Chapter Six: Scylla’s Revenge

Therese returned Stormy to the Underworld stables because she worried he might be too tempting a delicacy for Polyphemus. She gave all the horses there a quick brushing and a handful of oats before flying west of Greece to the Ionian Sea.

As she neared Cyclopes Island, she saw the bright flash of Zeus’s chariot descending into the ocean toward the ancient castle belonging to Phorcys and Keto. Ares and Than were on their way to question the parents of the monsters of the sea about the abduction of Amphitrite. Therese wished she had been asked to go, too, because she wanted to know what the Old Man of the Sea and his wife had to say, and because she feared for Than’s safety. She hovered above the water for a moment, trying to sense Than without giving away her position. She didn’t want him to know what she was up to; he would only try to stop her. And she wouldn’t blame him. Going to see Polyphemus was risky. Yet she truly believed she could use the Cyclops’s love for his sheep to get him to cooperate, and she wouldn’t take such a risk now that she was pregnant if she didn’t like her odds.

Plus, the Fates had said her twins would restore faith to humanity, so nothing bad could happen to them, right?

Just as she reached out to sense Than, he appeared before her.

“What are you doing?” he asked with a look of dread on his face.

“I’m making sure you’re okay.” This wasn’t exactly a lie.

He smiled and kissed her. “I’m fine, but if you keep hanging around here, I’ll just worry about you. Let’s go home together. I’ll give you a play by play of what’s happening with Phorcys and Keto.”

She was about to tell him her plan to visit Cyclopes Island when she noticed two boys kicking a dog on the southern coast of Italy. She sent arrows into all three beings and watched with satisfaction as they embraced, but then something strange happened: the dog turned into a third boy.

“That’s odd,” she said to Than. “Hold on.” Shielding herself from the sight of the three using her invisibility mode, she flew down to take a closer look. She had barely landed on the beach when a fierce wind slammed against her and hurled her into the sea.

Something sharp reached up and grasped her in its clutches. As she struggled against the immovable claws, she realized she had fallen into the pincers of Scylla.

The monster dragged Therese through the water and then up from the sea into a cave along the coast. Scylla’s six necks were twice as long as the Hydra’s one, and her six serpent-like heads each had three rows of teeth. She also had twelve long dangling legs, like tentacles, and the heads of six yelping dogs at her waist. Two long arms with pincers shot up from the monster’s sides and clamped Therese in a death hold. She tried to god travel out, but something was blocking her efforts.

The monster came to a halt and stared at her with the four center heads. Each had a single eye.

“What do you want from me?” Therese shouted, but the monster said nothing.

The cave was bright, the inner walls covered in iridescent crystals. The source of light glowed somewhere in the back of the cave. Therese strained her neck to look all around, hoping for a means of escape, when her eyes fell on a beautiful bright goddess, with bright hair and eyes beaming like the sun. She was the source of light in the cave.

“Who are you?” Therese asked as the goddess moved toward her.

“Circe,” the goddess said politely. “Daughter to Helios. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Therese.”

“Can you help me?” Therese struggled against the claws.

All six of Scylla’s heads scoffed.

“I’m afraid it is you who will help me,” the goddess said.

“What can I do? I’m a bit stuck at the moment.” Obviously Scylla and Circe were working together, but why?

Unexpectedly, Scylla said, from all six of her heads, “I used to be beautiful, like you.” Her voice echoed throughout the chamber.

“Tell the truth, Scylla,” Circe said in the voice of a kindergarten teacher correcting a child. “You were born that way, were you not?”

“I was,” the monster said. “But Circe transformed me into a beautiful goddess, and for years I was happy!”

“Until she stole my love from me,” Circe said in a voice less kind.

Scylla screeched, “I never asked for his love! It wasn’t my fault! It was never my fault! Now change me! You swore an oath!”

Therese’s head was spinning from the monster’s fierce shrieks.

Circe moved closer to Therese and sprinkled her with a white, bitter-smelling powder. The substance landed in her hair and on her face and arms. She breathed it in by accident, causing her to sneeze.

When she had finished spreading the powder over Therese, Circe said to Scylla, “We have to wait until she’s changed. Then, I shall change you.”

Circe disappeared, and the cave became dark.

Therese’s mouth fell open and she met one of Scylla’s four eyes. “What’s happening?”

“It was the only way she would change me back,” Scylla said. “She set you up with the boys on the beach. She used her black magic to change one of them into a dog.”

“What is this stuff? What’s it going to do to me?”

“The bones of a slaughtered animal ground into a fine powder and mixed with her terrible herbs and potions.”

Therese felt a panic coming on. “What’s it going to do to me?” she repeated.

“It’s going to turn you into this.” Scylla lifted one of her pincers and motioned to herself. “So you can take my place.”

“I don’t believe you!” Therese shouted. “You’ve been deceived. How could a daughter of Helios have that kind of power?”

