Nyx the Mysterious

by Joan Holub

  She hurried to the cave’s entrance. Outside it was still raining hard. Great sheets of water washed down from the sky. She would have to wait. Besides, she was sooo tired, she thought as she stuffed the notescroll in the pocket of her damp chiton. She tried to keep her eyes open as she lay back on the dry boughs, but her eyelids were much too heavy. Before she knew it, she’d drifted into an uneasy sleep.

  Sometime later, Nyx awoke suddenly to hear strange noises outside the cave. Not rain. That seemed to have stopped. No, she heard slithering sounds. And frightened whinnies. Erebus! With her cape still wrapped around her, she crept toward the cave’s opening. When she saw what was outside, she gasped. A gigantic monster was menacing her horse! Though it was a beautiful woman on top, it was a fierce-looking snake down below.

  Of all the caves Nyx could have chosen, she’d somehow chosen this monster’s! She twisted her hands together. Oh, why hadn’t she snapped Erebus safely off in a silver burst when she’d first landed? She would do it now, but she had to be looking directly into his eyes to make the magic work. And the monster was blocking the way.

  Scared out of her wits, Nyx walked backward toward the boughs. She slipped off her cape, downsized it, and shoved it into her bag so that its starry light wouldn’t shine out and pinpoint her location within the cave. Batting away the black mist of anxiety swirling around her, she gathered her courage. “Leave my horse alone!” she shouted.

  The monster’s long black hair whirled around its massive shoulders as it whipped its head in the direction of Nyx’s voice. “Who’s been sleeping in Echidna’s cave? Echidna, mother of monsters, does not tolerate interlopers.”

  Huh? Nyx shuddered to think about the idea of baby monsters! She had to get her horse, bird, and self out of here before any of those showed up. At that very moment Erebus managed to pull free from both the tree and the chariot. But before she could catch his eye and snap him off to safety, he galloped away.

  The monster’s black eyes flashed with anger and its speckled snake-body writhed. “That horse was going to be Echidna’s supper!” it screeched. “Echidna will find you. And then she will make a meal out of you instead!”

  It was weird the way this monster spoke in third person, as if it were royalty, which Nyx seriously doubted. She backed away quickly as the monster slithered closer and peered into the entrance. Its eyes darted here and there, trying to see deeper into the dark cave through the black mist of anxiety that surrounded Nyx anew.

  There was no way out now. And even if Nyx could manage to grab Hypnos’s cage and flee, what would she do then? Erebus had bolted, and she doubted she could outrun an enormous half serpent.

  “Come out, come out, whoever you are,” Echidna singsonged.

  Since the serpent-woman couldn’t seem to spot her in the dim cave, Nyx dared to speak again. “Eating me would not be a good idea! I’m the goddess of the night, and it’s getting late. Almost time for me to begin to darken the sky. If you don’t let me go after my horse, there will be no night, um, tonight. You’ll have to start calling it tolight from now on.”

  After feeling around for Hypnos’s cage, Nyx hugged it to her and scampered even deeper into the cave.

  “Ha!” Thump went the monster’s serpent tail. “All the better! If the sun always shines outside Echidna’s lair, it will be easier to see any prey that ventures by.”

  Nyx tried a different tack. “Still, you risk angering both immortals and mortals if you keep me here.”

  Echidna laughed. “Perhaps you overestimate your importance, goddess of the night. Many immortals and mortals fear darkness. They will not miss you. Echidna might even become a hero for dispensing with you.”

  Could this monster mommy be right? Would it become the next unsung hero for doing away with her? Just then Nyx heard the trot of hooves outside the cave.

  Then, slithering sounds, and, “Gotcha!”

  Had Erebus returned only to be eaten? Nooo! Still holding the birdcage, Nyx leaped toward the cave entrance, where she saw . . . tusks. Echidna had captured a wild boar! Nyx closed her eyes and covered her ears as best she could so as not to hear the disgusting, crunching sounds the monster made as it devoured its prey.

  When Nyx finally worked up the courage to open her eyes and uncover her ears, she heard Echidna give a satisfied burp. “That was tasty,” said the monster, slithering its way back into the cave. “Filling, too. So you’re safe for now, goddess of the night. In fact, Echidna may not eat you at all if trapping you here really does bring more daylight, and therefore more food, to Echidna’s door.”

