Crimson Frost

My hand tightened around Vic's hilt. "Believe me when I tell you that this will be the last time I fall into one of your traps, because you're not getting out of here alive."

Vivian let out a happy laugh. "Oh please. As if you could ever beat me in hand-to-hand combat. Even if by some miracle that happened, you'd still be too late to save your precious boyfriend. I told you I was going to take away everything you love, Gwen. I think Logan will be a nice start, don't you?"

Rage erupted in my heart, exploding like a bomb, and burning away the cold fear that had paralyzed me. I let out a fierce yell and charged at Vivian. The move surprised the Reaper girl, who backed up a few steps.

"Now!" she screamed.

More Reapers streamed into the room, swords up and ready to kill. They must have been waiting outside for her signal, but I didn't care. Right now, I only had eyes for Vivian. I threw myself at the Reaper girl, raised Vic high, and brought the sword down as hard and fast as I could.

CLANG!

Red and purple sparks hissed through the air as Vivian brought Lucretia up, stopping Vic from splitting her skull in two. I pressed forward, trying to get through her defense, but I couldn't do it. Not only was Vivian a Gypsy, but she was a Valkyrie too, which meant that she was much, much stronger than I was. I remembered exactly how much stronger a second later when she snapped up her fist and punched me in the stomach.

Stars flashed in front of my eyes, or maybe that was just the red sparks of magic streaming out of Vivian's fingertips. I couldn't really tell. The force of the blow knocked me back and shoved the air out of my lungs, but I was in such a rage that I sucked down another breath and threw myself forward again.

I had never wanted to kill Vivian as much as I did in that moment. I had never needed to do it so badly as right now. The Reaper girl had already murdered my mom and Nott, attacked Grandma Frost, and now, she was going to help turn Logan into . . . into . . . I couldn't even begin to imagine what having Loki's soul in his body would do to the Spartan. How it would destroy everything that made Logan, well, Logan.

But that wasn't going to happen, I vowed. Because I was going to save Logan, and I was going to stop the Reapers-starting with chopping Vivian's head off her shoulders.

Clash-clash-clang!

Back and forth through the library we fought, turning over tables and chairs, ripping down maps, and trampling over books in our fury to kill each other. Every once in a while, I got a glimpse of Morgan and Alexei out of the corner of my eye. The Valkyrie was holding her own. She'd used the dagger in her purse to take down one Reaper already. Morgan snatched up the sword of the warrior she'd just killed and attacked the Reaper who was battling Alexei, making the evil warrior jump back.

Alexei, who had been using the Great Transformations book as a sort of shield against the Reaper's vicious blows, threw the book down. He grabbed the two swords out of his backpack and turned to battle another Reaper who was creeping up on his other side.

I would have liked to help them, but I had my hands full with Vivian. Despite my anger, the Valkyrie had been right when she'd said that she was the better fighter. The surprise of my initial attack had already worn off, and she went on the offensive, swinging Lucretia a little closer to my throat with every single pass she made.

"Come on, Gwen!" Vic yelled underneath my palm. "Cut her to ribbons! Hack them both to pieces!"

"I'm trying!" I yelled back.

I quickened my pace, upping the tempo of my attacks, trying to surprise Vivian again. That didn't happen, but something almost as good did-she tripped over one of the books that had fallen to the floor and stumbled back against a shelf. Alexei ran his swords through a Reaper's stomach, while Morgan pulled her dagger out of the chest of the last one. I looked at them, and they both nodded at me. Together, weapons up, the three of us advanced on Vivian.

"What are you going to do now that all your friends are dead?" I said in a mocking voice, stopping in front of her.

Vivian looked left and right, but Alexei and Morgan fanned out, cutting off her escape routes.

"And now, I think it's time for you to finally get what you deserve," I snarled. "For my mom and Nott and everyone else you've ever hurt."

"Sorry, Gwen," Vivian said, grinning once more. "Maybe someday you'll learn that you can't beat me-and that Chaos will always win."

