Hidden Worlds

by Kristie Cook

  She turned on her side to face him. “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m afraid I won’t be able to stop,” he said breathlessly.

  “Oh.” Then, with her heart speeding up even more in her chest, she whispered, “That’s okay.”

  He looked at her with a mixture of shock and desire. She was afraid but overcome. He kissed her, fervently, and she felt like she would overflow with passion. Then he stopped and collapsed on his back again.

  “You’re killing me,” she said with frustration.

  He laughed. “I’m sorry, Therese. But there’s something you don’t know.”

  “Oh no. You’re already married.”

  He broke into a boisterous laugh. “Oops. That was too loud. I hope Carol and Richard didn’t hear that.” He covered his mouth with his hand and they both sat there, listening for the other humans in the house.

  After a few minutes of silence, Therese said, “Tell me what’s wrong.”

  He turned on his side to face her, propping himself up on an elbow. “I talked to my dad a little yesterday about … things. You have to know that every time a god has ever made love to a human, it has always, invariably, ended in pregnancy.”

  Understanding washed over her, along with disappointment. “Oh.”

  “Human forms of birth control are powerless against the seed of gods.”

  She giggled at that. It struck her as funny. Not that she had any birth control anyway.

  “What?” he demanded.

  “Nothing. That just sounded kind of hilarious.”

  “But it’s true. And you’re not ready to have a baby.”

  She bit her lip. “No. You’re right. I’m not.”

  He sat up. “I should go.”

  She grabbed his arm. “No. Please don’t go. Stay. Sleep here with me.”

  He grinned. “You want to drive me crazy, huh?”

  She giggled again. “No.” Then she was somber. “I just don’t like being away from you.”

  He lay back down beside her and stroked her hair. “Okay. I’ll give it a try. Maybe if you talk to me, you can distract me from what it is I really want.”

  She giggled once more and then called to Clifford, who had been curled up in the corner on his pillow. “Come here, boy.”

  He jumped on the bed between them.

  “Can you translate?” she asked Than.

  “He’s just glad you’re finally paying attention to him again. He was whining a minute ago, full of jealousy.”

  She pet Clifford. “I already knew that.”

  “I know,” Than said. “You can read animals really well. That’s what I meant when I said you had a gift. Your conversations with the horses in the pen made sense both ways. The horses love you, especially Sugar.” Then he said, “By the way, Jewels is wondering when you’re going to remember to turn off her lamp. She’s tired and wants to go to sleep, but she’s too warm.”

  Therese jumped up. “Oh my God!” She snapped off the lamp. “I’m sorry, Jewels! Is that better?”

  “She’s sighing with relief,” Than said.

  “You should have said something earlier.”

  “I was distracted.” He gave her a lusty smile, and she nearly lost herself again.

  Therese flopped back down on the bed beside Than and Clifford. “What about Puffy? Has he said anything lately?”

  “He wishes we’d shut up and go to sleep so he can have peace and quiet while he works. He’s miffed, but he’ll tolerate it. He really likes you and is glad you’re finally home. He’d just rather you go to sleep.”

  “He said all that?”

  “Here and there, throughout the evening. I had to finally tune him out.”

  “Why don’t I hear anything?”

  “He speaks on a different frequency. Most animals do.”

  She turned off the lamp on her nightstand and made the room dark. “That’s for Puffy, of course,” she whispered.

  “Of course.”

  She climbed beneath the covers. “Coming in?”

  He cleared his throat. “Um, I think I’ll sleep above the covers.”

  She moved around beneath the sheet until she was comfortable lying against his chest. She made Clifford lie down on the other side of her so she could be against Than.

  “He’s jealous again,” Than said.

  “I know. He’ll live.” She nestled against Than’s chest. “Are you sleepy?”

  “A little.”

  “Gods do sleep, don’t they?”

  He stroked her hair. “Yes, just not as much as humans. You go to sleep, though. Don’t worry about me. We have a big day tomorrow if we’re going to Greece.”

  She kissed his chest and closed her eyes.