  Nyx skittered farther back into the darkness, stopping at a distant point where she could still keep an eye on the monster. Meanwhile, Echidna coiled up snakelike, blocking the cave’s opening and only exit. The monster’s head dropped down to rest on the topmost coil. “Don’t even think about trying to escape,” it warned Nyx. “Echidna sleeps with one eye open. If you try to sneak past, you’ll be toast in two shakes of my tail.”

  Nyx swallowed hard. Having seen how fast this monster had nabbed that boar, she could believe it. With her arms wrapped around Hypnos’s cage, she sank lower till she was sitting on the ground. After Zeus had ordered her to leave the Academy, she’d thought that things couldn’t get any worse. Turned out she’d been wrong.

  Her visit had set off a string of disasters. Thanatos and Erebus were gone, she’d gotten Zeus in trouble with mortals, and she’d accidentally unleashed the Oneiroi on MOA! To top it all off, she was now trapped in this cave with Echidna. Filled with despair, she curled herself around Hypnos and his cage to sleeplessly await the long night . . . uh . . . day ahead.

  11

  Day After Day

  Meanwhile, back at MOA . . .

  IT WASN’T UNTIL AFTER DINNER that the students and staff at Mount Olympus Academy began to notice that something strange was going on. Namely, that the color of the sky had not changed. It remained just as bright now as it had been at noon.

  As the evening hours ticked by, the goddessgirls grew increasingly worried that something had happened to Nyx. And by the time they walked back from the sports fields after their evening Cheer practice, they could all see that Helios the sun god’s chariot was now so low in the sky that it would soon disappear below the horizon. Yet the sky had not changed color or darkened. Not even one tiny bit.

  “What do you think is going on?” Artemis said to her three BFFs, grimly clutching her blue-and-gold pom-poms to her chest as they walked along.

  “Maybe Hades and I should visit the Underworld,” Persephone suggested. “To check to see if Nyx made it there okay.”

  “Good idea,” said Aphrodite. “And I’ll find Pheme. She might know if Nyx said anything to anyone about planning to stop somewhere along the way home.”

  Athena looked at Artemis. “Zeus must have noticed that the sky is still as blue as morning, too. But in case he hasn’t, we should go talk to him.”

  Artemis nodded. Though Athena hadn’t said so, it was likely they were both thinking the same thing. That tired and grumpy as Zeus had been lately, it really was possible he hadn’t noticed the sky was still light.

  At the entrance to the Academy the goddessgirls separated to pursue the various tasks they’d set for themselves. The minute Artemis and Athena stepped inside the school, they met Hera. She was carrying a giggling and well-rested (for once!) Hebe in her arms. “Zeus still hasn’t returned from seeing those sailors,” she said when Athena asked about him.

  Most students had heard Zeus yelling at Nyx about the sailors’ being unable to rouse him when their ship had been about to sink. He must still be trying to fix the trouble he blamed Hypnos for, Artemis thought.

  After the two goddessgirls explained what they’d wanted to see Zeus about, Hera looked at the sky in surprise. “I must admit I’ve been so wrapped up in Hebe, I hadn’t even realized that it should be getting dark by now.” Her forehead wrinkled in thought. “Do you think Nyx was so upset at having to leave MOA that it caused her to
neglect her duties? Temporarily, anyway?”

  “Never,” Artemis said loyally. In truth, though, that thought had occurred to her. Only she’d dismissed it because she didn’t want to believe that Nyx would let her feelings keep her from doing her very important job.

  “I’m not sure,” Athena hedged, toying with the pom-poms she still held.

  Hera smiled down at Hebe, who was gurgling cutely now. Then, tearing her eyes away from the baby, she said to the girls, “I suggest waiting till Zeus is back before taking action. After all, what’s the harm in missing one night? Agreed?” Somewhat reluctantly, Athena and Artemis nodded.

  Later that night . . . er, long day . . . the two goddessgirls met Aphrodite in her room. “I talked to Pheme,” Aphrodite informed them as she petted Adonis. The kitten had curled up in her lap the minute she’d sat down on her bed and was now purring contentedly.

  “Yeah?” prompted Artemis as she and Athena got comfortable across the room on the spare bed.

