Authors: Jennifer Estep

Tags: #Juvenile Fiction, #Fantasy & Magic

Crimson Frost (12 page)

BOOK: Crimson Frost

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Oliver and Alexei stood about thirty feet away from me, almost in the same spot where Nickamedes and Linus had argued earlier tonight. I’d thought perhaps the two of them had slipped back here to hook up, but then I noticed that they were glaring at each other. Had something gone wrong between them already?

“You should distance yourself from Gwen,” Alexei said. “From what I hear, things are not going to go well for her tomorrow. At the very least, she’ll be expelled from the academy. I don’t have to tell you what the maximum punishment is for those convicted of being Reapers.”

Oliver chewed on his lip. Apparently, he knew that the Protectorate could execute me if I was found guilty. I wondered if the others knew too. Probably. My friends had grown up in the mythological world. They knew the rules—and the consequences of breaking them—a lot better than I did.

“Please,” Alexei said, holding out his hand. “Can’t we just go back to the way things were over the holidays?”

For a moment, Oliver’s face softened with memories. Longing filled his eyes, and he stared at Alexei’s hand, obviously wanting to take it. But he slowly shook his head.

“Gwen’s my friend,” Oliver said. “And I’m not going to abandon her just because she’s in trouble, especially since she didn’t do the things the Protectorate said she did. She almost died trying to find the Helheim Dagger and keep it safe from the Reapers. You should have seen her that night we found her in the forest by that Garm gate. She was devastated by everything that had happened.”

Alexei sighed and slowly dropped his hand to his side. “Maybe she was, but that won’t be enough to save her. Not from the Protectorate. She’ll be found guilty, and so will anyone who aligns themselves with her.”

The two guys stood there, shifting on their feet and not quite looking at each other. Guilt twisted my heart. Oliver finally had a chance at happiness, and he was pushing it aside because of me. I don’t know that I would have done the same, if our positions had been reversed, if Logan had been standing in front of me, pleading with me with like that. Oliver was a far better friend than I was—

Once again, I spotted a flicker of movement in the stacks. My head snapped in that direction, and I tightened my grip on Vic.

“Come on,” I whispered. “Show yourself.”

A second later, a Reaper stepped into view.

The Reaper wore a black robe with the hood pulled up, black leather gloves, and a garish rubber mask—one that resembled the melted half of Loki’s face.The same twisted, melted, ruined face I saw whenever I closed my eyes. I shuddered. Somehow, the mask looked even more hideous on the Reaper, maybe because I knew there was a real person under there, someone who’d pledged to serve Loki, someone who happily did all the terrible things that the evil god commanded his Reapers to do. Like lying to their friends. Sacrificing people. Killing warriors. Murdering kids like me.

Still, I forced myself to look at the Reaper to see if I could get any clue as to who was really underneath that horrible rubber mask. Despite the billowing folds of the robe, the figure seemed slender, but it still could have been a man or woman, old or young. I didn’t think it was Vivian Holler, though. Vivian was about my size, and this Reaper was several inches taller than I was. Besides, Vivian had no reason to hide her identity with a mask since everyone knew that she was Loki’s Champion.

“Reaper,” Vic snarled in a soft voice. “Let’s go kill it, Gwen.”

I nodded at the sword and started forward when I spotted another figure moving through the stacks. I stopped and blinked, wondering if my eyes were playing tricks on me—but they weren’t.

Because this figure was wearing a black robe too— and it wasn’t alone. Two more figures crept through the stacks behind it, then several more after that, so many I lost count. My blood turned to ice at the horrible sight.

Reapers—Reapers had somehow gotten inside the Library of Antiquities.

And they were about to kill Oliver and Alexei.

Chapter 12

The first Reaper that I’d spotted held up a fist, and the others stopped. The leader made a hand signal, and the others slowly began to spread out, forming a semicircle around Oliver and Alexei. The two guys had started arguing again, so they didn’t even notice the Reapers creeping up on them.

My head snapped to the left, as I looked for Logan and Daphne, but I didn’t see my friends. Had the Reapers—had the Reapers gotten to them already? Killed them already? The terrible thought made me want to scream, but I forced myself to take a breath and focus on what I had to do now—save Oliver and Alexei. I turned and darted deeper into the stacks.

“Where are you going?” Vic demanded. “Why are you running away? The Reapers are back that way!”

“I know!” I hissed at the sword. “Just trust me!”

I raced back to where I’d left the metal cart, grabbed it with my free hand, turned around, and headed back in the direction that I’d come, pushing the cart in front of me. When I reached the crossway, I veered to the right, then took a left three bookcases up.

A Reaper, a man from the size of him, stood at the far end of the aisle. A curved sword glinted in his hand, and he swung it back and forth a few times as he prepared to spring out of his hiding place and attack Oliver and Alexei. I picked up my pace, forcing myself to run faster. The Reaper must have heard the sound of my footsteps smacking into the marble floor or maybe the faint
creak-creak-creak
of the cart’s wheels because his head turned in my direction—but it was too late.

