Nyx the Mysterious

by Joan Holub

  Up till now, Hypnos and Thanatos had been fairly quiet even though their cage was uncovered. However, upon the sudden dash inside, they began to chirp. Glancing down at them as they cuddled together in their shiny gold cage, Nyx got an idea.

  Taking her bag from Athena, she drew out her folded cape. Then she slid open the gate to her birds’ cage and coaxed the pair out. Singing cheerfully, they flew up to the domed ceiling. A ring of eight ionic columns supported the ceiling, and the birds perched at the top of one of those columns on the scrolled capital.

  Of course, Hypnos’s and Thanatos’s singing echoed throughout the Academy, thus making Nyx (as well as everyone else!) drowsy. She forced herself to stay wide awake and noticed others doing the same. They were blinking and trying not to yawn as they all gazed upward.

  Screee! Screee!

  Students began covering their ears. “What’s that awful sound?”

  “Make it stop!”

  “There! Look! They’re singing too!” yelled Nyx, pointing at three shadowy figures up near the ceiling. She smiled to herself. Just like at home in the Underworld, Hypnos’s and Thanatos’s singing had drawn the spirits near.

  “The Oneiroi!” shouted Hades.

  Nyx whistled to her birds. Still singing, they left their perch and flew down to her shoulder. Mesmerized by their song, the screeching spirits floated downward too. They wove in and out of each other, seeming to combine as one shadow at times before separating again.

  As soon as they drew close enough, Nyx whipped her cape outward. It ballooned up and then floated down to settle over all three Oneiroi. Expertly tugging on the cape, she reeled them in. Once her cape had shrunk to about the size of a pillowcase, she bunched its edges up tight in her fists.

  “You bagged ’em!” shouted Artemis, who’d arrived back from the stable just in time to see the capture. Angry at their confinement, the Oneiroi flapped wildly inside the cape, trying to get free.

  “Bring the birdcage!” yelled Nyx. Athena was closest to it and so rushed it over to her as instructed. Guessing Nyx’s intention, Athena opened the gate while Nyx thrust her bunched cape up to it. Everyone held their breath as she loosened her hands . . . just enough. Three wispy shadows flew out of the cape—and into the cage! Quickly, Nyx withdrew her cape. Athena slammed the gate shut and Artemis fastened its clasp. Gotcha!

  “Since the cage bars are no more than a half inch apart, the Oneiroi should stay trapped,” Hades crowed gleefully.

  To make double sure they couldn’t escape, Nyx brought out the cover the shopkeepers had given her. While she refolded her cape, Persephone found the old cord and Aphrodite wrapped it around the cover before knotting it tightly.

  Just then Zeus stormed into the entryway. Electricity crackled up and down his muscled arms as his eyes darted from student to student. “You!” he boomed, singling out Nyx with a pointed finger.

  Nyx froze in terror. Hypnos must have remembered Zeus (and his thunderbolts) only too well. He gave a loud squawk and zoomed up to the dome again. Meanwhile Thanatos cowered close to Nyx’s neck, hiding under her hair.

  Before Zeus could speak further, Athena said, “Isn’t it great, Dad? Nyx’s birds lured the Oneiroi down, and she imprisoned the spirits in her birdcage!” Several students pointed to the cage, drawing Zeus’s gaze.

  “Huh?” Zeus’s blazing blue eyes narrowed. Students backed away as he went to the cage and thumped it.

  On cue, the Oneiroi renewed their high-pitched squeals. Only this time, they were probably protesting their captivity rather than trying to sing!

  Instantly, Zeus’s demeanor changed. “Well done!” he thundered, beaming happily at Nyx. Glancing around, he pointed at the four girls who’d rescued her from Echidna. “Get to my office, you four! You too, Hades! And Nyx!” Then he whirled around and led the way there himself.

  Nyx picked up the birdcage—now a temporary prison for the Oneiroi—and started to follow along with the others. Perhaps sensing that Zeus no longer meant him any harm, Hypnos flew down again. He landed on top of the principal’s head! Nyx gasped, but Zeus only laughed and reached up gently to transfer Hypnos to one of his fingers.

  “No sneezing,” Athena murmured to Nyx as they walked. “That’s a good sign. I guess Dad’s not allergic to birds.”

