Spartan Heart (Mythos Academy: Colorado #1)(11)
“Isn’t it a little early to be sucking face?” I sniped. “It’s still the first day of school. Usually, people don’t start hooking up until at least day two.”
The Valkyrie slapped her hands on her hips, gold sparks of magic hissing all around her fingertips. “Well, at least I have someone to make out with. You, Rory Forseti? You’d be lucky to get a prowler to kiss you. C’mon. Let’s get out of here.”
She grabbed the guy’s hand, and they both turned around, went back through the door, and clomped down the stairs. I grimaced, trying not to let the Valkyrie’s words get to me, but she was right. Everybody hated me, guys included. I didn’t have any friends here, much less an actual boyfriend, and I never would.
An arrow of hurt shot through my heart, but I ignored the sting, went over to the balcony railing, and looked down. On the first floor below, kids laughed, talked, and texted in the chairs by the fireplace, while others stood in line in front of the coffee cart, nibbling on cinnamon rolls, cheese Danish, and other pastries while they waited for their espressos and cappuccinos. A few truly dedicated students hunched over their laptops and textbooks at the study tables, concentrating on their homework. They all looked so relaxed and carefree. The tension, worry, and threat of Loki and his Reapers had finally been lifted, and everyone was happier than they had ever been.
Everyone except me.
Now that I had the reference books for my term paper, I should go downstairs, check them out, and leave the library. But the second I set foot on the first floor, all the kids would start watching me again like they had before. My breath escaped in a long, weary sigh. I couldn’t take any more harsh, accusing glares. Not right now, anyway.
I would much rather stay up here by myself than listen to the other students’ snarky whispers and cruel snickers. So I set my books aside and plopped down on the floor in front of Sigyn’s statue.
“I guess it’s just you and me now,” I said.
I stared up at Sigyn, hoping that she would open her eyes, nod her head, or give me some other indication that she knew what I was going through. That she would give me some small sign of hope, friendship, or at least encouragement like the animal statues outside had with their winks earlier. But Sigyn remained utterly still, her face frozen in the same sorrowful expression as before. I waited one minute, then two, then three, but the goddess didn’t respond, so I sighed again as I cracked open the first reference book and pulled a pen and a notepad out of my messenger bag.
The first day wasn’t even over yet, but I could already tell it was going to be a long, long school year.
Chapter Four
The first reference book was very dry, long-winded, and boring, and so were all the others. I tried to concentrate and take notes, really I did, but after a while, the words swam together before my eyes, and my pen and notepad slowly slipped from my hands…
I must have fallen asleep, because the next thing I knew, I was sprawled against Sigyn’s statue, my face mashed up against the cold, smooth white marble.
I gently peeled my face off the stone, yawned, and sat up. The lights were still on, but the library was eerily silent. I pulled my phone out of my jeans pocket and checked the time. Just after nine o’clock, which meant the library had closed a few minutes ago. I slid my phone back into my pocket and peered down at the first floor through the stone slats in the balcony railing.
All the kids who’d been sitting in the chairs and couches around the fireplace were gone, along with the ones who’d been at the study tables. The coffee cart had been closed up, and I didn’t even see a librarian at the checkout counter, shelving a few last books before leaving. But I wasn’t worried. This wasn’t the first time I’d been in here alone at night.
In the weeks after my parents were murdered, I had spent hours and hours in the library. Maybe it was weird and morbid, since this was where they had died, but roaming through the stacks and looking at the books and artifacts actually made me feel a little closer to my parents. But I hadn’t been wandering around aimlessly—I had been searching for clues.
My parents had had so many secrets, and part of me had hoped that they’d left something behind in the library for me to find, since this was the last place they’d been. A letter, a diary, an artifact. Something, anything, that would answer my questions about why they had done all those horrible things.
I hadn’t found anything, not here at the library or at our old house, not so much as a scribbled note, but that didn’t keep me from looking, from hoping, even to this day. Maybe I wasn’t weird and morbid. Maybe I was just foolish for thinking that my parents were anything other than the evil Reapers they appeared to be.
The other reason I had spent so much time in the library was that it was the one place on campus where I could find a quiet spot away from prying eyes and sit and think about everything that had happened. Sometimes, when the other kids’ stares and whispers got to be too much, I would play hooky from class and hide in the stacks until I felt I could face everyone again.
Ever since Loki and the Reapers were defeated, the librarians had gotten really lax when it came to security, and they didn’t roam through the stacks and check on the books and artifacts nearly as much as they used to. Plus, one of the side doors had a flimsy lock that was easy to jiggle open with a paper clip, so I could come and go as I pleased without anyone even knowing I was in here.