Crimson Frost

I opened my eyes and ran my fingers back and forth across the case, touching every inch of it, but I didn't get any more flashes. No memories, no vibes, nothing.

"What are you doing?" Alexei asked.

"Using my psychometry," I said. "But it's not telling me anything new. Not yet, anyway."

I was disappointed, but I wasn't ready to admit defeat just yet. Since the case wasn't giving me any vibes, I branched out and searched the rest of the aisle. I got down on my hands and knees and ran my fingers over the marble floor around the entire area. Once again, I got the sense of all the students who had walked by this spot, their shoes slapping and scuffing against the floor, but nothing to do with the Reapers.

Getting desperate, I got down on my belly and looked underneath the bookshelf behind the case. Something long and black was lying there. I squinted, trying to make out what it was, and then I realized that it was the black velvet stand that had been in the case. The one I'd scooted underneath the shelf when I'd noticed Inari watching me.

I grabbed the stand and pulled it out from underneath the shelf. Then, I sat on the floor and ran my hands all over the soft, now dusty surface.

Nothing-once again, I saw and felt nothing important. Just the Reaper lifting up the stand and grabbing the box and jewelry. Disgusted, I put the stand inside the case, then got back down on the floor and peered under the shelf again.

But there was nothing else there, except for a couple of forgotten pens and a wad of dust bunnies that made my nose itch. I sighed, but I still wasn't ready to give up, so I slithered across the floor to the shelf on the other side of the aisle and looked under it as well. More pens and more dust bunnies, along with a shriveled up piece of gum. Yucko.

I'd just started to turn away when I noticed a small, white piece of paper lying on the floor back in the shadows.

My eyes narrowed, and I shoved my shoulder underneath the case and reached back as far as I could. It took me a few seconds, but I managed to snag the paper and pull it out into the light.

"What's that?" Alexei said. "Did you find something?"

"Maybe," I murmured, getting to my feet.

I flipped over the paper and realized that it was an ID card that had been inside the case. I'd thought I'd seen something white flutter to the floor when the Reaper had smashed the glass. The Reaper must have accidentally kicked it under the shelf or maybe I had when I'd chased after him. I waited a few seconds, but I didn't get any big vibes off the card, so I looked at the information on it.

Apate's Keepsake Jewels. In addition to their obvious beauty, each piece in Apate's jewelry collection is rumored to be imbued with the goddess's deceptive power. In fact, each individual gemstone in the pieces supposedly has a different magical property. For example, the emeralds are believed to have a hypnotizing effect, while the topaz can cause hallucinations. However, the rubies are thought to be the most powerful and have a variety of magic attached to them, everything from letting people deceive others to even overcoming a person's mind and compelling him or her to act against his or her own free will . . .

So I'd been right about the box and how Vivian had used the ruby chips on it to fool the Maat asp. But the knowledge didn't make me feel better-if anything, it only made my worry grow. Because the only jewelry Vivian had been wearing had been her Janus ring. So what had happened to the box and the rest of the jewelry? What were the Reapers planning to use the other gems for?

"What's that?" Alexei asked again. "Have you found something?"

I hesitated. It was one thing to have the other warrior follow me around-it was another to trust him. Alexei seemed like an okay guy, and Oliver liked him. Then again, I'd liked Preston Ashton and look how well that had turned out.

Oh, I didn't think Alexei was a Reaper. Vivian hadn't looked to him for help during the trial, and I hadn't gotten any strange vibes off him the past few days. Plus, he hadn't acted like a Reaper would have. He hadn't tried to cozy up to me and be my friend, in anticipation of stabbing me in the back later. But I'd been fooled before, and there was still a small chance that he was one of the bad guys. One way to find out.

"Give me your hand," I said.

"What? Why?"

"If you want to know what I'm doing, give me your hand," I repeated.

Alexei looked at me, suspicion in his hazel eyes. For a moment, I thought he wasn't going to do it, that he really might be a Reaper after all, but he finally held out his hand.

