Crimson Frost (13 page)
Chapter 13
I raced back into the stacks, my head turning from side to side as I tried to figure out which direction the Reaper had gone or what he could possibly be after. I came to a crossway and stopped, breathing hard and trying to calm the rapid
thump-thump-thump
of my heart so I could hear where the leader had gone.
thump-thump-thump
of my heart so I could hear where the leader had gone.
For once, Vic stayed quiet, and I forced myself to take in soft breaths of air. I cocked my head to one side, then the other, wishing I had the enhanced senses that so many of the Mythos students had. But I didn’t. All I had were my instincts, so I headed right toward the front half of the library. The Reapers had come in from the back, so whatever they were really after wasn’t on that side. Otherwise, they would have left with it already. That made sense, right? I didn’t know how sound my reasoning was, but I decided to follow my instincts.
I moved through the stacks as quickly as I could, stopping at the end of every bookcase, every aisle, every crossway, to look and listen. But the Reaper had too much of a head start on me, and I didn’t see any hints of movement anywhere. Finally, just when I was about to give up and head back to the others, I heard the distinctive
tinkle-tinkle
of glass hitting the floor. I paused. The sound came again, and I veered in that direction.
tinkle-tinkle
of glass hitting the floor. I paused. The sound came again, and I veered in that direction.
I hurried forward, still stopping to peer around every shelf. Just because I thought the Reaper was after something didn’t mean this couldn’t be a trap, and the leader might be hiding in a dark corner, ready to take my head off with his sword. Reapers were full of tricks like that. Vivian certainly had been. I didn’t think the Reaper I was chasing was Vivian, but she’d fooled me before, and I wasn’t going to let it happen again.
Finally, I spotted the Reaper through the shelves. I crept up to the bookcase that was closest to him and peered around it.
The Reaper stood before an artifact case that was in front of a shelf with a few old, tattered books on it. The Reaper had already smashed the glass on the top of the case and was using a sword to knock the last few fragments out of the way. Something white flew out of the case and fluttered to the ground, along with the glass, but the Reaper didn’t seem to notice, and I couldn’t tell what it was from here. Maybe an ID card of some sort.
The leader reached inside the case and drew out a beautiful, rectangular box that was resting on a wide, black velvet stand. The box was made of a smooth, milky-looking stone, and a series of gems had been set into the gleaming surface, including a topaz, an emerald, and a bloodred ruby, along with matching jeweled chips.
The Reaper tossed the stand aside, grabbed the box, and held it up high with one hand, admiring the way the jewels caught the light and reflected it back, before slipping the box into one of the pockets of his robe. He reached into the case again and pulled out a topaz ring, an emerald bracelet, and a necklace that featured a large, heart-shaped ruby surrounded by smaller ones. Those items disappeared into his pockets as well.
I stepped forward, determined to stop the Reaper—and my sneakers squeaked on the floor. I froze, hoping the sound hadn’t carried, but of course it had.
The Reaper whirled around but didn’t seem all that surprised to see me standing there. Instead, I got the impression that he was smiling underneath that horrible Loki mask. A bit of red fire flashed to life in the depths of the leader’s eyes—that Reaper-red color that I’d come to hate more than anything else.
“Stay where you are!” I commanded. “You’re surrounded!”
It was a lie, but I raised my sword and walked toward the Reaper like the fight was already over with, and Logan and my friends were really here to help me. The Reaper snorted, not believing my lie for a second. I tightened my grip on Vic, expecting the evil warrior to charge at me, but instead the leader did something completely unexpected—he turned and ran away.
“What are you waiting for?” Vic demanded. “Catch that bloody Reaper so I can cut him to ribbons!”
I sucked in a breath and gave chase. The Reaper zoomed down the aisle we were in, then started zigzagging through the stacks. He broke right, then left through a crossway, then right, right, right, and finally left again. I fell behind with each step until I was just barely keeping the other warrior in sight.
“Faster, Gwen!” Vic shouted. “You’re losing him!”
As if I couldn’t see that for myself. I gulped down another breath, made myself run that much quicker, and rounded a corner—only to realize that the Reaper had vanished.
My steps slowed, then stopped, and I looked left, then right, searching for the Reaper, but all I saw were books and more books, along with a few study tables and artifact cases. Frustration filled me, but I kept scanning the area. Nothing—absolutely nothing.
I’d just started to head down another aisle when a cool breeze kissed my face.
My eyes narrowed. The library was climate-controlled to protect all the books and artifacts. There shouldn’t have been any sort of breeze—unless someone had opened a door or window.
I followed the swirls of air, stepped around another bookcase, and found myself in front of one of the side entrances to the library. The door was standing wide open. So that’s where he’d gone. Clutching Vic even tighter, I eased through the door and peered outside.
Night cloaked the upper quad, and shadows had stained everything an inky black. A bit of snow had fallen while I’d been inside the library, the white patches standing out like silvery ponds against the darkness. The balcony that wrapped around the building was deserted, as was what I could see of the main quad. I stepped outside and walked over to the wall that ringed the balcony. I stared out into the darkness, scanning the quad, hoping that I’d get a glimpse of the Reaper running across the snow-dusted grass, but I was too late.
The Reaper was gone—and so were the artifacts he’d stolen.
Disgusted with myself for not catching the Reaper, I hurried back inside the library, making sure to shut the side door behind me. I had no doubt that my friends had taken care of the other Reapers by now, so I retraced my steps back to the artifact case that the leader had broken into. I wanted to know exactly what had been inside it and how the items could possibly be used against the Pantheon.
The Reaper had smashed in the top of the case, and chunks of wood and glass littered the floor. Some books had fallen off the shelf above as well, adding to the mess, so it took me a few minutes to pick through everything and find the ID cards that had been inside the case.