I rushed forward, but even as I did, I knew I was going to be too late-too late again.

Vivian let out an ear-piercing whistle, and the glass ceiling above my head shattered.

I threw myself to one side and put my arms up over my head, trying to get out of the way and protect myself from the falling glass as best I could. Beside me, Alexei and Morgan did the same. A shadow blotted out the sun, and a Black roc crashed down, creating a massive hole in the ceiling.

The bird was enormous. Its wings were a slick, shiny black, although I could see the crimson highlights ribboning through its thick feathers, as well as that Reaper-red spark that burned deep in its inky black eyes. The Black roc pecked at me, its sharp beak snapping out like the point of a sword about to run me through. I shrieked and rolled under a table away from it. The roc's beak slammed into one of the table legs, shattering it like a matchstick and causing the wooden top to tilt to one side.

Vivian hurried over to the roc and threw herself into the leather harness on the bird's back. "Fly! Fly! Fly!" she screamed.

The roc spread its wings wide and launched itself off the ground. It hovered in the middle of the library, as though it were having trouble fully taking off, black wings flapping and ripping even more books off the shelves until the heavy volumes fluttered up and down on the air like snowflakes. I wiggled out from underneath the table, got to my feet, and rushed forward, but I was too late. The bird let out a series of harsh caw-caw-caws, pumped its wings again, and shot up through the smashed ceiling.

I craned my neck up, but there was nothing I could do to stop the bird. So for the second time in my life, I watched Vivian and her Black roc soar up into the sky.

I stared up at the hole in the ceiling, as if I could make Vivian and her roc come back, as if I could reach up, latch on to the bird, and drag them both back down into the library, if only I wished hard and long enough for it. But they were gone, and all the wishing in the world wouldn't bring them back. But I had a good idea where they were going-after Logan.

If Agrona hadn't gotten to him already.

I almost screamed at the thought that Logan was already gone, that the Reapers had already worked their foul magic on him, that they'd already forced Loki's soul into his body, but I pushed the horrible thoughts away and forced myself to breathe-just breathe. In and out, in and out, in and out, until I felt I was in control of myself again and wasn't going to totally lose it.

Alexei recovered quicker than I did. He got to his feet, put his swords down, pulled his cell phone out of his jeans, and called someone. So did I, dialing Logan.

No answer.

I tried the Spartan again, but the call went straight to his voice mail. And a third time, with the same result. I tried Oliver next, then Kenzie, Daphne, and Carson. Nobody answered, and I knew it was because they couldn't. The Reapers had already put their plan into motion. I wondered if my friends had been captured-or if Agrona and whoever she had working for her had killed them already.

No. I couldn't think like that. I just couldn't. There was still time. There had to be time to save them-to save Logan.

"No one's answering their phone," I told Alexei. "What about you?"

He shook his head. "No, no one. I've tried my father, Inari, and Linus, but none of them are picking up."

Morgan frowned. "You think Reapers are at the auditorium?"

"Yes," I said. "They have to be there because that's where Logan is, and they need him for the ritual. Come on. We have to get over to the auditorium."

"And do what?" Alexei said. "No one's answering because the Reapers have most likely captured everyone already. Maybe even killed them. What we need to do is call in reinforcements."

"No. That will take too long, and you know it," I snapped at him, my voice rising higher and higher with every single word. "I don't know what we can do, but we have to try. We can't let the Reapers do this to Logan while we stand around and wait for more members of the Protectorate to arrive. We can't let them put Loki's soul in his body. We just can't."

By this point, I'd thrown my hands up and was waving Vic at Alexei, as though I was going to attack the Bogatyr. That's how panicked and angry I was.

"Easy, guys, easy," Morgan said, stepping in between us. "You're forgetting one thing."

"What's that?" Alexei snapped.

She held up her hand, her car keys dangling from her index finger and green sparks of magic flashing in the air around her. "That I'm the one with the car. You two go where I go."

The Valkyrie looked at me. "And I say we go over to the auditorium and kick some Reaper ass."

"Sounds like a plan to me," I said.

