Nyx the Mysterious

by Joan Holub

  “He must know something’s up,” Athena went on. “It will have stayed light everywhere in Greece, not just here at MOA.”

  “Yeah, I bet you’re right. Even if he managed to smooth things over with those sailors, he’s probably been delayed by other mortals on Earth,” Artemis guessed. “They’ll be bending his ear with complaints if they got as little rest as everyone here.”

  The rest of the girls nodded. Then they all yawned again as one.

  Over the course of the day everyone, including the teachers, was short-tempered and forgetful due to lack of sleep. Several students fell asleep in class or were simply fuzzy in their thinking when asked to do classroom activities that normally would’ve given them no trouble.

  For instance, when Coach Triathlon asked Artemis to show another student the best way to nock an arrow, she placed the arrow in her bow backward so that its feathered end pointed toward the practice target. To deflect attention from her mistake, she said, “Oops! Sorry. That was just a little nock-nock joke!” Then she reversed her arrow in the proper direction.

  And in Beauty-ology Aphrodite had accidentally used a different color shadow on each eyelid. Of course, some mortal girls heard about this and began copying the idea right away, thinking it a new fashion trend.

  Finally, just after dinner, the girls saw Zeus fly in on Pegasus. They were out on the sports field at the time, finishing a lackluster Cheer practice. They were all so tired that their leaps were mere hops and their cheers sounded positively funereal. Anxious to talk to Zeus about Nyx, the four friends raced back to the Academy as fast as their weary legs could take them.

  When they entered the office, all nine of Ms. Hydra’s heads were down on the desk, snoozing. Deciding not to wake her, the girls tiptoed past. They could hear Hebe squalling and Hera and Zeus bickering in Zeus’s office.

  “Well, if you hadn’t lost your temper and thrown thunderbolts at that poor girl’s pet bird when she’d only been trying to help us—and then ordered her to leave—maybe this wouldn’t have happened!” they heard Hera exclaim.

  “What choice did I have?” Zeus countered angrily. “She endangered those sailors and made me appear irresponsible! If mortals can’t depend on me—on all of us gods—to help in times of need, how long do you think it will be before they stop listening to us and obeying our laws?”

  The goddessgirls looked at one another. They were alarmed at the quarreling going on and at what Zeus had said. Then, in a softer voice, Zeus added, “So, do you think she’s neglecting her duties to spite us?”

  Huh? Artemis inhaled sharply. How could Zeus even think that about Nyx? In the short time the girl had been at MOA, Artemis had never seen her be unkind. She’d grown quite fond of Nyx and couldn’t believe the girl would want to spite any of them.

  “No,” Artemis was glad to hear Hera say. “And that worries me even more. At first I thought she might be nursing her wounds. But it’s been so long now, I’m beginning to fear that she’s in some kind of trouble.”

  Athena chose that moment to knock on the door. After the girls entered, they used their best babysitting skills (learned in a class taught by Pallas, a mortal friend of Athena’s who lived down on Earth) to keep Hebe entertained. That way they could talk to Zeus and Hera about Nyx without interference. As Athena sat in a chair and bounced her baby sister up and down on her knees, Persephone told Zeus and Hera about her trip to the Underworld with Hades and how Nyx had never shown up there.

  Artemis sat on the floor next to Athena and began to play peekaboo with Hebe. The baby giggled in delight each time Artemis covered and uncovered her face.

  “And she didn’t tell anyone here at MOA about plans to go anywhere except back home to Tartarus,” Aphrodite reported.

  Zeus frowned. “So we have no leads at all to where she might be.”

  Artemis stopped the game with Hebe to look up at Zeus. “Maybe teachers and students should form a search party?” In her opinion, they’d already wasted valuable time when they should have been out looking for Nyx!

  Zeus’s brow furrowed as he considered this idea, but then he shook his head. “The world is a big place. Nyx could be anywhere. Let’s just hang tight and wait for news.”

  Artemis groaned inwardly in frustration. Still, she could see the wisdom of what Zeus had suggested.

  When Persephone brought up the subject of the missing Oneiroi, Artemis suddenly sat up straighter. Despite her tiredness, her brain clicked into gear at last. “I think they’re here at MOA!” she exclaimed. “I’m pretty sure I saw them in the office the day Nyx arrived. I saw these shadows whoosh out of her bag and through the office door into the hall!”

