by Kristie Cook
Therese at first was stunned, her eyes wide. Daphne would rather be a tree? Forever? She swallowed and cleared her throat and picked at her sleeve. “Thank you, Pallas Athena. I don’t know what to say, except that I don’t think it’s an issue anymore, my going with Thanatos. He’s, he’s changed his mind.”
“Good. That is as it should be.” And with that, Pallas Athena vanished.
Therese sat still and bewildered for several minutes after the goddess left. When the shock of the visit finally wore off, she checked in the cardboard box to be sure the snake wasn’t still there and the entire event a bizarre hallucination. But the snake was gone, and in its place was a golden heart-shaped locket. She reached into the box and took it in her hand. The locket was secured to a delicate gold chain. She opened the locket. Inside, she found an inscription in slanting, flowing letters that read: “The most common way people give up their power is by believing they have none.”
Therese closed the locket and clutched it to her heart. She opened the locket and read the inscription again. Why had Athena given her this message?
Therese put the locket on her dresser and went to her bathroom to take a hot shower. The water running down her tense body calmed her after the strange events of the day. Although the gift from Athena made her happy, the overall disappointment she felt from Than’s behavior today was like a suffocating blanket that could not be lifted away nor washed off with the heat of this shower. Once more, tears streamed down her face. She wondered how a person could never run out of tears.
Afterward she changed into a t-shirt and cotton shorts and, with her hair still wet, climbed beneath her covers to take a nap. Clifford followed her and curled up near her hip. The lack of sleep during Hermes’s visit had caught up with her, so despite the despair, the dread, and the awe, once she closed her eyes, it wasn’t long before she fell asleep.
***
Now she was in the Melner cabin looking for the restroom. “Restroom?” she asked Hermes.
He pointed to a toilet in the middle of the living room.
From where they sat around her on the living room furniture, Meg sneered and Tizzie shrugged.
“Go ahead,” Than said from behind.
Therese’s bladder was about to burst, so, very quickly, she crossed the room to the toilet, but with all the eyes on her, she could not bring herself to pull down her jeans and go.
“Never mind,” she said. “I’m late for school.”
She grabbed her backpack, sitting by the front door, and ran out to the dirt road just as the school bus drove by toward the dam.
“No!” she shouted from the middle of the road after it had gone right past her.
Then she heard another bus coming and saw its dim headlights emerging from the Holt place, so she waved her hands to flag it down, but it sped past without noticing her.
She bit her lip, and her teeth moved, like they were loose. She touched a front tooth with her finger, and the tooth fell out. Then she smiled. “This must be a dream.”
She put the tooth back in place, ditched the backpack, and sailed through the air.
“Yep. It’s a dream. I can do whatever I want.”
She flew back to the Melner cabin and went up to Than. She was furious with him but feeling desperate. He had been the medicine that would help her get over losing her parents. If he abandoned her now, she would be left with nothing but her grief. She couldn’t take that.
“I’m going to make you change your mind,” she promised him. “I’m going to make you love me again.” She took his face in her hands and planted a passionate kiss on his lips right there in front of Meg, Tizzie, and Hermes.
“Figments, show yourselves!” a voice came from behind her.
Than, his sisters, and Hermes vanished, and in their place were four scaly eels, whirring through the air and giggling. They flew out of the windows and the open front door.
Therese turned to see Hip standing behind her. He was tall and well-built like his brother, but his hair was blond and his blue eyes deeper set. He wore white trousers and a white open shirt.
“You still owe me a kiss,” he said. “A real kiss. That last one didn’t count.”
She frowned. “Aren’t you supposed to be guiding the dead?”
“My brother returned to give me a brief reprieve. Zeus would have eventually commanded it.” He took a few steps closer to her. “My kiss? For the tour? Remember?”
“Oh yeah.” She closed her eyes and puckered her lips. When he didn’t kiss her, she opened her eyes to find him sulking. “What’s wrong?”
“That’s not how you kissed that figment you thought was my brother. I want you to kiss me like you kissed it.”
Her eyes widened. Then she narrowed them. “That wasn’t part of the deal. You said a kiss. You didn’t say what kind.” She sighed. “Besides, I don’t think I have it in me to kiss anyone right now with your brother no longer in love with me and then there’s Pete forced by Cupid’s arrow to love me against his will.”
“What? Gods can’t force people to do anything. Humans have free will—while they’re alive, anyway. Cupid’s arrow can only enhance and make compelling a feeling that was already there.”
“Really?” This cheered her, to know that Pete had already felt something for her before the gods interfered, that he wasn’t being forced against his will to like her.
“Now can I have my kiss?”
She was a little uplifted by this news, so she put her arms around him and planted a grateful, albeit not passionate, kiss on his mouth.
“That’s better.” He grinned.
“Will you answer one more question?” She gave him a flirtatious smile.
“You know the fee.” He put his face close to hers.
“Why did Than change his mind about me?”
Hip’s smile turned into a scowl. “How am I supposed to know? Can’t you ask me a question I can answer?”
