Killer Frost (Mythos Academy #6)(28)
Author: Jennifer Estep

Finally, Daphne stepped forward and hugged me, cracking my back with her strength. “I’ll call you later, okay?”

Tears stung my eyes, but I blinked them back. “Yeah. Sure. Thanks.”

She drew back, then she and Carson turned and walked away, holding hands and whispering to each other.

Oliver came over and slung his arm around my shoulder too. “It’ll be okay, Gwen. You’ll see.”

I nodded, too choked up to speak. Alexei nodded at me and touched my shoulder; then he and Oliver hurried away as well.

That left me standing alone with Logan.

“I’m sorry I yelled at you and your dad,” I said. “That I threatened him with my psychometry magic. That was wrong of me. It’s just . . . she’s all the family I have left. Well, besides Rory.”

Logan nodded. “I get it, really, I do. And if I were you, I’d be just as angry at my dad. But he really does know what he’s doing. He’s managed to keep the Reapers at bay this long. He’ll find a way to save your grandma too. You just have to trust him. Okay, Gypsy girl?”

I made myself smile at him, even though I didn’t really feel like it. “Yeah, I’m sure you’re right.”

Logan nodded. He hesitated, then drew me into his arms. He started to kiss me, but I turned my head, and his lips brushed my cheek instead. Logan drew back, a hurt look on his face, but there was nothing I could do to fix it—or this chasm that suddenly separated us once again. Sometimes, I felt like the Spartan and I spent more time apart than we ever did together.

“I’ll call you later too, okay?” he said in a low voice. I nodded and bit my lip, trying to hide how much I was hurting—and how much I would hurt him and the rest of my friends before this was all said and done.

Logan left, and I went into my dorm. I trudged up the steps to my room, with Nyx still following along behind me. I propped Vic up in the bed, and Nyx scrambled up and lay down beside him, as was her custom. I went over and peered out of one of the lace curtains. Linus must have called Aiko, because the Ninja was once again standing guard outside my dorm, but I didn’t see any other Protectorate guards. Just kids walking by on the quad, going to their afterschool clubs, activities, and groups, or trudging up the hill to the main quad to get some supper in the dining hall.

“What are you doing?” Vic asked.

“Checking to make sure my friends actually left.” “They’re just worried about you,” he said. “We all are.” “I know, but I don’t want to see them right now. Not when I know what I have to do next.”

“What does that mean?” Vic asked.

But I didn’t answer him. Instead, I turned away from the window, went over, and sat down at my desk. I looked at the photos of my mom and Metis; then my gaze flicked over to the small replica statue of Nike. I waited, but the goddess didn’t open her eyes and acknowledge me. I didn’t know if what I was going to do was the right thing or not, but it was the only chance I had to save my grandma.

“Uh-oh,” Vic said. “I know that look. What are you thinking, Gwen?”

I swiveled my chair around to him. “I’m thinking that if Linus Quinn won’t give me the candle, then I’ll just have to steal it myself.”

Chapter 12

Vic’s eye bulged so far out, I thought, it might actually pop right off the sword’s shocked face.

“What?! You can’t be serious!” he said, his voice rising to a near scream.

Nyx whined, as if the high pitch upset her. I winced too. Vic could shriek worse than, well, a teenage girl sometimes.

“You heard Linus,” I said. “He’s not going to give me the candle to give to the Reapers. They’ll kill my grandma if I don’t get them the candle. You know they will.” Vic sighed. “Of course I know that. But you need to think about what you’re doing. Like it or not, Linus has a point. You can’t risk making Loki stronger by giving the Reapers the candle. His injuries and broken body are probably the only reason that the Reapers haven’t

attacked the academy outright yet.”

“I know, and I don’t like it any more than you do. But I can’t leave Grandma Frost to the Reapers. I just can’t. If my mom were here, she’d try to find some way to save her. I know she would because that’s what Champions do—that’s what I’m going to do.”

“Okay,” Vic said. “Let’s say that you actually decide to go through with this insanity. Linus will probably put even more guards around the candle now. He’s sure to realize that you might try to steal it. So even if you do somehow manage to get your hands on it, how are you going to get out of the library with it?”

“Oh, that’s the easy part,” I said. “Because you’re forgetting one thing.”

“What’s that?”

I stared at the sword. “The candle isn’t the only thing in the library with magic. I’ve spent more time in that library over the past few months than Linus Quinn and all the other Protectorate guards put together. I know things they don’t. More important, I know about artifacts they don’t.”

Vic stared back at me. “You know you’re going to have to do this alone, right? Because you can’t ask Logan to help you with this. Or any of your other friends. Because if it doesn’t work, and they’re involved, then it’s not only going to be your neck on the line. It’s going to be theirs too.”

He was right. I couldn’t involve any of my friends. Not with this. I’d seen their reactions in the infirmary and then again out on the quad. They felt sorry for me, they really did, and they wanted to help me find a way to save Grandma Frost, but the threat of Loki getting stronger was one they couldn’t ignore. Maybe it was wrong of me to ignore it too, but my grandma’s life was at stake, and I was going to do whatever it took to save her.

Even if I had to sacrifice my friends’ trust—and

Logan’s love.

“I didn’t have any friends when I first came to Mythos, and I did okay,” I said, answering Vic’s question. “I can make it through this without them.”

No matter how much it would hurt all of us.

“Okay,” he said again, still trying to discourage me. “Let’s say you actually manage to steal the candle from the library, get off campus with it, and take it to Vivian, Agrona, and the Reapers. They’re not going to let you and Geraldine go, Gwen. You know that. As soon as he gets his hands on the candle, Loki will order them to kill you both.”