Midnight Frost

rushed out of the dining hall, especially since Ajax had told us to stick together. Plus, we needed to start preparing for the trip to the ruins tomorrow. And every second I sat here feeling sorry for myself was another one in which Nickamedes got a little worse as the poison slowly took its toll on him.
    “Come on,” I said, getting to my feet and heading for the stairs. “Time to go back to the real world.”
    Rory grinned, stood up, and followed me.
     
    We went downstairs to the first floor. My friends were sitting in the comfy chairs around the fireplace once more. Carson, Alexei, Daphne. They all relaxed when they realized I was okay. Oliver was busy texting on his phone again, and he gave me a distracted wave.
    Daphne got to her feet and came over to me. “Are you all right?” she whispered.
    “I’m fine,” I said, making myself smile at her even though I didn’t really feel like it. “I’ll deal with it later. Right now, we need to focus on our trip to the ruins, finding the ambrosia flowers, and getting them back to Nickamedes in time.”
    Daphne nodded, but she still reached out and hugged me. My back cracked, and I winced at the crushing pressure of her grip, but I returned her hug. She was just trying to comfort me. She was a good friend that way.
    I sat down on a couch next to Oliver, who was still messing with his phone. Rory hovered outside the ring of chairs, clearly wanting to join us but not sure if she’d be welcome. I gestured at the empty chair a few feet away from me. Rory hesitated a moment longer before stepping forward and plopping down in it.
    She’d barely settled herself before footsteps sounded, and Rachel stepped into view. She’d been heading for the checkout counter, but she caught sight of Rory and veered in our direction. Her eyes roamed over our group before they stopped on her niece.
    “Rory?” she asked. “What are you doing here?”
    “I could ask you the same thing,” Rory said. “Shouldn’t you be in the dining hall helping the other chefs clean up after lunch?”
    “I got a call to come over here instead,” Rachel said. “Covington wants to talk to me about guiding some folks up to the Eir Ruins tomorrow.”
    Rory’s face darkened at the mention of the librarian.
    “Rachel!” Covington’s voice drifted out of the glass office complex. “There you are.”
    The librarian stepped around the checkout counter, with Ajax behind him. The coach gestured for us to follow him, and we all walked back to the conference room we’d been in earlier. When we were all inside, including Rachel and Rory, Covington shut the door.
    The librarian’s gaze went from me to Rory to Rachel and back again. “Well, it looks like some of you have met. But for the rest of you, this is Rachel Maddox. She works in the dining hall.”
    “She’s a chef ,” Rory interrupted him. “The best chef at this miserable school. Not some random lunch lady.”
    Covington paused. Rachel winced and gave him an apologetic look. Everyone had heard the anger in Rory’s voice.
    “Er, yes,” he finally continued. “Rachel is a chef. She’s also familiar with the Eir Ruins, and she’s agreed to serve as our guide tomorrow.”
    “How do you know so much about the ruins?” Ajax asked.
    “My parents had a summer cabin close to the ruins,” Rachel answered. “My sister and I used to go exploring there when we were kids. Rory and I still go up there quite a bit.”
    Rachel smiled at her niece, but then her eyes cut to me, and the softness in her face vanished. She’d probably seen the kids in the dining hall confronting me and Rory. That meant Rachel knew exactly who I was—another Forseti.
    “Anyway, I thought I would show you some images of the ruins so you can prepare yourselves for what we might find there,” Covington said.
    The librarian powered up a laptop in the corner, pulled a white film screen down over one of the walls, and dimmed the lights. He hit a button on his computer, and a series of images appeared on the screen.
    The Eir Ruins were perched on top of a beautiful, snow-covered mountain. They were larger than I’d thought they’d be, seeming to stretch from one side of the mountain to the other, although it was probably just the photos that made them seem so vast. The ruins were actually a series of buildings clustered together around a courtyard full of flowers. A small stream flowed through the middle of the courtyard, feeding into a broken fountain, before