“Okay, okay. Calm down. Maybe you can answer this: When will Than return to Earth?”
“Tomorrow. Though why should you care if he’s changed his mind? Forget him, Therese. You can have me.” He held his arms, spread wide, palms up, with a sweet but devilish grin.
“Like I said, I have a feeling you’re not a one-girl kind of guy.”
He threw back his head with a loud guffaw. “You know me too well. Now give me my kiss.”
As she leaned in to meet his lips, she heard a loud crash and snapped awake. She sat up in her bed and looked around. She was alone with her pets. It was thundering and raining outside. Was the storm caused by Zeus’s rage and sorrow?
She looked at her clock. Six o’clock! She had slept for six hours? She still hadn’t called back Pete. She ran downstairs to get permission from Carol to go to the movies, and then returned upstairs to call the Holts.
“Sorry about earlier,” Jen said on the phone.
“Me, too.”
It was still thundering and pouring down rain when Pete and Jen drove up the drive in Pete’s truck to pick her up. She huddled beneath the umbrella feeling her curly hair get frizzier with each step she took toward the vehicle. She was glad she had decided to wear it pulled back at the nape of her neck in a wide, thick barrette. At least the frizzies would stay out of her face.
Pete opened the passenger side for her and helped her in the front seat. Jen sat in back. So maybe this was a date after all.
“Where’s Bobby?” Therese asked as she fastened her seat belt.
“He spent all his money on a new gaming station,” Jen said. “Plus, I didn’t really want him to come. He’s so immature.”
“Is Matthew meeting us there?”
“We’re picking him up,” Pete said. “That’s why Jen’s sitting in back. She doesn’t want you anywhere near him.”
“Shut up, Pete,” Jen punched his arm.
“Yeah, right,” Therese said. “Like she’s got anything to worry about.”
“How’s the snake?” Pete asked.
Therese th
ought fast. “Good. I’m going to find it a home. There’s a snake farm in Pagosa Springs.”
“Good idea,” Jen said. Then she leaned forward. “Hey, is that a new necklace?”
Therese fingered the locket at her throat. “Um, yeah. Sort of. Well, it was my mom’s.” Like she could really tell them a goddess named Pallas Athena transformed from a garter snake and gave it to her.
“Oh.” Jen sat back. “It’s really pretty.”
Pete glanced at her throat. “It looks nice on you.”
“Thanks.”
They were silent now as Pete drove through the winding country roads with the rain beating down on the truck. Therese was glad to be with her friends, but she missed Than and still despaired over his change of heart. She knew she should stop thinking about him altogether, but she couldn’t no matter how hard she tried. She peered across the bench seat at Pete looking as handsome as ever, but even his charm and good looks could not help her forget Than. It was too late. She was in love and feeling rather desperate.
Guilt flooded over Therese when she recalled she was supposed to be going to the movies with Vicki. She needed to remember to call her tomorrow to make arrangements before her feelings were totally hurt.
During the movie, Jen and Therese sat beside one another with the boys on either end. She mostly whispered to Jen, but about halfway through the film, Pete put his arm around Therese, and she stiffened. She tried to relax, to remind herself that he was her friend and this could be comfortable, but it felt totally wrong. After several minutes, she excused herself to use the restroom. Jen came with her.
“What am I going to do about Pete?” Therese asked her when they were at the sink washing their hands. “I think he likes me.”
“And you don’t like him?” Jen crossed her arms and lifted an eyebrow, which disappeared behind her straight blonde bangs.
“I like him a lot. But I think I’m in love with Than.”
Jen slipped a tube of lipstick from the front pocket of her jeans. “Than’s leaving soon. Long distance relationships suck. You should let it go.” She pressed the lipstick to her lips.
“And Pete’s going to college. What’s the difference?”
Jen held the lipstick out to Therese.
“Thanks.” Now it was her turn to apply the makeup.
“He’s not going after all. He decided to stay and help mom with the horses and work gigs with his band.”
“That’s stupid.” Therese handed over the tube and rinsed her hands again.
“He doesn’t think so. And neither does Mom. She’s glad he’s staying.”
Therese dried her hands and said nothing.
“Give Pete a chance,” Jen said in a pleading voice. “Just think. If you two got married one day, we’d be sisters.”
“This isn’t about us.”
One of the stalls on the end burst open, and out walked Gina Rizzo wearing tight jeans, rhinestone boots and matching belt, and big silver earrings. Her blonde hair was twisted up in a clip and spilling down the back of her head. “Hey, guys. What’s this I hear about Pete and Therese? Are you two dating now? I thought that was you I saw in front of me in line. I can’t wait to tell Maddy and Katie.”
“We’re not dating,” Therese said.
“Sure you’re not.” She washed her hands at the sink and ripped off a piece of paper toweling. “Later, girls.”
Apparently it didn’t matter if your parents died. The school bitch would show no mercy.