  Athena put the game of patty-cake she’d begun playing with Hebe on temporary hold. “I remember!” she said in surprise. “Only Nyx said she was sure it wasn’t anything. And since I didn’t see them myself, I believed her.”

  She and Artemis exchanged a look. “I believed her too,” Artemis admitted. “I was convinced I’d been imagining things.”

  Zeus’s brow furrowed even deeper. “Rounding up those troublemaking rascals won’t be easy,” he said. “I’ll need Hades’ help.” Then he was out the door.

  Soon afterward the girls left too. Artemis felt sick to her stomach. She thought about all the vivid dreams and nightmares everyone at MOA had been having lately. The Oneiroi were the cause. They had to be! And Nyx had brought them here. On purpose? Had she planned all along to make trouble? Could Zeus be right that she wanted to spite them? And to think that Artemis and Athena had honored her as an unsung hero! And more than that, Artemis had begun to see her as a true friend!

  After another fitful unnight, Artemis was out walking her dogs before classes began when her hounds began to bark excitedly and pull her toward the stables. Her heart beat fast when she saw Erebus standing outside Pegasus’s stall, nuzzling the winged horse’s nose. “Nyx?” Artemis called out as her dogs sniffed around the magical horse.

  But the goddess didn’t answer. “Nyx? Are you here?” Artemis called out again, louder this time. She looked around for Nyx’s chariot, but the horse seemed to be on its own. Seeing him here only confused her further. Nyx usually snapped her fingers to make her horse disappear when she wasn’t riding it. So what was it doing here, without the chariot? Was she really in some kind of trouble after all?

  “So where’s Nyx, huh, Erebus?” Artemis asked, giving his muzzle a pat. “Can you take me to her?” Artemis planned to ask the girl some hard questions if she found her. Like if Nyx had lied about bringing the Oneiroi to MOA!

  Unfortunately, despite being magic, Erebus couldn’t understand her. Watching her dogs sniff around the magical horse, Artemis suddenly got another idea. Maybe her dogs could find Nyx! After all, they had great noses, especially Suez, her bloodhound. Since the comforter on Nyx’s bed hadn’t yet been washed, the dogs could get her scent from that. Hopefully it would still be fresh enough to help them track Nyx.

  Quickly, Artemis led Nyx’s magical horse into the stall next to Pegasus’s. Then, with her dogs at her heels, she raced back to the Academy to reveal the news of Erebus’s return.

  12

  Help!

  BACK AT ECHIDNA’S CAVE, NYX had no idea how much time had passed since she’d first landed in the rain. At least a couple of days, she guessed. L-o-n-g days since the nights were missing due to her imprisonment. Except to nab the occasional prey that wandered by the cave, Echidna had barely moved the whole time.

  Nyx paced the cave, back and forth, munching her last Hotter than Hades spicy nut bar. Since that monster slept with one eye open, she’d had no chance to try to squeeze past it and escape. What must everyone be thinking had happened to her? For sure they would’ve noticed her absence from the sky. But would they even care? she wondered with gloomy self-pity.

  Maybe Echidna was right and Nyx had overestimated her importance. As that monster mommy delighted in pointing out (over and over again!), many mortals and immortals (including Zeus, though the monst
er didn’t know it) were afraid of the dark. Maybe they would greet the endless days with rejoicing.

  But what of the Oneiroi? Everyone would still need sleep somehow, sometime. Were those Dream Brothers continuing to make mischief with their vivid dreams and nightmares, disturbing everyone’s slumber at MOA? They needed to be captured and returned to the Underworld before they drove the immortals crazy! Yet here Nyx was, stuck in a cave, with no way to warn Zeus or do anything to help.

  There was a flurry of sudden movement at the entrance to the cave. Some hapless animal squealed as it was caught in Echidna’s horrid embrace. Next came the by-now-familiar sound of crunching bones as the monster devoured its prey.

  Nyx tried to tune out the sound. “I’m so sorry I got us stuck in here,” she whispered to Hypnos. Kneeling by his cage, she poked her fingers through the bars to stroke his feathers. Though her parakeet couldn’t actually understand her, she added, “Love you, tweety-pie. Wish I had taken better care of you and Thanatos.”

