The Gatekeeper's Secret: Gatekeeper's Saga, Book Five (The Gatekeeper's Saga) by Eva Pohler Page A

Never.
    “Don’t you think I have even the slightest chance of winning?” she asked, suddenly subdued.
    He went to her and took her hands. “Of course I do. I’m not worried about the outcome of the contest. It’s how vulnerable you’ll be during the contest that worries me.”
    “Apollo sees our wedding. Nothing’s going to happen.”
    “He’s not like the Fates, Therese. His visions change. What he sees is not set in stone.”
    She lowered her eyes, and he could tell her mind was hard at work, searching for an answer. It must have found it, for she looked up at him with a fierce expression on her face.
    “If I win, I get to protect all domesticated wild animals, without her interference, forever . I can’t back away from this challenge. It’s not just about Anya. It’s not just about you and me. This is about animal companions around the world for all of time. I have to try. Don’t you see? It’s my purpose.”
    He did see. His heart burned with love and admiration. The corners of his mouth twitched into a smile, but before he could say a word, she reached up and kissed him.
    ***
     
    The African savanna—an immense, flat grassland with a few trees here and there—spread before Therese from where she stood in Kenya, on the edge of the Serengeti. A pride of lions took refuge in the shade beneath a tree about a mile away. A few miles further out were taller trees and a tower of giraffes. Therese sensed elephants in the woods between the giraffes and a swamp region, before the terrain returned to grassland. A herd of gazelle and another of zebras grazed in a region outside of Tanzania, which marked the finish line for this footrace designed by Artemis. Between there and where she stood was a cacophony of birds and insects.
    Artemis came up behind her. “Ready?”
    She looked up to see Helios, at high noon, above her. A few miles away, Athena hovered in the sky looking down at her. Therese and Artemis had each been allowed to choose a judge. She had chosen Athena. Artemis had chosen Apollo. He stood thirty feet in front of them with a red piece of cloth held high above his head.
    “Ready,” Therese said.
    Apollo brought down the cloth, and Artemis soared past Therese. They tromped through the grassland toward the woods and the giraffes, but Therese was never able to make up the distance she lost from her late start. The ground quaked below their feet, and soon all of the animals were running across the savanna, too.
    After treading through the muddy swamp and broaching more woods outside of Tanzania, a judge wasn’t necessary to declare the winner. Artemis won by at least a mile.
    But that was okay. The swimming race was next, and Therese felt confident she could win this one.
    ***
     
    Jen sat on her bed gazing at Hip’s gift with awe. She had been so surprised last month when he had presented it to her on Christmas Eve. It looked like a regular snow globe, but when you shook it and said the right words, images from the Dreamworld appeared in a burst of light and color and sound. It gave the person holding it the ability to see anyone’s dreams simply by saying the name of the person whose sleeping mind he or she wished to invade, but Hip’s main reason for giving it to Jen was for another reason: anytime, day or night, she could say his name and he would appear to her in the globe without putting her to sleep. He would not only be able to hear her, as he always did when she prayed to him, but now she would be able to hear him in return. They could communicate this way whenever she wished.
    The rest of her house was quiet. Everyone else was already asleep, but now that she had the globe, she wasn’t as anxious to sleep as she once was. She enjoyed watching him at work in the globe, and, since he was aware of her watching him, he usually added funny commentary. He was hilarious.
    Just now he was walking beside a boy through a wide dungeon dimly lit by torches. She could see them from behind. Hip