The office was a smaller version of the library, except that his office did have a visible ceiling to stop the books from piling on too high. The walls were decorated by inspirational quotes all over, Pictures like ‘You got this’ and ‘Failure is just a step stone’ ornamented the walls.

Frederick was seated in front of who I could only assume was George.

The man’s silver hair was thin and delicate; he could have been the same age as Frederick, with his wrinkles pilling up on top of each other and a thin, neatly trimmed mustache adorning his upper lip. His frame, robust and formidable, seemed to carry the weight of years with a seasoned grace. Although much older, his face carried a certain resemblance to Milo’s. Cloaked in a well-worn suit, he moved with deliberate steps, every gesture reflecting the measured confidence of a man who had navigated the complexities of life.

I knocked at the open door as a sign of respect for George before I entered the room; Frederick and he had been in a lively conversation until then. George stood closer to me and offered me a hand.

“Welcome back, Miss Maxon,” He signaled to a nearby chair and asked me to sit down. “We don’t have much time. Frederick caught me up on what had been happening, and Mrs. Daxon, you shall not worry; your family is safe. We retrieved them just in time; they were in their room resting. We… we kind of had to patch them up a little. Arachne’s spiders were draining them of their life force – their blood. They are fine; they will make it, but now we have a bigger issue at hand.”

A wave of relief left my body. My family had survived the attack sure they were mangled but alive.

“Milo and I found your latest journals; unfortunately, it looks like you were too smart for us and had a combination of languages and text as the main form of writing in your journals. We, however, have higher technology with us.” he patted his laptop, and a soft beep went on every couple of minutes.

“We are using Artificial intelligence to translate your scriptures, going through the most recent notes from the night of your… Disappearance.” He caught himself before saying something unsensible to me.

Milo shrugged; it wasn’t the first time he was dealing with George’s straight-to-the-point personality. Milo gave me a soft smile as if he reassured me that he was here with me if something didn’t go well. I nodded at him in acknowledgment.

“Wait a minute,” I said. “I don’t understand. How does Arachne have something to do with this? Phanes seems to be under the impression that Nyx is behind it all?”

George’s face paled.

“What makes you say that?” He said with uncertainty,

“The visions.” And so I explained everything to them: the white room, the red door, the man who was there the night of my murder, the three creatures that attacked me, and how I was ambushed in the search for something but gave up before the search was over.

George began sweating; he took off his blazer, revealing significant sweat marks all around him. Frederick sat in silence, not wanting to interrupt. Milo waited his turn to speak and probably tell the man that he wouldn’t be here much longer if I had to go out on an adventure. George then began hyperventilating.

“It-it can’t b-be,” He said shakily. “Would it be possible for them to be working together?”

“The creatures that attacked you! They must have been Nyx’s night spawns! It makes perfect sense, the bloodshot eyes and the fangs, Of course, all the clues were there, the blood blades! This is how she makes them. She uses her Vampires to extract the blood, How did we not see this before?” Milo exclaimed. “Arachne being part of the mix is a surprise; she hasn’t been very keen on the Gods since Athena turned her into a hybrid of a spider and a woman.”

“So basically, I was killed by angry vampires and a spider woman commanded by Nyx?” That didn’t sound promising, and it seemed like both of my newly discovered enemies had something in common: the ability to take one’s life force and turn it into life-ending weapons. The irony struck me. “What are the odds that one of those Vampires from that night is still around? We could capture one and make them tell us what else happened. Perhaps even guide us to the artifact.”

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“Yes, Indeed,” Said George, “It won’t be easy; they are fast, most mythologies got them painted wrong, and they can walk in the daytime, like regular humans; they blend in quite well except for the hunger and their unnatural speed and strength. They hunt at night, the easiest time to hide and lure people for their taking.”

“Then is settled. I’ll pack up some garlic and some other anti-vampire tools like holy water,” I said

“Those don’t work as well as you would imagine. We have some tools you might find useful.” George started shuffling things around his desk and my eyes deceived me; he had just pulled the sword out of the drawer of his desk, and I could hear clanking around in there some more. Who knows how many other weapons George had just sitting around on his desk? I made a mental note to go back and look for hidden pocket dimensions in my apartment.

