Ian followed her, but I hung back and scanned the grounds and the shadows again, just like I had during the training mission last night. I still didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, but I couldn’t get rid of the ominous dread that was sitting in my stomach like a lead weight.
Maybe that was because I knew that this wasn’t a training mission and that the consequences of us failing could be very, very deadly.
But we were here now, and we finally had a chance to get ahead of Covington. So I pushed my worry, dread, and unease aside and slipped into the museum along with my friends.
* * *
The doors led into a long hallway, which ended in a wide archway. Zoe, Ian, and I crept up to the opening, crouched down in the shadows, and peered around the curved edges of the stone.
Beyond the archway was an enormous rotunda that was the grand centerpiece of the Cormac Museum. The floor and walls were a beautiful white marble streaked with pale blue, as though it was made of wispy clouds instead of solid stone. Adding to the airy feeling was the ceiling, which featured white, blue, and black panels of stained glass fitted together to form several giant stars. A few artifact cases lined the walls, while hallways branched off the rotunda, leading to other exhibit areas. Four sets of steps ringed the room, climbing up to a wraparound balcony that was part of the museum’s second level.
The overhead lights had been turned down low for the night, but moonlight filtered down through the stained-glass ceiling, and the soft, silvery glow reflected off the white marble, providing plenty of illumination. I looked down what I could see of the other hallways, as well as up at the stairs and the balcony, but I didn’t spot anyone else. I didn’t hear anything either, especially not the telltale tap-tap-tap-tap of footsteps that I was expecting.
“Mateo,” I whispered. “Where’s the security guard?”
“He’s finishing his circuit of the second level.” Mateo’s voice crackled in my earbud. “He’ll be coming down the steps soon. Hold your position.”
Less than a minute later, a security guard wearing a blue uniform and holding a flashlight appeared on the second-floor balcony. He stopped and looked around, then headed for the closest set of steps and plodded down to the first floor where we were. The guard made a slow, steady circuit around the rotunda, shining his flashlight into the various hallways.
Zoe, Ian, and I stayed hidden in the shadows behind the archway, trying to be as still and frozen as everything else. The guard swept his flashlight from one side of our hallway to the other and back again, giving it a cursory look. After a few seconds, he turned away and moved on. I let out a relieved breath, as did my friends.
The guard glanced around the rotunda a final time, then stepped into another hallway and disappeared from sight. I waited until the sound of his footsteps had faded away before I spoke again.
“Mateo?” I whispered.
“The guard is heading back to the security office in the next wing.” Mateo’s voice sounded in my earbud again. “He shouldn’t do another check of the rotunda or the second floor for at least thirty minutes. You guys are clear to move.”
Zoe, Ian, and I got to our feet, left the hallway, and hurried over to the closest set of stairs. We climbed them quickly and quietly, hugging the wall to minimize the echo of our footsteps on the marble. We reached the second-floor balcony, and I glanced over the railing to the first level, but everything was the same as before. The guard didn’t reappear, so my friends and I headed deeper into the museum.
We moved through room after room filled with weapons, armor, jewelry, clothing, and other artifacts. During the day, I would have thoroughly enjoyed walking through the museum and looking at everything, but tonight all of the black shadows reminded me of Reaper cloaks, and I half expected Covington and Drake to rise up out of the inky pools, like monsters in a horror movie, and attack us.
But they didn’t appear, and we hurried on.
Finally, we reached a large room that was fashioned after a medieval dungeon. Two archways featuring heavy metal gates with sharp spikes served as the entrance and the exit on the far side. The gates were held up with thick ropes tied off to iron posts embedded in the walls, and the light fixtures were shaped like torches that continuously flickered. The ceiling was made of clear panes of glass, allowing the moonlight to stream inside and brighten the entire area.
Zoe and Ian hurried through the entrance, but I hesitated.
The last time I had stepped into this room, I had almost died.
