The Seasons Gloom

Coffee Stains and Yellow Pages

 After several excruciating hours of restless tossing and turning, I decided that I needed a change of scenery. To be somewhat productive, (and, to be completely honest, to feed my ever-yearning curiosity), I snuck out of Camp and walked the 5 miles to the Pomerian line. Basking in the glory of billions of glittering stars. At this point, Terminus almost expected me. He was waiting for me at the entrance to New Rome.

"And what exactly do you think you're doing here at twelve thirty in the morning? You have training tomorrow for your quest. And it's after curfew."

"I know, I know. Honestly, are you surprised?"

"... No."

"I couldn't sleep, and I figured that, at the very least, I could be productive. I'm headed to the library."

"I know you are. If you aren't up running that infirmary, you are in those dusty archives. You should really find a better place to spend the middle of the night"

He let me pass, politely ignoring my concealed dagger. It was a gift from my dad and could shift forms from a dagger to a Greek shortsword in seconds. I never go anywhere without it. I smiled and thanked Terminus, turning to walk the last half mile into the city.

I entered the library in New Rome and the elderly lady at the front desk asked for my ID. She looked a little pale, and probably needed sleep and fresh air, we had that in common at least. I pulled my ID out of my pocket and slid it across the large oak reception desk. I glanced around at the towering stacks of books and scrolls in countless languages and drank in the sense of peace that followed. Looking through these books gives me a deep feeling of- what's the word, I just had it- er not nostalgia but kinda like it... Oh, whatever, it doesn't matter anyway. You know what I mean.

The older woman at the desk handed back my card and requested to see my forearm. I had to get the SPQR brand my first week here. A radiant sun was burned into my skin and surrounding it was a lyre. Underneath my dad's symbol are two parallel lines, signifying two perilous and fabulous years here at camp.

I pulled back my left sleeve and extended my arm across the desk. She gently took my arm in her hands, brushing a few fingers across the brand. Her hands were calloused but warm. Apparently happy with what she saw, the woman hummed and let me into what could be considered my second home.

I scanned the shelves, nothing for the first few minutes caught my eye, nothing relevant anyway. There was a large volume of ancient healing incantations that I would love to get my hands on. I wandered listlessly from shelf to shelf, dancing from the history of Cumaean Lupines to ancient scrolls of Babylonian Horticulture. But nothing quite fit the bill of what I was looking for.

Come to think about it, the layout of the books had changed slightly. An entire section of the library was reversed. I took note of the way the sectional alphabetical order had been changed. "H E S ... AN... I M P O _ T _ R," the rest of the letters were in their correct alphabetical order. That was either a prank, or a warning. I took it with a grain of salt, but swore to scour the whole section for more clues later.

************

A soft gasp broke me from my thoughts. I looked up from 'L'Histoire de la Peste' to see Autumn, her mouth partially open, glancing down at me, from where I was sitting in a bean bag on the library floor. Just a few seconds later, Sky entered as well and let out a small shriek, "What the hell have you made of this room and yourself?" Her voice was so shrill, it stung my ears, making my head pound, sometimes that advanced hearing sucked. Autumn could only laugh. "Dude, look at yourself," she could barely control her giggling.  I looked at my surroundings, confused at their commotion. I realised that my collage of research strewn about the desks and chairs, and any available surface, probably looked like a tornado had blown through.

Bright yellow sticky notes with bold annotations were stuck to every book. I had 5 notebooks sitting on a desk with all my theories and any important findings neatly lettered into them. The 20 or so coffee cups I had downed were overflowing from the garbage can in the corner. A brilliant glow lit the space from above, where I had threaded beams of light in a cascade of photons. My hair had fallen from the bun it had been confined to hours before, and I could already feel the tension headache hitting me.

"Honey, you need rest and a long, hot bath,'' Autumn said. "You look like you haven't slept in days, and I don't think you have taken the time to eat breakfast."

"Not yet," I insisted. "I haven't found everything yet. Just give me an hour or so, I promise I'll be done by then."

"Oh no Juli, 'you are going and taking rest, letting the medical bay take care of you after you have freshened up,'" Autumn said, mocking the previous times I have said the exact same word to her.

"I swear I'll be done, I am not leaving until I ha-"

"Oh my gods of Olympus!" Cal entered the library, carrying what smelled like freshly baked cinnamon rolls. He skirted around the over-covered tables and stopped at my bean bag. He looked down at me with an amused smile, his eyebrows raised, and his eyes glittering. "Did a bomb go off in here, or did the explosion just finally escape your brain?" he said, a small laugh escaping his lips.

"Yes, yes, it's hilarious," I said in a tone dryer than the Mojave desert.

"Juli, you need to rest. You know it logically, I know you do. You are going to go and lay on a cott in the infirmary until I'm done cataloging this disaster. I will ask someone to clean up this... mess of yours." Cal gestured around towards the thousands of bright yellow books adorning the floor, desks, and bookshelves. "Then you are going to have a check up, and you will sleep for a full 18 hours. If you can't fall asleep, and I know you, you won't be able to, I don't think that that brain of yours ever stops working, you will be put in a magically induced coma. You need to rest, eat, drink water, and get some training in."

"Sky, I would ask you to please escort Miss sleep deprivation to the med bay."

I tried to give Cal one of my puppy faces, sticking my bottom lip out and scrunch-lifting my eyebrows, but he simply swatted it away. Not affected at all by my attempt to convince him.

"Praetor Orders."

"Fine. But your 'cataloging' had better include citing every single one of my sticky notes, putting all of them in my bag and bringing my stuff back to my bunk in the third cohort."

Sky held out a hand. I grasped it and she tugged me to a standing position."Juli, you reek of Coffee" I sniffed the air around me, definitely caffeine. Now that I had keyed into the scent, it was all I could smell. That certainly did not help my rising migraine. I tugged an air current free and dispersed the smell. "I don't smell don't smell like caffeine, that is just the air."

She gave me a look, "Which reeks of Coffee."

*****

My captors brought me to the medical bay and had me lay on one of the cotts, while they whispered quietly in the corner (not quietly enough, thank you Dad) about the mass amounts of books I had read in one sitting, worried about my mental stability, and wondered what I had learned.

I mentally reviewed the new information I had gained: Centuries of pandemics, their causes and how they were stopped, and their symptoms. Whole pantheons of minor gods and goddesses, most of which have beef with the major Olympians. Cures and treatment practices. Apollon-healing guides. Centuries-old prophecies about the death of gods and the fall of humanity; a hero to save Olympus or fall from it.

I did end up discovering who Prospertina is, or rather, who she isn't. Ren remembered her name wrong. Prospertinia is really Proserpina, who is essentially Persephone, just Roman. Same stories, except if you prayed to Proserpina she would cure diseases and raging sicknesses. With all that was going on I figured we could probably use her help, I sent out a silent prayer,

Proserpina, PLEASE heed my call. The world needs you now more than ever. Save your glorious upperworld from the plague that is killing it. Save it's people, or we cannot save yours.I walked to the receptionist, only now registering that I had never seen her before, and asked her, "Hello, me again, I am looking for an entire history of plagues and epidemics that have affected the mortal world. Do you have anything that could possibly help me out?"