I grabbed a pen and a piece of paper, scribbled down my login and password, and handed it to Daphne. "Here. Start searching through the catalog of the library's books. Look for anything with the words Plants and Poison in the title. That's what the Reaper was looking at, and I'm willing to bet that's where he got the idea for whatever poison he used."
She took the slip of paper from me. "Got it. It shouldn't be too hard for me to figure out a search program to make things go a little quicker."
"You are our resident computer genius," Carson said.
Daphne grinned. "Don't you know it, babe."
She leaned over and planted a loud, smacking kiss on his cheek, then came around the counter, dragged a stool over to the nearest computer, and hopped up onto it. A moment later, she started typing, a furious shower of pink sparks exploding out of her fingertips with every key she hit.
"And us?" Carson asked. "What do you want the three of us to do?"
"Once Daphne's compiled the list, we can all spread out and start grabbing the books off the shelves," I said. "We'll bring the books back here to the center of the library, look at them, and see if any of them match the book I saw the Reaper staring at. Hopefully, once we find the book, we'll find the poison he used too - and the antidote."
The library was quiet as we worked. Coach Ajax and the Protectorate guards were still clustered around Metis and Nickamedes, so nobody paid us any attention. They probably thought we were wasting our time. Maybe we were, but it was the only thing I could think of to do to help the librarian. I'd worked in the Library of Antiquities for months now. Surely, all those long hours of finding reference materials, shelving books, and dusting artifact cases had to amount to something - and I was hoping that something would be enough to save Nickamedes.
It only took Daphne about ten minutes to compile a list of all of the books with the words Plants and Poison in the title. Unfortunately, there were dozens of them, spread out all over the first floor. I tore Daphne's list into five sections and handed everyone a piece. We each grabbed a metal cart and headed into the stacks.
I raced from one aisle to the next, grabbing all of the books on my list and dumping them onto my cart. When my cart was full, I pushed it back to the center of the library. Carson and Oliver were already there, standing next to a study table covered with books. The guys were flipping through the books one by one and then tossing them aside when it became clear they weren't what we were looking for. Nickamedes would have pitched a fit if he saw the way the guys were casually throwing the books onto the next closest study table - and the fact that more than a few were missing the mark and falling to the floor. But the books would recover from being tossed around a little - the librarian might not if we didn't figure out which poison the Reaper had used.
"Remember," I said. "Look for any red highlights and dog-eared pages. That's what I saw in Jason's book."
Carson and Oliver nodded and went back to flipping through the books and tossing them aside. I added my books to the pile they'd made and pushed the empty cart back into the stacks.
Up and down, and back and forth, I raced through the library as fast as I could. Every once in a while, I caught sight of Daphne doing the same thing, her long, blond ponytail swishing from side to side, or Alexei smoothly moving from one aisle to the next, his dark brown hair glinting under the library lights. My friends waved at me, but none of us stopped working - not even for a second.
There was no time for that - not when Nickamedes's life depended on us finding an answer.
I don't know how long I moved through the stacks, grabbing book after book after book. I focused on each of them a moment, but they were only reference materials. Nobody had any real emotional attachment to them, which meant that I didn't get any big flashes off them with my psychometry. All I saw were the hundreds of kids who had touched the volumes over the years, and all I experienced was their supreme boredom, weariness, and frustration from using the books to finish their homework.
Of course, all of those flickers of weariness and frustration didn't make me feel any better, and my movements became more hurried, awkward, and frantic as my fear and worry for Nickamedes grew. But there was nothing I could do but keep moving, keep grabbing books, and keep flashing on them.
Finally, I got down to the last book on my part of the list. I found it easily enough and grabbed it off the shelf -
An image of the Reaper boy popped into my mind.
I was so surprised that I almost dropped the book, but I managed to cradle it to my chest. I closed my eyes and concentrated, and I saw the same thing that I had before - Jason leaning over the book at one of the study tables. This was it. This was the book he'd been looking at.
I opened my eyes and stared down at the title on the brown cover: Healing, Medicinal, and Poisonous Properties of Mythological Plants.
My fingers trembling, I opened the book and flipped through the pages until I came to the passage that Jason had highlighted in red:
Serket sap is an evergreen plant that is known in the mythological world for its intense poisonous properties. It is named after the
Egyptian goddess who is associated with poisons. Serket sap can be administered in a variety of ways, including boiling it to create a dark green liquid, but the most popular method involves drying the plant's leaves and roots, then grinding them up into a fine white powder in order to more easily use it . . .
I stared at the left page and the picture of the small green plant, which resembled a miniature pine tree with both leaves and needles sprouting from its thin brown trunk. It looked harmless, but according to this description, it was anything but. I snapped the book shut, left the cart where it was, and ran back to the study tables.
By this point, even more of the Protectorate guards had gathered in the library, but I pushed past them to where Metis was still standing beside Nickamedes.
"Here," I said, thrusting the book into her hands. "This is what they used to poison Nickamedes - Serket sap."
Metis looked at me, her green eyes sharp. "Are you sure?"
I nodded. "This is the book I saw the Reaper boy looking at. This is the poison he used. It has to be. Look at this page in the middle."
Metis opened the book to the appropriate page, and I pointed to the drawing and highlighted passage. My fingers brushed hers, and my psychometry kicked in, letting me feel Metis's worry for Nickamedes - and something else I never would have guessed.
I froze, wondering if I was imagining things, but the emotions washed over me again, even stronger than before. Metis's cold, agonizing dread that she wouldn't be able to save Nickamedes mixed with a warm, soft, fizzy feeling that could only mean one thing - love.