Touch of Sibyl

Chapter Nineteen

Once Grandma packed up the cookies, I slipped the tin into my messenger bag, got on the bus, and rode back up to Mythical Academy.

The quad was almost deserted by this point, as most of the students had retreated to their dorm rooms to get ready for the homecoming dance. Normally, I would have enjoyed the silence and watching the squirrels hop from branch to branch in the trees that towered over the lush lawn. But it was like the whole academy had suddenly turned into a ghost town. It was too empty, too quiet, especially for a school where one of the students had been murdered a few days ago. Once again, I felt like all the eyes on all the statues on all the buildings were looking down at me, watching my every move. I shivered, stuck my hands into my gray hoodie pockets, and hurried on.

The Library of Antiquities wasn't any better. Not a single student sat at the tables in the main space in front of the checkout counter. No professors either. Nobody was even manning the snack cart this afternoon, and most of the lights had already been turned off in the maze of glass offices in the center of the library.

I couldn't help but look to my left at the spot where the Bowl of Death had been-and where Jessy had been murdered. There was nothing left to see, of course, just like there hadn't been the last time that I'd been in here the day after her death. The blood, body, and Bowl of Death were all long gone. Still, it felt like there was a watchful silence in the spot, like there was some kind of invisible force sitting there just waiting for something to happen.

Like, say, maybe a Sibyl girl to walk by so the big, bad monster could leap up out of the floor or wherever it was hiding and grab her. I shivered again. Okay, so maybe all that was just my overactive imagination at work, but right now just looking at the place where Jessy had been killed seriously creeped me out.

My Blue eyes flicked back to the dark offices. Maybe if Nickimedes wasn't here, I could just leave and forget about working my shift-

Something moved off to the right, heading quickly in my direction. I stifled a scream and turned . . .

To see Nickimedes come striding out of the stacks, several large, heavy books in his hands.

I leaned against the nearest table and sighed, my hand going up to my heart, as if I could somehow slow it back down to its normal speed just by touching my chest. Nickimedes's black brows drew together, pinching the rest of his face.

"Is something wrong, Aviana?" Nickimedes said in his arch tone, putting the books down onto another table. "You're looking a little pale, even for you."

He was one to talk. Nickimedes had skin so white that he could have passed for a vampire, if they actually existed. Maybe they did. I didn't know what was real and what wasn't anymore.

Nickimedes's blue eyes checked the clock mounted behind the counter. I sighed. I knew what was coming.

"You're ten minutes late," the librarian sniffed. "Again."

My previous unease vanished, replaced, as always, by annoyance. How could anyone be that prissy all the time?

"Oh, don't get your panties in a wad," I muttered. "It's not like there's anyone in here besides the two of us."

Nickimedes's gaze sharpened. "What was that, Aviana?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all."

"Well then," Nickimedes replied. "I think it's time that you get to work. I've got several dozen books that need shelving before we close for the night."

He pointed over to the checkout counter, where three metal carts crammed with books sat. I just sighed again. So much for leaving early.

For the next hour I pushed the heavy, squeaky carts back and forth through the library, putting all the books back into their proper places in the stacks. And, of course, every single cart had a loose wheel that pulled either this way or that, which meant that I had to wrestle with them every time I tried to move the carts down the aisles.