if she truly loved Than. There was no doubt that she was enamored with him, no doubt that she crushed on him harder than anyone she had ever met, no doubt that she longed to be with him every second he was away from her. But could she really say she loved him when she barely knew him? And if her answer was yes, as crazy as that would sound, did she love him enough to spend all of eternity with him?

  She took her plate and glass of milk with her upstairs so she could log on to her laptop to learn more about Thanatos and the Furies. She found a passage from an ancient poet named Hesiod who described Than and his brother this way:

  And there the children of dark Night have their dwellings, Sleep and Death, awful gods. The glowing Sun never looks upon them with his beams, neither as he goes up into heaven, nor as he comes down from heaven. And the former of them roams peacefully over the earth and the sea’s broad back and is kindly to men; but the other has a heart of iron, and his spirit within him is pitiless as bronze: whomsoever of men he has once seized he holds fast: and he is hateful even to the deathless gods.

  A new doubt worked its way into Therese’s head as she processed the description. Could Than be deceiving her only to show his true self once she’s his wife and it’s too late for her to change her mind? Was he like his father, Hades, willing to trick her into becoming his queen of death?

  Impossible, she thought.

  She came across th
ree different images depicting him. One showed him wielding a sword, wearing a shaggy beard and head of curly black hair. His ugly face looked fierce, unrelenting, and cruel. The second image was one she had seen that day she had come home from the hospital: the Grim Reaper, thin like a skeleton, cloaked in black, bearing a deadly scythe. The third image still wasn’t her Than, but was closer to how she viewed him: a winged boy, like Cupid, maybe sixteen or seventeen years old, with a sweet air about him.

  Therese knew these were all human interpretations of him and not factual renditions, but, nevertheless, uncertainty about his identity gripped her heart and made her anxious. Her anxiety increased when she read that the Furies had wreaths of snakes in their hair and blood dripping from their eyes and were horrible to behold. Meg had been beautiful. Had she somehow disguised herself?

  After more reading, the oven timer beeped, so she went downstairs to take the brownies out and let them cool on the stove top. What a strange circumstance she found herself in: baking brownies for a handful of gods from the Underworld.

  The ringing of the telephone startled her from where she had been standing in the kitchen deep in thought. She hoped it wasn’t Vicki. She picked up the phone. “Hello?”

  It was Carol calling to check on her, which gave Therese the opportunity to tell her about her supper plans. Carol seemed relieved, for she and Richard had lost track of time and now wouldn’t need to rush back home. Therese hung up and went upstairs to her closet to figure out what to wear. Nothing in her wardrobe seemed good enough for a dinner with gods.

  Standing there in the small walk-in closet, she thought of her mother. Normally, she would ask her what she should wear, for her mother seemed to know the latest style, maybe because she worked around college kids every day. Mom could be oblivious to so many things around her, but she had seemed to always notice fashion.

  Therese went back downstairs to the master bedroom. Across the hall from it was a guest bedroom, where Carol was staying. Neither Carol nor Therese was ready to disturb the master bedroom. Therese had taken the bottle of Haiku perfume, but had touched nothing else.