Touch of Sibyl

Chapter Twenty.eight

The next day, Professor Tin called me into her office. The last time that I'd been in here had been the day that I'd come to Mythical Academy at the start of the autumn semester, and I'd been too angry and pissed at her and everyone else to really notice things.

Old, thick myth-history books lined the shelves in the bookcases that covered two of the walls, while a couple of clay pots of sunflowers and violets sat on the windowsill. Above them on either side of the window were various plaques, showing all of the professor's degrees and awards. There were tons of those. Tin's desk was piled high with papers and pens and stuff, along with a tiny marble statue that perched in the left-hand corner. It looked like a smaller version of the one of Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, that stood in the Library of Antiquities, but I wasn't sure.

But the weirdest things were the weapons. A whole rack of them stood in the corner. A couple of swords, a staff, some daggers, even a crossbow and the bolts for it. With her silver glasses and quiet, scholarly vibe, Tin had never struck me as being a warrior. Not like Coach Jack, anyway, who was all ripped, muscled, and totally Hulked out.

Professor Tin was staring out the window at the quad when I came inside. I shut the door behind me and stood there, waiting until she noticed me. After a moment, she turned around and smiled at me.

"Hello, Ava. Sit down, please. There are some things that we need to talk about."

Yeah, I'd figured as much, since, you know, I'd been involved in the death of a student, the destruction of the library, and a whole bunch of other Bad, Bad Things. So I did as she asked and took the seat in front of her desk.

Professor Tin sat down as well. Her green eyes flicked to one of the framed photos on the desk, but since it was turned around the other way, I couldn't see who was in it. Her husband or kids, I supposed. Maybe a boyfriend or a pet.

"How are you today, Aviana?"

I shrugged. "Fine, more or less."

And I really was. Yeah, I'd seen and done some bad stuff in the past few days, and I'd learned so many things about myself, my Sibyl gift, and why I was here at Mythics that it kind of blew my mind. And maybe I was still totally freaked out that a goddess had picked me to be her Chosen One. But at least I had some answers now, and I'd learned more than one secret about myself. I thought I was handling it all okay.

"Well, I wanted to say that I was most pleased by the report that you turned in yesterday," Tin said. "The one about Nike. You're getting an A on it."

I sat up a little straighter in my chair. After everything that had happened, writing the report had been easy. I'd actually been paying more attention in myth-history class, too. At night, when I had time, I'd started reading everything that I could get my hands on at the library about Nike, Loki, and the Chaos War. There were so many books with so many conflicting stories that it was hard to know what was real and what wasn't. But it had always been that way for me here at Mythical Academy, the school of myths, magic, and warrior whiz kids.

"Thanks," I said. "It was easy for me to write. I, uh, had a lot of experience to draw on with it after everything that happened in the library."

"Yes," Professor Tin said in a quiet voice. "I supposed that you did."

Tin reached up, took off her silver glasses, and stared at me. For the first time, I noticed how pretty she was, with her black hair, bronze skin, and green eyes. She was also younger than I'd thought, about my mom's age before she'd died-in her early forties.

"We need to talk about what happened in the library," Tin said. "Because while your actions were very brave and noble, they've also put you in a great deal of danger."