by Kristie Cook
At Than’s request, Pegasus went into a canter across the golden-paved plaza and then, just as Therese thought they would crash into the chariot shed, he lifted up into the sky.
Than explained that the sun always shone above Olympus, but Pegasus would take them over and outside of the wall of clouds so they could see the stars and moon and natural landscape.
The rush over the wall of clouds brought a scream of exhilaration from Therese’s lips. Then suddenly the day was night and the stars, so close and numerous, illuminated the mountaintops below. Than pointed out Mytikas, the highest peak, and pointed to the city of Macedonia, its bright lights illuminating the dark night, and the small village of Litohoro, where little lines of smoke rose from rooftop chimneys. Therese felt a sinking feeling in her chest at the view of all those homes in the village, because it made her think of her home and how, no matter what happened on the battlefield tomorrow, she would never see it again.
Than sensed this change in her mood. “Are you ready to go back?”
She nodded and held on as Pegasus plunged back over the wall of clouds to the palace of the gods.
Once Pegasus had been returned to the stables and thanked again and again by Therese, Than led Therese back up the rainbow steps into the palace walls. He took her past the foyer and into the assembly hall, where Hades’s throne had vanished back into the marble floor, or perhaps all the way down to the Underworld, Therese didn’t know which. Than explained that each of the gods possessed a private chamber behind his or her throne, and he led her now past Poseidon’s throne to the chamber door. When he opened it, they saw Demeter and Persephone sitting in chairs. Persephone held glass bottles filled with colorful liquids, and Demeter held two white towels draped over one arm.
“We’ve drawn your bath,” Persephone said, standing from the chair.
Demeter also stood. “It’s this way, in Poseidon’s spa.”
“I’ll meet you back here in a while,” Than said. Then he kissed her cheek and vanished.
The walls of Poseidon’s chamber were lined with pale blue silk curtains gathered in pleats as if to simulate the sea. His canopy bed lay in the center of the room, and white gauze, like foam from the sea, hung from the canopy down in piles on the floor. The bed coverings were also white and looked to be made of silk. Green tassels, like seaweed, skirted the bed.
“Athena just dressed the bed with her new sheets,” Persephone said. The goddess was small, petite, and not quite what Therese expected the Queen of the Underworld to look like.
“Artemis left her pillow there for you,” Demeter added. She was only a few inches taller than her daughter and also petite. For the goddess of earth, or agriculture, Therese had expected a mountain of a woman.
Persephone pulled back one curtain of gauze to expose the pillow. “And Aphrodite placed her eye mask on top of Artemis’s pillow.” The white silk object looked like a luxurious comfort on this solemn, dreadful night.
As Demeter opened the door to Poseidon’s spa, she said, “Hera came by, too, and left a nightgown for you to wear. She said it will protect you from any god wishing to force his way on you tonight. Although it’s magical, you can change out of it in the morning so as not to break any of the rules of your battle. It only works while worn.”
Therese hadn’t thought of that. She couldn’t imagine one of these noble gods—except maybe Ares—trying such an ignoble act. Then she recalled Athena’s story about Daphne, the maiden with whom her brother Apollo once desired and how she would rather be a tree than face the wrath of jealous female divinities. Apparently some male gods had problems with fidelity.
Persephone took Therese’s hand and led her into the spa.
The spa was amazing. She wondered as she gazed at the huge tub if all the gods had such elaborate baths or if the one belonging to the god of the sea was special. The tub was shaped like an open clam. The bottom shell was filled with water, and the top shell was a mirror. Persephone emptied one of the colorful liquids into the water, creating a mound of foamy bubbles that glinted with the light thrown off by the many candles lit throughout the otherwise darkened room.
“We’ll leave while you undress and climb beneath the bubbles,” Persephone said. “We want to give you some time to yourself, but we’ll return in a little while to wash your hair and to give you a facial and hand massage.”
