Killer Frost (Mythos Academy #6)(55)
Author: Jennifer Estep

Daphne was right beside him, her bow, Sigyn’s bow, out and ready. If things went badly, she was to head up to one of the balconies and cover us while we retreated back into the library, something I thought was bound to happen, given that Loki was leading the attack. I didn’t know what magic the Protectorate might have, but how was it supposed to stop a god? I didn’t know, but I had a bad feeling that I was going to find out.

Logan was waiting for me out on the quad, so I headed in his direction. He was carrying the Sword of Thanatos that he’d shown me before and had thrown a gray Protectorate robe on over his clothes for extra warmth. So had all the other students. I was the only one who wasn’t wearing one, but my purple plaid jacket was thick enough. Besides, we’d be fighting soon enough, and then no one’s clothes would matter. Nothing would but surviving.

All around the quad, the other kids and adults were getting into defensive positions, with archers stationed on the balconies of the buildings and the other warriors in small groups below so they could watch each other’s backs. The Reapers might come in at the edge of campus, but I wouldn’t put it past them to have Black rocs fly over to the quad and drop some warriors off so they could attack us from multiple sides at once—

A large shadow zoomed over the quad, and my breath caught in my throat, thinking that the Reapers were already here. My head snapped up, and I realized that the leader of the gryphons had landed on top of one of the library towers. And he wasn’t the only one up there. The baby was there too, along with the third gryphon I’d seen before, and several more besides that. They must have been the ones that Rory had said had been staying in the park near my grandma’s house.

I waved, and the leader let out a loud screech. One by one, all of the gryphons joined in his fierce battle cry. My heart lifted, and I knew that they would fight with us to the end. The Eir gryphons hated the Reapers and how they enslaved gryphons, Black rocs, Nemean wolves, and other creatures.

“Come on,” Logan said when the sound of the gryphons’ cries had faded away. “My dad’s down by the front gate.”

I nodded, and we headed toward the far edge of the quad. Once again, I was aware of everyone staring and whispering about me. So I raised my head and tried to look as strong and confident as possible, although my legs trembled, and my knees threatened to buckle with every step I took.

As we walked down the hill to the lower quad, we passed more and more Protectorate guards, each one wearing a gray robe and carrying at least one sword. The guards were going to be the first lines of defense, with the students and adults on the quad serving as backup and the library being our final fallback point.

We found Linus, Sergei, Inari, Alexei, and Oliver standing behind a cluster of maple trees about fifty feet away from the main gate. Like everyone else, they all wore gray robes and were carrying swords. Two swords, in Alexei’s case, since he had the twin Swords of Ruslan clutched in his hands.

“What’s happening?” I asked.

Linus jerked his head at the gate. “Nothing at the moment, but our sources in Cypress Mountain say they’ve seen a multitude of SUVs gathering in some of the parking lots and that several Black rocs carrying riders have been spotted overhead.”

My head snapped back as I peered up into the sky, but I didn’t see any of the creatures flapping their wings and zooming through the air above. Perhaps the gryphons could at least keep the rocs and their riders away from the academy long enough to give us a fighting chance.

“You two should get back up to the main quad,” Linus said. “Where it’s safer.”

I looked at Logan, and we both shook our heads. “This is our fight too, Dad,” Logan said.

“He’s right,” I said.

I didn’t add what we were all thinking—that I was supposed to be the one to kill Loki. To do that, I had to get close to the god, which meant being at the front of the fight.

“Well, at least get out of sight then,” Linus said. “For now. Please.”

This time, Logan and I did as he asked, sliding behind the stand of maples and out of view of anyone who might be looking through the main gate. Alexei and Oliver moved to join us, the two of them flanking me.

Then, I hunkered down beside my friends and waited for Loki and the Reapers to attack.

Chapter 24

Someone had grabbed a pair of binoculars from somewhere, and we all took turns peering through them and then passing them along to the next person. Finally, it was my turn. I focused the lenses on the gate and the sphinxes that were perched on either side of it.

The sphinxes’ features were sharper than I ever remembered them being before, so sharp, so real, so lifelike that I thought I could almost see their hearts beating in their stone chests—

Caw-caw-caw. Caw-caw-caw. Caw-caw-caw.

I froze, my hands tightening around the lenses, before slowly lowering them.

There was no mistaking the high, eerie cries of the Black rocs, and a few seconds later, the birds came into view, dozens of them, all with at least two Reapers on their broad backs. One by one, the birds spiraled down from the sky and landed in the middle of the street on the far side of the academy wall.

And they weren’t alone.

In the distance, I heard the rumble and screech of vehicles heading our way. A minute later, it looked like all of the cars in Cypress Mountain were parked outside the gate.

The Reapers weren’t hiding in the shadows anymore—

not today.

“Here they come,” Linus said. “Everyone, get ready.” Every single warrior checked his or her sword and other weapons one more time. I tightened my grip on Vic and handed the binoculars over to Inari, who slid them into one of the pockets in his cloak. Then, we all

looked toward the gate.

One of the rocs hopped forward, and through the iron bars, I could see the two riders on its back—Vivian and Loki.

They were both wearing black Reaper robes, and Vivian had Lucretia strapped to her waist. Loki wasn’t carrying a weapon, but then again, he didn’t need one.

Vivian slid off the roc first, then turned to help Loki. Agrona got off another roc and moved to aid her protégé. It took them longer than I thought it would to unbuckle the god from the roc’s harness and get him on the ground. It took Loki longer still to shuffle toward the gate.

Loki paused outside the gate and peered in between the bars. Somehow, I could have sworn he was staring straight at me, despite the distance that separated us.

And I realized just how much havoc the silver laurel leaves had wreaked on him.