  The cave was so dark that Hypnos had stayed quiet thus far, only scrabbling at the bottom of his cage occasionally to eat the birdseed she would replenish from the sack she’d packed in her black bag. Echidna seemed unaware of the bird’s presence, thankfully. As prey, Hypnos would be worth little to the monster, of course. A mere crumb. But Nyx had no doubt that wouldn’t stop Echidna from eating him, if only to spite Nyx. The creature was that cruel.

  Nyx herself had eaten little since becoming trapped here. Even so, with her last Hotter than Hades bar gone now, plus most of what had been in the snack bag Artemis had given her, there was little left to eat. Not that it made any difference, she thought ruefully. It seemed only a matter of time until Echidna decided to gobble her.

  BURP! “Mmm. That was yummers,” boomed her captor after its meal. “Hunting has never been so easy, little goddess of the not-night. With you around, I won’t ever have to leave my cave again!”

  In a taunting voice, the she-monster added, “I bet Zeus and all the other immortals are enjoying this never-ending day as much as I am. In fact, they’re probably dancing around at the top of Mount Olympus to celebrate their good luck. If they only knew the favor I’ve done them, they’d probably put a statue of me in one of their temples!”

  “Only if they wanted to scare away all visitors,” Nyx muttered under her breath in a voice too low for Echidna to hear. On the other hand, the monster would probably be pleased to think that a mere statue of her could inspire fear.

  Suddenly Nyx heard a familiar chirping. It was coming from somewhere outside the cave. She leaped to her feet. Could it be? It sounded like . . . Thanatos! A rush of joy filled her. Somehow the bird had found them! Perhaps he had spotted Nyx’s chariot while flying overhead and recognized it? He’d ridden in it often enough.

  Hearing the chirping, Hypnos grew restless. He began to rattle the bars of his cage with his beak. “Shh,” whispered Nyx. But her warning did no good. Despite the dark, Hypnos broke his silence. In response to Thanatos’s chirping, he sang out a lovely lullaby.

  In horror, Nyx saw the she-monster, framed in the opening of the cave, cock its head. “Is there a bird in here?” Echidna asked in surprise.

  “Of course not,” Nyx lied. “It must be an echo you hear from a bird outside in a tree.” Clutching Hypnos’s cage to her chest, she whispered, “Hush. Please hush.” But the parakeet kept on singing, pausing between notes to rattle the bars of his cage. Nyx tried singing even louder to drown him out, but Echidna wasn’t fooled.

  Suddenly, the monster’s serpent tail uncoiled. The tip of it hurtled toward Nyx. It slipped around the cage and yanked it from her grasp.

  Nyx gasped, guessing what was coming. “Nooo! Please!” she cried out. “He’s all feathers and tiny bones. He won’t make a good snack! You might even choke on him!”

  The monster laughed. “Keeping him a secret from Echidna, were you?” It brought the cage up to its face to better see the parakeet. For a few moments Hypnos clammed up. Perhaps he was dizzy from being jerked around. Or maybe the sight of the monster had scared the song right out of him. But then, hearing Thanatos’s trilling outside the cave, Hypnos started up again.

  “Pretty little thing, isn’t it?” Echidna said, staring at Hypnos with a look of wonder. “Such a sweet voice, too.” The monster mommy’s mouth opened wide. Nyx gasped, fearing that Hypnos was about to be devoured, cage and all. However, Echidna only yawned sleepily. “Echidna’s eyes feel so heavy. Echidna can hardly keep them open.”

  Though it shouldn’t have surprised her, Nyx could scarcely believe it. Her bird’s song was putting this monster to sleep!

  Hugging the cage, the she-monster coiled its tail around itself. “Maybe I’ll”—yawn—“keep him.” It was the last thing the monster said before its eyelids closed and its head dropped onto its coiled tail. It began snoring away. With both eyes shut.

  As soon as Nyx judged it was safe, she crept nearer. Experimentally, she poked Echidna’s tail and then leaped back. But when the monster failed to wake, she bravely climbed its coils. Not daring to pull the birdcage from Echidna’s grasp, Nyx carefully slid open its gate. Hypnos immediately flew from the cage and out the cave’s opening to join Thanatos. Both birds chirped excitedly, obviously thrilled to be reunited.