Therese’s brow flew up. “Are you serious? I’m getting a facial and massage by goddesses? Oh my. Thank you sooooo much!” She couldn’t believe it. Then she realized why she was getting such special treatment. They all expected her to lose, and they felt sorry for her.
She clutched the locket around her neck and wished she were home in her own bed, in he own bathroom.
Then she thought of Than and her love for him strengthened her. She would show them.
After undressing and using the other facilities—so gods do use the restroom!—Therese climbed into the clam-shaped tub and moaned with pleasure at the warm and soothing water. She was able to stretch her body straight, and a soft waterproof pillow, also shaped like an open clam, but turned on its side, held her head in place.
Now that she was alone, her thoughts went to the impending battle, and the fears took possession of her. She gnawed on the inside of her lip as she tried to relax. She could have chosen the first option and be in her own bed right now. She’d have Clifford curled beside her, Puffy running in his wheel across the room, and Jewels poking her head above the plastic walls of her little house. Therese’s aunt would be downstairs, her best friend would be down the road, and Pete would be there to comfort her, to love her, and to make her happy.
But McAdams might come after her aunt.
And her parents wouldn’t be there.
And she wanted Than.
She wasn’t sure how she had gotten to this point where she felt like she couldn’t live without Than. She wondered if Cupid had pierced her heart or if this was her own doing. But, regardless of who was to blame, she loved him, and she could not imagine life without him.
She closed her eyes and prayed, “Than, come back for just a minute. Give me a quick kiss, and then leave before your mom and grandma return. Please, oh please, come back.”
When she opened her eyes, he was there beside the tub sitting on a marble bench shaped like a fish. His hair was wet, and he had changed from the open white shirt and trousers to a pale blue of similar design. The blue in the cloth brought out the crystal blue of his eyes, which sparkled with the reflection of the candlelight.
He leaned over the water, slowly, taking in the view of her, though her body was covered by bubbles—perhaps it was just the idea that she was naked—and ever so slowly, too slowly, oh please don’t make me wait, he touched his lips to hers and swept her mouth, her cheek, her chin, her neck with the warmth and moisture of his mouth and tongue. She fought the urge to pull him down into the bath with her as she took fistfuls of his wet hair and kept his face to hers. When she pressed her mouth more firmly to his, he vanished, her hands suspended in empty air, and Persephone and Demeter entered the room.
Talk about frustration.
But her frustration was soon replaced by pleasure as Persephone took Therese’s long hair and bundled it in her hands, working through a freshly scented shampoo.
“Is that oranges I smell?” Therese muttered like one drugged.
“Mm-hmm,” Persephone softly replied.
Persephone massaged her scalp, sending chills down Therese’s neck and back. Then Demeter was at her right hand massaging lotion into the palm, between the fingers, along the back of the hand and wrist.
“Oh my god-desses,” she moaned.
The other hand received the same treatment as Persephone rinsed the shampoo and now lathered in a conditioner, more scents of citrus wafting through the room. Again Persephone massaged her scalp, and Demeter continued to knead her palm, squeeze her fingers.
“I will let the conditioner sit in your hair a few minutes while I apply the exfoliating mask to your
face,” Persephone explained.
Now Persephone was massaging Therese’s forehead, temples, cheekbones, jaw.
“Oh,” Therese sighed.
Demeter placed Therese’s left hand back in the tub and Persephone finished applying the mask.
“When the mask feels dry, wash it off and rinse your hair,” Persephone instructed her.
“You’ll find your towels on the bench to your right,” Demeter said. “And the gown from Hera is hanging on the back of the door.”
Another woman entered the room and said to Persephone, “Thanatos wishes to speak with you, my lady.”
“Thank you, Hecate.” Persephone turned back to Therese. “Good luck to you, sweet girl.”
“Thanks so much,” Therese managed to say. Tears pricked her eyes. Perhaps she had already died and gone to heaven!
The three figures vanished from the room and left Therese alone.
