Nyx in the House of Night

resurrection of Kalona. Still held in the grip of darkness, Stark doesn’t want penitence. Not until he chooses Light and pledges himself Zoey’s Warrior does he feel remorse. Later, when Heath is murdered and Zoey is seemingly lost to the Otherworld, Stark can’t blame the hold of darkness for his failure to protect Zoey, but instead has to face the reality that his jealousy and pride left her at risk. Like Heracles, he was temporarily driven mad by a higher power and now wants atonement, and just like Heracles, his task seems impossible. When Stark confronts a vision of himself, his dark side, he must conquer it before he can continue on his quest. Like Heracles becoming an initiate of the Eleusinian Mysteries to make himself ready for and worthy of entrance to the Underworld, Stark has to become a Shaman before he can be Zoey’s Guardian and gain entrance to the Otherworld.
    Once Stark finally arrives, he finds Heath and Zoey within the sacred grove, a place where darkness can’t enter, a safe haven where the spirit can rest. The concept of a sacred grove isn’t tied to the Underworld in Greek myth, but to the reality of the living. In varying cultures, certain areas of land were set apart as the domain of gods or kings, or for other holy purposes. In Ancient Greece, there were several sacred groves, including a grove of oak trees close to Olympus that was considered sacred to Zeus.
Will Heath Return?
W hen Heath says good-bye to Zoey in the Otherworld, he tells her he’ll find her again, in his next life. According to the Elysium myth, an ordinary human, one who is virtuous but not heroic, could join the realm of heroes in the Islands of the Blessed if he could return to Elysium three times. And if he lived three lives worthy of returning to Elysium, he’d remain there for eternity. Reincarnation was definitely part of Greek mythology, and it seems to be part of the House of Night’s as well. Heath will live again, another life, just as the ancients did. (I’d be okay with the Casts carrying on the series for a few more of Heath’s lifetimes!)
    Heath isn’t happy to hear what Stark has to say, but he understands what he has to do to save the girl he’s loved his whole life. After Heath departs, Stark begins what may be the most difficult part of his task, which is convincing Zoey to pull the pieces of her soul together so they can return to the land of the living. He realizes a crucial element in his quest to save Zoey is confronting Kalona. Heracles, after his descent to the Underworld, asked the god Hades for permission to take Cerberus. Hades agreed, on the condition that Heracles subdue Cerebus without any weapons. Stark faces Kalona with no weapon except honor and his determination to protect and champion his High Priestess. Heracles overpowers the hound of Hell through brute force, but Stark is no match for Kalona, and he dies. Why the difference, when so much of their quests parallel one another? I see Stark’s sacrifice of his life for Zoey’s as his atonement, not only for failing to protect her, but for all the wrongs he’s done since becoming a red fledgling. Before he calls out Kalona, he tells Zoey his intent and she panics. “But you can’t! You can’t beat Kalona!” she tells him, and he replies, “You’re probably right, Z. I can’t. But you can ” ( Burned ). He knows if Kalona kills him, Zoey will pull the pieces of her soul together and do what she must to defeat Kalona and Neferet. For Zoey, for humanity, for his honor, he challenges Kalona, knowing he’s bound to die. He is truly a Guardian Shaman.
    Heracles didn’t die in the Underworld, but later in life he was accidentally almost killed by his second wife, who didn’t realize the love potion she spread across his cloak was actually poison. Because he completed all of his appointed labors, then went on to perform even greater heroic deeds, Heracles was saved from death and made an immortal god, instead of dying like other mortals and packing it in for the Underworld. After Stark dies in the deep pit carved by Kalona’s wings, Zoey demands that Kalona give him life again, and Nyx backs her up because Stark has fulfilled his quest so nobly and earned the right to live. Kalona gives Stark a part of his immortality, which brings him back from death, and to heal, Stark drinks from Zoey, forging a bond that will last eternally. Stark doesn’t become a god, as Heracles did, but his experience has changed him into