Dark Frost (Mythos Academy #3)(26)
Author: Jennifer Estep

Her ear, the one with the ragged V in it, twitched. I took that as a yes. I stared at the wolf, wondering exactly what kind of name you gave to a mythological creature. Somehow I didn’t think Fido or Fluffy would cut it.

"How about Nott?" I finally said, remembering a name from one of my myth-history books. "She’s the Norse goddess of the night, and your fur makes you look all dark, shadowy, and mysterious."

The wolf sat there a second, then her face split into a happy grin, and her tongue lolled out of the side of her mouth. It was the same rusty red as her eyes were, instead of the bright crimson I remembered it being.

"Nott, it is," I said.

The wolf leaned forward and licked me on the cheek. I laughed and playfully pushed her head away, before getting to my feet and heading out.

The first thing I did was go over to the dining hall, grab a tray, and pile it high with every single meat dish on the dinner menu. Tonight’s offerings included seared lamb chops, grilled filet mignon, and mounds of spaghetti topped with spicy veal meatballs. I know, I know, you aren’t supposed to give animals people food. But Nott was a mythological creature, one that could actually eat people. So I figured the meat would be okay. Besides, it was the best I could do tonight.

The chef who packed my food into a brown paper bag looked at me a little strangely, apparently wondering how much I thought I could eat at one time, but I gave him a bland smile. I just hoped Nott liked veal better than I did. Yucko.

I’d been so busy with the wolf that I’d lost track of time, and I had to hustle to make it over to the Library of Antiquities for my shift. The library sat at the head of the upper quad, the top point in the star formation, and dwarfed all the other buildings. It just had the most of everything-the most windows, the most balconies, the most towers.

The most statues.

According to Metis’s lecture, more statues could be found on the library than on any other building on campus. Mythological creatures covered the structure, from the bottom, open-air balcony that wrapped all the way around the building to the spear-like points on the towers on the seventh and topmost floor. My steps slowed, and I stopped at the bottom of the library stairs, staring at the two gryphons perched on either side.

The statues looked the same as they did in my myth-history book. Eagle heads, lion bodies, killer claws, curved beaks. They loomed over me, their outlines sharp and crisp against the gray, gloomy, winter sky, their lidless eyes locked onto me, tracking my steps.

I flashed back to the image of my mom that I’d seen when I’d picked up her diary, of how she’d been sitting on the library steps in between the two gryphons. I wondered what my mom had thought of the statues-and if she’d been as creeped out by them as I was. Even more than the sphinxes who guarded the gates, it always seemed to me that the gryphons were seconds away from coming to life, shaking off their stone shells, and ripping me into bloody pieces.

I pushed that disturbing thought away and headed up the stairs, through a door, and down a hallway before stepping inside a pair of open double doors. An aisle unrolled like a marble carpet down the center of the library, before spreading out into an open space that featured tables where students could sit and study, as well as the glassed-in offices of the librarians.

Instead of going down the aisle to my usual post behind the checkout counter, I turned and walked back into the stacks until I came to a certain spot. Once, a glass case had stood here, the one that I’d grabbed Vic out of during my desperate fight to the death with Jasmine. Of course, the case was long gone, since the evil Valkyrie had smashed it to pieces, but that wasn’t what I was here to see anyway.

No, I was here to visit a goddess.

I tilted my head up and stared at a figure above me. A balcony wrapped all the way around the second floor of the library, and slender columns separated statues of all the gods and goddesses from all the cultures of the world. Greek gods like Psyche and Persephone. Native American deities like Coyote and Badger. Celtic gods like Balor and Branwen. All the members of the Pantheon could be seen, except for a single empty spot. That’s where the statue of Loki would have stood, but there were no statues of the Norse god of chaos anywhere on the Mythos campus. Not hard to figure out why, since the evil god had tried to take over the world and his Reapers of Chaos enjoyed killing warriors more than anything else.

I pulled my eyes away from the empty spot and stared up at the figure directly above me-Nike, the Greek goddess of victory. The goddess’s statue looked exactly like she did in real life. Hair falling past her shoulders, a toga-like gown flowing around her body, wings peeking up from behind her back. To me, the goddess was cold, beautiful, strong, and terrible all at the same time. That’s what I felt whenever I was in her presence-the raw power that rolled off her in fierce, frosty waves.

I supposed she seemed that way to me because Nike was the embodiment of victory, something that could be a bitter, bitter thing in the end. That’s how I felt about what had happened at the coliseum. Sure, my friends and I had survived-but other kids had died. I would never, ever forget that.

It had certainly been that way as well for the members of the Pantheon when they’d battled Loki. Sister had turned against sister, warrior against warrior, god against god, until the whole world had been on the brink of destruction. If Loki ever got free, that’s what would take place again-another long, bloody Chaos War. But that wasn’t going to happen, I vowed. Now that I knew where to look, now that I knew the Helheim Dagger was hidden in the library, I was determined to find it-no matter what.

"Well, in case you didn’t notice, it looks like I have a new, um, pet, for lack of a better word," I said. "You want to give me a clue about why Nott decided to track me down?"

The statue didn’t move, didn’t blink, didn’t twitch, didn’t do anything to indicate that Nike was in there somewhere-or that the goddess was actually listening to me in the first place. Still, saying hello to Nike and talking to her, even if she didn’t talk back, always made me feel a little better. Like maybe she really was up there on Mount Olympus or wherever the gods hung out these days, looking down and watching over me.

"I know, I know," I said. "You can’t really tell me anything because of the pact the gods made not to interfere with mortal affairs. Still, if you ever wanted to slip me a clue on the sly, I’d be more than happy to listen."

The statue didn’t move, but for a moment, it seemed like Nike’s lips curved up into a smile. Well, I supposed there were worse things than amusing a goddess.

I left the statue behind, stepped out of the stacks, and headed for the checkout counter. The main space in the Library of Antiquities was a huge room with a dome-shaped ceiling that arched all the way up to the top of the seventh floor. It always seemed to me like the library was taller than that, though, like it just kept going up and up and up.