***
After a few moments, Therese dried and put on the white silk gown from Hera and extinguished the candles the goddesses had lit. Then she left the spa and went to the large canopy bed in the middle of Poseidon’s chamber where a small bedside lamp in the shape of a mermaid had been left on for her. She pulled back a fluffy down comforter and silk white top sheet, moved the eye mask from the goose feather pillow, and climbed inside the bed and pulled the covers over her. Her whole body relaxed. Every muscle, every bone, every neuron firing at the synapse seemed to respond to the most comfortable bed and sheets and pillow she had ever slept on. She put the eye mask aside for now and prayed for Than to return.
He was there beside her in an instant, and a good thing, too, for she had nearly fallen asleep. He lay above the covers and she below, like the last time they spent the night together. He stroked her wet hair.
“You smell so good,” he said. “And you feel so soft.”
She reached her arms up and took his face in her hands. “This may be our last night together,” she whispered. “So I want you to …”
“Shhh,” he whispered, putting a finger to her lips. “Don’t talk like that. What happened to being positive? I know what you want, and believe me, I want it to, but I won’t give it to you tonight. You have to wait, to fight for it.” He kissed her, and kissed her, and then he groaned, “So you better win.”
She kissed him back, ran her fingers through his now dry hair, and took pleasure in his caresses. They caressed one another for several more minutes, neither really wanting to stop, but both knowing it would be better in the end. Then she put on Aphrodite’s eye mask and snuggled against his chest just as the most beautiful music she had ever heard began to sound through the walls. Apollo played the lyre and Hermes the pipe, and the beautiful melodies lifted her spirits again and carried her to heights of optimism that gave her the feeling, as Than lay there stroking her hair, that nothing could stop her now.
Soon after, she fell asleep.
Chapter Forty-One: The Battlefield
In the morning, Than gave Therese a pair of jeans, a shirt, clean undies, and pair of socks he had brought her from her house.
“You went through my underwear drawer?” she asked.
He gave her a wry smile.
“How are my pets?”
“Your aunt and her boyfriend are taking good care of them.”
Luckily her sneakers had dried overnight. After she changed, Than led her to the assembly hall where the gods and goddesses were just now coming in from either their chambers behind their thrones or the banquet hall or, in the case of Poseidon and Hades, the chariot shed.
Once the gods and goddesses were seated, Hephaestus presented McAdams and Therese with the golden sword and shield he had wrought and forged for them. Ares belted the sheathed sword around McAdams’s waist while Than did the same for Therese. Therese pulled the blade from the sheath. It was surprisingly light.
Than stood close by and whispered, “Be careful with that thing. I can’t be killed, but I can still feel pain.”
She gave a nervous giggle and returned the sword to its sheath, watching McAdams with a wary eye.
Than grabbed her hand and pulled her closer, so that they were breast to breast. “Speaking of pain, if McAdams, you know … I won’t let you suffer. I’ll take your soul, and I’ll take you straight to your parents.”
She swallowed hard and gave him a frightened nod. Then he kissed her once more before taking his seat beside his father.
McAdams had dark circles beneath his eyes and bags that would put those of Hephaestus to shame. He looked pale, almost languid, and Therese actually felt a little sorry for him. She wondered where he had passed the night and what comforts Ares, and perhaps other gods, did or did not provide.
Then she remembered how she had watched her parents die, and anger rose within her. She would kill him.
“We all know the rules,” Zeus announced. “So let us begin.”
Therese nearly jumped from her sneakers when the assembly hall vanished and in its place was a clearing surrounded by woods. Pines, cypresses, elms, hemlocks—all trees Therese recognized. Beyond the clearing, the sun at high noon pierced through the canopy of leaves onto a deer here, a squirrel there. Cardinals, sparrows, jays, and other birds whose names she did not know flittered from tree to tree, just like they did in the bird atrium at the San Antonio Zoo. Ants burrowed in the dirt around her feet, and white limestone rocks, pink granite rocks, and other kinds, too, were partly buried in the earth, partly exposed.
