Crimson Frost

"A box?" Vic asked, voicing my thoughts. "The Reaper took a bloody box? Why, it's not even a weapon!"

My head started aching from all the questions that crowded into my mind, but try as I might, I just couldn't figure out what was so special about the box or the jewelry. There had to be something here that I was missing because the Reapers never did anything without a purpose, without an end goal, in mind.

"Gwen!" Daphne's voice drifted across the library to me. "Where are you? Are you okay?"

"Over here!" I called out. "I'm fine! Stay put! I'm coming back to you!"

Still troubled, I took one more look at the smashed case before I returned to the others.

Logan, Daphne, Oliver, and Alexei were in the back of the library huddled in a tight knot in the middle of the dead Reapers. The Valkyrie caught sight of me first, and princess pink sparks erupted from her fingertips like fireworks, telling me just how glad she was to see me.

"There you are!" Daphne said, pulling me into a tight hug. "Why did you just run off like that? We were so worried about you!"

"I know. I'm sorry. But you guys were winning against the others, and I didn't want to let that last Reaper get away."

I told the others about seeing the Reaper slip away and how I'd chased him back into the stacks, only to find him stealing artifacts.

"What artifacts?" Oliver asked.

I shrugged. "That's the weird thing. It was just a box and some jewelry. It didn't even seem to have that much magic attached to it, according to the ID card I read. I don't know why they would go to so much trouble to break in here just to take those things. Why didn't they take some of the weapons instead? Things that are more powerful? Or at least more useful in a battle?"

"Reapers don't have to make sense," Logan said in a dark voice.

I gestured at the bodies lying on the bloody floor. My friends had pulled off the rubber masks, revealing the Reapers' dull, glazed eyes and pain-filled faces. The group was pretty evenly split between men and women, all adults.

"And what about the Reapers? Does anyone know who they are? Or how they could have gotten onto campus and into the library without raising any sort of alarm?"

Logan shook his head. "I don't recognize any of them. You, Alexei?"

He shook his head as well. "No. None of them look familiar to me."

"Maybe Gwen can find out something with her magic," Oliver said, looking at me. "You know, like you did at your grandma's house."

I grimaced. Oliver was talking about how I'd used my magic to flash on the man who'd been with Preston and Vivian when they'd attacked Grandma Frost a few weeks ago-the man my grandma had killed instead. I hadn't liked touching that dead man, and I certainly didn't want to do the same to a bunch of dead Reapers, but Oliver was right. Maybe my psychometry would give me some information about the Reapers and what they'd wanted with the artifacts.

"Gypsy girl?" Logan asked.

I sighed. "I don't like it, but I'll do it."

One by one, I went from Reaper to Reaper, pulling off their bloody gloves, touching their hands, and seeing what vibes I got off them. But all the memories and feelings attached to the men and women had already started to fade away, and the only images I saw were of the Reapers fighting my friends and then the blinding flashes of pain they felt before they died from their wounds.

I finished with the last Reaper, shook my head, and got to my feet. "Nothing there. Just a few memories of the fight. Everything else is gone already."

Oliver slung his arm around my shoulders. "Well, I'm just glad we made it through okay. Alexei and I would have been in a world of hurt, if you hadn't managed to get those swords and that scabbard to us, Gwen."

I lightly elbowed him in the ribs. "You would have done the same for me."

Oliver grinned. "Maybe."

I elbowed him a little harder. "Definitely."

We stood there, staring at the bodies.

Logan drew in a breath. "Well, I guess I'd better call my dad and tell him what's happened. Metis and Ajax too-"

"Gwendolyn?" a familiar voice called out. "Where are you? Why aren't you at the checkout counter?"

I'd forgotten all about Nickamedes leaving to run some errands, but now he was back-and the library was a disaster area once more. Books and broken glass littered the floor, not to mention the dead Reapers lying in the middle of the mess like dolls someone had forgotten to put away. I winced. This was so not going to be pleasant.

"Gwendolyn?" he called out again.

