Nyx in the House of Night

in Tempted , Zoey is caught halfway between life and death. To signify that disconnection, her vivid tattoos vanish and she is left with the same crescent moon outline you would expect to find on any other fledgling. Only when she acknowledges every element of her innermost self—A-ya the Cherokee maiden, Brighid, and young Zoey—does she become whole again; her soul reunites with her body, and her special Marks return. That’s a powerful statement about Z’s journey, and it suggests that while the initial crescent moon Mark itself might be biological, its embellishments are tied to a vampyre’s spirit, not his or her body.
    Despite those particular differences, the Marks in the House of Night share similarities to their real-world counterparts. Let’s explore a few of those commonalities next.
    RITES OF PASSAGE
    The Mark first appears at a particular time in life: puberty. Puberty has always been an important milestone in a young male or female’s life and is often celebrated by the society in which he or she was raised. The demarcation between a girl and a woman, the onset of menarche, is clearly defined, but not so with a young male. Exactly when a boy becomes a man is difficult to pinpoint, so specific rituals were developed to denote the transition from child to adult.
    Tattooing can serve as a test of an individual’s fortitude, or identify who has achieved adulthood in the eyes of his/her peers. Some cultures believed that if a boy could not tolerate the pain of tattooing he would not be a fearsome warrior. In other cultures, the marks would not be added to a boy’s skin until he had passed some specific test of manhood—in the case of the Ngaju Dayak in Borneo, single-handedly killing a monkey or boar in the jungle using only primitive weapons.
    As time passed a young man might continue to have tattoos added to recount important battles, until, when he was quite old, he might have no flesh canvas left to mark. According to an account written in the mid–eighteenth century, one Iroquois chief had sixty tattoos, one for each enemy he’d killed in battle. His skin acted as a walking résumé for anyone able to decipher the symbols. (Zoey’s ever-expanding Mark works in a similar way—additional designs form whenever she performs a particularly awesome deed, and her unprecedented lacelike, curling design with “mysterious letter-like symbols” that trails down her shoulders and back adds to her reputation and mystique.)
Marking the Moment
S kin art is also used to commemorate special events, such as falling in love or having a baby. The inscription of a lover’s or child’s name or image on a bicep or chest is a powerful statement that that person has changed the wearer’s life and will not be forgotten as long as the bearer is alive. It has been estimated that over three-quarters of the soldiers in the early twentieth century tattooed the names of their fallen comrades on their bodies. Often the mark may be nothing more than a date that holds special significance, such as the memorial tattoos that were prevalent after 9/11.
    From the moment fledging vampyres are Marked they follow a classic path: they are removed from their ordinary life, go through a period of training, and finally take their place in adult society. The crescent tattoo serves as an initiation into a new world, one rife with emotional turmoil, betrayal, and intrigue. In other words, high school on steroids. Zoey must leave behind her old existence and the majority of her friendships in the human world. She even takes a new name—Zoey Redbird. This is the first rebirth, and the Mark serves as evidence of that moment.
    Should the fledgling survive their second, extremely painful rebirth (if Erik’s Change in Chosen is any indicator) and become an adult vampyre, the crescent moon is filled in and additional tattoos form, trailing down the face. That completed Mark is a badge of honor, signifying that the wearer has endured the rite of passage and lived to tell about it.
    RANK AND STATUS
    The completed Mark also serves as notice to the world that this is an adult vampyre, one who has been bound to the Goddess Nyx—in a way, it announces the vampyre’s rank, no longer a fledgling but a full-fledged member of society.
    Tribes have often used tattoos as an indicator of rank within their community, establishing the pecking order, if you will. The chief might be designated by a series of elaborate marks that signified his place as