Chapter 8
It was like being trapped in a waterfall, the roaring of air churning from raven wings and the continuous pelting from their bodies. There was no way to know how to escape. Squawking was the only noise ringing through the air, threatening eardrums to rupture. The mob of ravens moved like liquid, it was like trying to push away water at the bottom of the ocean.
A haunting laugh came cutting through the cool, dark air, over the nose of the mobbing birds, from one direction and then a completely opposite one the next. Jay tried to follow it, jerking his bodies to face the noise. He couldn't see through the flashing black of feathers and opening his eyes in the presence of these birds was a danger all in its own.
Like a tide retreating out to sea the ravens retreated. They perched back on the trees, covering their branches with dark figures and feathers instead of leaves. A billowing column of smoke began to boil on the edge of the campsite, like a wet fire just about to burst into flames. Then it cleared, drifting up into the sky, and in its place stood a woman. Her skin a paper white, sharply contrasting against her black hair that flowed like liquid in the darkness behind her. Her eyes were a crystal blue, lips a blood red, curved up in a cruel smile. The inky silk of her fitted dress glimmered with star sparkling dots. The fabric of the strapless garment flowed away from her hips to the ground, where its edge churned to smoke.
The woman laughed an unnerving sound and said with a voice like the sweet slice of a sharp knife, "I see you've met my children."
"Who are you," Jay demanded and jumped forward holding his sword high. He brought it down in a swoop through the woman's thin waist. It passes by like he had struck nothing more than air. The ravens on the branches shifted and screeched in protest, threatening to resume their assault. The middle of the woman's dress swirled in a smoke and then settled back to the silky fabric reflecting the starry sky. She laughed again and reached out a slim hand to caress Jay's cheek with the back of her long and bony fingers, her touch as cold as a blast of arctic wind.
"I am the night," she answered him, her breath a cool puff on a chilly morning.
Odie gasped with sudden realization, "Jay, she's Nyx."
The Goddess of Night laughed sharply and floated over to where Odie stood. The bottom of her dress dissolved like black dry ice, her hair flowing behind her into the darkness like the water of the Styx. She locked her crystal eyes on his and sent him a cold smile. Odie watched her with wide eyes and mouth agape, leaning back from her stare.
"I am Nyx," she said to him in conformation, she reached her hand for her dress, fingers passing though the fabric as if there was no matter of a person underneath. She pinched a tiny star from the limbo and pulled it out, "A gold star for the boy." It burst into a brilliant light and all of the heroes shielded their eyes. Nyx laughed, the sound coming from everywhere, drilling into skulls. When the spotting light in their vision cleared the blackness was restored and the woman had vanished.
"Nyx," Jay called, "Come back out, why are you here?" Her laugh probed him from the night, like the sting of ice in the gusts of a winter storm. The beating of wings sliced the air once again. In the moments before the mob reached the seven heroes they scrambled together in an effort to shield one another. Talons grabbed at clothing, sliced through skin. Beaks pinched on ears and fingers.
Theresa was tucked up against Jay's chest. He was doing his best to take most of the rapture, but there was still the sharp cut of claws on her neck, the drilling of beaks on her arms. There was something building up deep inside her, an anger with the frustration of her helplessness. Her fingers curled into claws to snag Jay's shirt, a growl resonated from her lungs.
"Enough," the scream ripped from her throat. A flash of purple erupted from her skin, pushed out from her body, forcing the raven's back. With outraged screeches they pecked and scratched at the dome protecting the seven heroes, purple shifting on its surface like the rainbow of soap on a bubble. Breathing heavy the teens leaned against one another in the sudden relief. Blood oozed from scratches on every one of them, every inch of skin pricking with the sensation.
Opal had wasted six quarters in the school's pay phones. She always forgot the one on the right didn't work properly, all the others were used on missed calls. Finally her cousin answered on her last quarter, they had cancelled the busses and there was no way in hell she was walking home in this. It seemed like an eternity before she spotted his old rusted truck pull into the student lot. Sprinting from the safety of the school's lights she rushed for Glen's truck. She yanked at the door but it held in place. The tendrils of panic churned in her stomach. Balling her fist she banged it on the glass of the window as Glen reached over to unlatch the lock. She pulled the door open, clambered inside and slammed it firmly back in place.
