by Simon Archer
To my utter surprise, Holly was on the other side of the door when I opened it. I recoiled out of instinct. Khryseos and Argyreos growled a low warning at my side.
That unnerved me. I always trusted my dogs’ instincts and the fact that they found Holly to be a threat made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I glanced down at the both of them. They stood in a defensive position, upper bodies crouched low, teeth bared.
I didn’t bother to tell them to heel or back down. Something inside of me wanted Holly to be intimidated by the two hellhound looking creatures.
“Holly?” I growled.
“Holly?” Kari said from the stairs, wrapping herself in one of my robes that was slightly too big for her. “What’s she doing here?”
“Good evening, Cameron,” she said politely with that award-winning smile. Luckily, she didn’t move closer to get into the house. It was a good thing too, or I’m sure one of my dogs would have charged forward and bit her. My money was on Khryseos.
“What are you doing here, Holly?” I said, her name coming out like a curse word.
“I’m actually here for Kari,” the Enka leader said as she tilted her head in Kari’s direction.
That shocked me out of my defensive mode as I stared in shocked silence at my friend.
“Kari?” I asked. “Why?”
“She is being drafted,” Holly said as though she were commenting on the weather, not dropping the bomb that another one of my girlfriends was about to be taken to a remote location to fight on the frontlines.
“What?” I balked. “I thought--”
“It’s the Stratgeo’s orders,” Holly said as she stuck out her hand with a piece of paper. “No lies this time, trust me.”
I took it from her and glanced over it quickly. I recognized the scrawl from our Elemental Official meetings as well as the signature and insignia. Kari came down the stairs and looked over my shoulders to read alongside me.
“She’s right,” I said, resigned to the evidence in my hand. “She’s supposed to take you to the Stratego so you can get your assignment.”
I watched Kari’s face shift from disappointment to hard resolve with only a flash of fear thrown in. I forgot sometimes that Kari wasn’t in school with the rest of us any more. She was a fully trained soldier who had prepared for this kind of assignment since she’d graduated.
“She’s not set to ship out until tomorrow,” I said, reading through the paper once more. “Can’t you come and get her just a little bit later? We were kind of in the middle of something.”
“The Stratego waits for no one, you know that,” Holly said as her face doubled down into a stubborn expression. “Especially not… recreational activities.” Her eyes roamed over my exposed chest and Kari’s bare legs.
“We were actually on our way to the library, believe it or not,” Kari stepped in. “Cameron really needed my help with this… project,” she supplied the word last minute, trying not to give away too much. “Can’t you give us like an hour?”
“And face the Stratego’s rage?” Holly barked out a laugh. “No thank you.”
Kari and I looked at each other. I wanted more time with her. This part of our relationship had only just started and it was so new, so precious. It needed to be nurtured and explored. Gods, there was so much more exploring I wanted to do with her.
But I noticed a shift in Kari’s expression. It hardened from the soft vulnerability I had seen only minutes ago into something full of resolve. I knew then that she had made her decision.
“I’ll be right there, Holly,” Kari said. “Just let me get my uniform on.”
“But--” I began to protest but Kari didn’t let me. She held up a hand as though she were physically stopping my words.
“It’s my duty,” she reminded me.
I held back my next argument after she spoke. I had to tell myself that this was a part of being a soldier. If anything it was a new reminder that I had to make the Ultimate Weapon and finish this before any of my other friends got put on the front lines.
I thought about Hailey and wherever she might have been. I hadn’t heard from her for so long and the pain stuck me harder than I would have thought. I breathed through the sudden wave of emotion that hit me and only replied with a stoic nod of understanding.
After Kari changed, her whole demeanor shifted. Her back was straight and chin raised high. Her eyes were void of any emotion, looking more like a prisoner being sent to the gallows than a soldier being sent to war.
“Let’s go,” Kari said to Holly as if she were the one leading the way. In fact, in true Kari fashion, she stepped off the porch first and started down the path to the main part of campus. Despite her long legs, Holly had to jog to keep up with the daughter of Prometheus.
She didn’t turn around for a final wave and while part of me would have loved to give her a proper goodbye, the other part understood why she didn’t. It was too hard. Plus, if I was honest with myself, this wouldn’t be the last time I saw her. If I did what the prophecy said, if I fulfilled my destiny, then she and Hailey would be back in no time.
“I have to find my father,” I told myself. “If for nothing else so that I can end this damn war.”
Then, I proceeded to dress myself in my own black uniform. I told the dogs to stay and guard the house while I ventured out to find my friends. After seeing Kari march off like that, there was no way I was waiting until morning to go to the library and find the answers I needed. The answers that would ultimately end this war and bring my girls back home to me.
18
The Academy library was one of the largest buildings on campus. It had eight large columns in the front and a wide doorway. While the dorms had more stories to them, the library was wide and long. It may have only been two stories tall, but the thing stretched a quarter of a mile from end to end.
