Crimson Frost (Mythos Academy #4)(50)
Author: Jennifer Estep

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?

Well, I could walk, but it would take forever-and I just didn’t have that kind of time. Not to stop whatever Vivian and the Reapers had already put into motion. No, I needed a car. If Oliver had been here, I would have just asked him to take me in his SUV, but he was at the concert hall with Logan and the rest of my friends. I could call my Grandma Frost to come pick me up, but she was probably busy with her fortune-telling clients. Plus, I didn’t know how long it would take for her to come get me, and I needed to get to the coliseum as soon as possible.

But those were my only options. It wasn’t like I could just ask some random kid in the library to drop what he was doing and give me a ride. He’d laugh in my face-or worse, pull his weapon on me. Still, I was desperate enough to consider it, and I gazed at first one student, then another, trying to find someone who might be slightly sympathetic-or at least not outright hate me.

I noticed a green spark of magic out of the corner of my eye, and I looked to the left. A few more sparks shot up into the air as Morgan McDougall turned the page in the book she was reading. Morgan wasn’t my enemy, but she wasn’t quite my friend either. Still, she had helped me in the past, and she’d stuck up for me in gym class yesterday.

I hopped off my stool, went around the checkout counter, and walked over to Morgan. The Valkyrie looked up from her book.

"Do you have a car?" I asked. "Please, please, please, tell me you have a car."

"Of course, I have a car." Morgan’s hazel eyes narrowed in suspicion, but I could hear the interest in her voice. She wanted to know what I was up to. "Why do you ask?"

I grinned at her. "How would you like to go on a little field trip?"

"No," Alexei said. "Absolutely not. Are you out of your mind?"

"Were you not listening during my trial?" I said. "Because if you were, you would know that the answer to that question is almost always yes."

Alexei and I were standing by the main academy gate just below the two sphinxes perched on the wall. After I’d told Morgan what I wanted and she agreed to help me, I’d raced out of the library, gone back to my room, and grabbed a few things I thought I might need-like Vic. I’d told the sword what I’d discovered in the library, and his purplish eye had brightened.

"Excellent!" Vic had said. "Now that you’re on the trail of the Reaper girl, let’s get on with the business of finally killing her."

"You got it."

After I’d grabbed my things, I’d jogged down to the main gate to wait for Morgan to get her car from the lot where she parked it over in Cypress Mountain.

The only problem was that Alexei had come with me.

He’d followed me from my dorm room all the way down to the gate. Now, he was standing in front of me, a grim expression on his face.

"You can’t leave campus, Gwen," he said. "The Protectorate gave me strict instructions. I’m supposed to make sure that you stay at the academy-no matter what."

"You can try," I said in a quiet voice. "I don’t want to fight you, Alexei, but I will if I have to."

He scoffed at that. "Do you really think you can beat me, Gwen? I’ve been training for years. And not just regular warrior training-Protectorate training. The most physical, intense combat training a warrior can go through. I’ve seen you fight in the gym. You’re not bad, but you’re not as good as me. We both know it."

I did know that, but that still didn’t stop me from putting down my bag, drawing Vic out of his scabbard, and holding the sword up in an attack position. Alexei’s gaze dropped to his backpack, which was on the ground at his feet. The hilts of two swords stuck out of the top like usual, but he didn’t reach for the weapons-yet.

"I know you’re better than me," I said. "Stronger, tougher, more experienced as a warrior, but I’ll still try my best. Because this is about stopping Vivian, about stopping the Reapers and whatever they have planned. This is about saving people, Alexei. That’s what warriors are supposed to do-that’s what we’re supposed to do."

Alexei eyed my sword, and Vic glared right back at him.

"Get out of our way, Bogatyr," Vic snapped. "Gwen is Nike’s rightful Champion, and you know it. If she says this is important, then it’s important. You should be helping her-not standing there like a fool worrying about the bloody rules."

Trust Vic to make following the rules sound like the lamest thing ever. Still, the sword had a point. Well, another one besides the actual sharp tip at the end of his blade. Sometimes at Mythos, you had to bend the rules to protect the people you cared about. I just hoped I could convince Alexei of that.

"Please, Alexei," I said. "This is important. I know it is. Vivian and the rest of the Reapers have something planned-something bad. But I can stop them. I just have to figure out what’s inside that book the Reaper stole. Why the Reaper took that first, even before snatching the jewels. As soon as I know that, I’ll call Metis, and you can call Sergei. I’ll surrender peacefully then. After that, well, I’m sure Linus will throw me into the academy prison-probably for good-and you’ll never have to see me again. At least, not until my execution."