I wrapped my fingers around his and closed my eyes. Images immediately filled my mind, flashing by one after another, like a home movie cranked up to high speed. I saw Alexei growing up over the years, in school, at home, even in the gym learning how to fight. I saw him battling Reapers, a sword in either hand, and I felt how smooth his movements were as he flowed from one attack position to the next. Fighting really just was a complicated dance to the Bogatyr, a series of steps to be mastered before striking that final, fatal blow. I even saw the spark at the very center of his being-a pale golden spark full of quiet pride and honor.

All the while I sorted through the memories, looking for any hint that he might be a Reaper. But I didn't sense anything like that-just Alexei's determination to become the best warrior he could be and to follow in his dad's footsteps in the Protectorate. They were the same feelings that Logan had about those things.

Finally, an image of Oliver popped into my mind, and I felt what Alexei did whenever he looked at the Spartan-that warm, soft, fizzy feeling that seemed to make everything else worthwhile. That special emotion that made the golden spark of his soul brighten . . .

I opened my eyes and dropped his hand. He wasn't a Reaper, but I had learned something new about the Russian warrior-just how much he cared about Oliver.

"What was that all about?" Alexei said, more suspicion filling his face. "Did you just use your magic on me?"

"Yes, and you passed," I said. "Now look at this."

I showed Alexei the card, then told him about the ruby chips I'd seen on Vivian's ring. He read the information and frowned.

"But Vivian has been in Protectorate custody for weeks now," he said, echoing my suspicions. "Before any of these things were stolen. There's no way she could have been one of the Reapers who broke into the library. She's been closely watched, and as far as I know, the only people she's had any contact with are senior members of the Protectorate."

"Who?" I asked. "Who exactly has Vivian been in contact with?"

Alexei shrugged. "All the members of the Protectorate who are here for your trial. Linus, Inari, Agrona, my father. Why do you ask?"

Because that means one of them is a Reaper. The only way Vivian could have gotten her hands on the ruby chips was for the Reaper who had stolen the box to have given them to her. I could almost see the wheels turning in Alexei's mind as he thought about everything, but I didn't tell him my suspicions. I didn't know if he would believe me, especially since his dad was one of the people who'd seen Vivian-one of the people who might be a Reaper.

I slid the card into my jeans pocket. I didn't know that it was enough to prove Vivian's guilt, but it was a start.

Energized by my discovery, I continued my search. I went over the case again, but I didn't get any new vibes off it so I moved on to the bookcase, running my hands up and down the shelves and then over every single one of the books lined up on them. I didn't get any big flashes off the shelves, just the sense of students grabbing the volumes off them. The same thing went for the books. They were just reference books, after all, and no one had any big emotional attachment to them, other than needing the info inside in order to finish their homework.

I was just about to stop looking, when my fingers brushed against a book directly above the artifact case, and an image of the Reaper's gloved hand touching it filled my mind.

I froze, wondering if I'd only imagined the image, but I skimmed my fingers over the book, and the same memory popped into my head. I focused on the image, going deeper into the memory, and replaying it over and over again. There was nothing particularly sinister about the Reaper reaching for the book, but I felt there was something more to the image, something I was missing, so I stood there and kept concentrating, focusing on every little thing my magic could show me.

It took me a few seconds to realize that the Reaper had reached for the bookshelf first-before he'd even glanced at the artifact case.

I ran my fingers over the other books. The images, the memories, were the same. The Reaper standing here and going from book to book to book, the warrior's gloved fingers skimming over each volume, trying to find the one he wanted.

I frowned. Why would the Reaper rifle through the books? Why not go for the box and jewelry first? Unless the gems weren't the only things the Reaper had taken-and stealing them wasn't nearly as important as finding the right book was.