Morgan turned to Alexei. "So are you coming with us or are you going to let us girls have all the fun?"

After a moment, he nodded. "I'm with you-both of you."

"Good," I said. "Then let's go. We don't have a second to spare."

Chapter 24

Morgan, Alexei, and I grabbed our stuff and ran out of the library, passing the museum staff who were racing down the hallway to see why the alarms were blaring. Yeah, so I'd pretty much wrecked another library, but there wasn't time to stop and explain. Not now. Not when Logan and the rest of my friends were in so much danger.

We made it to Morgan's car. Alexei once again got into the back, while I slid into the front. Morgan cranked the engine and peeled out of the parking lot, throwing me back against the seat for the second time. I laid Vic across my lap and fished my phone out of my jeans pocket. Instead of trying my friends again, I called someone else. She answered on the second ring.

"Pumpkin?" Grandma Frost asked in a sharp voice. "Where are you? What's going on? Something's wrong. I can feel it."

I told her everything that had happened and what the Reapers' plans for Logan really were.

"I can't get anyone to answer me," I said. "Not Logan, not Daphne, no one. We're on our way over to the auditorium right now."

"I'll meet you there, pumpkin," Grandma said. "And I'll bring my sword with me."

We hung up, and I had to clutch the door to keep from tumbling over when Morgan took a curve a little too quickly for my liking. The Valkyrie saw me eyeing the speedometer.

"What?" Morgan said. "We need to hurry."

"Just don't kill us before we get to the concert hall, okay?"

"Oh yeah," she snorted. "I'd hate to rob the Reapers of their chance to run us through. I hope you have some sort of plan, Gwen."

"Working on it," I muttered. "Working hard on it."

But I didn't have a plan. I had no idea what we'd find once we made it to the auditorium or what shape my friends would be in-if they were even still alive.

No, I told myself again. No. My friends were alive. They had to be. I couldn't think of them being hurt. I couldn't think of them being dead, or I would lose myself in my guilt, grief, and fear.

The Aoide Auditorium was only about five minutes away from the Crius Coliseum, but it seemed to take forever to get there. Finally, it came into sight. The auditorium reminded me of a massive circus tent-a circular building with a roof that arced up to a point. Long, swooping lines had been carved into the pale brown stone, adding to the effect.

Morgan cruised around the auditorium, and I spotted the Mythos buses in the parking lot-along with two men standing by the main entrance. They weren't wearing black robes, but I didn't recognize them as being Mythos staff members either. Morgan's car was the only one rumbling by on the street, and the men eyed the vehicle with cold, flat stares.

"Do you want me to stop?" Morgan said.

"No," I said. "Keep going and park around the corner of the block. I don't like the look of those guys."

She did as I asked, and the three of us got out of her car and stood on the sidewalk.

"Now what?" Morgan asked. "Do you have an actual plan? Or are we just going to go storm the castle and hope for the best?"

I winced. That was exactly what I had in mind. "Does anybody have a better idea?"

Alexei and Morgan looked at each other. After a few seconds, they both shook their heads.

"All right," I said. "Storming the castle it is."

"At the very least, we need more weapons," Alexei said. "Because those Reapers aren't just going to let us walk past them."

"I know, but we don't have time to go get more weapons," I said. "We'll just have to make do with what we have."

"Maybe not," Morgan said.

She went around to the back of the car and hit a button on her key, popping the trunk. Alexei raised his eyebrows at me, but I just shrugged. I had no idea what the Valkyrie was up to. Morgan opened the trunk, sighed, and moved over so Alexei, Vic, and I could see what was inside.

Weapons-dozens and dozens of weapons. Several swords, four axes, three shields, a bow and two quivers filled with arrows, a plastic box full of throwing stars, even a leather belt studded with daggers. All silver, shiny, and ready to be used. It was like looking into the trunk of a serial killer's car.

"Nice, Valkyrie," Vic said. "Very nice."

Alexei nodded in approval, but all I could do was stare at the weapons and their glittering, pointed edges.