  ***

  Therese awoke after a dreamless night to the bright sunshine coming through her bedroom windows. It took a minute for her to remember that Than was supposed to be there, that he had been beside her when she had fallen asleep. Clifford gave her a cursory glance as she sat up and wondered where Than was. Do gods use the restroom?

  “Than?” she called softly as she climbed from the bed. He wasn’t in the bathroom.

  The clock on the night stand said it was 9:30. She wondered if Carol and Richard had left for their day of sightseeing. Only one way to find out. She and Clifford went downstairs to see if they were alone, except for the officer she knew would be on the deck.

  “Oh good, you’re awake,” Carol said as she emptied a half-eaten bowel of cereal into the sink. She was dressed in jeans and a button-down blouse, her red hair pulled back in a short ponytail, make up perfect. “I was hoping to see you before we left. You sure you don’t want to come along?”

  “I’m sure. He’ll watch out for me.” She pointed to the kitchen window through which they could see the police officer sitting with a pastry and coffee, his feet propped on a cooler. Then Richard walked in from the guest bedroom. “Hey, Richard.”

  “Hey.” He sat at the granite bar and opened the newspaper in the same spot her dad had always sat. He too was dressed and ready to go.

  Therese sucked in her lips and sighed. “No, I really want to do this. I’ve decided donating mom and dad’s things to charity might give me some … I don’t know … closure.” She put the leash on Clifford. “I’ll take him to the front to do his business. Come on, boy.”

  Carol kissed Therese’s cheek as she passed and then took Richard’s empty cereal bowl to the sink. “Call me on my cell if you need anything.” Then she asked, “You won’t be alone, right? I mean, except for him.” She nodded her head toward the officer.

  “No. Than’s coming to help.”

  “Okay. Don’t hesitate to call 911 if anything suspicious happens. Even a police officer may need help. Promise?”

  “Promise.”

  As soon as she came back inside with Clifford, and after Carol and Richard had left, Therese poured herself a bowl of cereal and said out loud, “Than, where are you? Will you please come back?” She was startled by his instant appearance by her side. “Geez, you scared the crap out of me.”

  He gave her a smirk. “Sorry.”

  “Why did you leave? I thought you were staying the night.” She ate some of the cereal while she waited for his explanation.

  He took her face in his hands. “You look so cute first thing in the morning.” He kissed the top of her head.

  “How would you know? You weren’t there.” She couldn’t hide the slight hostility in her voice.

  “Was too. I didn’t leave you till dawn. I wanted a quick shower and a moment with my sisters. They had news.”

  Clifford put his paws on Than’s jean-clad shins.

  “Hey, boy. Good morning to you, too,” Than said, patting the dog.

  “So, what was the news?” Therese stood to rinse the bowl in the sink. “Want some?”

  “No thanks. I already ate.” Then he said, “The news is complicated and I’m not sure …”

  She left the bowl in the sink, turned, and pressed herself against
him. “Tell me. I want to know.”

  He toyed with her mussed up hair, straightening it, smiling. “You’re so cute, and you’ve been so happy. I hate to … ruin that.”

  She wrapped her arms around his waist. “As long as I’m with you, I’ll be happy.”

  The doorbell made her jump. “Who could that be? I’m not dressed.”

  Hold on. He vanished and then instantly reappeared. “It’s Pete Holt.”

  She sighed. “Oh God. Will you get it while I run up and get dressed?”

  “He won’t like that.”

  “Too bad.”

  She dashed up the stairs and quickly changed into a knit top and matching short skirt. She brushed her hair out, glossed her lips, and hustled back down.

  Pete lingered at the front door, a wide space between him and Than. He wore jeans and boots and no shirt and was sweaty and grimy, as though he had just finished cleaning the barn. “Hey, Therese.” Pete’s voice was sobered, nearly grave.

  “Hey, Pete.”

  “Sorry to barge in …”

  “Don’t apologize.”

  “My mom sent me to deliver your earnings. She would have given them to you yesterday, but … Hey, are you feeling better?” He glanced at Than and back at her.