As I had told my friends, I had never been to the library in my three years at the Academy. This was because of my magical ability to summon knowledge about the Greek myths, that I didn’t need to look anything up. Sure, I probably could have gone to study ancient battle strategies and fighting techniques, but I preferred to practice those in person rather than read about them.
I liked to work with my hands. I learned best by actually doing something rather than hearing someone lecture about it or reading about it. It was one of the reasons I was such a talented blacksmith, even without the added advantage of being the son of the god of blacksmiths. I was willing to try things out and fiddle with metals until I learned the method with my own two hands.
Libraries never appealed to me, even before I found out I was a demigod. I worked at a living museum for Hades’s sake. My mentality proved that I was all about action rather than the passive activity of reading.
Plus, it just never seemed like a good idea to be that close to such a flammable institution. I didn’t need a repeat of the Library of Alexandria on my hands.
Daniella, however, was the complete opposite. Her face lit up like a kid going to Disneyland for the first time when we walked through the door into the foyer. I swear, if she wasn’t working so actively in the med bay, she would spend the majority of her time in the library.
I had to give it credit. It was an impressive building. The minute I walked in, I could smell the musty scene of old tomes mixed with the carved wood of the shelves. There were high domed ceilings where I could see the upper level balcony, filled with more books. The railings were made of iron, the pickets beautifully twisted spires to create an intricate design. The dark wood shelves looked like soldiers all stacked in neat rows along the sides. There were some large potted plants to give the place a bit of color, that acted as end caps to some of the shelves. Assorted among the maze of shelves, there were tables with the classic green-topped lamps on them for a more intimate reading and studying experience. Some students occupied the tables, working alone or in groups. They chatted quietly, sounding like a hive of bees when we passed.
I recognized some of
the students but couldn’t remember most of their names right off the bat. One group I did know was the new branch leaders, three of the four sat with stiff backs, each of them holding up a book. They weren’t talking to one another, instead staring intently at their books. However, I noticed that their eyes weren’t moving, a clear sign that they weren’t actually reading.
When we passed by, I nodded curtly and none of them noticed. My eyebrows pinched together at their statue like demeanor, but I shifted my focus away from them and to the matter at hand.
In the center of the first floor, there was a circular wooden desk, where a squat woman sat. She hunched over a book and chewed on a strand of her curly red hair while she read.
Daniella marched up to her confidently. “Hi, Riley,” she said with a cheery grin.
The woman’s head snapped up, the wet curl she’d been snacking on sticking to the side of her face. Her eyes went wide as if she’d been surprised at being disturbed, but when she noticed Daniella, her expression softened.
“Oh, it’s you, Daniella, hello!” she said with a nasally voice that was only a step down from a dog whistle. Her cheeks turned pink as she swiped her hair behind her ear. “I haven’t seen you in a while.”
“Things have been busy in the infirmary,” Daniella said with a sigh.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Riley said as her lips turned down into a frown. She looked over Daniella’s shoulder and noticed the three of us. “Who are your friends?”
“You’ve met Jade and Bethany,” Daniella said as she gestured to us. My friends waved appropriately.
“Oh yes, of course,” Riley giggled, her body jiggling as she did so. “Hello again.”
“Hello,” Jade replied with a bright smile.
Riley’s expression snapped to me and her expression shifted to one of shock and aw. She gripped the edge of the desk instead of taking my hand and braced herself against it, leaning back. Her neck crumpled into her shoulders, giving her three chins.
“Holy Hermes,” she whispered through pursed lips. “You’re Cameron.”
“Yeah…” I said slowly, uncomfortable with her unexpected reaction.
“You’re the only male demigod of this generation. The student Elemental Official who’s going to make the Ultimate Weapon and stop the war,” she said quickly, sounding as though she were reading off my baseball card or something.
“Supposedly,” I whispered, adding a shrug to my words. “That’s what the prophecy says, anyway.”
Then Riley burst out laughing. It was an obnoxious laugh, complete with snorts and a couple of hiccups. Her laugh echoed through the shelves of the library, much too loudly for a typical librarian. I felt the urge to silence her, given the overall tone of this place. But as the person in charge, she didn’t seem to care.
Some students looked up from their studies, glanced our way, and then shrugged as if these kinds of hysterical outbursts from Riley were common.
Finally, she sucked in a breath and wiped a tear from her eye. “That’s what the prophecy says. You’re funny! I didn’t think you would be funny too. Not that I didn’t think that you’re funny, I just thought--” the librarian said, her words tumbling over themselves.
Daniella cut her off, however. She reached across the desk and put a hand on her arm. “We need your help, Riley.”
As if her words cast a magic spell on the librarian, all of Riley’s goofy awkwardness disappeared. She straightened her back and folded her hands together, interlacing her fingers. “Of course. What can I find for you?”
“What just happened?” I whispered to Jade who was closest to me.
“Riley’s powers are connected to the library,” Jade whispered back. “She’s the daughter of Cadmus, the god of writing. She remembers every single thing she’s ever read.”
“Holy shit,” I said, thinking of the amount of brainpower that would take up.