  “Pheme had already grilled a bunch of people at MOA for information about Nyx,” said Aphrodite. “Seems that except for you two and Hera, Nyx didn’t directly tell anyone else she was leaving, much less whether she had plans to go anywhere besides the Underworld.”

  “It’s not like her leaving was some big secret, though,” Athena said wryly. “Probably everyone heard my dad order her to go. He wasn’t exactly subtle.”

  Artemis wandered over to the window and glanced down at the sundial. It wasn’t working, however. Despite the blue sky, the sun had gone below the horizon and could cast no shadow. Still, Artemis guessed that it had to be at least eleven p.m.!

  Just as she was wondering when Persephone would be back from the Underworld, a quick knock sounded at the door and Persephone came bursting in. “Hades and I asked around about Nyx,” she informed the other three girls. “Nobody has seen her since she left Tartarus last Sunday to come here.”

  “You didn’t tell anyone that Zeus kicked Nyx out, did you?” Artemis asked worriedly. “That would be so embarrassing for her, and—”

  With a shake of her head, Persephone interrupted. “No, we didn’t tell, but you know how it is. Word will get around soon enough.” She paused. “Anyway, here’s what’s really weird. The Oneiroi are missing from the Underworld!”

  “Ye gods! Those dreammaker guys, you mean? That doesn’t sound good,” said Aphrodite, as Persephone plopped onto the bed beside her.

  Artemis frowned as she left the window and came to sit next to Athena. “Do you think it’s a coincidence that they’re missing too? Could they have kidnapped Nyx?”

  “Let’s hope not!” Athena exclaimed. Then she sighed. “One more thing for Dad to sort out when he gets back from talking to the sailors.” To Aphrodite and Persephone she added, “Hera advised us to wait until he’s back before we do anything more regarding Nyx.”

  “I wish there was something we could do while waiting,” said Artemis.

  “Yeah, waiting is hard,” Persephone agreed. “But Thanatos and Hypnos—not the birds, the men, I mean—promised to send a message here to let us know when Nyx or the Oneiroi show up.”

  “Maybe Nyx is just too upset over everything to do her job,” Aphrodite added as Adonis stood up in her lap. He stretched, and then hopped over to Persephone’s lap.

  “You think she could be holed up somewhere between here and the Underworld, nursing hurt feelings?” asked Athena.

  “Doesn’t sound like her to me,” said Artemis.

  “I bet she’ll be back on the job tomorrow!” Persephone said in a bright voice. To Artemis’s ear, it sounded just a little bit too cheery to reflect her friend’s true feelings.

  Aphrodite yawned. “I think it’s time for bed even if it is still light out.”

  Taking their cue, Artemis and Athena rose from Aphrodite’s spare bed, which was where Persephone would sleep since she was staying over instead of going home.

  “Night . . . uh . . . bye, then,” Artemis said.

  “See you tomor . . . um . . . at breakfast,” added Athena. Without night to mark the passage of time, the usual expressions just didn’t work!

  The next morning, lots of students were late to breakfast. So was the cafeteria staff. And everyone was grumpy. They’d all found it hard to sleep without darkness. How did Nyx do it? Artemis wondered as she set down her tray of burnt hambrosia and runny eggs and sat next to Aphrodite at the four BFFs’ usual table. But then, Nyx was used to a nocturnal existence. Where was that girl, anyway? Artemis thought irritably. As far as she knew, there’d been no messages from the Underworld to say that she’d safely arrived there.

  Persephone and Athena were engaged in conversation on the other side of the table and barely seemed to notice Artemis. Aphrodite did, however. “Move your tray,” she said crabbily. “It’s touching mine.”

  Artemis felt her temper flare. “Well, excuuuse me, Miss Priss.” Nevertheless, she moved her tray. But only a fraction of an inch. As Aphrodite stabbed a fork in her eggs, she glared at her. Artemis noticed that she wasn’t wearing makeup for once. And her golden hair was tangled and standing up at the back of her head, as if she’d forgotten to brush it. “Looks like somebody could have used a lot more beauty sleep last night, I mean . . . last whatever,” Artemis added snarkily.

