The underworld saga, p.126
The Underworld Saga, page 126
Jen sat up on her knees and watched with utter amazement as the baby slid like a wet baby seal out from between Therese’s legs. Then she watched in horror as Hecate used a dagger to cut the umbilical cord.
“It’s Hestia!” Hip said. “She’s beautiful!”
The baby girl wailed, and all but Therese laughed.
“Rip that blanket in half for me, Hermes,” Hecate ordered.
Hermes did as he was told.
“Oh hell, oh, God, oh, here it comes again!” Therese screamed.
Hecate handed baby Hestia off to Hermes as Jen endured another hand-crushing squeeze from Therese.
“Oh, no,” Hecate said. “Don’t push, Therese. Do you hear me? The boy is breech.”
“What does that mean?” Jen glanced at Than, who lay on the floor with his eyes tightly shut.
“It means he’s upside down,” Hecate said.
Than opened his eyes. “Why is that bad?”
“The legs don’t come through as easily as the head,” Hecate explained. “Just wait a minute while I try to turn him.”
As Hecate put a hand inside on the unborn baby, Therese screamed and writhed in pain.
“Never mind! Okay!” Hecate said. “It’s okay. Let me just try to get his little feet.”
“Here it comes again!” Therese screamed. “Oh hell, oh man, oh help me, please!”
“Don’t push!” Hecate shouted. “Jen, I need you here!”
“What can I do?” Jen asked, scared to death.
“Get over here,” Hecate said. “Hip, go hold Therese’s hand.”
Jen and Hip glanced fearfully at one another as Jen crouched beside Hecate at Therese’s bent knees. Jen was horrified by the bloody mess on the ground.
“What is that?” she muttered.
“That’s just the placenta,” Hecate said. “Hestia’s placenta. It’s normal. Now reach over here and grab this tiny foot.”
Jen’s eyes widened in shock. She had to stick her fingers into the bloody mess? She thought she might faint as sweat broke out on her forehead. She reminded herself that she had to stay focused for her friend. Therese and her baby were on the line.
“Got it,” Jen said when she finally found the foot and curled her fingers around it.
“We need to turn him so I can get to the other leg,” Hecate said as Therese began to wail again.
“It’s okay, Baby,” Than said.
Tears sprang to Jen’s eyes as she watched Hecate thrust her hand inside of Therese, cupping the baby.
“I’ve got it,” Hecate said. “Now, Therese. Go ahead and push.”
This baby did not slide out like a wet seal, Jen observed. She and Hecate had to ease him out, helping each little arm, one at a time, and then the chin. But at last the baby was free and crying just like his sister.
The entire room, save Therese, shouted their hoorays and bravos and well dones, but when Jen looked back down at her friend, she gasped. Therese was out cold.
***
When Therese woke up and saw her husband sitting up against the wall of the grotto holding a baby, she immediately suspected she was dreaming. But if they were still trapped in Circe’s battlefield—Hip included—a dream was impossible. That meant her husband really was sitting up, and he really was holding one of their babies. But had both made it out alive?
She glanced around the cavern.
“You’re awake,” Than said, smiling down at her.
Jen sat near Therese’s feet holding the other one. Therese sighed with relief as Jen smiled at her.
“Are you ready to meet your babies?” Jen asked.
Hecate turned from where she’d been washing her tunic in the falls. “They need to eat.”
Therese blinked and tried to sit up, ignoring the soreness between her legs. Hecate reached over and helped her lean against the wall beside Than.
“Can you walk?” she asked him.
“Not yet. But soon. I can feel it.”
“Where are Hip and Hermes?” Therese asked, noticing the other gods were missing.
“Looking for food,” Jen said. “We noticed pecans and walnuts during our last outing. A nice change from all the fruit.”
Anxious to hold her babies, Therese peered into the eyes of the little bundle in Than’s arms.
“This is Hermes, our son,” he said, gently. “And he’s really hungry. He’s been sucking on my finger for hours.”
