by Melody Rose
I opened my mouth to thank her, but Esme beat me to the punch. She put a hand on my shoulder and said, “We’ll figure this out, Shy. We’ll find him, and it’ll be worth it. You’ll see.”
Before I had a chance to respond and thank her for her optimism, there was a knock at the door. For a moment, we all looked around the room in confusion, thinking the same thought: We’re all here. Who could that be?
No one moved for a moment until a second knock brought us out of our reverie. Since it was my house, it made sense that I answered the door even though I had a nervous feeling about who could be on the other side. For some reason, I thought that whoever it was wasn’t going to bring us good news.
To my utter surprise, Horace 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 Horace 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, their upper bodies crouched low, teeth bared.
I didn’t bother to tell them to heel or back down. Something inside of me wanted Horace to be intimidated by the two hellhound-looking creatures.
“Horace?” I said, saying his name louder than necessary to alert my friends to who was there. They all knew about the incident in the drama class. So it wasn’t a surprise when I felt a rush of wind behind me indicating that my friends were at my side, as though my warning had assembled the Avengers.
“Good evening, Cheyenne,” he said politely with that award-winning smile. Luckily, he didn’t move closer to get into the house. It was a good thing too, or I’m sure one of my friends would have kicked him in the balls. My money was on Benji or Violet.
“What are you doing here, Horace?” I said, his name coming out like a curse word.
“I’m actually here for Esme,” the Fotia leader said as he tilted his head in her direction.
That shocked all of us out of our defensive modes as we stared in shocked silence at our friend.
“Esme?” I asked. “Why?”
“She is being drafted,” Horace said as though he were commenting on the weather, not dropping the bomb that our friend was about to be taken to a remote location to fight on the front lines.
“What?” I balked. “I thought--”
“It’s the General’s orders,” Horace said as he stuck out his hand with a piece of paper. I took it from him and glanced over it quickly. I recognized the scrawl from our Olympic Official meetings as well as the signature and insignia. My friends tried to crowd around my shoulders to read it, but there wasn’t enough room.
“He’s right,” I said, resigned to the evidence in my hand. “He’s supposed to take you to the General so you can get your assignment.”
I watched Esme’s face shift from disappointment to hard resolve with only a flash of fear thrown in. I sometimes forgot that Esme wasn’t in school with us anymore. 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 General waits for no one, you know that,” Horace said as his face doubled down into a stubborn expression.
“It’s just that we were on our way to the library, and we really need her help with this… project,” I supplied the word last minute, trying not to give away too much but wanting to appeal to Horace’s humanity. “Can’t you give us like an hour?”
“And face the General’s rage?” Horace barked out a laugh. “No, thank you.”
“He’s right, Cheyenne,” Esme said as she stepped forward and through the doorway. She stood next to Horace on the porch, though she didn’t give him so much as a glance. “We don’t want to upset the General.”
“But--” I began to protest, but Esme 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 Ansel and wherever he might have been. I hadn’t heard from him for so long, and the pain struck 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.
“Let’s go,” Esme said to Horace as if she were the one leading the way. In fact, in true Esme fashion, she stepped off the porch first and started down the path to the main part of campus. Despite his long legs, Horace 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 Ansel would be back in no time.
“We have to find my father,” I said to the group. “If for nothing else so that we can end this damn war.”
“Hell yeah,” Benji said jovially with a fist pump. “That’s what I like to hear.”
“We have a book to find,” I said as I assumed Esme’s confidence stride and stepped out of the house.
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 working 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 daughter 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.
Darren, however, was the complete opposite. His 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 he wasn’t working so actively in the med bay, he would spend the majority of his 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.
&n
bsp; 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, they stared 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.
Darren marched up to her confidently. “Hi, Alice,” he 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 our disturbance surprised her, but when she noticed Darren, her expression softened.
“Oh, it’s you, Darren, hello!” she said with a nasal voice that was only a step down from 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,” Darren said with a sigh.
“I’m sorry to hear that,” Alice said as her lips turned down into a frown. She looked over Darren’s shoulder and noticed the three of us. “Who are your friends?”
“You’ve met Violet and Benji,” Darren said as he gestured to us. My friends waved appropriately.
“Oh yes, of course,” Alice giggled, her body jiggling as she did so. “Hello again.”
“Hello,” Violet replied with a bright smile.
“And the redhead?” Alice asked with a point of a stubby finger.
“Cheyenne, daughter of Hephaestus,” I said, holding out my hand.
Alice’s expression snapped 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 Cheyenne.”
“Yeah…” I said slowly, uncomfortable with her unexpected reaction.
“You’re the student Olympic 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 Alice 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 Alice 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.
Darren cut her off, however. He reached across the desk and put a hand on her arm. “We need your help, Alice.”
As if his words cast a magic spell on her, all of Alice’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 Violet, who was closest to me.
“Alice’s powers are connected to the library,” Violet 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?” Violet 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.
Violet 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,” Darren said as he 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,” Alice said as she took up the paper in both hands. Her eyes zipped across the paper, reading it several times.
“Watch this,” Benji said as he gently elbowed me in the side.
Suddenly, Alice’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 that she wanted us to follow her. So, I picked up the pace, and the four of us traveled in a line behind Alice.
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 A.T., the new Aeras 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 he know about mine and Horace’s kiss in drama class all those weeks ago? Of course he did. They were branch leaders together. He probably told all three of them about it.
The other two, Nikita and Gia, 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 Horace, 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.
“Cheyenne,” Violet 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.
Alice brought us to the center of the second level, so when we looked over the balcony, we could stay 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.
Alice handed the book to Darren. 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, Alice, for you--” Darren began, but a sudden crash from somewhere below stopped him 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,” Darren said to Alice’s back because she was already off and waddling to the source of the noise.
“What was that?” Violet wondered, an expression of disgust on her face.
“Probably someone knocking over some books,” Darren ans
wered, reassuring us that it was no big deal. “Alice is really particular with the shelving and 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, putting my hands on my hips. “I don’t like how she changed when we asked for help.”
“I honestly couldn’t tell you,” Darren replied. “All I know is that she has 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,” Benji said, waving me off. “Come on, Darren, 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,” he read with pinched eyebrows, showing his confusion.
“Okay, then,” I sighed, taking the book out of Darren’s hands. “Guess we better start reading.”
That’s when the lights flickered.
“Whoa,” Benji said as his head darted around. “Is there a storm coming or something?”
“Maybe it’s haunted,” Violet said with a chuckle.
When the lights flickered again, they blinked as fast as butterfly's 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,” Benji 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.