The thrones had disappeared, but the gods and goddesses sat on tree stumps in the clearing in the same formation in which they had gathered at the hall on Mount Olympus. For all Therese knew, they had never left the court, and all of this nature around them was a vast illusion.
Suddenly with a roaring thunder, the ground beneath them lifted up, like the floor of an elevator, and both Therese and McAdams stumbled and fell with the trembling earth. The clearing rose at least thirty feet so that the gods could look down upon the forest surrounding them below, like the reverse of a coliseum in that what was once the battlefield in the center had become the audience seating, and what was usually the audience seating was an outer circular battlefield. But unlike the audience of a coliseum, this battlefield was ripe with life and natural structures. Behind Zeus, mountains of pink granite jutted up from the forest below, exceeding in height the level of the gods’ platform. Beyond Poseidon, Therese could make out a river bordered by forest. A stream ran from the pink granite mountains, into the river, and then circled around Apollo and Hephaestus and plunged into a roaring fall to a deeper canyon behind Hades. The water pooled into a smaller body of water at the bottom of the deeper canyon. Another stream ran into a fall behind Aphrodite, but the trees were so thick on that side of the forest, that Therese could not see through them. Among the trees behind Demeter, however, she thought she saw fruit. If her plan was to outrun and hide from McAdams, this would be a long battle, and fruit would be necessary to keep going. Otherwise, she and her enemy wouldn’t need to kill one another. They would starve to death.
Therese and McAdams stood up on opposite sides of the platform staring at one another with fear and anger. Therese wasn’t sure what to do, and McAdams appeared as indecisive. All of the gods sat around them on their stumps, waiting. Aphrodite’s face was stained with tears.
Than, still close by, spoke in a low voice. “My best advice is to avoid hand to hand combat.”
“Then how will I kill him?” Therese muttered without taking her eyes off McAdams.
“Set traps, if possible, and keep far away from him. You’re in better shape and can probably outrun him, but he’s stronger.” Than could not keep the desperation from his voice. “Please be careful.”
Therese kept her eyes on McAdams as she backed away from him towards what had now become a cliff edge behind the tree-stump thrones of the gods. A person would certainly die if he or she fell from the platform and into the canyon woods surrounding them below. But the rocky ledges could be navigated the thirty or s
o feet to the bottom, and it seemed to Therese there could be caves in the canyon walls. She decided she should descend behind Demeter and collect whatever fruit she could carry, and then run for a hiding place until she could think of another plan.
McAdams charged at her, however, and gave her no choice but to climb down the cliff edge behind Hades. Therese threw her shield down and it plunged, then slid, and finally came to a stop near the bottom of the deeper canyon at least a hundred feet below. She turned and clung to the rock wall, quickly finding her footing as she scaled down the side. She looked up and saw McAdams standing above her. He wasn’t climbing down after her … yet.
“Oh, Than, I should have run to the trees!” she said in her mind, praying frantically, even though she knew he could not help her. “My plan was to collect food and stay on the run till he got weak. But look at me clinging to these walls! This is stupid! What am I doing? I’m going to kill myself slipping on these stupid rocks, and he’ll win by default! I’ve already dropped my shield!”
“Your plan is sound!” Than called after her. “You can still do it!”
Then it dawned on Therese, something she hadn’t thought of before! She could speak to the gods through prayer, and they could answer her! She would have to call them by name so Ares would not hear. Ares would inform McAdams. But the other gods, the ones she knew were on her side, she would speak to them!
She increased her pace down the canyon wall and lowered herself to the bottom. Her shield lay below in the deeper canyon, but she decided she would be faster without it. Since her goal was to avoid hand to hand combat, why be burdened with it when her hands could be free?
She ran along the base of the upper canyon wall toward the thick forest behind Demeter. In her mind, she said, “I’m thinking I should collect food, Than. And then hide. Do you agree?”
“Yes!” he shouted.
Then another thought hit her. She would ask the gods questions that could be answered with yes or no, so as to prevent McAdams from overhearing her plans.