Therese took the baby boy into her own arms and, with Hecate’s help, was able to feed him. Little Hestia was soon crying for her turn. It took some getting used to, but Therese finally got the hang of nursing. After the babies had been burped, she and Than sat side by side, each with a babe in their arms.
She was amazed by how much love she had for them, and how much she adored their sweet little bodies. Hestia had little red wisps of soft, feathery hair all over the top of her head and the roundest little bunched-up cheeks. Hermes had dark hair—almost black, like his father’s, but not very much. His lips were fuller, and presently in the cutest pout. Their eyes were the darkest blue she’d ever seen. She couldn’t stop gazing at her babies, stroking them, holding them ever so close. Giving them up to her aunt and uncle seemed like an impossibility to her now.
“I can’t believe I’m actually getting this opportunity to hold them,” Than said. “I’m almost glad we got trapped here.”
Tears pricked Therese’s eyes, and a sob caught in her throat, but she managed to say, “I know.”
“Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to stay here.”
Therese looked up at him with surprise. “You can’t be serious.”
“Why not?” He looked every bit as serious as he sounded.
“Well, because, first of all, we’d never see our families,” she said.
“If we have to choose between our parents and our babies, it’s an easy choice,” he said.
“We’re at the witch’s mercy here,” Therese complained. “We don’t know what she’ll do to us next.”
“That’s true no matter where we go,” Than insisted. “We’re always at the mercy of forces outside of our control.”
“But what about their destiny?” Therese asked. “How can they restore faith to humanity if they’re trapped in here with us?”
“If it’s their fate, then it will happen,” he said. “I don’t know how, but it will.”
Therese couldn’t believe what Than was saying. As much as she wanted to live with him and their babies, she couldn’t turn her back on their families and their responsibilities. A simple life didn’t sound bad at all, but the entire world could be at stake.
“What if the rest of the world needs us?” she asked. “What if the other gods are in trouble?”
Than was silent for a moment. “I know we can’t really live here,” he finally said. “I know it’s not possible. I just like thinking about it.”
Therese’s breath caught, and she leaned over and kissed her husband’s cheek. Then she leaned down and kissed the baby girl in his arms as she tightened her hold on baby Hermes. She hated not knowing the future of her little family.
“What’s not possible?” Hip asked, as he surfaced from the canyon with his shirt full of nuts.
Than told his brother what he’d been telling Therese.
“Sounds nice,” Hip agreed. “I was just imagining the same for me and Jen.”
“What a happy little family we could all make,” Therese said to little Hermes. “Oh, what a sweet dream, Hypnos. But Than and I need to think about what we’re really going to do.”
“You mean if we ever get out of here?” Hermes asked as he emerged from the canyon below.
“Don’t talk like that,” Hecate said as she carried the newly rinsed diapers she had made from strips of the blue cotton blanket. “It does no good to think the worst.”
“Oh, I’m thinking the worst, all right,” Hermes said. “Take a look who I found.”
Hermes held out his hand to someone below, and in the next moment, Callisto appeared.
“Callisto?” Hecate asked, bewildered.
“Not just me,” the nymph said. “Marvin is here, too—down below in the canyon.”
“Who’s Marvin?” Jen asked.
“Apollo’s lover,” Hecate replied.
“You know what this means,” Hermes said. “Circe has upped her game. I’d bet all the drachmas in the world on who shows up here next.”
Chapter Sixteen: New Arrivals
T
hanatos dived into the cool water, in what had come to be called Poseidon’s River, glad to finally have a bath.
“Aren’t you coming in?” he called to Hip, who sat in the shallows where the water met the bank.
“No, thanks. I’m happy right here.”
Than laughed at the sight of his brother bending over to dip in his head and rinse out his hair. It gave him a flashback of the days when they were boys and their mother bathed them in one of the pools formed where the Cocytus River met the Acheron. Hip never did like baths. The memories made Than think of his own twins and how he wished he could be around to help them grow up.