  Score! Nyx scrambled back down the scaly coils, knowing that Echidna could wake at any moment. As she leaped to the floor of the cave, the monster’s eyes fluttered open. Nyx froze in fright.

  But then Echidna’s eyes merely closed again. “Me? Go on a date with you, Geryon?” the monstrous creature mumbled. “Why, I’d love to . . .” Snuffle . . . burble . . . snore.

  Nyx almost grinned. Echidna was dreaming! She wondered which one of the Oneiroi was responsible for the Geryon dream. Probably Phantasus, since he specialized in illusions. The idea that anyone would want to date Echidna—even a Geryon—had to be an illusion. Thinking about the Oneiroi reminded Nyx that they were still loose at MOA. She had to get back there!

  Leaving the cage behind, Nyx grabbed her sparkly black bag. After slipping its handles over one arm, she squeezed around the snoring Echidna and raced from the cave as fast as she could.

  She slowed as she came to her chariot. Too bad she couldn’t use it to escape, but it was useless without her horse to pull it. “Where, oh where, are you, Erebus?” she murmured, knowing there’d be no reply. If only she could snap her fingers and make him appear! But that couldn’t happen since she’d never snapped him away in the first place. This was simply how his magic worked.

  Both of her birds fluttered down from the tree they’d been perching in to follow her as she sprinted off through the woods, leaving the chariot behind. “I’m so happy you’re okay, Thanatos!” she called up in delight as she continued to put as much distance as possible between herself and the cave. Noticing how plump the green-and-yellow parakeet was looking, she smiled. “Good bird! Looks like you found plenty to eat while you were on your own, didn’t you?” Thanatos chirped happily at her.

  Suddenly, an ear-shattering screech split the air. “Uh-oh, I think Echidna woke up!” Nyx exclaimed to her pets. “Fly!” she shouted. As they took off higher into the sky above her, she followed as best she could, zooming across the forest floor.

  Screaming curses, the monster slithered after her, bellowing, “Echidna will catch you, little goddess. And then Echidna will swallow you whole!”

  Nyx ran so fast she felt like her lungs were on fire. Still, the slithering sounds came closer and the monster’s screeches grew louder. It was catching up!

  Ar-rooo! Ar-ooo! All at once Nyx heard the sound of baying hounds. Her heart skipped a beat. Artemis’s dogs! And they weren’t far away! A minute or two later all three dogs were upon her, leaping to lick her hands and face.

  Happy as Nyx was to see them, she was suddenly scared for them as well. She’d seen what Echidna did to the prey she caught, and Artemis’s hounds would be no match for the monster. She pushed the dogs off her. “Run!” she yelled. As if
sensing her fright, they obeyed. But though they bounded ahead of her, they turned their heads every now and again as if to make sure she was following.

  Huffing and puffing, Nyx kept on going. Only she was running out of steam. Daring to glance over her shoulder, she saw that Echidna was right behind her. Suddenly the monster’s tail lashed out. “Gotcha!” it yelled. Its tail coiled around Nyx’s waist.

  As she was lifted into the air, Nyx squeezed her eyes shut. She knew this was the end!

  13

  Happy Surprises

  JUST THEN NYX HEARD A whinny. Erebus? Her eyes popped open. She looked up, and there he was high in the sky above her. And he was pulling an MOA chariot with Artemis at the reins! As the chariot swooped toward Nyx, she saw that Persephone, Athena, and Aphrodite were on board. The latter two girls reached down to her, yelling, “Grab on!”

  Nyx swung her bag up to them. Then she grabbed their hands and they yanked her free of Echidna’s coiled tail. With perfect timing, Artemis expertly whipped the chariot higher, safely beyond Echidna’s reach.

  “Come back here, lunch!” the monster screamed angrily.

  “As if!” Artemis yelled down at Echidna. Then she grinned over at Nyx, and the girls all laughed. Far below, the grumpy monster shook its fist.

  “Thanks for the rescue!” said Nyx. Aphrodite and Athena had deposited her in the backseat between them, and now she tried to catch her breath as the chariot sailed upward.

  From the front seat, Persephone looked over her shoulder at Nyx. “Yeah, looks like we got here in the nick of time.”

  Nyx nodded gravely. “You can say that again.”

  “Hey, aren’t those your birds?” Aphrodite asked Nyx. She pointed to two parakeets flying just above and ahead of them.