To my surprise, there was only one card, despite all the items I’d seen the Reaper grab.
Apate’s Keepsake Box. This box and jewelry were rumored to have belonged to Apate, the Greek goddess of deception. Apate was known for her love of jewels and collected so many of them that the other gods were jealous of her finery. To keep her possessions safe, Apate put an enchantment on the box so that if anyone opened it except her, the box would appear to be empty, instead of filled with valuables as it truly was . . .
Okay, so the box had some kind of magic mumbo jumbo attached to it, some kind of illusion that kept whatever was inside safe. I frowned. From the card, it didn’t seem like the box had any great magical powers, and there was no mention of the jewelry at all. So why would the Reapers risk coming into the library to steal them? Sure, all those gems were no doubt priceless, but Loki had rewarded his followers with gold, silver, and more, just like the other gods in the Pantheon had their supporters. The Reapers had just as much money as everyone else did in the mythological world. So why go to all the trouble to swipe more gemstones? Why not go after some of the swords in the library? Or the armor? Something with more obvious magic and power?
“A box?” Vic asked, voicing my thoughts. “The Reaper took a bloody box? Why, it’s not even a weapon!”
My head started aching from all the questions that crowded into my mind, but try as I might, I just couldn’t figure out what was so special about the box or the jewelry. There had to be something here that I was missing because the Reapers never did anything without a purpose, without an end goal, in mind.
“Gwen!” Daphne’s voice drifted across the library to me. “Where are you? Are you okay?”
“Over here!” I called out. “I’m fine! Stay put! I’m coming back to you!”
Still troubled, I took one more look at the smashed case before I returned to the others.
Logan, Daphne, Oliver, and Alexei were in the back of the library huddled in a tight knot in the middle of the dead Reapers. The Valkyrie caught sight of me first, and princess pink sparks erupted from her fingertips like fireworks, telling me just how glad she was to see me.
“There you are!” Daphne said, pulling me into a tight hug. “Why did you just run off like that? We were so worried about you!”
“I know. I’m sorry. But you guys were winning against the others, and I didn’t want to let that last Reaper get away.”
I told the others about seeing the Reaper slip away and how I’d chased him back into the stacks, only to find him stealing artifacts.
“What artifacts?” Oliver asked.
I shrugged. “That’s the weird thing. It was just a box and some jewelry. It didn’t even seem to have that much magic attached to it, according to the ID card I read. I don’t know why they would go to so much trouble to break in here just to take those things. Why didn’t they take some of the weapons instead? Things that are more powerful? Or at least more useful in a battle?”
“Reapers don’t have to make sense,” Logan said in a dark voice.
I gestured at the bodies lying on the bloody floor. My friends had pulled off the rubber masks, revealing the Reapers’ dull, glazed eyes and pain-filled faces. The group was pretty evenly split between men and women, all adults.
“And what about the Reapers? Does anyone know who they are? Or how they could have gotten onto campus and into the library without raising any sort of alarm?”
Logan shook his head. “I don’t recognize any of them. You, Alexei?”
He shook his head as well. “No. None of them look familiar to me.”
“Maybe Gwen can find out something with her magic,” Oliver said, looking at me. “You know, like you did at your grandma’s house.”
I grimaced. Oliver was talking about how I’d used my magic to flash on the man who’d been with Preston and Vivian when they’d attacked Grandma Frost a few weeks ago—the man my grandma had killed instead. I hadn’t liked touching that dead man, and I certainly didn’t want to do the same to a bunch of dead Reapers, but Oliver was right. Maybe my psychometry would give me some information about the Reapers and what they’d wanted with the artifacts.
“Gypsy girl?” Logan asked.
I sighed. “I don’t like it, but I’ll do it.”
One by one, I went from Reaper to Reaper, pulling off their bloody gloves, touching their hands, and seeing what vibes I got off them. But all the memories and feelings attached to the men and women had already started to fade away, and the only images I saw were of the Reapers fighting my friends and then the blinding flashes of pain they felt before they died from their wounds.
I finished with the last Reaper, shook my head, and got to my feet. “Nothing there. Just a few memories of the fight. Everything else is gone already.”
Oliver slung his arm around my shoulders. “Well, I’m just glad we made it through okay. Alexei and I would have been in a world of hurt, if you hadn’t managed to get those swords and that scabbard to us, Gwen.”
I lightly elbowed him in the ribs. “You would have done the same for me.”
Oliver grinned. “Maybe.”
I elbowed him a little harder. “Definitely.”
We stood there, staring at the bodies.
Logan drew in a breath. “Well, I guess I’d better call my dad and tell him what’s happened. Metis and Ajax too—”
“Gwendolyn?” a familiar voice called out. “Where are you? Why aren’t you at the checkout counter?”
I’d forgotten all about Nickamedes leaving to run some errands, but now he was back—and the library was a disaster area once more. Books and broken glass littered the floor, not to mention the dead Reapers lying in the middle of the mess like dolls someone had forgotten to put away. I winced. This was
so
not going to be pleasant.
so
not going to be pleasant.
“Gwendolyn?” he called out again.
But there was no hiding it from him, so I yelled back. “Over here!”
A few seconds later, Nickamedes rounded the corner of the office complex. “What are you doing back here? I’m ready to close the library for the night—”
The librarian looked up from the book he’d been reading and stopped in his tracks. His eyebrows shot up in his face, and his eyes bulged as he stared at all the blood and bodies on the floor. His mouth dropped open, and a familiar spark of anger began to burn in his blue gaze. He looked at me.
I winced again. I knew what was coming now. “I can explain—”
Nickamedes held up his hand, cutting me off. “I don’t even want to hear it.”
“But—”
I tried again, but Nickamedes just shook his head, his shoulders sagging.
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