“Maybe you’ve always been it for me, Goddess.” He raised his eyebrows shamelessly.
“I’ve seen you try to fuck a tree, Hermes.”
“Hey! Her name was Didyma.”
“You should be careful with the nymphs, anyway. You know how Pan gets.” Hermes waved her off as though she was warning him that it might rain.
“He’s got a one-track mind these days.”
Hecate grabbed his arm and tugged him over to her. She leaned in, knowing that Nyx could hear them if she wanted to, but Hecate was betting that she was otherwise occupied.
“Letmeknow,” Hecate’s voice was firm. “I need to know if—” She was cut off when the entire kitchen was plunged into darkness. It was different from the endless night that Nyx had forced the Underworld into. The light of the moon was gone; the stars were diffused, and it was as black as pitch. It almost flickered, momentarily bringing the soft lights of twilight back, until the darkness would consume them once more.
“What is this?” Hermes looked around, trying to find the doorway to exit the house. Hecate let out a sharp gasp as her hand came up to cover her mouth, taking a step away from the hearth.
“It’s… It’s darkness and night. They’re… They’re fighting with each other.” She looked over towards the fire.
Nyx was now staring straight ahead at the mantle, muttering curses under her breath, while her hands glowed white-hot. She was completely enveloped in a trance, putting all her focus on keeping the Underworld entombed in night—night that she controlled, including the moon, the stars, the clouds of a purple sky. The darkness fought back, but it was two steps forward and one step back. Nyx overpowered it each time, but it kept coming back. Finally, the moonlight shone through the cracks in the wall, and it seemed like the darkness wasn’t coming back. Nyx let out something like a strangled moan, slumping over in front of the fireplace.
“Nyx!” Hecate shrieked as her face went white. Nyx narrowly missed falling into the flames, her mortal body shuddering once. She kept making that awful sound, somewhere in between a groan and a cry, something that sounded like a death knoll. Both Hecate and Hermes ran over to her, Hermes pulling her up into his arms and away from the fire. Hecate leaned forward and pushed Nyx’s hair off her face, both studying her expression and trying to figure out what was wrong. Her eyes rolled to the side as though she couldn’t focus on anything in front of her before they fluttered closed.
“Has this ever happened before?” Hermes looked down at Nyx, all the usual gaiety gone from his eyes.
“No,” Hecate whispered firmly, her eyes flickering over to the mess of her apothecary contents. If they hadn’t been strewn all over the floor when Nyx opened a literal black hole in the kitchen, Hecate would be able to whip something up to help rouse her. She was racking her brain for a solution when Nyx moved in Hermes’s arms, blinking her eyes open. As soon as her vision came into focus and she realized that she was leaning against Hermes, she jumped to her feet.
Hecate and Hermes stood up quickly, both extending their arms out to help steady Nyx. She waved off their attentions and buried her face in her hands before taking deep, slow breaths. It took a few more minutes before she straightened up, rolling her shoulders back and blinking tears out of her eyes.
“What happened?” Hecate asked softly.
“Was that what primordials call a lover’s quarrel?” Hermes chimed in, poking his head out from behind Nyx’s shoulder. Hecate’s mouth dropped a little as she looked at him, making eye contact with Hermes and giving a little shake of her head.
Nyx said nothing, still nearly catatonic as she opened her mouth like she was going to say something. It took a few more moments to finally speak, her voice sounding hollow.
“That… That was Erebus.” Nyx stepped away from Hermes and Hecate, sitting down at the kitchen table. They waited for her to continue, already having assumed that it had been Erebus.
“Go on…” Hermes encouraged her again, and Hecate rewarded him with a sharp slap to the back of his head.
“Ow!” he yelped, jumping a few feet away from the goddess. Nyx ignored them both as she rubbed her hands over her face in an attempt to self-soothe.
“He’s left the Underworld, off to join the gods. The night has no darkness andthat,” she waved her hand in the air, “was me locking down the nocturnal balance.”
“Oh, Nyx…” Hecate’s face softened even further as she crossed the room to go to her, sliding in next to her on the bench. She slid her hand over Nyx’s and waited for her to continue.
“What…? Sorry, someone fill in the one god who doesn’t live in the Underworld.” Hermes piped up, hopping back up on the counter and looking at both women on the table. Nyx only looked up at him, her face making room for exasperation next to its exhaustion. She said nothing and stood silently, pulling herself away from Hecate’s grasp.
“Don’t go…” Hecate seemed to sense her friend’s motives. Nyx said nothing in response and quietly slipped out of the kitchen. Her presence didn’t leave the house entirely, meaning that she had simply retreated to one of the other rooms. Hecate turned on Hermes and gave him a withering stare.
“You don’t think she’s spread thin enough as it is right now, Hermes? I know your default setting is not solemnity, but you would think…” Her voice rose in pitch as her temper rose, crossing the kitchen to poke him in the chest. The god held his hands up and shook his head rapidly.
“What happened? What do you mean that darkness and night arefightingeach other? How does that even…”
“I’ll tell you how,” Hecate snapped again, turning her back to him as she looked around the kitchen for something to keep her hands busy. She grabbed a cracked pot holding a rosemary plant, sitting down at her table and beginning to run her hands aimlessly over it. Her magic sparked to life, slowly, as she trailed red sparks over the rim. She channeled her magic absentmindedly and began to fix the pottery at a glacial pace. “Nyx is the night and all that it entails. I don’t think people truly understands what that means. You hearnightand you thinkdarkness.”
“Sure.” Hermes shrugged. “But that’s wrong?”
“No.” Hecate shook her head, moving her hand faster. “It means the night sky, the constellations, the moon, the planets that shine their brightest at dusk, the purple clouds, the weather, the creatures of the darkness—”
“Creatures of the darknessas in the creatures of the Underworld?”
