Free Kalona’s Fall by P. C. Cast and Kristin Cast

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.”
    “Thank you, Erebus,” Nyx said, hugging him. “Your creation has pleased me. You easily
     passed this test.”
    Still grinning, Erebus nodded at Kalona. “Your turn, brother.”
    “Then follow me, and prepare to be impressed!” Before Erebus could protest, Kalona
     had scooped Nyx into his arms and leaped skyward, rocketing into the west. She peered
     over his broad shoulder to see Erebus following, with Mother Earth, who was clinging
     to him, but was also laughing uproariously.
    “The Fey are going to have to scurry to catch up with us,” she said.
    “Yes, and I was hoping so would Erebus, laden with Mother Earth.”
    “Be kind,” she said, but tempered her disapproval by resting her head familiarly on
     his strong shoulder.
    “She dislikes me.”
    “Be kinder. You always seem so defensive around her.”
    “Her gaze makes me uncomfortable,” he said.
    “And still my advice remains the same. Be kind—to Mother Earth, to Erebus, to the
     mortals that inhabit this realm, and, most important, be kind to yourself.”
    “You did not mention that I should be kind to you,” he said.
    Nyx stroked his cheek. “I did not think I needed to.” She laid her head against his
     shoulder again and relaxed into his embrace, hoping silently that the outcome of this
     test would be very different from the last.
    *   *   *
    Kalona descended onto a verdant forest filled with the vibrant green of ancient trees. Boulders formed lovely little
     gorges, and the entire landscape was carpeted with ferns