The Gatekeeper's Sons

Chapter 7B

Therese sat in her ninth grade AP English classroom with the rest of her classmates taking a multiple choice exam, but none of the questions made sense. They seemed written in a different language. Therese pressed her pencil into the bubble next to "E. None of the above," but the lead on her pencil broke. She raised her hand. Mrs. Spencer stood with her back to the class writing something on the dry erase board and didn't notice.

"Excuse me," Therese said.

When Mrs. Spencer turned around, Therese saw she wasn't Mrs. Spencer at all. Her eyes were red, her ears pointed, and when she opened her mouth to ask, "Yes?" blood dripped from her lips.

She's a zombie, Therese thought, frozen in her chair.

She looked around the room. They were all zombies.

That's when she knew she was dreaming.

"I need to find Hip," Therese reminded herself, so she took off flying from the school, looking for the Underworld.

Then her parents appeared in front of her, and she couldn't resist stopping midair and looking at them. Could they possibly be her real parents?

"Mom? Dad?"

They smiled and held out their arms. She ran to them and felt their warm embrace. Then another zombie appeared and ruined the delusion. Therese willed it to disappear.

"You're just figments, aren't you?" she asked her parents softly, stepping away from them just a bit, but not too far.

Her mom and dad shrugged.

"Tell me you're real!" Therese commanded.

"We're real?" her father laughed. "What are you talking about? Of course we're real."

The zombie English teacher approached, scolding Therese, "You didn't finish the test, young lady!"

Reluctantly and full of sadness, Therese said, "Figments, I command you to show yourselves."

Her parents and the evil teacher transformed into eels, giggled, and flew away, leaving Therese hovering in the air alone in the middle of nothingness.

"Hip!" she shouted at the top of her lungs, full of anger. "Hip! I need you!"

The handsome twin appeared. "You called?" he had a smirk on his face.

"I want to rescue my parents from the Underworld, and I want you to help me."

"Impossible," he said. "And you owe me a kiss.

He moved against her and touched his lips to hers. She froze, waiting.

"Aw, what kind of kiss was that?"

"If you're not going to help me, go away."

"You've got a lot of nerve, giving commands to a god. I could kill you, you know."

She looked him dead in the eye. "Do it."

He rolled his eyes. "My brother would cause trouble for me." He backed off and shook his head. "He's obsessed with you, Therese. He can't stop thinking about you. He thinks he's in love with you. He's trying to work out some kind of deal with our father."

"What are you talking about?"

"Than? My twin brother? The one you threw yourself at saying, 'You're so lovely. You're so lovely!' Ring a bell?" He crossed his arms and sulked.

"You mean the god of death?" she asked with some hesitation. This was sounding a little crazy. Maybe this wasn't Hip. Maybe he was a figment. "Figment! I command you to show yourself!"