Nyx in the House of Night

Rephaim’s life.
    In Tempted , Rephaim saves Stevie Rae’s life to pay her back for saving his, to rid himself of that debt. But in Burned , Rephaim saves her for another reason—because he loves her (though he wouldn’t call it that). When Darkness in the form of the White Bull is torturing her, Rephaim is able to heal himself, fly to her, and break through the circle she’s cast, all because he is connected to Darkness. Just as Stevie Rae could sympathize with him because she has touched Darkness in her past, he is only able to save her from Darkness because of Darkness itself.
    But it’s more than that. He only convinces Darkness to let her go by finding the humanity inside himself, the part his human mother bestowed, the part that lets him say, “I’m here because she’s here, and she belongs to me.”
    Saving her life the first time cost him nothing, but this time he must offer himself to Darkness in her place. He suffers even more than Stevie Rae has, for his immortal blood is more irresistible than hers, and because he uses Darkness to gain enough power to heal and break the circle, so he must pay his own debt as well as hers. It’s only Stevie Rae’s bargain with the Black Bull (Light) that saves him. They belong to each other.
World’s Biggest Losers
T he word Rephaim refers to an ancient biblical people possibly related to the Nephilim (or fallen angels—remember them?). The Rephaim, also called the Rephaites, were thought to have been a race of giants. King Og of Bashan, the last of the Rephaim, is described in Deuteronomy as having a nine-cubit (fourteen-foot-long) bed. (Interestingly, the term for dead people or departed spirits may be rooted in a similar Hebrew word, repaim .) The Bible doesn’t mention that these people committed any major crimes other than living in the Promised Land, but that was enough to warrant wiping them out.
    A DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD
    So why would P.C. and Kristin modify the Raven Mocker myth, creating such a fantastic origin story in the form of Kalona?
    Two words: Free. Will. Throughout the House of Night series, Zoey is faced with choices. She doesn’t always make the “right” one. Her actions sometimes even hurt herself and others (Loren Blake, anyone?). But as is often repeated, the Goddess Nyx’s greatest gift to her children is free will. Love and goodness are meaningless without the ability to choose their opposites.
    Like Lucifer, Kalona had a choice between light and darkness, and he freely chose darkness, not only when he fell from the Otherworld, but again and again on earth. By making Kalona’s rage and pride the source of the Raven Mockers, the Casts give the Raven Mockers a thematic reason for existing, rather than being mindless “evil spirits” who came from nowhere. And as we see with Rephaim, even these creatures born of rape and blood have the capacity for love when shown compassion and understanding. They are, after all, born of human women, and have humanity in them.
    Despite Zoey’s status as A-ya reincarnated and Chosen of Nyx, she can still choose darkness. Darkness can take the form of not only active evil, but also inaction—choosing her own happiness and peace at the expense of the world. Many times she wishes to be normal and not carry the burden given to her. The fact that Zoey has more than one possible path is illustrated explicitly in Aphrodite’s visions—they are never what will be, but what might be—and more than once, Aprhodite has competing, contradictory visions. The future is always in flux.
    Zoey is highly imperfect, as are those who surround her—friends, boyfriends, enemies, and protectors alike. Characters who are initially drawn to darkness—such as Stark, Aphrodite, and Rephaim—make hard choices to be heroic when it counts, even if it means losing who they think they are, or even losing their lives. As Stevie Rae returns from the dead, she has a long, difficult journey back to Light. Kalona himself has the potential to turn away from pride and toward love, but by the end of Burned , he has made his choice of Darkness forever clear.
    It could be argued that the ability of these characters to make mistakes, to fall—to fail —is part of what makes the series so appealing. As in life, there are no guarantees, and Zoey does her best to muddle through and do the right thing, despite exhaustion/injury/near-death, confusion, and major boyfriend drama. It’s all Nyx asks of anyone who serves Her.
    Because