The sword itself was long and to my surprise incredibly light, it emanated some kind of darkness, the blade was made of onyx and inside the blade, a copper design ran from top to bottom, with runes and words I couldn’t quite decipher. the sword had black leather covering the handle, making it easier to grip to.

“We have perfected pocket dimensions. All you have to do is Imagine Xiphos on your hand, and Xiphos will respond to your calling,” Said George. Then he closed his eyes and made a pushing motion with the sword; slowly, it disappeared into thin air. Although if I squinted my eyes just right, I could almost discern a subtle distortion in the air, reminiscent of the way a scorching day creates gentle ripples on the pavement.

“Set thine gaze upon the head, fair Mrs. Daxon and thine strike, it shall not e’er come back to vex thee.” Said Frederick making what appeared to be a karate chop motion with his hand

“He is right, the only way to end them is to separate the head from the body” Milo added

That seemed unnecessarily gruesome, but if I were to come back a whole century later I could see why they would take the extra precaution of keeping the head as far as they could from the body.

He then stood up and pushed a large whiteboard behind him closer to us in the room. He started scribbling with notes from the conversation as the computer in the background gave soft beeps. Until they became louder, begging for someone to acknowledge what was happening on the computer, George finally gave his attention to the screen before him, his eyes widening and narrowing as he read my old journals for us.

July 20th, 1924:

The artifact is here; I can feel it. It calls my name, It knows I’m looking for it, and It wants to be found. P wants it for some reason, but I think she does too. It is going to a museum nearby. I think they are on my tail. I can’t let them have it. O. will meet me at the bay, and we will make our way together to the warehouse.

I was intrigued; I wanted to continue to read the rest of my entries, not just the last one, but it gave a good clue of where to start. I hope that whoever this O is, They are still around to help me one last time. As of right now, I didn’t have time to attempt to decipher my old journals; I would have to wait for a better time.

George grabbed the handkerchief from his jacket and frantically patted his face with it. He inserted his hand under the desk and brought out an entire folder of papers; I recognized them from before. Phanes must have sent them through the fire as he did with the note to me. This was my file. George quickly scanned through the pages and brought out three different ones, each containing a different artifact.

“If they are working together, it means that they are looking for the artifact you were looking for in the past. The problem is that every mission is kept very hush-hush, and only the librarian in charge knows who is looking for what. Phanes is very clear about not discussing any probable artifacts in case they are listening.” He then placed all three papers in front of me. “It has to be one of these.”

The pictures before me made the decision of which one to follow much harder than it should. I wish Phanes wouldn’t have gotten distracted by the fight, I would have had an easier chance to know which one is it. the pictures before me were very different from each other, but even as images I could feel their power The first picture was an old box with gold engraved around it and two small locks; it was simple but powerful, better known as the Pandora Box. The second picture, The Rod of Asclepius, is an elegant staff crafted from wood, adorned with a serpent gracefully winding around its length. The serpent’s head, poised at the summit, gazes into the distance with an air of wisdom. Delicate laurel leaves form a wreath at the base, symbolizing the staff’s medicinal properties. And finally, the last item, The Kibisis of Perseus, was a simple drawstring bag, nothing unusual about it. It was brown and a bit worn and ugly. It could be overlooked by some, but to me, this bag was it; my heart began to race as I took the picture to inspect it for a closer look. it wasn’t about the item itself but what it contained. Whatever is inside this bag would bring peace of mind to Phanes or destruction to my entire race if it fell into the wrong hands.

“This is it.” Everyone came closer to take a look; even Frederick, who was in the furthest corner of the room, approached me.

“This is the item we are looking for. The artifact must be inside of it – I can feel it.” And that wasn’t a lie. My body was reacting to this picture, my heart racing, my hands shaking, my temperature dropping just at the mere sight of this bag. This had to be it. I couldn’t be wrong now.