“It’s a lot nicer out here,” Than said.
“I beg to differ.”
Unused to holding his breath, Than caught water in his lungs and hacked it out. Hip was up on his feet in an instant.
“You drowning?”
Than was surprised by his brother’s diligence. “I’m good.”
Hip sat back in the water. “You don’t sound good.”
“Still getting used to not having my powers.”
“Yeah. Sucks, doesn’t it?”
Than lay on his back, floating, squinting against the sun. “Not when you’ve been paralyzed for weeks.”
“Two weeks. That’s nothing.”
“It felt long enough.”
Hip leaned back on his elbows, half in and half out of the river. The sun shone on his brilliant skin, which glowed despite the loss of his godly sheen. Than swam over to him and sat beside him, elbows back, too, soaking in the sun.
“It’s not so bad here, is it?” Hip commented.
“Could be worse,” Than agreed. “But I can’t stop worrying about what’s happening on the outside.”
“Yeah. Let’s not talk about it.”
“Those reports from Artemis and Apollo are unsettling.”
“That’s an understatement.”
“I feel so helpless, even now that I’m not paralyzed. It’s like I’m still paralyzed, you know?”
“You have to try harder not to think about it,” Hip said. “It does no good.”
“Maybe not.”
“You always have been the bigger worrier of the two of us.”
Than grinned. “I suppose that’s true.”
After a while, Hip asked, “Why couldn’t we stay here? Like you were saying the other day? Jen and I could help you raise the twins. It could be nice.”
“You know the answer to that,” Than replied, though the fantasy hadn’t lingered far from his mind.
“Remind me.”
“We can’t turn our backs on the rest of the world. You heard what Apollo and Artemis said. Mount Olympus is occupied, and the gods are held up in the Underworld and at Poseidon’s palace. Then there’s Circe’s army of zombies wreaking havoc in the upperworld. All those mortals, unable to die, and yet enslaved to do her bidding.”
“But if we have no choice, and we’re forced to stay here, it wouldn’t be so bad, would it?”
Than gave his brother a sideways glance. “I suppose not, if you can forget about everyone else.”
At that moment, a tremendous shriek filled the air. Than and Hip looked out toward the sound, toward the middle of the river, where the water was suddenly churning in a gigantic whirlpool. Than and Hip climbed out of the river and stepped back on the bank, watching with curious fascination and horror.
“What is that?” Hip muttered.
Than said nothing as he watched an enormous thing emerge from the water’s depths and into the air, gasping and screeching and flailing about.
It was Scylla.
***
Back at the grotto, where Jen was shelling pecans and Hecate was washing rags, Hip was shocked to learn that Scylla wasn’t the only new arrival to the battlefield. Apollo and Artemis had been out exploring the pink granite peaks on the opposite side of the platform, where they had come upon Echidna and Ladon.
“Circe’s forcing the monsters to fight us,” Artemis explained with her hands on her hips. “To prove they’re worthy to rule with her on Mount Olympus.”
Callisto wrapped an arm around Artemis’s elbow. “Oh, no.”
Hip crossed the grotto and sat beside Jen, encircling her waist and doing his best to reassure her.
“Hey,” he whispered. “It’s going to be okay.”
Jen nodded as she continued to peel the pecans.
“That’s crazy,” Therese said from where she sat against the cavern wall, holding both of her babies, one in each arm. “She’s just using them for her own deranged pleasure.” She spoke softly, so as not to wake the babies, but her tone was far from gentle.
“That’s the witch for you,” Hermes said. “She’s always been a little off.”
“Why would Scylla fight for Circe, if she’s transformed her back into a monster?” Therese asked.
“Maybe she’s promised to return her back again,” Than said.
“The bottom line is that these monsters are cooperating with one another to attack and destroy us,” Apollo said.
“Even Chimera?” Hip asked.