“I know, right?” Jade agreed before continuing. “So she knows every single book on every shelf in this whole place. She’s obligated to help the students find whatever they need. It’s kind of like, programmed into her. I’m not sure if that’s the right word.”
“I don’t like the sound of that,” I confessed, a queasy feeling stirring in my gut.
Jade shrugged. “It’s one of those weird Academy things, I guess.”
“Doesn’t make it right,” I grumbled.
“We need to find the thing that connects all of these plants,” Daniella said as she slipped a piece of paper across the desk to the librarian. It had the Fates’ riddle on it. “We think it’s in a book. Do you recognize a book that has all seven of these in it?”
“Give me a moment,” Riley said as she took up the paper in both hands. Her eyes zipped across the paper, reading it several times.
“Watch this,” Bethany said as she gently elbowed me in the side.
Suddenly, Riley’s face went blank and stiff. Her head tilted to the side ever so slightly as if she was off balance. Then the librarian lowered the paper and began walking silently.
It took me a solid six seconds to realize we were supposed to follow her. So I picked up the pace and the four of us traveled in a line behind Riley.
As we passed the table where the three branch leaders sat, they suddenly got up. For a moment, I thought they were going to join our processional. But then they formed their own line, each of them tucking their books to their chests like good little school girls, before they headed in the opposite direction from us.
I eyed each one of them in turn, and surprisingly, each of them met my gaze. I couldn’t read anything behind their expressions, until Alanna, the new Oura leader, winked at me.
I recoiled from the reaction, stopping in my tracks for a moment. It was such an unexpected gesture that I didn’t know how to respond to it. Something made me think that it was suggestive, almost flirty. Did she know about mine and Holly’s kiss in drama class all those weeks ago? Of course she did, they were branch leaders together. She probably told all three of them about it.
The other two, Nicky and Ali, didn’t say or do anything but continued walking away. While none of them looked the same, there was something about the three of them, even without Holly, that was eerily similar. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but it was in the way they moved, swung their arms, stomped their feet.
“Cameron,” Jade hissed, grabbing me by the arm. “We have to follow her or she’s going to walk off without us. Come on.”
I decided to forget about the suspicious branch leaders and follow my friends. We walked up to the second story of the library, there the shelves lined the walls. Several rolling ladders wrapped around the shelves, looking more like a movie version of a library than an actual one.
Riley brought us to the center of the second level, so when we looked over the balcony, we could see directly down onto her desk. She climbed one of the ladders with an enviable swiftness, before she plucked a single book off the shelves.
It was a reasonably sized volume, with a faded blue cover. There was no lettering on the outside to tell us the title or author. The pages were so old they had a sickly yellow color on them.
Riley handed the book to Daniella. The minute the title left her hands, she relaxed and became her bubbly, nervous self again. Her shoulders shot up to her ears and her lips curled into a cautious smile.
“That should have everything you need,” she squeaked.
“Thank you, Riley for you--” Daniella began but a sudden crash from somewhere below stopped her from finishing.
The librarian held up a hand to her chest and gasped. “Excuse me, but I need to go see what that was.”
“Of course,” Daniella said to Riley’s back because she was already off and waddling to the source of the noise.
“What was that?” Jade wondered, an expression of disgust on her face.
“Probably someone knocking over some books,” Daniella answered, reassuring us that it was no big deal. “Riley is really particular with the shelving an
d organization around here, so she’ll want to get the books back in order right away.”
“Is she, like, cursed to this place or something?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest. “I don’t like how she changed when we asked for help.”
“I honestly couldn’t tell you,” Daniella replied. “All I know is that she is required to help the students find the materials they need. She can’t give them all of the answers, we still have to find those out for ourselves, but she can’t refuse to help.”
“That’s just wrong,” I grunted.
“Add it to your ongoing list of things to change around here,” Bethany said, waving me off. “Come on, Daniella, what did she find for us?”
Our healer friend opened up the cover of the book and read the title written on the first page. “Flora and Fauna of the Islands in the Mediterranean,” she read with pinched eyebrows, showing her confusion.
“Okay, then,” I sighed, taking the book out of Daniella’s hands. “Guess we better start reading.”
That’s when the lights flickered.
“Whoa,” Bethany said as her head darted around. “Is there a storm coming or something?”
“Maybe it’s haunted,” Jade said with a chuckle.
When the lights flickered again, they blinked as fast as butterflies' wings. I thought I might get a seizure when they suddenly went out completely.
Some emergency lights glowed to life, but they were a dark blue, giving the library a ghostly feel. They pointed out the one exit door back down on the first floor as well as the four stairwells in each corner of the library.
Before any of us had the chance to move, a book jumped off the shelf and landed on the floor with a thud.
“What the--?” I managed to get out before more books started to fall off the shelves. They pattered like rain onto the wooden floor, all around us.
“I’m going to go with haunted,” Bethany declared.
“Let’s go,” I commanded, my body snapping into battle mode. My friends were trained soldiers as well and recognized the change in my demeanor.