I smiled at my bad joke, but Alexei just looked at me. He stared at me a long, long time. Finally, his gaze went back to Vic, and I tightened my fingers around the sword. If Alexei came at me, I'd only have one chance. Despite what I'd said earlier, I wasn't going to fight him. He was right. I wouldn't win. Instead, I'd shove past him and then hope I could run fast enough to get through the gate and that Morgan brought her car around before he caught up with me.
I wasn't too optimistic about my chances, though. I'd seen Alexei fight in the gym and then against the Reapers in the library, so I knew exactly how quick and deadly he was. Still, I had to try.
Just when I thought he was going to attack me after all, the Bogatyr sighed. "Very well. We'll go to the coliseum and see if we can find the book. But if we can't or it turns out to be a dead end, we are coming straight back here. Understand?"
I nodded. "Thank you, Alexei."
He grunted, but he didn't say anything else.
"Let's go," I said, sliding Vic back into his scabbard. "Because I don't think we have any time to waste."
Chapter 22
A beep sounded, and a red Aston Martin stopped on the street outside the gate. Morgan rolled down her window and waved her hand at us.
Alexei stepped over to the gate and slipped through the iron bars, but I paused and looked up at the sphinxes. They were still staring down at their feet and refusing to look at me, but the sphinxes' faces were furrowed, and I sensed the same sort of tension and wary watchfulness in them that I had the gryphons at the library. They knew something was up, just like I did. I only hoped I could figure out what was going on in time to stop it-and Vivian-for good.
"Come on, Gwen!" Morgan yelled. "This was your bright idea, so let's go!"
I slipped through a gap in the bars, jogged across the street, and slid into the passenger's seat. Alexei had already gotten into the back. As soon as I closed the door, Morgan hit the gas, zooming away from the curb much faster than was safe and throwing me back against the seat.
"This is your car?" I asked.
"What?" she said, an edge in her voice. "Girls can't have kick-ass sports cars?"
"Of course girls can have kick-ass sports cars," I said. "I just didn't think you would."
"What kind of car did you think I would have?"
"I don't know," I muttered, buckling my seat belt and gripping the door handle. "Something . . . slower."
Morgan just laughed.
Despite the Valkyrie's need for speed, we made it to the Crius Coliseum in one piece. While Morgan parked her car, Alexei and I headed inside the museum.
An enormous, circular room served as the center of the coliseum, with hallways and exhibit areas branching off the main space. Towering pillars made out of white marble gave the museum its grand, ancient, coliseum-like feel, while bits of gold, silver, and bronze glinted on the walls before spreading up to cover the ceiling. Jewelry, pottery, clothing, weapons, and armor filled the exhibit area, all protected and preserved by artifact cases similar to those in the Library of Antiquities. Visitors strolled through the coliseum, peering at the artifacts and browsing through the expensive replicas that were for sale in the gift shop, while the museum staff, all dressed in long, white togas, helped folks with whatever they needed.
Everything was perfectly normal, but the more I looked around, the more the coliseum and everything in it began to change. The faint shadows darkened, until they resembled thin, bony fingers crawling along the floor and walls. Screams echoed in my head, and the coppery stench of blood made me gag. Suddenly, Reapers swarmed over everything, their swords flashing a sinister silver as they arced up and then rammed into the backs of the panicked students who were trying to get away from them-
"Gwen? Is something wrong?" Alexei asked.
I shook my head, and the phantom sights, sounds, and smells disappeared back into the bottom of my mind with the rest of the horrible memories I'd rather forget. "Just remembering the last time I was here."
"During the Reaper attack?"
I nodded.
Alexei didn't say anything else, but he gave me a sympathetic look. He knew all the awful things that had happened here as well as I did-and all the awful things my friends and I had done just to survive that day.
"Come on," I said, my voice harsh and raw with emotion. "We need to find out where the book is."
The Great Transformations book wasn't listed in any of the exhibit brochures, so we asked one of the staff members, and he told us to look in the library at the very back of the coliseum. Morgan caught up with Alexei and me, and the three of us headed in that direction. Since it was Saturday, the coliseum was crowded, with people going from room to room and case to case, looking at all the treasures of the mythological world.
Everyone seemed to be completely focused on what they were doing, but a shiver swept through me all the same. I felt that if I could only turn my head quickly enough, I'd realize everyone was staring at me, even though no one paid any real attention to me. I eased my hand inside my messenger bag and curled my fingers around Vic's hilt. The feel of the smooth metal against my palm only made me that much more tense, as if I might have to draw the sword and start fighting at any second.
"What's wrong?" Morgan asked, noticing me clutching the sword.
I made myself pull my hand away from Vic. "I'm not sure. I just have a bad feeling about this. Something's not right. Let's find the book, see what it says, and get out of here."
We finally reached the library and stepped inside. It was much, much smaller than the Library of Antiquities, but it was still impressive. The library was made out of the same white marble as the rest of the coliseum, and the roof was one large skylight, making the entire room bright, sunny, and warm even in the middle of winter. Floor-to-ceiling shelves took up two of the walls, while a third was filled with old, yellowed maps that chronicled great mythological battles and campaigns throughout the centuries. Normally, I would have lingered in here, going from shelf to shelf and map to map until I'd seen everything, but there wasn't time.
I put my messenger bag down on one of the tables, then looked at the slip of paper the staff member had given me. "According to this, the book is in section G."
It took us a few minutes to find the appropriate shelf and a few more still to find the actual book, but there it was, sitting on the shelf right where it was supposed to be: Great Transformations Through the Ages and How They Were Achieved: Volume II.
Instead of immediately reaching for the book, I frowned.