“It’s coming.” Jasper apparently wasn’t done helping, and he tore off one of the slips of paper and stuck it in my pocket before continuing. “There’s not many places for something to hide here. I looked all around the doorframe for Professor Tuttle’s office and his mailbox slot. I keep expecting one of the numbers here to line up with a room number, but so far no luck. Sorry.”

“No worries.” Now it was my turn to pat him. “You keep working. I’ll go back to pacing—”

“Wait. Pacing.” Jasper’s eyes went big. “Milo, stand at Professor Tuttle’s door and count out twenty-one paces to the south.”

“Got it.” That took me back into the atrium, but I stopped exactly on the twenty-first step and awaited further instructions from Jasper.

“Now fifteen paces east.” Jasper clicked away on his phone.

I carefully pivoted and measured out the steps, landing in front of a sculpture that was probably supposed to represent some math process but it looked like endless spirals to me. “Now what?”

“We hope this thing isn’t alarmed.” Coming over to where I stood, Jasper laughed as he crouched down near the base, which had many legs like a spider. “And here’s to hoping I don’t topple it.”

“You won’t.” If he could think I was capable of doing something with my art, the least I could do was believe he wouldn’t bring this thing crashing down upon us.

“I love your faith in me.” His smile was spring break in Florida warm.

“Always.” I kept staring at him, willing him to believe, even after he went back to searching. His triumphant noise broke my concentration, though, and had me bending to join him.

“And here it is.” He came up with another tiny box, which revealed a laminated scrap of paper. “Another clue to scan.”

Pulling out his phone again, he came up with a new page, this one a picture that looked like an overhead shot of a play mat with all the Odyssey game pieces arranged on it.

“What’s this one?” I asked. “A game board?”

“It’s set up like it’s midgame. That’s the card library—”

“Library.” I grinned at him and pointed out the windows across campus to the majestic library near where we’d parked.

“Okay, Boy Wonder, where are we headed when we reach the library? It’s huge, and I don’t have much longer before I have to run you home and be at work.” Frowning, Jasper tapped at the clock on his phone.

I studied the board more closely. “Apparently the depths of hell, if you go by the cards spread out.”

Jasper pursed his mouth, eyes narrowing before they snapped open wide. “The lower levels. Basement it is.”