Running shaky fingers through her hair she took in a slow breath and held it. The black bear of a dog sitting between her and Glen whined and nudged her wet nose against Opal's cheek. She pushed at Rye's chest, at this instant she couldn't deal with the dog.
A chuckle came from the driver's seat and Opal sent over a mortified look, "Are you laughing at me?"
"You know, after about like ten years old people aren't afraid of the dark anymore," he said to her.
She didn't respond to his teasing, she just looked back to the road cast in his headlights.
"Oh come on Opal, just calm down," Glen said, "I'm sure there is a perfectly reasonable explanation to this."
"Easy enough for you to say," she muttered under her breath as she drew her feet up beneath her legs, leaning up against the passenger door as they drove through the darkness to home.
"Nyx, show yourself," Jay ordered, still holding Theresa close, the redhead grinding her teeth together in effort to keep the force field protecting them sound. There was a cutting laugh and then a rise of smoke, it cleared and the stunningly beautiful goddess stood underneath.
"You didn't enjoy yourself with my little friends?" she asked, running her long fingers out through her hair, sending a section flowing out to the side, drifting to morph with the night.
"What are you doing here Nyx?" Jay ignored her comment, "I thought you stayed in the underworld."
"I stay in the shadows," she said, and twirled around to dance with the darkness, "and there's been a dark presence growing here for a couple years now. I decided to investigate."
"Cronus," Jay growled.
"Oh yes, my dear nephew," she said, "I heard he had escaped."
"We're going to defeat him," Jay stated.
"I've heard that also, but until then I think I'll stay, I like the darkness of this place," she tossed out her arms and her hair waved out in a shadowy swell.
"You can't stay here, you've cast this whole place in darkness," Jay said.
"Oh," she sighed pityingly and reached out her ice hand to cup his face, "I'm not leaving."
"Then we'll just have to make you," he held his sword out in the ready. She reached up a slender hand to place in front of her plump lips and chuckled. The shadows began to shift in ways they only did in children's imaginations.
"You can't make me do anything," she sneered. The ravens rose up in a tornado. The moving shadows passed under Theresa's dome, they lashed out to fasten feet to the ground. There was the cracking of raven calls and screeches, the beating of hundreds of pairs of wings. Theresa let out a throat tearing scream and her wall crumbled, shattering like glass as the ravens drilled their beaks through. Cutting though the commotion was the cruel ring of satisfied laughter.
They were completely and utterly helpless under the swarms of ravenous birds, held fast to the ground by impossibly solid shadows. They screamed and huddled down to the ground, shielding their heads from the probing bills of the ravens. Jay's mind couldn't function under the rapture, he had no inkling of a plan. There was no way to fight them all. The rationalist in his brain began to prod at him, whisper in his ear that just might be the end. He was just starting to listen when a blue portal swirled open and Hera stepped through with a blast of light. The birds scattered and the shadows burst.
"Nyx," Hera called with a stern force and the air swirled into a smoke.
"You called?" the Goddess of Night smirked as she appeared.
"You cannot be here," the Queen of the Gods said.
"You can do nothing to stop me," she said simply, inspecting her nails.
"Stay in the night where you belong."
"Oh," she flashed her hand over a yawn, "Yes, I suppose."
"Go," Hera demanded.
"You better hope your heroes are strong enough to beat your father," she stepped forward to lean into Hera's face, arms akimbo, "New Years Hera, they have until New Years to defeat him and then I'm back for good." She vanished in an explosion of smoke, with her went her ravens and the black sky began to fade into the blue of the day. The teens stayed crouched on the ground in complete shock as the sun filtered through the green leaves of the trees. The birds began to sing again and the light breeze resumed its combing across the land.
"We couldn't do it," Jay hung his head in shame, "If we can't beat Cronus by New Years what's going to happen to the city?"
"Jay," Hera placed a hand on his shoulder, "Nyx is a powerful goddess, much more powerful than Cronus. She was one of the very first beings like Gaia. Now come along, all we can worry about now is getting Cronus back to where he belongs." Shakily the group got to their feet in the warm sun. The day beautiful and happy like the darkness had never been there at all.