  When the students entered the principal’s office, Nyx was happily surprised at how hospitable he became. He dragged an overstuffed chair covered in the same blue-and-gold-striped fabric as the cushions on his other chairs close to his throne. “You can sit here,” he told her. “It’s my most comfortable visitor’s chair.” He even brushed the chip bag and baby toys off the seat of it before she sat down.

  “Set the cage on my desk for now, where we can all keep an eye on it,” Zeus suggested. “Just in case.”

  As Nyx did that, Athena, Artemis, Aphrodite, Persephone, and Hades took (slightly less comfortable) chairs nearby. Still holding Hypnos on his outstretched finger, Zeus lowered himself onto the golden throne behind his huge desk. “Ahem,” he said, clearing his throat. “I think perhaps I was a little hasty in asking you to leave MOA, Nyx.”

  She blinked. He’d been asking her to leave? She’d hate to think what he sounded like when he was giving orders! But no matter. At least he didn’t seem angry now. In fact, Zeus had begun to gently stroke Hypnos’s feathered back with his finger. Suddenly Thanatos sidestepped out from behind Nyx’s hair and flew toward him. Zeus gave a hearty laugh as Thanatos landed beside Hypnos on his finger. Looking at the two birds, he said, “It seems you two feathered friends are heroes.”

  On the way to Zeus’s office the Oneiroi’s high-pitched squeals had quieted, but now they started up again and grew even louder. And the cover over the cage began to poke out in places as the spirited trio lashed at the bars of the cage. Zeus looked over at Hades. “Can you find a more suitable container for them?”

  Hades leaped up. “I have an urn in my room that’ll work. I can take them back to the Underworld after I transfer them to it.”

  “Perfect,” said Zeus. As the godboy dashed off with the cage, Zeus glanced over at Athena and her BFFs. “Good work rescuing Nyx and sending me that notescroll to keep me informed,” he praised. Then he turned back to Nyx again. “How are you feeling after your encounter with Echidna?” he asked sympathetically.

  “Fine,” Nyx assured him. She smiled around at the other girls. “Thanks to them.”

  “Excellent,” said Zeus. There was a pause and he squirmed in his throne a bit. “Ahem . . . I don’t suppose . . . um . . . that you might be ready to return to the sky tonight?” he said at last. “You see, I’ve been getting a lot of flak from everyone—mortals and immortals alike. Seems they miss the rest and calm that your darkness brings.”

  Athena leaned forward in her chair. “And how about you, Dad?” she dared to ask. “Do you miss the night too?”

  Caught off guard, Zeus squirmed some more, then mumbled, “Well, I . . . um . . . yes, I do.” Looking down at the birds on his finger, he murmured, “Who knew night was so necessary to balance day! Day is all very light and bright, but night is best for rest.” His face brightened. “Hey, that rhymes!”

  Nyx grinned. She wondered if Zeus would still sleep with his lighted winged-horse lamp in spite of his new understanding of night. That would be cool with her, of course. Everyone had fears. She herself was afraid of spiders, though she knew most of them were beneficial and couldn’t hurt her. One could understand the value of something despite having an irrational fear of it, she decided.

  Sitting across from Zeus, she noticed that the dark circles under his eyes were darker than the first time she’d seen him. And his hair was wilder than ever. Like everyone else, he must’ve gotten very little sleep these last few days and was as tired as the rest of them. “I’m fine now,” she repeated. “And ready to return to work.”

  “Only, her chariot is still back at Echidna’s cave,” Persephone noted.

  “And she really needs it,” added Artemis. “Her hor
se and her chariot are a matched magical pair!”

  “You can borrow one of the school’s chariots for tonight,” Zeus told Nyx eagerly. “We don’t want to delay you another night, no sir. In the morning I can send a certain hundred-eyed giant named Argus Panoptes, a devoted friend of Hera’s, to retrieve your chariot and deliver it here to MOA.” He smiled at the birds again. “And if Echidna isn’t happy to give up the chariot, Argus will persuade her.”

  “Thank you,” said Nyx. What a relief it was to know she’d get her chariot back. Once it was hooked up to Erebus again, Nyx was sure their magical connection would be restored.

  “And so can Nyx stay at MOA the rest of the week as planned?” pressed Aphrodite.

