Midnight Frost

guards that’s running long, so he asked me to keep an eye on you until he gets here.”
    I sighed. “I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself, you know. I think I’ve proven that enough already.”
    “I know,” Oliver replied. “But I also know that all of the Reapers are gunning for you, Gwen. So just relax and let us watch your back, okay?”
    I sighed again. He was right, but sometimes it made me feel so helpless, so useless , always being watched over by somebody, whether it was Alexei, Oliver, Daphne, or one of my other friends. I was a target for the Reapers, and now they were too, just because they were my friends. I didn’t know what I would do if something happened to one of them because of me—because they’d taken an arrow or a dagger meant for me. But no matter what I said or did, my friends insisted on sticking by me, telling me we were all in this together. It made me want to scream at their stubbornness—and cry because of their loyalty.
    “All right, all right,” I groused. “You can stay. But only because you’re so cute, and I need some eye candy to look at.”
    His grin widened. “Oh Gypsy. You say the sweetest things.”
    I rolled my eyes again. Oliver laughed.
     
    The next two hours dragged by. I did all my usual chores. Shelved books. Helped kids locate reference material for their homework assignments. Even dusted a few of the artifact cases in the stacks.
    Cleaning off the cases made me think about Ran’s net, which I’d shoved into the bottom of my messenger bag for safekeeping. Of course, I’d shown the net to Professor Metis when Alexei, Daphne, and I had brought it back from the Crius Coliseum a few days ago, but Metis didn’t know what was so special about it any more than I did. So she’d told me to hang on to it for now. I didn’t know what good the net would do, stuffed in among my comic books and the tin I had that was shaped like a giant chocolate chip cookie, but like Metis had said, at least we’d know where it was.
    Since I didn’t have anything else to do, I decided to take another look at the net. I reached into my bag, drew out a small white card that had been in the artifact case with the net, and scanned through the words on the front, even though I’d read them a dozen times already.

    This net is thought to have belonged to Ran, the Norse goddess of storms, and was rumored to be among her favorite fishing gear. Despite its fragile appearance, the net is quite strong and can hold much more than it should be able to, given its relatively small size. The braided seaweed itself is thought to have the unusual property of making whatever is inside it seem much lighter than its actual weight . . .

    The card went on to talk about some of the creatures Ran had supposedly caught and tamed with the net, but I skimmed over the rest of the words.
    Instead, I reached back into my bag and grabbed the thin, threadbare net itself. To my surprise, it had folded up quite easily, and I’d looped it over and over again, until the whole thing was no bigger and not much thicker than a belt. I threaded my fingers through some of the loops and reached for my magic.
    But the only thing I saw was the endless rise and fall of the blue-gray ocean, and the only thing I felt was a smooth, constant motion, as if I was bobbing up and down like a fishing lure riding the tops of the waves. The sharp tang of the sea filled my nose, while the sounds of the swells slapping against each other echoed in my ears. I licked my lips and tasted salt. Even more of it seemed to be crusted in my hair, and I could almost feel gritty bits of sand sticking to my skin, as though I’d spent the day at the beach.
    It wasn’t unpleasant, though. In fact, the sensations were some of the nicest I’d experienced with my magic in a long time. So nice, so calm, so soothing, that I could have let the waves carry me away—and all my fears, worries, and heartache along with them.
    But I had a job to do, so instead I concentrated, focusing on the net and all of the images, memories, and emotions attached to it, but the scene and the feelings didn’t change. After a few more seconds, I opened my eyes, unwound my fingers from the gray seaweed, and stuffed the net and the card back into my bag.
    “Anything new?” Oliver asked, watching me.
    I shook my head. “Nothing I haven’t seen before.”
    “But Nike showed it to you, so it has to be important, right?”
    “I guess. Although I have no idea