My friends and I had confronted Covington and Drake in here the night they tried to steal the black Chloris box from the museum. Covington had used Typhon’s Scepter to summon several chimeras, and I had trapped myself in this room with the monsters in order to save my friends. The chimeras had almost clawed me to death before Ian used Pan’s Whistle to summon the Eir gryphons, who had crashed down through the glass ceiling to save me.
Zoe noticed my hovering by the entrance, and she looked over her shoulder at me. She must have realized what I was thinking about, because sympathy filled her hazel eyes.
“Rory, are you okay?” she whispered.
I grimaced. Thanks to our mission prep, I had known that the white Chloris box would be in this room, but being back here still affected me more than I’d expected.
“Rory?” Zoe asked again.
I forced the awful memories of the chimera fight back down into the bottom of my brain. “Yeah, I’m fine. Let’s find the box and leave.”
“Over here,” Ian called out in a soft voice.
I drew in a breath and stepped into the room. Zoe gave me an encouraging nod, and the two of us went over to Ian, who was standing in front of a glass artifact case. He stepped to the side so that we could get a better look at what was inside it.
The white Chloris box.
The artifact looked the same as it had in the photo we’d studied in the Bunker earlier. A gleaming white box with silver vines and thorns running across the top and wrapping around small heart-shaped emerald flowers.
The black and red Chloris boxes were both striking in their own ways, but this white box was easily the most beautiful of the three. The pearlescent stone glowed with a soft, ethereal light, while the silver vines and thorns were curled so that they looked like icy tendrils that were protecting the emerald flowers, instead of cruelly stabbing into them the way they seemed to on the black and red boxes.
But the strangest thing was the fact that I didn’t get the same creepy, evil vibe from the white box that I got from the black and red ones. It just didn’t seem to radiate the same malevolence as the other two boxes. That lack of lurking doom and dread made me even more curious about what might be inside it.
I shook my head, forcing those thoughts away. There would be plenty of time to open the artifact once we were back at the Bunker. But first, we actually needed to steal the box and leave the fake one behind in its place.
“Zoe, do your thing,” I whispered. “Ian and I will keep watch in case the guard comes back early.”
Zoe nodded, slung her backpack onto the floor, and drew out her lockpick gun again. Then she leaned forward and started working on the artifact case. Ian headed over to the archway on the far side of the room that served as the exit, while I crept back over to the first archway.
I glanced out into the hallway, but it was still empty, so I looked over my shoulder and nodded at Ian. He flashed me a thumbs-up, telling me that everything was clear on his side of the room too.
Zoe let out a soft curse, crouched down, and rifled through her backpack, searching for some other tool or gadget. The lock on the artifact case must have been giving her trouble, because blue sparks of magic streamed out of her fingertips, revealing her frustration. I glanced out into the hallway again, but everything was still quiet.
“Takeda, Aunt Rachel,” I whispered. “You guys see anything outside?”
Takeda answered me a few seconds later. “The exterior guards are keeping to their usual routes. No sign of t
rouble so far. What about inside?”
“We found the white Chloris box, and Zoe is working on opening the case,” I replied. “Mateo, what about you?”
“I don’t see anything unusual on the security cameras either inside or outside the museum,” he said. “Neither does Professor Dalaja. Everything seems fine.”
I grimaced. That was almost as bad as saying that something was a piece of cake. In my experience, whenever things seemed fine, that was when they usually took an unexpected turn for the worse. But everything remained quiet, and everyone held their positions, except me. I couldn’t stand still, so I started pacing back and forth in front of the archway, glancing out into the hallway, then over at Zoe, then over at Ian, and back again.
I had just turned around to stalk back to the other side of the archway when a gleam of red caught my eye. Zoe was still working on the lock, so I headed toward the red gleam. Perhaps focusing on something else besides how eerily quiet the museum was would help me get rid of my unease.
