Killer Frost (Mythos Academy #6)(20)
Metis looked at me, her green gaze somehow sympathetic and stern at the same time. “That you’re a Champion. That it’s your duty to do the best you can do and to keep going, to keep fighting, as hard as you can for as long as you can. Because that’s what Champions do.”
“Now you sound like Nike,” I muttered again.
She shrugged, as if she didn’t know what to say to my comparison. Sometimes, I forgot that Metis was a Champion herself, one who served Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom. So she definitely knew what she was talking about, especially since she’d been fighting Reapers ever since she was my age. Still, despite my own doubts, talking with her made me feel better, the way it always did. Or at least it gave me the strength to keep on going, to keep on fighting, for a little while longer. Just like she said. Just like she always did.
“Well,” I said. “You’re right about one thing.” “What’s that?”
I sighed, then got to my feet. “We might as well go on inside. Duty calls, and all that.”
Metis nodded and got to her feet as well. She started to head up the stairs, but I put my hand on her arm, stopping her.
“But promise me you’ll tell Nickamedes how you feel,” I said. “No matter what happens. My mom would want that. Because you deserve to be happy, and so does he.”
I grinned. “Even if he always gets way too grumpy when I’m late for work.”
Metis laughed, her face a little lighter. She nodded and looped her arm through mine. Together, we went up the steps and headed into the library.
Metis led me through the library, through the door in the wall, and down the stairs to the basement. We moved past the stacks to find Nickamedes and Linus standing at the conference table we’d all gathered around yesterday.
Only now, the table was covered with artifacts.
The shield of Ares, the spear of Sekhmet, the diamond rings of Aphrodite. They were the same artifacts that were in the photos Linus had given me yesterday, the same artifacts I’d seen and touched earlier today at the airport. Weapons, jewelry, armor, garments, and other miscellaneous objects. All just sitting there, glinting dully underneath the lights, and looking perfectly innocent, perfectly ordinary, and not at all like the powerful objects they really were.
Linus and Nickamedes stopped their conversation and turned at the sound of our soft footsteps on the marble floor.
Nickamedes glanced at his watch, then arched his black eyebrows at me.
I sighed. “I know, I know. You were expecting me here ten minutes ago.”
The librarian sniffed. “More like fifteen, actually. Really, Gwendolyn. This is no time to dawdle. And Aurora, I expected you to hurry her along, at the very least.”
“Oh, it’s not Metis’s fault,” I said in a snarky tone. “She couldn’t wait to come down here and see you, Nickamedes.”
His eyebrows drew together, and he looked at Metis in confusion.
“What Gwen means is that I couldn’t wait for her to get started,” she said in a smooth voice. “The sooner she identifies the artifact, the sooner we can figure out what the Reapers want with it and how to keep it safe from them.”
It was a nice save, and I was the only one who noticed the faint blush that stained her bronze cheeks. Still, I wasn’t about to let her get off that easy. I nudged Metis with my shoulder, but she shook her head and moved away from me, going to stand next to Nickamedes.
“Tell him,” I mouthed. “Tell him now.”
She shook her head at me again. Linus looked back and forth between the two of us, obviously wondering what was going on, but he didn’t comment on it.
Nickamedes shuffled over to the far end of the table, his cane tap-tap-tapping on the floor again. He picked up a thick notebook and an ink pen, then pulled out a chair and sat down.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
He peered up at me, his blue eyes bright with excitement. “Well, since you’re going to be using your magic to flash on the artifacts, I thought it would be an efficient use of time and resources to have you describe their properties to me in detail. It will save me a great deal of time researching them later on if you can tell me about them and what they do now.”
I eyed him. “That sounds suspiciously like research to me. And I’m not working today, remember? Um, hello, I battled a group of Reapers. I think I’ve been helpful enough for one day. For several days, actually.”
Nickamedes sat up straight in his chair and gave me a stern look that I knew all too well. “A librarian’s work is never done. You should know that by now, Gwendolyn.”
I rolled my eyes, but I knew there was nothing I could do but go along with him and his obsessive need to catalog every single thing in the entire freaking library. And not just because I still felt guilty that he had been poisoned instead of me. Once Nickamedes sank his teeth into something, he wouldn’t let go of it.
“Fine,” I muttered. “But this totally gets me out of one of my shifts this week.”
Nickamedes raised his eyes heavenward, as if asking all the gods and goddesses above for patience to deal with the likes of me. “Oh, very well. But just one.”
“Anytime you’re ready, Miss Frost,” Linus chimed in. I took off my jacket and scarf, pushed up the sleeves
of my sweater, and got to work. Once again, I went down the two rows on the table, picking up and touching each one of the artifacts in turn. I started with the weapons I’d already examined at the airport, doublechecking to see if I might have missed anything, but the vibes I got off them were the same as before. Images of battles, warriors, and blood everywhere. Not the most wonderful memories, but sadly, nothing that I hadn’t felt before with my psychometry or experienced in real life, given all the fights I’d been in recently. Vic, on the other hand, would have enjoyed seeing and feeling all of the memories, all of the harsh victories and brutal defeats. The sword would have probably demanded that I get him some popcorn and a giant soda, so he could experience a right proper show, as he would put it.