Killer Frost (Mythos Academy #6)(26)
Author: Jennifer Estep

“Well, if you won’t save her, then I will,” I snarled. “No matter what it takes.”

I got to my feet, grabbed Vic, and stormed out of the room.

I knew that there was no use arguing with Linus, so I hurried into the waiting room, with Nyx scrambling to keep up with me. My friends were all there—Daphne, Carson, Oliver, Alexei, Logan. So was Raven, sitting at the reception desk, her black combat boots propped up on top of the smooth wooden surface, reading through one of her celebrity gossip magazines like usual. Raven gave me a curious look, then flipped another page. The faint crackle was the only sound in the room.

I stopped in front of my friends and stared at Logan. The sad, stricken look on his face—on all their faces— told me that he already knew Linus wasn’t going to trade the candle for my grandma. I’d thought that Logan going all Reaper and trying to kill me had been bad, but this—this felt like a whole new level of betrayal.

By everyone I cared about.

“Miss Frost, please wait,” Linus said, following me into the room.

Metis and Ajax trailed after him, with Nickamedes bringing up the rear.

I whirled around to face him. “Why? So I can stand around and count down the hours until my grandma dies?”

“It’s not like that at all, and you know it,” Linus said. “As I said before, we will do everything in our power to find your grandmother.”

“Before or after the Reapers kill her?”

Linus pressed his lips into a tight, thin line and crossed his arms over his chest.

Daphne came over and tentatively laid a hand on my arm, pink sparks of magic streaking out of her fingertips and landing on my dirty clothes before quickly winking out. “Gwen, why don’t you take it easy?”

I shrugged off her hand. “Take it easy?” I let out a harsh, bitter laugh. “I can’t take it easy. I can never take it easy. Not until Loki is dead.”

Daphne frowned. “What do you mean?”

I looked around and realized all of my friends were staring at me with the same wary, curious expression as she. Suddenly, I was so tired—tired of all the lies, all the secrets, all the problems that never seemed to end.

I let out another bitter laugh. “You really don’t get it, do you? You don’t know what’s going on at all. None of you do. Except for her.”

I jerked my head at Metis, but she stared back at me, her face neutral.

“What do you mean?” Logan asked, coming to stand beside me. “Gwen, I know you’re upset, but what are you talking about?”

“The candle,” I said. “I’m talking about the damn candle. Yeah, the Reapers want it to heal Loki, but that’s not all they’re going to get out of it.”

Linus frowned. “What else could they possibly do with it? What else could they want it for? Surely, returning Loki to his full strength is their top priority.”

“It may be the Reapers’ ultimate goal, but it’s not his,” I said. “Loki wants to be whole again, sure, for one specific reason—so he can finally murder me.”

“And how do you know that?” Logan asked. “Because,” I spat out the words. “I’m the one who’s

supposed to kill him. I’m the one who’s supposed to kill

Loki.”

Chapter 11

Silence. Complete, utter silence.

Linus whirled around to face Metis, his gray robe snapping around his body before falling free again. “Aurora? Is this true? How long have you known about this?” “Yes, I’m afraid it’s true.” She lifted her chin. “And I’ve known ever since the incident at the Garm gate when Loki was freed in the first place. That’s when Gwen told me that killing Loki was the ultimate mission Nike had given her, something the Reapers believe she can do

as well.”

“And why didn’t you tell me about this?” Linus demanded.

“Because I knew you’d probably take Gwen away from the academy, her friends, and her grandmother,” Metis said. “Knowing you, Linus, you would have kept Gwen under lock and key until you thought it was time for her to finally complete her mission.”

An angry flush stained his cheeks, but he didn’t deny her accusations.

“I would have done what was best for Miss Frost,” Linus said in a stiff voice.

“Yeah,” I sniped. “Because letting the Reapers kill my grandma is what’s best for me.”

He turned to stare at me, but I glared right back at him. Anger didn’t even begin to describe what I was feeling. Neither did rage. It was . . . I just felt . . . fury. Molten, unending, white-hot fury. Because of all the evil that Loki and the Reapers had done, because of all the hard choices and sacrifices I’d been forced to make, because of all the loved ones I’d lost. And now, my grandma’s life was hanging in the balance, and no one seemed to want to save her but me.

“But Metis is right,” Linus said, finally breaking the silence. “You need to be protected at all costs, Miss Frost.”

He pulled his phone out of his pants pocket. “I’m going to get Sergei and Inari over here right now. We’ll get you to a secure location—”

“No,” I cut in. “I’m not going anywhere.”

“I’m afraid you don’t have a choice, Miss Frost,” Linus said. “If you can somehow actually kill Loki, then you need far more protection. At the very least, we need to relocate you from the academy to somewhere much more secure.”

“Where I can do what? Twiddle my thumbs until the Reapers find me and try to kill me again? I don’t think so,” I said. “And I do have a choice. I always have a choice. It’s a little thing called free will. Maybe you should read up on it. I’m sure there are some books about it in the library that Nickamedes could find for you.”

That angry flush darkened on Linus’s pale cheeks. “You are leaving the academy, Miss Frost. It’s not a request. It’s an order.”

“I don’t take orders from you.” I raised Vic. “You so much as lay one finger on me or order any of your Protectorate guards to do the same, and I will fight back with everything I have. Worse than that, I’ll use my magic on you. My touch magic. Remember at my trial when I told you that I used it to kill Preston Ashton? Well, I could do the exact same thing to you, Mr. Quinn.”

Carson gasped at my threat, and my other friends all looked shocked. Logan kept glancing back and forth between me and his dad, not sure what to do. Even Linus looked a bit uncertain, his eyes flicking to my hand, which was wrapped tight around Vic’s hilt.