I stopped in front of a glass artifact case that was up against the wall. Like many of the other cases, this one contained a dagger. But instead of being forged out of metal, this dagger looked like it was made of triangular ruby scales that had been laid on top of one another and then fused together with thick bronze wire. The hilt was also bronze, but instead of a ruby or some other jewel, a small figure had been inlaid into the metal, one with a snout, a spiked tail, and wings.
Was that…a dragon?
A chill trickled down my spine. Over the past few months, I’d learned that artifacts that featured monsters on them rarely did anything good. Worried and curious, I leaned forward and read the white identification card inside the case.
Fafnir’s Dagger. This dagger is made of the scales of Fafnir, a Norse dwarf whose greed for gold eventually turned him into a fearsome dragon. Despite being made of scales, the dagger is virtually indestructible, and its point and edges are all extremely sharp. It is rumored to be able to cut through anything, even other weapons. But perhaps the most interesting thing about the dagger is that it also supposedly has the power to summon Fafnir dragons…
My eyes widened, and another, stronger chill zipped down my spine. An artifact that could cut through anything and summon dragons? Covington might not realize that the white Chloris box was here, but there was no way he didn’t know about the dagger. It was exactly the kind of artifact he would target, just like he had targeted Typhon’s Scepter and Serket’s Pen. I was surprised he hadn’t already stolen it from the museum. Perhaps it had only been put on display today, like the white Chloris box. Maybe that was why he hadn’t come after it yet.
Then another thought occurred to me. Covington hadn’t stolen the dagger yet, but we could. We had to. We couldn’t leave an artifact this powerful behind in the museum.
“Done!” Zoe called out in a loud whisper. “Ian, come here and help me!”
I looked over my shoulder. Zoe set down her lockpick gun, along with a screwdriver, then opened the glass case. She grabbed the white Chloris box, which she passed over to Ian. Then she crouched down and pulled another white box out of her backpack.
Zoe had made this box earlier in the Bunker, while we’d been preparing for the mission. She had coated a plain wooden box with quick-drying white pearlescent paint, trying to make it gleam like the real artifact did, and she’d also soldered some metal wires onto the top of the box, to represent the silver vines and thorns. For a finishing touch, she’d glued heart-shaped emerald crystals here and there.
Oh, I doubted that the box would fool an artifacts expert like Covington for more than a few seconds, but Zoe had done a terrific job on it, especially given the time crunch, and her box certainly looked better than all the pitiful fake artifacts I had made.
Zoe slid the fake box into the case, then closed and locked the glass lid over it. “Done.”
Ian handed her the real Chloris box, which Zoe slid into her backpack, along with her tools. She zipped up the bag, then hoisted it onto her shoulders. Zoe glanced at the artifact case again, making sure that it looked just like it had before, and then she and Ian hurried over to me.
I gestured at the case with Fafnir’s Dagger. “You have to open this one too.”
Zoe frowned. “But that’s not the mission. We’re only supposed to take the white Chloris box. Besides, I didn’t make a dagger, so the museum staff will notice if this one goes missing.”
“Then we’ll have to leave one of your extra electrodaggers behind and hope that no one notices the difference until we can come back and replace it with a proper fake,” I said. “But we need to take this artifact too. Trust me.”
“Rory, what artifact are you talking about?” Takeda’s voice sounded in my ear.
“It’s called Fafnir’s Dagger,” I replied. “And the identification card says that it can summon Fafnir dragons.”
Beside me, Zoe and Ian sucked in surprised breaths. Through my earbud, I heard Takeda let out a soft curse.
“Dalaja, have you heard of this dagger?” Takeda asked. “How dangerous is it?”
This time, Professor Dalaja’s voice filled my ear. “Extremely dangerous. Fafnir dragons are even deadlier than Typhon chimeras and Serket basilisks. I had no idea that the Cormac Museum had the dagger. It wasn’t mentioned on the artifacts list I looked at this morning.”
