of the grassy glen surrounded
by a copse of evergreen trees.
The dark rush of the waterfall
fell into a lake so black
that it looked like the night sky,
and the ripples from the cascade
resembled soft clouds.
Flecks of silver shone up,
the scales of the fish looked
so much like the stars.
I turned to Hermes.
‘Where is the doorway?’
He pointed to the top
of the waterfall.
I stared up but only saw
the azure sky.
‘I don’t see it.’
He shook his head.
‘You must go to the edge
and then jump.’
My eyes widened
and I looked at him.
‘I must… jump?’
He nodded gravely.
‘The Falls of Night
are a game of trust.’
Trust
I did not know what kind of game this was, but I had heard a hundred stories of Gods who liked to play strange games. Trickster Gods like Hermes and clever Goddesses like Hera who did not spare any divinity or mortal. My skin prickled under his gaze as we climbed the moly-covered hill to the top of the waterfall. There was no river that led to it, it looked like it started from a large, moss-covered rock. Hermes smiled at me. ‘Nyx made the doorway to her realm deliberately difficult. The Goddess of the Night is not welcoming to strangers in her home, she does not like any intrusions on her peace. This includes all divinities other than her own children.’ I knew well what I was risking trying to cross through the Halls of the Night. But it was the only path I could use to get to Mnemosyne, the river of memory. The water would take me to the Forest of Silence, which I shuddered to think of, but at the other end of the forest lay my destination, the Palace of Hades. It seemed an impossible path. But every light I have ever seen has been on the other side of darkness.
‘You Must Take the Cave to the Night Realm’
Hermes’ voice was careful.