“Even Chimera,” Artemis said. “She’s still weak, but much improved. I don’t think she feels she has a choice.”
“Do we?” Marvin, Apollo’s lover—a tall, thin blonde in his thirties—asked. “Have a choice, I mean?”
“Circe has convinced them that either the monsters or the Olympians will make it out of this prison,” Apollo said. “Not both.”
Artemis added, “Meanwhile, she’s amassed her armies of undead mortals…”
“But you never told us how,” Than said. “How is she controlling the zombies?”
“If they cooperate,” Artemis said, “they’re numbed from their pain. And if they don’t, they writhe in agony.”
“Even the goodhearted mortals eventually give up,” Apollo explained.
Hip felt Jen shudder against him.
“I’ll protect you,” he whispered in her ear. “I promise.”
“For someone who’s lost her mind, Circe’s thought of everything,” Hermes said.
“What are the other gods doing?” Marvin asked.
“Defending the last two realms—the Underworld and Poseidon’s palace,” Artemis replied. “We would have stayed and fought, too, but…” Artemis looked at Callisto as her voice trailed off.
“We need a plan,” Hecate said.
“That’s why we’re here,” Ares said as he reached the lip of the grotto, surprising them all. He held out his arm and pulled up Athena.
“We’re ready for battle,” Athena said in full armor with her spear and shield.
Hip had never been happier to see the gods of war.
***
As Therese and Than changed their babies’ diapers and snuggled them in freshly washed and dried blanket scraps, Therese listened to Ares and Athena’s reports of what was going on outside of Circe’s battlefield.
“Circe has taken over the Cyclopes,” Athena said. “All but Polyphemus, who is holed up in his cave.”
“They’re building an arsenal of lightning bolts for her,” Ares explained. “That’s how she was able to take over Mount Olympus.”
“If it weren’t for the trident and the helm,” Apollo said, “the Underworld and Poseidon’s palace wouldn’t have a chance.”
Therese noticed Ares and Athena exchange worried looks.
“Oh, no,” Therese gasped. She picked up Hestia and moved closer to Thanatos. “What else has happened?”
“Poseidon’s palace was breached,” Ares said. “Right after Artemis and Apollo left us. Circe now controls the skies, the seas, and the land.”
“The rest of the Olympians have retreated to the Underworld,” Athena added. “Which is exactly where Circe seems to want them.”
“If she’s already controlling the undead on earth, she’s pretty much got a hand in everything,” Than pointed out as he held baby Hermes in his arms.
“Then why are you here?” Hermes asked Ares and Athena. “Instead of defending the other Olympians?”
Athena crossed her arms. “When we heard what Circe was planning to do—to pit the monsters against you here—we decided to follow them here.”
“I followed Scylla” Ares said. “Athena followed Echidna.”
“We thought if we could see the way in, we might be able to figure a way out,” Athena added. “And then we’d have all of your help in the final battles.”
“I’m not sure how we would have fared without you,” Hip said. “We don’t have the ability to call on our swords, and the only weapon I had on me when I got here was this dagger I carry in my boot.”
Luckily, Therese had her bow and arrows, as did Apollo and Artemis, who, like her, never went anywhere without them. And because Than had already called upon his sword before he’d been struck with the lightning bolt, his had come over with him. But Hecate and Hermes, who, like Hip, had been tricked with death, had nothing.
“Did you?” Artemis asked. “Figure a way out?”
Athena crossed the room and started pacing. “Echidna and Ares came in at the pink granite peaks. Scylla and I came in at the river. We believe there are seams there—portals of some kind.”
“Than and I entered here, though,” Therese said.
“And I came in at the fruit trees,” Jen added.
“The four cardinal points,” Hecate said. “That makes sense. Black magic often relies on the four cardinal points.”
“North, south, east, and west,” Apollo murmured.
“Can you see anything?” Hermes asked him.
Apollo frowned. “I’m getting something, but I can’t tell what.”