***
After the movie, a lame comedy with a disappointing ending, they stepped out of the theater to find the rain had stopped and the night sky was clear and full of twinkling stars. The air was cool, so Therese zipped the front of her jacket.
“Cold?” Pete asked. He put an arm around her as he walked her to his truck.
“Let’s go dancing,” Matthew said from behind. “Want to?”
“Yeah,” Jen said. “Great idea, Matthew. What do you guys think?”
“Sounds good to me.” Pete pointed his clicker at the truck to unlock the doors. “Therese?”
“I don’t know. I’m kind of tired.”
“But you napped for six hours!” Jen reminded her.
Therese climbed into the truck. “I know, but I think I might be coming down with something. I don’t feel that great.”
Pete patted her leg from behind the wheel. “That’s okay, then. Let’s go home. And hey, Mom doesn’t do trail rides on Sunday, so why don’t you sleep in tomorrow? I’ll cover your grooming for you since you’re not feeling well.”
“Come on, Therese,” Jen said. “Don’t ruin it for the rest of us. You’re just upset about Than.”
Therese flashed her a fierce look. “Shut up, Jen.”
Pete’s smile faded as he turned the key in the ignition. “Drop it, Jen.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight: Back to the Dead
Than could no longer put off giving his brother a reprieve from guiding the dead, for he could feel tension building somewhere, either among the humans or the gods or both, and so, since he wasn’t sure, anyway, how he should proceed with Therese, he decided this day would be as good as any to return to his duties.
Hip appeared to Than where he hovered over the deep granite abyss that seemed to have no end to the darkness below. “Thanks, bro’,” Hip said, too anxious to stop and chat. He flew on by and went straight to the poppies and into the realm of the dreamers.
Than hadn’t been there for a full second when he sensed the souls of many ready to be guided. He disintegrated into five and dispatched to three different regions of the world.
One of the souls in his custody proved to be a small old woman kneeling in her garden bed. Her body lay in a heap in the grass with a spade in her gloved hand and a plant with its root ball exposed, as though she were about to plant it before she died, and her hand had clutched it and stiffened. The foliage on the plant, which Than did not know, since he knew nothing about such things, was withering, dying along with its caretaker. Much to his astonishment, as the woman’s soul climbed from the heap in the grass and turned toward him, bewildered as all souls of the dead were, she held in one hand a projection of the withered plant. Never before in the history of his existence had he seen a plant-like soul accompany a human. Plenty of animals, billions of them, and at times even insects, had come with him to Charon to be taken over to the other side and, unlike the humans who must be judged, guided straight into the waters of the Lethe and its everlasting oblivion. Cats and dogs and other pets sometimes came with their humans when they died together, and the animals were allowed to go with their humans to the Elysian Fields; but never had Than seen a plant-like soul, and so he stood a moment, transfixed.
“Who are you?” the woman finally asked.
“Death,” he answered, as he always did. “Your time has come. Take my hand.”
“But I hadn’t finished yet,” she said. “My garden’s nearly done. Look. I have one more to plant. Can you wait?”
The answer was always no, though because of the circumstances, Than hesitated before saying so. “Don’t worry,” he said in a calming voice, and together they hovered over the land toward the abyss, and as they flew, she spoke to him as so many others had before her.
“How will my husband manage without me? He’s disabled. He can’t care for himself. Who will cook for him? What will he do?”
“Someone will take over your duties. Someone always does.”
“I didn’t get to say good-bye. He’ll be so shocked. He might even go into cardiac arrest.”
“And then he can join you. Come this way.”
As they approached Charon and his raft, Charon also noticed the plant and furrowed his brow. “What’s this?” he asked.
The woman looked at the plant in her hand. “This? It’s Lily of the Nile. I didn’t get to finish planting it. I was just about to. May I go back and finish?”
Charon shook his head.
“Have you seen this before?” Than asked. He allowed
the woman’s feet to touch the bank of the river, knowing it would calm her.
“Yes,” Charon said as Than and the woman boarded the raft. “But not often. It happened twice in Hermes’s time.”
“Do plants have souls?” Than asked.
“That is a question for your father, Thanatos,” Charon replied.
Than disintegrated and dispatched another of himself to Hades’s palace, where he found his father engaged with Hermes.
The two gods looked agitated, and when they felt Than enter the chamber, they stopped talking and turned their faces toward him.
“Is something wrong?” Than asked.
“Always,” Hades said, “But I was about to ask you the same question.”
“It can wait, if you’re busy,” Than replied.
“Out with it, son.”
“All right then. “ He swallowed, feeling foolish now and embarrassed. “Do plants have souls?”
Hades narrowed his eyes. “The gods are about to break into war and you come here asking about plants?”
“I said it could wait, Father. You insisted. And the gods are always on the brink of war. Questions are meant to be asked and, when they can be, answered.”
Hades sat up on his throne and looked down his thin nose at Than. A hint of a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. Then he said, “Bravo. Yes, Thanatos. How right you are.”
“So? Charon told me Hermes has seen something resembling a plant soul twice. I saw one just now. What does this mean?”