I rammed the cart into the Reaper as hard as I could. He cursed and stumbled back. He tried to regain his balance, but he tripped over his own feet and sprawled to a stop in the middle of the open floor—right in front of Oliver and Alexei. The guys stared at the Reaper, then at me, with shocked expressions.

“Reapers!” I screamed. “Reapers in the library!”

As if my words had magically summoned them, Reapers suddenly surrounded us, erupting out of the stacks like a swarm of killer bees. Black-robed figures darted here, there, everywhere. In front of me, the Reaper I’d hit with the cart started to get onto his feet, so I rammed the metal cart into him again. He fell back to the floor.

The cart didn’t hurt the Reaper, not really—but Vic did.

I shoved the cart out of the way, stepped forward, and brought the sword up, then down into the center of the Reaper’s chest. Blood sprayed everywhere, the warm, wet, metallic stench of it stinging my nose. The man screamed once, and then he was still. Maybe I should have felt bad about stabbing him when he was on the ground, but I didn’t because I knew that he would have done the same thing to me if he’d had the chance.

I whirled around. Oliver and Alexei stood back to back, their fists up and ready, as the Reapers crept closer and closer to them.

“Oh, look,” one of the Reapers said in a low, throaty voice. “Two little warriors without a sword between them. This is going to be
fun
.”

The Reaper who’d spoken was the leader, the one I’d first noticed. A man, judging by the deep voice, although something about his tone seemed a little . . . off. Like he was pitching his voice lower than it really was for some reason.

The leader laughed, and all the others joined in, the chuckling sounds full of sly, deadly malice. My heart sank because I realized that the Reaper was right. No matter how brave or skilled they were, without weapons, Oliver and Alexei would be easy targets, since all the Reapers carried long, curved swords. Sure, Oliver was a Spartan and didn’t really need a weapon to fight, but he couldn’t sidestep all those Reapers and all their swords—not for long.

I looked around, wondering how I could save them, and a gleam of glass caught my attention. My gaze locked onto the artifact case that Alexei had been looking at earlier—the one with two swords in it.

A Reaper broke away from the circle around Oliver and Alexei and rushed toward me. I waited until the figure was in range, then spun around him and ran toward the artifact case.

I skidded to a halt in front of the case. Something glimmered on the black velvet next to the swords, and I realized that it was the silver foil on the card that identified the weapons.
The Swords of Ruslan
. That was all I read before I raised Vic up high, then turned my head and brought the sword down as hard as I could. The glass shattered with a roar, and I felt pieces zip through the air, stinging my hands and arms, but I didn’t care. The pain was small compared to what would happen to Oliver and Alexei if I didn’t help them.

The two swords were crisscrossed over each other and sheathed in a double scabbard made of gray leather, so I was able to grab everything with one hand—

Images flooded my mind as soon as I touched the scabbard.

I wasn’t surprised that my psychometry kicked in, but the intensity of the memories and feelings associated with the scabbard and swords took my breath away. In an instant, the library was gone, and I was standing in the middle of a fierce blizzard, frozen to the bone, screams ringing in my ears as a fight raged all around me.

Panicked, I turned this way and that, trying to push the memories away. I didn’t have time for this, not when Oliver and Alexei were in danger and a Reaper was racing after me. But the faster I turned, the more the scene sharpened, as though I was zooming in on it with a camera. My gaze snagged on a man in the heart of the battle. It took me a moment to realize that he was fighting with two swords, probably the two swords I was holding right now. But there was something familiar about him, something about the way he moved, as though he was dancing with his enemies instead of fighting them—

“Gwen!” I heard Vic say, although the sword’s voice seemed distant and far away. “The Reaper’s coming after you! Snap out of it! Right now!”

I shook my head, and the images and memories vanished, although my teeth still chattered from the cold and it seemed as though my breath frosted in the air. But how was that possible? It was warm in the library—

“Gwen!” Vic screamed again.

On instinct, I ducked to the right.

CLANG!

The Reaper I’d sidestepped earlier brought his sword down where I’d been standing a second before. His weapon got stuck in the wooden base of the artifact case, and he cursed, trying to pull it free. What was it with people always trying to kill me in the library? Nickamedes
so
needed to put up warning signs.
Danger: Working here could be hazardous to your health
.

Since my hands were full with Vic and the other swords, I kicked out and managed to catch the Reaper in the knee. Something popped under my sneaker, and he howled with pain as his leg buckled and he went down to the floor.

“That’s my girl!” Vic yelled. “Kick him again!”

So I kicked him again, slamming my sneaker into the Reaper’s rubber mask as hard as I could. He moaned and rolled away from me, trying to get under the artifact case so I couldn’t kick him a third time. But I was already turning away and running toward the circle of Reapers.