But there was no hiding it from him, so I yelled back. "Over here!"

A few seconds later, Nickamedes rounded the corner of the office complex. "What are you doing back here? I'm ready to close the library for the night-"

The librarian looked up from the book he'd been reading and stopped in his tracks. His eyebrows shot up in his face, and his eyes bulged as he stared at all the blood and bodies on the floor. His mouth dropped open, and a familiar spark of anger began to burn in his blue gaze. He looked at me.

I winced again. I knew what was coming now. "I can explain-"

Nickamedes held up his hand, cutting me off. "I don't even want to hear it."

"But-"

I tried again, but Nickamedes just shook his head, his shoulders sagging.

"No, Gwendolyn," he said in a resigned tone. "It's my fault. I should have known better than to leave you alone in the library. Things always seem to get . . . broken whenever I do that."

Well, that was one way of putting it. At least he wasn't yelling at me-

Nickamedes straightened up to his full height. "I'm glad you are all okay, but Reapers or not, my library is once again in a state of total disarray . . ."

The librarian's voice got a little louder and a little sharper with every word, but I just stood there and listened to his lecture in silence. I figured I owed Nickamedes that much for wrecking the library for the second time in less than a year.

Chapter 14

Nickamedes lectured me for a good five minutes before he finally calmed down enough to call Metis, Ajax, Raven, and Linus.

I knew he had to tell Linus what had happened, but it wouldn't do anything to raise the other man's low opinion of me-especially since Logan had been involved. Linus thought I was a bad influence on the Spartan, and part of me was starting to wonder if he was right. I was a Champion, which meant I was a target for the Reapers. That was bad enough, but the fact that I was Nike's Champion pretty much made me number one on the Reapers' kill list. As long as Logan was with me, he would always be in danger-and so would my friends.

I loved Logan, and I loved my friends, but sometimes I couldn't help but wonder if they would all be better off without me. Carson had almost died at the Crius Coliseum a few weeks ago, and it was only a matter of time before someone else got hurt-or worse. But I also knew I couldn't be a Champion without them. I just couldn't. They were my rocks, my friends, my family now. Without their love and support, I would have been dead long ago. But I didn't know what I could do to protect my friends, other than kill Loki. Something I still had no clue how to do.

Those were the dark, guilty thoughts that swirled through my mind as my friends and I sat at the study tables in the back of the library. I'd already grabbed my bag from underneath the counter, wiped the blood off Vic, and put him back into his leather scabbard. I didn't know what, if anything, the Protectorate knew about the talking sword, but I had a feeling it would be better if he was out of sight. Besides, Vic was happy to take a nap now that the fight was over.

"It was a good night's work," Vic said in a satisfied voice before letting out a loud yawn. "Would have been even better if we'd gotten the last Reaper, but you're coming along nicely, Gwen. Next time, we'll get them all . . ."

His eye drifted shut, and he was snoring a minute later.

I'd just slid Vic into my messenger bag when Metis, Ajax, and Raven arrived, along with men and women wearing black coveralls and pushing metal gurneys. For the first time, I noticed that the men and women all had the same emblem stitched into their collars in white thread-the hand-and-scales symbol. It must be some sort of Protectorate mark because the same symbol was also stamped onto the black body bags the workers had brought with them.

I sat next to Logan and watched Ajax, Nickamedes, and Raven oversee the workers, who cleaned up the mess and loaded the Reapers' bodies onto the gurneys to roll over to the math-science building, where the academy morgue was. The bodies were quickly removed, but my gaze lingered on all the blood still on the floor. I shivered. Once again, I couldn't help but think that could have been our blood splattered everywhere-my friends' blood, my blood. The thought made me sick.

Professor Metis came over to the table and laid a hand on my arm. "Are you okay, Gwen?"

I nodded. "I'm fine."

And I was-physically anyway. I'd only gotten a few bumps and bruises during the fight, along with some cuts from smashing the artifact case that had held the Ruslan swords. In fact, we'd all come through the battle more or less okay. Oliver had a deep gash on his left bicep, Alexei had a nasty cut that slashed across his right cheek, and Logan had several scrapes and bruises on his hands and arms, but Metis and Daphne used their magic to heal us all.

