“You two be good,” I murmured. “I’ve got a lot to do tonight.”
Vic gave me a knowing look, but he didn’t say anything. Not in front of Alexei, anyway, although the sword had practically talked my ear off whenever we’d been alone today, trying to get me to change my mind. Still, in the end, Vic might not like it, but he was going along with my plan. Something I was so grateful for— more than the sword probably realized.
I’d barely settled myself at the counter and logged on to one of the computers when sharp footsteps sounded on the marble floor, heading in my direction. I looked past the monitor to find Linus striding down the main aisle, followed by Inari and Aiko.
“Miss Frost, there you are,” Linus said, striding up to the counter and stopping directly on the other side from me. “I’m glad I found you. I wanted to give you an update.”
“And what would that be?” I sniped.
He stared at me, his face hardening at my snarky tone. Well, too bad. He was going to be a lot more pissed at me before this was over.
“The Protectorate guards are still out searching for your grandmother,” he said.
For a moment, my heart lifted because it sounded like there was an and coming. Something like and we found her alive and well and she’s on her way back to the academy right now. Maybe I wouldn’t have to go through with my plan after all . . .
“And, unfortunately, we haven’t been able to find where the Reapers are keeping her,” Linus finished.
And just like that, my heart plummeted back down into my stomach and kept right on dropping, like an elevator sliding out of control.
“Of course you haven’t.” I couldn’t keep the bitterness out of my voice. “And you won’t.”
But I will, I silently vowed. I’d already put my plan into motion, and I was moving on to the second stage of my scheme as soon as Linus left.
“I really am sorry about this, Miss Frost,” he said. “And I think you understand that, underneath all the attitude.”
“Maybe,” I snarked back. “But that doesn’t make it any easier on me. And especially not on my grandma, now, does it? If you have things your way, attitude will be the only thing I have left.”
My gaze shot past him to the candle, which was sitting in the same case in the same spot as yesterday. None of the students sitting at the study tables or the professors standing in line at the coffee cart paid any attention to the candle, but that didn’t mean some of them weren’t Reapers, secretly trying to figure out how to get their hands on the artifact, should I not come through for Vivian.
“Well, that, and the great view,” I snarked again. Linus turned to the side to see what I was staring at.
When he realized I was looking at the candle, his own eyes narrowed, and a spark of anger shimmered in his gaze. He whirled back around and stepped even closer to the counter, leaning down over it so that his face was level with mine.
“I know you’re angry and upset,” he said. “But I also know how you think, Miss Frost.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means you are what I am kindly going to refer to as a loose cannon, the sort of person who thinks the rules do not apply to her, just like your mother was before you,” Linus said.
My hands curled into fists on top of the counter. “If you say one more word about my mom, I will knock your teeth out of your mouth, head of the Protectorate or not.”
A rustle sounded behind me. I glanced over my shoulder. Alexei had slid off his stool and was standing a few feet off to my right. I wondered whose side he would be on if I really did attack Linus. It saddened me to realize that I wasn’t sure it would be mine. On the other side of the counter, Inari and Aiko drifted a little closer to Linus, clearly ready to protect his back.
“Fair enough,” Linus said. “But let me be crystal clear, Miss Frost. Should you make any sort of attempt to interfere with the Protectorate guards watching over the candle, should you be foolish enough to make an attempt to actually steal the candle yourself and take it to the Reapers to trade it for your grandmother, then I will throw you in the academy prison quicker than you can blink. And you will stay there until I decide otherwise. Nike’s Champion, or not.”
He stared at me, his gaze cold and hard, and I glared right back at him. I knew he meant every word he said, but I didn’t care. I was going to do whatever it took to save Grandma Frost. Truth be told, winding up in the academy prison would probably be a far better fate than what the Reapers had in store for me. But those were the risks I had to take.
“Are we clear, Miss Frost?” Linus’s tone had become as angry and frosty as mine.
“Oh yeah,” I snapped. “I get it. Message received. Loud and clear. Now, can you leave? I’ve got work to do.”
Linus gave me one more angry, suspicious stare before he pivoted on his heel and strode away from the checkout counter. He walked over to the case and stared down at the candle. Then, he glanced over his shoulder and watched me watch him. Linus pivoted on his heel again and stepped over to the coffee cart where Raven was mixing up frappes and espressos for the professors in line. Linus pulled Raven aside and started speaking to her in a low voice, no doubt telling her to keep an eye on me in case I went anywhere near Sol’s candle. I rolled my eyes. No doubt that would be another one of her odd jobs now.
“Well, that went well,” Vic piped up from his spot below the checkout counter.
Nyx yipped her agreement. I arched my eyebrow at the sword, but I didn’t respond to his sarcasm.
A hand dropped lightly onto my shoulder, and I looked up to find Alexei standing beside me.
“He’s just trying to help,” Alexei said.
I opened my mouth to let loose another snarky retort, but the sympathetic look on his face made me hold back my angry words. Instead, I sighed.
“I know,” I said. “I know he’s trying to help. That’s what makes this even harder. We’re all trying to do the right thing, and none of us seems to be on the same side. Logan told me that once, and it’s more true now than ever before.”
Alexei frowned at my cryptic words, but I didn’t clue him in to their real meaning. He’d find out soon enough.
When I stole Sol’s candle from the Library of Antiquities.
Chapter 13
For the next hour, I went about all my usual chores, as though everything were fine, as if this was a typical night in the library. Shelving books. Helping other students find reference materials for their homework assignments. Picking up odd sheets of paper, pencil stubs, and other trash that the kids left behind in the stacks.