  “Yeah, thanks.” She gave him a hesitant nod. “And thanks again for covering for me. I hope it wasn’t too much of a drag.”

  “Not at all.” He gave Than another glance.

  They all three shared a moment of awkward silence without looking at one another.

  Therese finally said, “Well, hey, thanks for coming by.”

  “Oh, sure. Here’s the money.” He held up a white envelope. “I don’t want to get your house dirty.”

  She crossed over to him and took the money. “Thanks.”

  “I’ll give you a call later. And hey, Mom says you’re welcome to come visit any time if you get bored and want to, I don’t know, hang out while we work the horses.”

  “Thanks. Sounds good.”

  She followed him through the screened porch, where Pete turned to her and muttered, “Are you two going out or something?”

  Therese blushed. “Um, or something, I guess.”

  He glanced once more in Than’s direction. “Bye, then.”

  “Bye. Thanks again.”

  She felt sorry for him as she watched him leave. When he was in his truck, she waved once more before going back inside. Than was waiting for her. He, too, appeared sobered.

  “You could have a good life with Pete.” He said this without looking at her. “He’d make you happy, and you wouldn’t have to leave. You could live among the living. You could see sunrises and sunsets. He could give you everything I can’t give you.”

  She stood in the living room across from him. “Don’t. Please.” She could see the diseased elm through the kitchen window and a sudden urge to chop down the dying branch overcame her, but she pushed it down, thinking she was losing her mind. She couldn’t chop it down.

  He met her eyes but said nothing.

  “Is that what you want?” The hostility from earlier crept back in her voice.

  “This is about you, about what’s best for you.”

  “Then quit talking like that.” She stormed off to her parents’ room. In her mind, she thought, “If you can hear me, Than, please follow me. Please come in behind me and put your arms around me and tell me you will never say such a thing again.”

  She stood there just inside her parents’ room waiting. Seconds later, he swept in behind her with his arms around her waist and clasped across her stomach.

  “I’m sorry,” he whispered.

  She turned in his arms and kissed him, closed her eyes, and touched his neck with her hands. “Me too.” Then she played with his shirt and asked meekly, “Are we still going to Greece today?”

  “If you wish.”

  “Then we better get busy. Why don’t you tell me what your sisters learned about McAdams while I start bagging some of these clothes?” She went into the closet and grabbed four or five hangers with clothes and laid them on the bed. Before Than had begun his story, she said, “Oh. I remember the last time my dad wore this shirt.” She swiped the tears away as they fell unexpectedly down her face.

  “Maybe you’re not ready for this.”

  She rubbed her eyes with the backs of her hands. “I want to do this.”

  Than sat on a chair in the corner of the room and talked as Therese created piles of her parents’ possessions and then bagged them in giant black yard bags she found beneath the kitchen sink. While she worked, Than explained that McAdams was the CEO of a corrupt pharmaceutical company in Texas that bought counterfeit drugs at cheap prices from a manufacturer in Pakistan and sold them to customers at regular market prices. McAdams then split the profits with the Pakistani manufacturer, who was also able to provide forged approval certificates, valid samples for occasional testing by regulatory agencies, and pay-offs to agents when needed. The manufacturer had connections with various foreign rebels and so was able, through McAdams, to develop and sell the mutant anthrax to them. Than explained that when McAdams got wind of her mother’s research at Fort Lewis College, he ordered her execution because he feared he wouldn’t get paid if his customers heard that an antidote was being developed.

  Then she asked, “But why would McAdams still want me dead?”

  Than stood up and put his hands on Therese’s shoulders. “His men weren’t after you that night. They were after your aunt.”

  Chapter Thirty-Two: Tagalong

  “What do you mean they were after my aunt? What has she got to do with any of this?” Therese asked, her face twisted up to his with confusion.

  “Maybe you better sit down.” Than wished he could shield her from this news.

  “Okay,” she murmured and sat on the edge of her parents’ bed.