“Black magic,” Scylla said. “It comes with a price. Circe rarely sleeps because the black magic haunts her. The ghosts of her sacrifices torment her. Her power is not a natural gift. Nevertheless, she wields it.”

“This can’t be happening,” Therese insisted as a pressure gripped her chest.

Scylla laid her down on the floor of the cave. “Oh, but it is.”

***

 

Thanatos dove into the sea after Therese, but Charbydis pulled him under with her powerful whirlpool. He multiplied into fifty, then a hundred, and swam against the monster’s current, slowing it enough for him to escape. Once he was free, integrated, and out of the water, he could no longer sense Therese.

Where are you? He prayed. When she didn’t answer, he shouted her name, again and again, causing the skies to crack with thunder.

Back in the house of Phorcys and Keto, where he sat across from his hosts, he turned to Ares, panting with panic and tears in his eyes.

Something’s happened to Therese, he prayed.

Disintegrate and dispatch to Poseidon, Ares replied. We must complete our interrogation here.

Thanatos did as Ares said. He god travelled directly to Poseidon’s palace and pounded on the door.

“So we need to know if you have any knowledge about the attack on Amphitrite and Poseidon,” Ares said to Phorcys and Keto.

“They were attacked?” Keto asked with an expression that was far from surprised.

“Do you swear you had nothing to do with it?” Ares asked.

“We do not swear in this house.” Phorcys whipped his fish tail down and stirred the waters around them. His pincer-like forelegs clacked opened and closed, opened and closed.

In a voice laced with threat, Ares said, “If you and your wife refuse to swear, we have no choice but to assume you’re involved.”

“As you wish,” Phorcys said. “But we have no more to say, so you can either depart amicably, or I’ll have to call Scylla and her sisters to help you on your way.”

“Don’t threaten me!” Ares stood up and puffed out his chest.

Than did the same, but inside, he felt helpless. Something had happened to Therese, and these two before him could be responsible. He narrowed his eyes, trying to read their faces.

“Be assured we will return,” Ares added. “And you won’t have known a sorrier day.”

“How is Scylla these days?” Than finally asked, his heart rate increasing. “I wouldn’t mind seeing her again.”

Phorcys frowned. “She’s busy at the moment.”

Taking this for evidence, and no longer able to stand there without doing anything, Than multiplied into the fifties and bound the old man and his wife to their thrones. “I thought I smelled a bluff. What have you done with Therese?”

This is not the time! Ares prayed. We’re on their turf without reinforcements.

I’m our reinforcements. Than multiplied into the dozens, ready to defend himself and Ares from attack. He was surprised the god of war wasn’t more enthusiastic, and this chipped away a little of Than’s confidence. He might not be doing the right thing, but he had to do something.

Then a long serpent’s tail wrapped itself around Than’s neck and threatened to snap off his head, debilitating the entire group of him.

Echidna.

Ares drew his sword and swung at the half-woman, half-serpent.

The serpent goddess hissed, and from her beautiful, humanoid face, a forked tongue flicked out and wrapped itself around the hilt of Ares’s sword. Phorcys leaped forward and held Ares’s boots with his pincers, demobilizing him. Keto reinforced the trap by wrapping her arms around the god of war’s waist.

“Mmm,” Keto said. “I’ve always wanted to kiss you, Ares.”

“Stop that nonsense,” Phorcys commanded.

Miles away in the Aegean, in the foyer of Poseidon’s palace, Thanatos stared at the lord of the sea with wide eyes. His face went pale and he could barely breathe.

“What is it, my boy?” Poseidon asked with alarm.

Thanatos automatically reintegrated into one prisoner: The prisoner of Echidna.

***

 

Jen sat across the breakfast table from her mother and brother at the crack of dawn, dressed and ready to go to work in the barn. Neither her mom nor her brother had said a word about their trip to Tartarus, and Jen was beginning to fear it had all been a dream.

Had her brother and mother really witnessed Pete drinking Jen’s blood?

She shuddered as she stirred some sugar and milk into her coffee. “Y’all doin’ okay this morning?”

Bobby let out a deep breath. “I still can’t believe it.”

Their mother’s eyes flooded with tears as she sipped at her coffee and sucked at a cigarette.

“Mom?” Jen asked.

“I don’t know whether I’m pleased as punch or ready for the looney bin,” her mother said.

A gentle knock at the door disturbed their conversation.

Bobby went to the front window. “It’s Mr. Stern.”

Jen met her mother’s eyes and was surprised to see them crinkle into a smile. “Ain’t no way in hell we’re telling him about this. Y’all hear?”

Jen and Bobby grinned and nodded.

“Promise?” Mrs. Holt asked.

“Promise,” they each said.

“My oldest son is in the Underworld and is fixin’ to marry a Fury,” Mrs. Holt muttered. “No, I just don’t think John would take that very well.”