  “Yes, of course!” Zeus agreed readily. He spread his muscled arms wide, in a generous, jolly mood now. “Stay as long as you want, Nyx.”

  Artemis smiled at Nyx. “I’ve been thinking,” she said, glancing around at the group. “To celebrate Nyx’s importance as a goddess, I’d like to put a statue of her in my temple in Ephesus. To sort of sing the praises of an unsung hero in an official way.”

  Nyx’s jaw dropped. She stared at the goddessgirl, hardly able to believe that she would do something so nice for her. This seemed proof that Artemis saw her as a special friend just as Nyx did her. How cool was that? she thought happily.

  “Great idea, Dad!” Athena said enthusiastically. “In fact, I bet you had the same idea. It’s just that Artemis said it first.”

  That clever Athena, Nyx thought with admiration. It was common knowledge that Zeus liked to think all good ideas were his own. And Artemis probably needed his approval on the statue, even if it was for her own temple.

  “Well . . . I . . . ,” he started to say. But before he could come to a decision, Hades was back.

  “Got ’em!” he announced. He carried a stoppered clay jar under one arm and was clutching the empty birdcage in his other arm.

  Nyx sprang from her chair to meet him. “Thanks,” she said, taking the cage.

  “Sure thing,” Hades replied. “Thanks again for catching the Dream Team! See you around the Underworld!” He waved to Zeus and the other girls. “Later!” Then he was off with the clay urn to return the Oneiroi to their home in Tartarus.

  “Well, that settles that,” Zeus said in relief. “Everyone’s dreams should be a bit more subdued with those three pesky sleep-wrecking brothers back where they belong.” Saying nothing about the statue, he stood from his desk and carried Hypnos and Thanatos over to Nyx. As she opened the gate to their cage and Zeus bent to lower the birds inside, she wondered if he had already forgotten about Artemis’s idea.

  After the birds fluttered to the swing that hung from the top of the cage, Zeus straightened and turned back to his throne. “That will be all, girls.”

  Understanding that this was their cue to leave, they all leaped up from their chairs. But at the door, Athena paused to look over her shoulder at her dad, who had kicked back and crossed his feet on top of his desk. “About what Artemis suggested before . . .”

  Zeus’s answer was immediate this time. “What? Oh yes, by all means.” He smiled at Nyx. “For all you do night in and night out, you deserve to be a sung hero, not just an unsung one.” As if voicing their agreement, Nyx’s birds began to chirp.

  A warm feeling washed over Nyx and she smiled back at Zeus. And then at Artemis and the other girls too. “Thank you so much! The statue will be such an honor!”

  As soon as the girls left Zeus’s office, Persephone and Aphrodite peeled off from them to run an errand. Athena and Artemis, however, went with Nyx to the cafeteria so she could grab some snacks. It was almost time for her to return night to the world.

  Minutes later Nyx was out in the courtyard with her sparkly black bag. She was surprised to find a crowd of students waiting for her. It seemed that Persephone and Aphrodite, with the help of Pheme, had been busily spreading the news of Nyx’s terrifying adventure and an account (for those who hadn’t witnessed it themselves) of how she and her birds had captured the Oneiroi on her return to MOA.

  Now all the students applauded and cheered her. Even Poseidon. “Hooray for Nyx, goddess of the night!” they all shouted. Their response to her return to MOA was certainly different from the way they’d stared at her on her arrival last Sunday!

  Nyx beamed. She, and above all, the importance of the night she created, were better understood now. Maybe even prized!

  After leaving her birds in Artemis’s care, leading Erebus from the stable, and donning her starry cape, she was soon away in one of the school’s chariots. She waved down at the students for as long as she could see them. As her cape’s darkness settled over the weary world like a soft black blanket, every living thing seemed to sigh with relief.

  Mere words had not been enough to convince others of the value of night, she realized. Instead, they’d had to experience what it was like to go without darkness to truly understand their need for it. She remembered what Zeus had said in his office earlier. “Who knew night was so necessary to balance day!” Well, now maybe everyone knew.

  As Erebus soared higher and Nyx’s cape began to throw off its stars, it occurred to her that balance was important in many things, not just night and day. Take joy and sadness, for example. Wasn’t her joy in Thanatos’s return that much deeper after the sadness of losing him . . . er . . . her?

