Crimson Frost (Mythos Academy #4)(46)
Author: Jennifer Estep

"But you have something in mind," he said. "A way to find out what Vivian might really be up to."

I shrugged again. "I’m going to head back to the library tomorrow and see if I can get any more vibes off anything the Reaper might have touched when he stole Apate’s box. I wanted to do it today, but I didn’t get a chance because of the trial. Tomorrow will be better anyway because it’s Saturday, so I don’t have classes, and most of the other kids will be at the band concert. It’ll probably be a waste of time, but at least it will keep me from sitting in my room all day worrying."

"They’re not going to let you come to the concert?" Carson asked, his shoulders drooping.

I shook my head. "Nope, I’m still restricted to campus until the Protectorate makes its decision. I’m sorry I won’t be there, but I know you guys will all do a great job. Especially you, Carson."

The band geek blushed a little, but he grinned at me.

We sat there talking for another hour, throwing out ideas about what Vivian could really be up to, but none of us had a clue as to what her plan was. I didn’t say anything else about which member of the Protectorate might be helping her, and no one else brought it up either. Not after seeing Logan’s reaction. Finally, the ten o’clock curfew rolled around, and my friends had to leave to go back to their own dorms for the night.

"Just be careful, okay, guys?" I said. "I wouldn’t put it past the Reapers to try to wreck the concert tomorrow."

Or for Vivian to hurt one of you to get at me. That was the darker, more ominous thought that filled my mind, but I didn’t tell the others my fear.

"Don’t worry, Gypsy girl," Logan said. "Oliver, Kenzie, and I are serving as the honor guard to protect everyone in the band. My dad and the other members of the Protectorate are going to be there too, along with Metis, Ajax, and Nickamedes. If any of the Reapers dare show their faces at the concert hall, we’ll take care of them."

I didn’t say that a Reaper would be there already, hiding among the other Protectorate members. I knew the Spartan didn’t want to believe that one of the people he trusted was really a Reaper, and I didn’t want to upset him any more than I already had. Besides, surely one Reaper couldn’t do that much damage with everyone else on guard. That’s what I told myself, even if I didn’t quite believe it.

Logan kissed me good-bye and left with the others. Alexei went with them, telling me that Sergei would be standing guard outside my dorm tonight.

I went over to my window, pulled back the curtain, and watched my friends disappear into the darkness. Still, despite their assurances, I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was seriously wrong-and that the Reapers were going to strike sooner rather than later.

Chapter 20

I took a shower and crawled into bed, determined to get some sleep, but the night was anything but restful. Images crowded into my dreams, everything I’d seen, heard, and felt the last few days. Thanks to my psychometry, I was almost always downloading information into my brain, even if all I did was touch a library book and flash on how bored someone was doing his homework. During the day, I was able to ignore such things, but sometimes at night all the sights, sounds, and emotions welled up inside my mind, going by one after another, faster and faster, even as my subconscious struggled to make sense of them.

Tonight was one of those nights.

The Reapers sneaking up on Oliver and Alexei in the library. The leader lifting up the Apate box, the wicked flash of the rubies on it painting everything a harsh crimson, even the library books. Vivian striding into the academy prison. The two ruby chips on her Janus ring winking at me like evil eyes. And finally, the Maat asp curled around my wrist, its scales red instead of blue. The snake flicking its tongue against my wrist, its eyes glowing with Reaper-red fire before it surged forward and sank its fangs into me, poisoning me, killing me-

I woke up with a scream in my throat, my wrist stinging as though the asp had really bitten me. The sensation felt so vivid, so real, that I snapped on a light and held my arm up, but my skin was smooth and unbroken. Even the two tiny puncture marks I’d gotten earlier in the prison had vanished.

"Gwen?" Vic mumbled, letting out a loud yawn from his spot on the wall. "Is something wrong? Why did you turn on the light?"

"It’s nothing, Vic," I said. "Just a bad dream. Go back to sleep."

"Okay," the sword mumbled again. "Just let me know when you need me to wake up and kill Reapers . . ."

His voice trailed off, and seconds later he was snoring again. The soft, familiar sound cut through the last of my panic and dream-filled confusion. I let out a breath, turned off the light, and lay back down on my bed.

But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t go back to sleep.

The next day just before lunch, I stood in the parking lot behind the gym, saying good-bye to my friends. The winter concert wasn’t until late that afternoon, but the band members and other folks involved were getting on a couple of buses and going to the concert hall early-along with a heavy guard.

Ever since Vivian had freed Loki, I’d thought things would change at Mythos-that there would be more rules, more guards, more security. And all of those things had been added to campus-discreetly. The Powers That Were didn’t want everyone to panic. No, they wanted to make the Mythos students feel they were just as safe as they’d been before Loki escaped, even if we all knew it was just an illusion. That’s why the winter band concert was still on-because the Powers That Were didn’t want to be seen as giving in to the Reapers and adding to the fear of another looming Chaos War.

I understood what the Powers That Were were trying to do, and I was glad my friends would be protected, but I still couldn’t help but have a bad, bad feeling about this. I couldn’t see the future, not like my Grandma Frost did, but something about the situation felt wrong to me, like we were playing right into the Reapers’ hands, even though the concert had been planned for months and was being held down in the city.

"Call me if you see anything suspicious," I told Daphne for the third time in as many minutes.

She’d volunteered to help set things up for the concert so she was getting on the bus with everyone else.

Daphne rolled her eyes. "Don’t worry, Gwen. There are so many guards going with us that there’s no way the Reapers would dare to attack, even if one of them is a member of the Protectorate."

I started to point out that no one had thought the Reapers would break in to the library either, but I kept my mouth shut. This was supposed to be a fun day, a way for everyone to forget about Reapers, at least for a few hours, and I wasn’t going to ruin it with my suspicions, especially not for Carson, who was nervous enough already about performing. The band geek’s face had a decidedly greenish tint to it, and I could hear his stomach gurgling.