The other Reapers were so focused on Oliver and Alexei that they didn’t realize I’d gotten back into the fight. I put my shoulder down and barreled into the one closest to me, shoving the Reaper out of the way, and breaking through the ring.

“Oliver! Alexei! Weapons!” I yelled and shoved the scabbard into Alexei’s hands.

Alexei smoothly drew one of the swords out before offering the other one to Oliver, who shook his head.

“You take the second sword. Give me the scabbard instead!” Oliver barked.

Alexei held the leather out to him. Oliver pulled the double scabbard away, leaving Alexei to wield the two swords. Oliver hefted the empty scabbard in his hand, and then he actually
smiled
. I didn’t know why or what Oliver thought he could possibly do with a piece of leather—

The Spartan ducked a Reaper’s blow, then spun around so that he was behind his attacker. In an instant, Oliver had wrapped the straps of the scabbard around the Reaper’s throat like some sort of leather vise. Oliver twisted the pieces of leather, and the Reaper’s neck snapped with an audible
crack
.

Oh. So that’s what he was going to do with it. I should have known he had something in mind, that his Spartan killer instinct would prompt him to do something clever and deadly. Oliver noticed me staring at him with wide eyes. He grinned at me and stepped up to fight the next Reaper.

And just like that, the whole battle changed.

The Reapers, who’d been laughing and inching forward, stopped in their tracks, and Oliver and Alexei pressed their advantage. The two of them charged into the ring of Reapers, Alexei’s twin swords flashing like silver fire underneath the library’s lights, while Oliver wrapped the ends of the scabbard around another Reaper’s neck. In a second, they’d killed two Reapers. In another, two more had fallen to the floor.

But there were still plenty of Reapers left. One came at me, and I tightened my hands on Vic and stepped up to meet him.

Swipe-swipe-swipe.

The Reaper swung his sword at me over and over again, but I focused on his hands and feet, and I was able to anticipate his moves and defend against them. Then, I went on the attack, slashing Vic out in vicious arcs and stabbing lines. On my fifth pass, I managed to slice the blade across the Reaper’s shoulder. He screamed, and I followed that move up by running Vic through his heart. The Reaper dropped to the floor, still screaming—

Crack!

A fist slammed into my jaw, and I realized that a Reaper had crept up on my blind side. I staggered back. My sneakers slipped in a pool of blood, and I hit the marble floor hard. The Reaper laughed and brought his sword up. Dazed, I raised Vic, putting the sword between us, even though I knew I didn’t have the strength to deflect the blow that was coming—

A golden arrow blossomed like a flower in the middle of the Reaper’s chest, and he toppled to the floor. I looked behind me and spotted Daphne standing on top of one of the study tables on this side of the library, her onyx bow in her hand. Sigyn’s bow, the one she’d gotten from the Crius Coliseum, the one that kept reappearing in her dorm room no matter how many times she gave the weapon back to Professor Metis.

A puff of golden smoke appeared, and the Valkyrie reached around into the matching onyx quiver strapped to her back and pulled out another golden arrow to replace the one she’d just fired.

A moment later, Logan was by my side. The Spartan held out his hand and helped me to my feet. Logan was okay, Logan and Daphne were both okay. Relief roared through me.

“Gypsy girl, I leave you alone for a few minutes and what happens? Reapers invade the library,” he said, his icy eyes almost glowing with anticipation.

Logan grinned at me and waded into the fight. Soon, he was beside Oliver and Alexei, the three of them moving in almost perfect step with each other as they battled the Reapers, while Daphne picked off others with her bow and arrow. In seconds, my friends had killed two more Reapers and were closing in on the rest.

I whirled around, ready to fight the next Reaper, when I noticed one of them slipping into the stacks. Not just any Reaper, but the tall, slender leader. I frowned. The fight was out here. So why would one of the Reapers be retreating? They never retreated. Their whole purpose in life was to kill warriors—not run away. My eyes narrowed. Unless maybe killing us wasn’t the only reason they were in the library.

There are many artifacts here that he wants, many powerful things and people here that he needs in order to finally defeat us,
Nike’s voice whispered in my mind.

It made perfect sense. The artifacts in the Library of Antiquities had a lot of power, and Nike had told me that there were items here that Loki would love to get his hands on, things that could help him and the Reapers finally defeat the Pantheon. What if—what if the fight was just a distraction? A way for the Reapers to hide why they’d really come here tonight?

I was going to find out.

I tightened my grip on Vic, pushed past another dying Reaper that Daphne had just shot through the neck with an arrow, and darted into the stacks.

“Gypsy girl!” Logan called out. “Wait!”

But I didn’t want to wait. I wanted to get answers, and all I had to do to get them was catch the Reaper.

BOOK: Crimson Frost

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