  Then there was fear and courage. She had been so frightened when she was trapped in Echidna’s cave. But she had kept her wits about her and discovered a bravery within herself she hadn’t known she possessed. In a way, that made being trapped in Echidna’s cave almost worthwhile. Though it wasn’t an experience she’d care to repeat, mind you!

  While watching for the constellations to appear, she thought about the balance between time alone and time spent with others. She’d always thought of herself as a loner. And she’d been fine with that. However, although she valued her time alone, her experience at MOA had changed her. From now on she would seek out more opportunities for friendships, she decided. And she would keep in touch with Artemis and her BFFs and the other new friends she’d made at MOA.

  Soon the sisters that composed the Hyades began to twinkle in their usual positions high in the sky. Nyx’s heart leaped to see her star friends again. They were probably all wondering where she had been, and she had so much to tell them about her adventure of the last few days!

  “Onward and upward, Erebus!” she exclaimed, giving his reins a shake. And soon they were soaring together among the glorious stars, bringing rest and comfort and all that the precious night meant, to the entire world below.

  15

  Night and Day

  Some weeks later . . .

  NIGHT WAS ENDING WHEN NYX zoomed past the goddess of the dawn. They waved to each other. “Did you have a good night?” Eos called up to Nyx.

  Nyx nodded. “Yeah! Hope you have a good day!” They both laughed. Their friendship had been growing ever since Nyx had written a notescroll to Eos thanking her for her kind warning about the Oneiroi.

  Now the two goddessgirls often traded notescrolls back and forth as they passed. And once Eos had even tossed Nyx a pretty speckled shell she’d found on the shores of the Aegean Sea. At home Nyx had set it on a wooden table inlaid with a mother-of-pearl design of the moon and the stars, so she could admire the shell daily. She planned to make Eos a sparkly star-shaped ornament in return very soon.

  Though Nyx still enjoyed time alone, it was nice not to feel quite so alone anymore, to have a new friend her own age who truly understood what it was like to have a regular responsibility to the world and all who dwelled there. Their friendship would always be just a fleeting few moments during this night-to-dawn changeover, but nonetheless, it was a sweet connection.

  She had just entered her palace in the Underworld when a magic breeze whisked two letterscrolls—one tied with a gold ribbon, the other with a red ribbon—through an open window. Eager as Nyx was to read them, she first tended to Hypn
os and Thanatos and their four baby parakeets, now many weeks old. A fifth baby she’d sent as a gift (via Hades) to Zeus and Hera for Hebe. Nyx had noticed that the baby bird’s singing was relaxing but didn’t make her sleep so deeply as the songs of its parents. She named the baby bird Iremía, which means calm.

  After she refilled her bird family’s water dish and gave them more of the fabulous no-mess seed she’d bought at Ship Shape, she plopped into a chair and untied and unrolled the gold-ribboned letterscroll. It was from Hera, a thank-you note for the baby parakeet. Nyx read it aloud to her birds:

  Dear Nyx,

  Zeus and I can’t thank you enough for your wonderful gift to Hebe. Whenever she (or we!) are feeling fussy, Iremía’s cheerful singing really improves our mood.

  Our little baby adores nighttime rides with Zeus on Pegasus. He never fails to point up at the starry sky and tell her, “There goes Nyx!”

  Zeus says to tell you that you are welcome back at MOA anytime you’d care to visit.

  Fondly,

  Hera

  With a smile, Nyx set aside Hera’s letter. Then she slipped the red ribbon off the second scroll and unrolled it. This one was from Artemis and Athena. The third scroll they’d written her since she’d returned home. And each time she’d written them back, naturally. Long, newsy letterscrolls, like the ones they sent her, only about life in Tartarus, the birth and development of the baby parakeets, anecdotes about the shades, and about the antics of the real Hypnos and Thanatos.

  Despite their eternal bickering, the two brothers were unwavering in their support of her. When she’d told them all that had happened to her while she was away—including getting kicked out of the Academy for a time—they’d insisted that Zeus had acted hastily. And they were super pleased on her behalf that he’d finally seen the light about night.

  Artemis and Athena’s new letter was shorter than the others the two goddessgirls had sent. Nyx read it aloud to her birds, too:

  Hi, Nyx,