“Perhaps the museum staff took it out of storage and put it on display today, along with the white Chloris box,” Takeda said, echoing my earlier thought. “But Rory is right. We need to take the dagger too. We can’t just leave it sitting in the museum for Covington or someone else to steal. We’ll put one of Zoe’s electrodaggers in its place, like Rory suggested, and hope the museum curators don’t notice until Zoe can make a better fake.”
“Roger that,” I said.
Zoe grabbed her lockpick gun and her screwdriver out of her backpack and went to work on the lock. Ian and I hovered beside her, still keeping guard. I checked my phone. We’d been in the museum for almost thirty minutes, and we needed to get the dagger and leave before the security guard started his rounds again.
“Done!” Zoe said in a low voice.
The lock clicked open. Zoe bent down to put her tools away and dig one of her extra electrodaggers out of her backpack, while Ian lifted the glass case up and out of the way. I slid Babs into the scabbard belted to my waist, then grabbed Fafnir’s Dagger.
Up close, the dagger was a deep, dark ruby-red, like it was made of wet blood. The triangular red scales that made up the blade were rimmed in black and covered with ridges that reminded me of those on an armadillo.
I touched the edge of one of the scales to see how sharp it really was. I barely brushed up against the scale, but it easily sliced a long, jagged wound in my finger. I hissed with pain, although my healing magic immediately flooded the wound and stitched my skin back together. Judging from what it had done to my finger, the dagger certainly seemed like it could cut through anything, just like the identification card claimed. I shivered at the thought.
Zoe straightened up and set one of her electrodaggers in the case. Ian put the glass lid back down into place, and Zoe locked the whole thing up again. Then my friends gathered around me, and we stared at the figure that was inlaid in the dagger’s hilt.
A snout, a spiked tail, and wings. It was definitely a dragon, and it gave me the same sinister vibe as the gold chimera on Typhon’s Scepter and the silver basilisk on Serket’s Pen.
“Is it just me, or is that thing really creepy?” Zoe muttered.
I grimaced. “It’s not just you. Come on. Let’s get out of here.”
I transferred the dagger to my left hand, then pulled Babs out of her scabbard so that she was in my right hand like usual.
Zoe, Ian, and I left the exhibit room, stepped out into the hallway, and headed back to the second-floor balcony. We crouched down behind the stone railing and peered at the rotunda below, but it was empty, and I didn’t hear any footsteps.
“Mateo?” I whispered. “Where is the guard?”
“Still in the security center,” Mateo replied. “Looks like he’s going to finish his coffee before he starts his rounds. You’re clear.”
“Roger that.”
We got to our feet. I took the lead, with Zoe and Ian behind me, and we crept down the stairs to the first floor. I looked around again, but I still didn’t see or hear anything, so I moved forward. After we crossed the open rotunda, all we had to do was walk down the hallway and step outside. Then we could meet the others at the van and head back to the academy with the artifacts—
Tink.
Tink-tink.
Tink-tink-tink.
I froze, along with my friends. What was that?
The sound echoed over and over again, bouncing from one side of the rotunda to the other and back again, growing closer and louder all the while.
“What’s that noise?” Zoe asked in a low voice.
“Mateo, do you see anything on the monitors?” Ian asked.
“That’s weird,” Mateo replied. “The monitors are flickering. I don’t have a clear view of you guys. Let me see what’s wrong with the security feed.”
Through my earbud, I could hear Mateo typing, but I tuned him out. My head snapped left and right, trying to figure out what was making the noise and where it was coming from. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a small metal canister tumbling end over end along the floor.
The canister slid to a stop at my feet. I didn’t know if it was a grenade or a bomb or something worse, and I didn’t want to find out. I jerked back, trying to get away from it, only to run into Zoe, who was standing right behind me. I knocked her back into Ian, and we all got jumbled up together, each of us trying to get clear of the other two.
Ian accidentally slammed his elbow into my forearm, and his Viking strength made me hiss with pain. My left fingers went numb, and Fafnir’s Dagger slid from my grasp and tumbled end over end across the floor, just like the canister had. I started to chase after the artifact—
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