I touched all the books again, one after another, concentrating on the images that much more and going even deeper into the memories. Once again, I saw the Reaper rifling through all the volumes until the warrior found the one he was looking for. The Reaper slid the book into a pocket in his robe, hiding it from sight. It was only then that he looked at the case and started smashing the glass to get at the artifacts inside . . .

I let go of the memories, opened my eyes, and scanned the books. Now that I knew one was missing, it was easy for me to see the slight gap on the shelf. I turned my head to the side and read the titles of the other ones, hoping they would give me some clue as to what book the Reaper had taken and why.

Merging Bodies, Merging Minds. Soul Swap. Notable Transformations.

Notable Transformations . . . My gaze snagged on that title, and I found myself staring at the silver foil letters as if they meant something more. Transformations . . . That word kept echoing through my mind. I'd heard someone say something about a transformation not too long ago-

A memory erupted out of the dark of my mind, one from the night Loki had escaped.

Quickly . . . Get him on the roc before they blow the horn again. He's still weak, and we can't let them capture him. Not now. Not before he's ready for the transformation.

A Reaper had said that when Vivian and the others had been loading Loki onto the Black roc so she could escape with the evil god. I'd wondered then what the Reaper had been talking about. I still didn't know, but I was determined to find out.

Because I had a feeling that my life-and my friends' lives-depended on it.

Chapter 21

I dropped my hand from the books, then headed out of the stacks and toward the center of the library.

"Now what are you doing?" Alexei asked, an exasperated note creeping into his voice.

"Research."

I went around the checkout counter, entered my password into one of the library computers, and started searching through the catalog. Thanks to Nickamedes and his obsessive need to organize and label every single thing in the library, I was able to pull up a file of all the books that were supposed to be on the shelf above the ruined artifact case.

"No, no, no," I said, clicking the mouse and scrolling through the list. "No, no, no, there!"

Morgan McDougall and the other kids at the study tables were staring at me, since, you know, I was muttering to myself, but I didn't care because I finally saw a title that wasn't on the shelf with the others. Great Transformations Through the Ages and How They Were Achieved.

Okay, that was certainly a long and pretentious enough title, but it didn't really tell me anything-like what the book was actually about. I clicked a few more times, pulling up additional info about the book, but all that had been entered into the catalog was the call number and a few other minor details and key words.

Behind me, Alexei sighed and leaned back against the glass office complex. From the looks he was giving me, I knew he'd thought that I'd gone off the deep end, but I ignored him and continued my search. I was on to something. I could feel it in my bones.

I kept clicking, but I couldn't find any more information about the book. So I went to a different screen to see if there was another copy of it in the library. So many kids used some of the reference books that Nickamedes had multiple copies of many of the titles. But of course there wasn't another copy of Great Transformations, because that would have just been too freaking easy.

I fumed for a few seconds before pushing aside my frustration and getting back to work. I kept looking and clicking through the files. Apparently, the book was one of a kind, because not only couldn't I find another copy in the Library of Antiquities, I couldn't find another copy anywhere. Not in any of the libraries at the other Mythos academies in the United States and not in any of the ones located overseas either.

I'd thought there was nothing else I could do when I noticed a tab that said Related Books. I clicked on that. Once again, there wasn't much there to help me. Still, I clicked, scanned, and scrolled through all the pages on the off chance I'd find something.

And I finally did-Great Transformations Through the Ages and How They Were Achieved: Volume II.

That was the title of one of the Related Books, one that sounded like a newer, updated version of the book I was searching for. I clicked on that link, hoping the library might have a copy. No luck. There wasn't a copy in the Library of Antiquities, but I kept searching-and finally found one at the Crius Coliseum.

Excitement bubbled up in my chest. I logged off the computer, looked at the clock on the wall-and my heart sank. Just after one o'clock. The buses that went from Cypress Mountain down into the city only ran half a day on Saturdays in the winter, which meant I'd already missed the last bus. So how was I going to get from the academy, down the mountain, and over to the coliseum? ns class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true">