Once that was done, Alexei grabbed a rag from one of the workers and started cleaning the blood off the swords. Oliver and Logan clustered around him, examining the weapons, with Daphne chiming in that they weren't nearly as cool as her bow was. While my friends talked, I sat still and silent and watched the bodies being loaded up, with Metis standing by my side.

"Is it wrong that I'm sort of getting used to this?" I finally asked.

She gave me a grim smile. "I don't know about wrong, but sad-definitely sad."

We watched the workers a few more minutes before Metis jerked her head. "You said that the Reaper took some artifacts. Show me where and which ones."

I led her into the stacks and showed her the smashed display case, the fallen books, and the broken glass. Logan followed us, and so did Alexei. Apparently, he was back to guarding me now that the fight was over.

Metis studied the mess for a minute before she turned to me. "Gwen?"

She was asking the same thing Oliver had-if I would use my magic to see if I could get any vibes off anything. I nodded, crouched down on my knees, and wrapped my hand around a broken piece of wood.

My psychometry kicked in, and the image of the Reaper slamming a sword into the case and splintering the wood filled my mind, along with the crash-crash-crash of breaking glass. I concentrated, touching other pieces of wood and glass, but all the memories were the same. After a minute, I got to my feet.

"Anything?" Metis asked.

I shook my head. "Nothing important, just like with the bodies I touched earlier. All I saw was the Reaper ripping into the case."

Metis picked up the ID card and read it, just as I had earlier. Then, she looked at the empty case. "I don't understand," she murmured. "Why would the Reapers take something like this? Why go to all the trouble when there are so many much more valuable things in here?"

"I know, right?" I said. "The box and the jewelry are beautiful, but it doesn't seem to me that they have any real power at all."

"Or maybe this is all just a clever ruse to throw the Protectorate off your trail," a low voice cut in.

I turned to see Linus striding down the aisle, followed by Inari and Sergei. Agrona was with them as well, trailing along behind the others. The Protectorate members stopped, forming a single row across the aisle. I sighed. Here we went again.

Linus fixed me with a cold look. "Once more, it seems you're right in the middle of a Reaper attack, Miss Frost. That's a nasty habit of yours. Care to tell me what happened?"

I looked at Metis, who nodded. I drew in a breath and told him everything-seeing the Reapers sneaking up on Alexei and Oliver, warning them of the attack, the battle, then chasing after the Reaper, realizing that the evil warrior was stealing artifacts, and finally how the Reaper had escaped.

When I finished, Linus focused his frosty glare on Alexei.

"You were not supposed to let Miss Frost out of your sight," he barked at the younger man. "So why is it that she was in the stacks alone, supposedly shelving books?"

A flush spread across Alexei's cheeks, and he opened his mouth, but I cut him off.

"Because I had work to do and I was tired of him watching me like a freaking hawk, so I told him I was going to the bathroom and gave him the slip," I lied. "He was probably asking Oliver where I was when the Reapers attacked."

Alexei's brows drew together in surprise, but Linus's face got even frostier than before.

"You were chosen for this assignment because you are one of the most promising young warriors in the Pantheon," Linus snapped. "Yet you didn't even make it through the day without being outsmarted by this girl."

Maybe I'd been hanging around Vic too long, but I couldn't help but speak up. "Well, I am rather clever that way," I said in a snide voice.

A vein started to pulse in Linus's temple, and I could almost hear him grind his teeth together.

"Even the most dedicated warriors can have a momentary lapse," Inari said. "It happens to the best of us."

"Give my boy a break," Sergei chimed in, his voice much louder and more defensive than Inari's. "Everything worked out okay in the end, didn't it?"

Linus turned his glare to the other man. "If by okay you mean Reapers somehow breaking into the Library of Antiquities without raising any sort of alarm, attacking students, and stealing artifacts, then yes. I suppose everything worked out okay."