Hurrying across campus, we didn’t talk much, and I tried to ignore the cramping in my leg. The campus was pretty deserted as everyone was probably either huddled up studying or still sleeping off their Saturday night. I’d spent a lot of years around this place thanks to my mom’s job, but unlike Jasper, I’d never imagined myself actually here as a student. However, as we passed the art building, I had a brief what-if moment as a pair of students exited the huge doors of the gleaming glass-and-steel building. Could I really go as far with my art as Jasper seemed to think? Maybe not here, but somewhere? It was like a peek at a future I wasn’t sure I’d ever get.

Once in the library, we made our way through the stacks and study carrels down to the dusty lower levels, which got increasingly lonesome and musty-smelling with more cramped shelves and worse lighting.

“Damn. It’s crowded down here.” Jasper pulled his phone back out as we reached the lowest and darkest level. The shelves were tight enough that we had to walk single file until we reached a wider aisle. No other humans were in sight down here, which wasn’t surprising as there weren’t any study carrels or group rooms down here. “I don’t even know where to start.”

“Okay, so we’re in the library, in the depths of hell, and if we follow Odyssey lore, what happens next?” Like him, I was a little overwhelmed at the sheer number of books because no way could we search even this one level before Jasper had to be at work.

“A reaper appears to guide us.” Jasper laughed, then started pacing as he sobered. “More seriously, we use our scrolls to cast something and then move to attack.”

“Did you say reaper? The angels of death, right? How about that?” I pointed at the farthest wall, which had a long, narrow painting above the shelves. It looked old, all muted colors, and a whole flock of angry-looking angels surrounding some sort of horned beast.

“Yes.” Jasper made a happy noise that made my body remember exactly how much I’d loved everything we’d done the previous night and that morning. “You’re brilliant.”

He gave me a swift, hard kiss that had my skin heating even more. Maybe if we didn’t find the cards, we could put our relative isolation down here to good use.

“Nah. You’re the smart one.” I followed him to the shelves directly below the painting. Remembering how he’d found the first two clues, I started by running my fingers under shelves. Jasper, however, hung back. His face wrinkled in that deep-thinking mode he had.

“Now, which of these books are about attacking?” Eyes narrowing, Jasper bounced on his heels before grinning. “Or scrolls. Look.”