All three of them giggled.

“Go ahead and let him in, Bobby,” their mother said.

Jen was surprised at how well her mother received Mr. Stern when just a few days ago, she’d been begging him to leave.

“I’m sorry to bother you all,” he said from the doorway.

Mrs. Holt went to the door. “Come on in, John. I’m glad to see you.”

“You are?” His bushy eyebrows shot up in surprise.

“’Course.” Mrs. Holt put out her cigarette and winked at Jen. “Don’t say a word,” she mouthed.

Jen smiled.

Mr. Stern stayed all morning to help with the chores. Jen could tell he enjoyed horse work and had a talent for it. Despite her own sadness over losing Hypnos to the evil Sith lord, Jen was overjoyed that her mother appeared to be happy.

But all morning long, she couldn’t stop thinking about what Pete might have seen in her future that had made him go berserk. Did he see her with Hip? Is that what had made no sense?

As they returned to the house for lunch, Jen passed by the broken remnants of the dream globe and picked up one of the larger pieces. It glittered in the sunlight, felt like glass to the touch, but was cold, like ice. She closed her eyes and asked to see Hip. When nothing happened, as she had expected, she dropped the broken piece in the dirt, kicked it with her boot, and headed to the house. She washed up in her room, put on fresh clothes, and then picked up the crown from her side table. Now that her mother was feeling better, maybe it was time for Jen to be invisible again.

***

 

Hypnos flew across the Ionian Sea, where he had last sensed Therese. What could she be doing out this way? And why wasn’t she answering him?

He settled on a rock on the Sicilian side of the Messina Straight and rested his chin in his hands. He needed to give up on his dream of finding a way to make Jen a goddess. It wasn’t going to happen; instead, he needed to convince her that he was capable of loving her for the rest of her life—no matter how old and gray she lived to become.

But would she believe him? He doubted it. Mortals tended to be as vain as the gods and even more insecure.

He had gone centuries without love, so why did he need it now? He realized it wasn’t love he needed; it was Jen. Her beautiful smile and fun-loving spirit and dedication to her family and friends warmed his heart. And the way she looked at him, kissed him, held him, wanted him—all those things filled him with joy and made him want to sing.

He covered his face with his hands and wept, hoping none of the gods could see.

At that moment Scylla burst from the water and gazed down at him with her six ugly heads. He’d forgotten the sheer expanse of her size and the innumerable rows of her teeth.

He unsheathed his sword and was about to go for one of the necks when he heard Therese’s voice.

“Don’t! It’s me! It’s Therese!”

Hip stared up at what he now realized was a docile monster, but that wasn’t enough to convince him.

“Why would you say such a thing?” He pointed his sword toward Scylla.

“Because it’s true!” the monster shrieked. “Ask me anything…about Jen, Pete, Mrs. Holt. Ask me about my twins!”

Hip thought for a minute. This was crazy, but okay. He’d play. “Which of the five challenges given by Hades did Therese fail?”

“I looked back!” the monster screeched. “I saw Than and forgot about everything else.”

Still not convinced, Hip asked, “Where are Therese’s parents?”

“They live on an elm tree in Colorado outside my house! They’re Cardinals. I gave them immortality after Than helped me transfer their souls. Hip, it’s me!” the monster raged.

Hip struggled to think of a question no one else would know the answer to.

“What animal did you change me into today and why?” he demanded.

“An ass, because you were being one! And you’re being one now, Hip! Please help me!”

Hip staggered back. “How…”

“Circe did this to me.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. She changed Scylla into a beautiful maiden and left me to take her place.”

“What about the twins?” Hip asked, afraid of the answer.

“I still feel them, but I’m not sure.” All six heads drooped toward the shore. “You’ve got to help me. I can’t pray in this condition. Please find Than!”

Hip called to his brother and was shaken by Than’s reply.

“How can this be happening?” Hip muttered.

“What?” Therese shrieked. “Has something happened to Than?”

The duties of Death called to him, and he disintegrated in time to join Poseidon in an attack against the Old Man of the Sea. Poseidon freed Ares by slicing through Echidna’s tongue and hurling Phorcys across the room. Hip stabbed Echidna’s serpent tail again and again until she loosened her grip on his brother. The duties of Death left Hypnos back to his own duties of Sleep. Phorcys and his family disappeared.

Than said, “We need to help Therese! She’s been captured!”

“First we search the castle,” Poseidon commanded. “We’ll be more powerful with the aid of my trident.”

Hip and Than helped the other Olympians search, but they found no sign of Amphitrite and the trident.

“Where could they be?” Poseidon said. “And who could be working with Phorcys?”

Hip scratched his chin. “Perhaps Circe.”

“Circe? Why do you suspect her?” Ares asked.

Hip looked through the water at his brother, afraid to break his heart. “She’s done something terrible.”

Than’s eyes widened. “Where’s Therese?”