Kalona's Fall (House of Night Novellas #4)(18)

Nyx laughed and twined her arms around his neck. “That isn’t exactly the fragrance I recall from this place, so creating flowers there would, truly, be an exceptional thing.”

Kalona took to the air with his Goddess in his embrace, dreading what was to come.

7.

YOUR BROTHERHOOD PLEASES ME MORE THAN ANY TEST EVER COULD …

“Argh! It is putrid!” Kalona’s nose was wrinkled in disgust. “I will not take you closer to that mud and mess.”

“Nyx, there you are! It is lovely to see you.” Mother Earth embraced her.

“It is a pleasure to see you, as well.” Nyx returned her embrace, and then smiled at the dancing dryads that had taken to following the Great Mother everywhere. “If ever I wonder where they have gotten off to, I know all I need do is find you, and there the Fey will be.”

Mother Earth’s gaze went to Kalona. “And if ever I wonder where you have gotten off to, I know all I need do is find Kalona, and there Nyx will be.”

Kalona bowed his head slightly but respectfully to her. “I greet you, Earth Mother.”

“I greet you as well,” she said. “Whenever you are ready, you may begin your test. I do hope it turns out better than your last one.”

“I am ready, but—”

“But it is me who has summoned you here! There is no need for you to move from this spot. From here you will have a perfect view.” Erebus dropped down from the sky above them, glistening as golden as the midday sun. “Mother Earth, your beauty outshines the majesty of the pine trees,” he said with a flourish and a bow.

“So charming and handsome.” Mother Earth smiled fondly at him.

Then he turned to Nyx, and from behind his back he produced a single length of a fragrant herb, topped with a brilliant purple flower. Moving to her, he smiled and said, “Hello, my Goddess. This plant reminded me of the scent of your skin. I hope my creation pleases you as much as it does me.” Erebus tucked the sprig in her hair behind her ear.

Nyx smiled. “Lavender! You are right, Erebus. I do so love its delicate fragrance. I often rub it on my wrists. Thank you.”

“You should have brought enough for all of us so that we could stand the stench of this place,” Kalona said gruffly.

“Brother, I have actually missed your scowling face, but probably only because it bears such a resemblance to my own!” He clapped Kalona on the shoulder.

Nyx thought Kalona’s face looked like a thundercloud ready to explode all over his brother.

“There is nothing wrong with the scent of this place,” Mother Earth said sternly. “It comes from the mixing of heat and minerals that rest just below ground. During the winter, many animals come here and take comfort in the warmth it provides. They do not complain of the smell, and neither would you, Kalona, were you to freeze to death otherwise.”

“I am an immortal. We never die,” Kalona told her placidly.

“Indeed?” Mother Earth replied. “Never is a very long time.”

“Then let us waste not another moment of it,” Nyx said. “Erebus, what is it you have created for me with Water and magick?”

“Hopefully, something that pleases you greatly.” With two beats of his great golden wings, Erebus took to the air, hovering above them, near the lip of the basin that held mud and fetid escaping vapor.

Mud and heat from earth below,

Mix with magick to begin my show!

Erebus plucked a small golden feather from his unfurled wings, held it up to his lips, and blew on it. His breath, mixed with magick, carried the feather slowly, surely, down to the mud and mess below. The instant it touched the earth, there was a whoosh that reminded Nyx of how spring rains sounded against a forest canopy, and mist lifted from the mud, carrying the golden feather with it. As sunlight touched the feather, the gold in it expanded, glistened, and changed so that the mud was now covered with mist that held within it all the colors of the rainbow.

“It is not different than what he did before,” Kalona muttered.

“Sssh,” Nyx whispered to him. “His test isn’t completed.”

Erebus plucked another feather from his wing. This one was a long, golden pinion. Holding it like a spear, he spoke:

With borrowed creation, and my own magick, ancient, Divine,

I call to Water, an invocation to join this test of mine.

Come forth, geyser, rich and radiant in released power anew.

With your might show Nyx that I will ever be faithful and true!

Erebus threw the long, golden feather. As if shot from a bow, it sailed in a beautiful arc up and then down, down, to land, sticking its quill into the mud. For a moment nothing happened. Then, just as she was beginning to feel pity for poor Erebus and his failed creation, the earth beneath the feather began to growl and with the sound of waves breaking against a rocky shoreline, the feather was lifted up by a column of water that sprayed high, straight, and strong into the air.

Nyx clapped with pleasure as the geyser continued to spew water and steam through the misty rainbow into the clear blue sky, so high that Nyx would have had no trouble seeing it from the Otherworld. “That’s wonderful, Erebus!”

“A powerful and beautiful creation, indeed,” Mother Earth agreed.

Erebus landed before Nyx, grinning like a boy. “And that’s not even the best part of it. It will never stop erupting—eternally it will geyser in remembrance of you. Thus I have named it Old Faithful. No matter how long eternity lasts, like this geyser, I will always be your faithful playmate and friend, my Goddess.”