  He stood in front of her. “Your aunt works for a pharmaceutical company, right?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “A few months ago she attended a professional conference in Dallas. She went to lunch with a group of attendees, all salespeople like herself, and they got to talking about where they were all from, about their families, and things. Carol mentioned how proud she was of her sister, a professor at Fort Lewis College, who was going to be honored this summer for her outstanding work. Someone asked what work. Carol talked about the antidote for the mutated anthrax. One among the group worked for McAdams.”

  Therese’s mouth dropped open, and she sat stunned for several minutes. She looked as though she had lost the gift of speech.

  Than touched her shoulder. “Therese?”

  “So that’s how he found out about my mom?”

  Than nodded.

  “Carol can’t ever know this.” Therese stood up and twisted her shirt in her hands. “This would absolutely kill my aunt. We can’t let her know. Oh my God.” She paced around the room. “Oh my God.”

  “She doesn’t have to know.” He could hardly keep up with the combination of silent and spoken prayers.

  “Please don’t let her know,” she either said or prayed. “Please protect her, forever. I can’t stand this.”

  Therese continued to pace. “But is McAdams still after her? I mean, is my aunt in danger?”

  “I and many gods promise to protect her.” Then, gingerly, Than explained, “McAdams murdered his informer, the one who lunched with your aunt, James Barber. He’s in Tartarus now. That’s how Tizzie discovered the connection. She got him to talk. Tizzie thinks McAdams is afraid that if the media show pictures of his informer once someone realizes Barber’s missing, your aunt will recognize him and remember having lunch with him, and that she might eventually put it all together.”

  “Oh no.”

  “But Aphrodite and Cupid are with her and Richard today. They won’t let anything happen to her. And even with Ares trying to thwart their every move, Tizzie and Meg are close to finding McAdams. Barber said McAdams is meeting with his Pakistani manufacturer today.
Tizzie and Meg and I will be waiting for him. It won’t be long now.”

  Than could hear Therese’s prayers, for she directed them to him. She was explaining to him that it was one thing when Therese thought that McAdams and his men were after her; but it was another thing entirely to learn the bad guys were after her aunt. Since the death of her parents, Therese hadn’t been too afraid of dying. She wasn’t going to commit suicide, but if death happened on its own, that wouldn’t be so bad. That had been her attitude. She hadn’t tried to be careful. She hadn’t stayed up nights worrying about her safety. If she couldn’t fall asleep, it was because she missed her parents and longed to be with them, not because she was afraid to die. “I want to be with you, so death is no longer scary,” she prayed. But now that her aunt’s life was in danger, now that her aunt was the target, Therese was overcome with fear and a deep desire to seek out McAdams and put a stop to him.

  “Help me avenge the death of my parents,” she said suddenly, and now he could see she was speaking, not praying. “Help me kill McAdams and protect my aunt. I don’t want to wait another minute.”

  He put his arms around her rigid body. “Calm down,” he whispered. “I’ll help you. But calm down. I don’t like to see you so upset.”

  She relaxed a little in his arms and put her head against his chest.

  “Listen,” he said softly. “Let’s finish sorting through your parents’ things and take the donations to the goddesses’ charities in Greece. We want to make sure we have them on our side before we get you involved. You’ll need their protection as well as mine. Maybe there’s something you can do for Artemis as well, since she has also vowed to stand by you.”

  “I’ve already thought of something.” She looked up at him. “I want to donate my earnings from Mrs. Holt to a wildlife preserve.”

  Than was full of admiration for her. “Excellent. She’ll like that.”

  They spent the rest of the day sorting and bagging Therese’s parents’ clothes, shoes, accessories, and a select assortment of books, magazines, and jewelry. Often Therese would stop, hold something up, look at it and remember. Tears would flow down her face like a waterfall, but she’d slap them away and keep going, and Than felt lost and helpless, unable to comfort her. They took only one break, for a short lunch of egg salad sandwiches Therese made for them, and by the time they were satisfied, they had ten large garbage bags and four cardboard boxes ready to donate, and it was seven o’clock in the evening.