  To her surprise, Aphrodite practically crumbled. She was blinking back tears as she exclaimed, “I barely slept! And every time I did manage to slip off for a few minutes, I was plagued by pesky dreams and nightmares.”

  “Me too,” admitted Artemis, instantly regretting her grumpiness. She had a strong feeling that there was something going on here that she ought to be able to figure out. She shook her head, hoping to clear it, but she was so tired from lack of sleep that her brain just wasn’t functioning well.

  “I had one dream about an archery competition,” she told Aphrodite at last. “The crowd was booing me because my silver arrows kept missing their target over and over and over. Argh!” Missing the target was something that almost never happened to her in real life, thank godness. Before she could ask what Aphrodite’s dreams and nightmares had been about, Pheme flitted toward them. Her small iridescent orange wings fluttered at her back, and her sandals barely touched the floor.

  “Guess what I just overheard at one of the godboy tables!” she said. Her brown eyes shone with excitement as little cloud letters puffed from her mouth. Persephone’s and Athena’s attention was caught too, and all four girls focused on the goddess of gossip. Without waiting for guesses, Pheme went on. “Ares had a dream that Gaia turned him into a girl!”

  Gaia was the earth goddess, sculpted from mud and rock. She was also the parent of the creature named Typhon—the monster who had menaced Earth and Mount Olympus with his mighty winds not long ago.

  Aphrodite giggled the loudest of all four BFFs, her mood improving instantly. Ares, the godboy of war, was her crush, and she adored hearing stories about him.

  The idea of becoming a girl would terrify that competitive and athletic godboy, thought Artemis, never mind that many girls were competitive and athletic too. (Take her, for example!)

  “That’s not all,” said Pheme, grinning. She loved imparting her tidbits of gossip, especially since doing so made her the center of attention. “Poseidon dreamed that a Geryon sneaked into the boys’ bathroom and stole all his tubby toys, including his favorite yellow rubber ducky.”

  The girls all laughed again. “Hey!” Poseidon yelled indignantly. He was only a table away and was looking up at the words floating above Pheme’s head. Reaching upward, Pheme good-naturedly waved them away. It was no secret that the godboy of the sea played with tubby toys, but he was touchy that others found it so amusing.

  “I actually had a good dream!” Persephone told her friends after Pheme had flitted away to share her gossip with other tables. “I dreamed that my room at home had become a tropical paradise and that everything in it was made of plants, including the seaweed bed I was sleeping in.”

  That was j
ust the kind of dream that the goddessgirl of spring and growing things would like, Artemis thought fondly.

  Just then an argument broke out at a table in the far corner of the cafeteria. “Dude! I did not come into your room last night and shoot you with a love arrow to make you fall in love with your pillow! You were dreaming!” A godboy named Eros shouted this at Apollo, who was sitting across from him.

  Artemis’s jaw dropped, unable to believe her ears.

  “You’re lying!” Apollo shouted back. “It was real!” He was holding a puffy pillow to his chest. Looking down at it, he said, “Forgive me, dear Puffy. But ours is a love that cannot be!” With that he wrenched the pillow from his arms and heaved it at Eros’s head.

  Eros put up his arms to block the hit, and the pillow plopped onto his plate.

  “Hey!” shouted Apollo in dismay. “You got egg on Puffy!”

  Someone must have alerted Mr. Cyclops, MOA’s giant one-eyed Hero-ology teacher, that a fight was brewing, because he strode into the cafeteria just then. Looking sternly at Eros and Apollo, he said, “Now I know none of us got much shut-eye last night, but that’s no excuse for fighting.”

  “Shouldn’t that be shut-eyes for those of us with two of them?” joked Ares.

  “Technically, I suppose that’s true,” said Mr. Cyclops. To his credit, he sounded amused. But then he grew stern again. Pointing to his one eye, and then to the room at large, he said, “There will be no more fighting. I’ve got my eye on you!”

  His threat was effective, and the grumping quieted down as everyone finished eating. “Do you know if Zeus is back now?” Artemis asked Athena as the four BFFs went to the tray return before exiting the cafeteria. They needed to talk to him and the sooner the better!

  Athena shook her head. “Not yet. I saw Hera before breakfast. She sent him a message to let him know what’s going on.” She paused, yawning. It was catching, and others began to yawn too.