Crimson Frost (Mythos Academy #4)(60)
Author: Jennifer Estep

Agrona stared at her. After a moment, she lowered her hand to her side. "Tell me what happened."

"Gwen found the book in the coliseum and used her psychometry to flash on it," Vivian said. "She knows that you’re a Reaper and what we’re planning to do to her Spartan boyfriend. Unless I miss my guess, Nike’s little Champion is here right now, plotting to save him and the rest of her friends."

Agrona immediately whirled around, looking out over the empty concert hall, her gaze going from one row of seats to the next. Alexei, Morgan, and I all froze, scarcely daring to breathe for fear of revealing our position to her. After a minute, Agrona turned back to Vivian.

"Are you sure she’s here?" she asked.

Vivian nodded. "Unfortunately. Gwen is annoyingly persistent that way."

Agrona paced back and forth across the stage. Thinking. Then, she stopped, and another cruel smile curved her face. "Well, if Nike’s Champion is here, let’s invite her to the party, shall we?"

She tightened her grip on her sword and stalked over to where the adults were seated. She looked first at Ajax, then Metis, and finally Nickamedes. She jerked her head at the librarian.

"Get him up."

Two Reapers stepped forward, grabbed Nickamedes’s arms, hauled him to his feet, and dragged him to the middle of the stage, not too far away from Logan. Nickamedes started to fight, but Agrona put her sword against his throat. Nickamedes hissed, and blood trickled down his neck.

"Gwen Frost!" Agrona called out in a booming voice. "Show yourself! Or the librarian dies!"

Chapter 26

Everyone in the concert hall froze once more. The students, the members of the Protectorate, even the Reapers.

I let out the breath I’d been holding and got to my feet. I couldn’t let Agrona kill Nickamedes. I just couldn’t. No matter how much the librarian and I sniped at each other, we’d become friends these past few months-sort of. Besides, my mom had once loved Nickamedes, and he’d felt the same way about her. My mom would have tried to save him, if she’d been here, and I knew I had to do the same-even though I was walking straight into a trap.

"Gwen! What are you doing?" Morgan hissed, grabbing my arm.

"I’m giving them what they want," I whispered back. "I’m going down there."

"That’s crazy," she said. "How do you know they won’t kill you as soon as they see you?"

"Because Reapers like to make you suffer as much as possible before they murder you," I said. "It’ll be okay. You’ll see. I’ll keep them busy and distracted as long as I can."

I reached into my jeans pocket and passed her my cell phone. "Call my Grandma Frost and tell her what’s going on. You and Alexei need to get down from here and meet up with her. Do you think you could lead them over to that door Vivian came through? The one that’s on the side of the stage where Metis and the other members of the Protectorate are?"

Morgan looked down. After a moment, she nodded. "Yeah, I know a way down there. But what good is that going to do?"

"Because all the Reapers are going to be focused on me," I said. "That just might give you, Alexei, and my grandma a chance to sneak through the doors, get on stage, and cut Metis and the others free before the Reapers realize what’s going on. It’s the best chance we have of saving everyone. You know it as well as I do. Besides, this is what Champions do, right? Sacrifice themselves for the greater good?"

I didn’t even try to smile at my bad joke. Instead, I let out another breath. "Just be ready, okay?"

Morgan nodded. I started to leave, but Alexei stepped in front of me.

"I’m sorry I ever doubted you," he said.

"I know," I said in a soft voice.

I touched his arm, then gripped Vic a little tighter, and went down to meet the Reapers.

I went back the way we’d come, walking all the way around the catwalk, down the stairs, through the control room, and backtracking through the hallways until I reached the main entrance. The two Reapers stationed there snapped to attention as soon as they saw me, but they didn’t try to stop me as I walked past them. I tensed, half-expecting them to ram their swords into my back, but they didn’t.

"Here goes nothing," I muttered, pushing through one of the doors.

"Don’t worry, Gwen," Vic said. "I’m right here with you. We’ll get through this battle just like we have all the others. You can’t lose with me by your side."

The sword’s bravado helped calm my jagged nerves. I nodded at him, unable to speak.

The doors led out to the top tier of seats ringing the concert hall, and it was a long, slow, agonizing walk down to the bottom row and then across the floor. My heart picked up speed with every step, but I forced myself to keep breathing-in and out, in and out, in and out.

I stopped about fifty feet in front of the stage. My gaze locked with Metis’s, and the professor shook her head.

"No, Gwen," she said. "No! Turn around and run! While you still can-"

A Reaper stepped forward and punched her in the face.

Some of the students screamed. I started forward, determined to help Metis before the Reaper could hit her again-

"Stop!" Agrona snarled.

I froze in my tracks and looked up at her. She pressed her sword a little deeper into Nickamedes’s neck, turning the trickle of blood into a steady stream. The librarian winced, but that was his only reaction.

"If you try to escape, Gypsy," Agrona said. "I’ll run the librarian through and then do the same thing to Metis. Your choice."

I straightened up. "I’m not going to run."

"Good," Agrona said. "Then come up here with the rest of us."

I headed toward the left side of the stage, keeping my steps slow and steady, as though I knew I was marching to my own funeral. Really, I was, but I wanted to give Morgan and Alexei as much time as I could to find Grandma Frost and get into position.

I climbed the stairs and stepped onto the stage. Metis had pushed herself up into a sitting position. Blood trickled down the corner of her mouth from where the Reaper had hit her. The professor stared at me, her green eyes full of worry and fear, but she didn’t tell me to run again. We both knew there was no point in it-not now.

So I turned away from her and headed toward the center of the stage, my sneakers squeaking against the wood. I looked over at the students huddled together. Daphne, Carson, Oliver, and Kenzie all stared back at me, as worried and upset as Metis was. Daphne kept jerking her head toward the front of the stage, like she was trying to tell me something, but I couldn’t figure out what it was. And I still couldn’t see Logan’s face, just his bowed head. He hadn’t moved a muscle this whole time.