Killer Frost (Mythos Academy #6)(59)
Author: Jennifer Estep

Together, Logan and I hurried after the band geek, trying to keep close enough to protect him. He was like a calm little bunny hopping into a den of angry, hungry lions. The Reapers realized that Carson didn’t have a weapon and that he wasn’t fighting back, and they all scrambled to try to take down such an easy target.

“Faster, Gwen, faster!” Vic shouted, his mouth moving underneath my palm. “You can’t let the Reapers get in between the two of you or the Celt is dead!”

“Don’t you think I know that!” I yelled back at the sword, although I had no idea if he or Logan could hear me over the sounds of the fight.

A Reaper stepped in front of me, but I slashed Vic across his chest, shoved the other warrior out of the way, and hurried after Carson.

Ducking and dodging, sidestepping and leaping, whirling and twirling, Logan and I managed to keep up with the band geek as he moved from the library steps all the way over to the center of the quad.

Carson finally stopped, and I almost slammed into his back. Another Reaper came at us, but before he could attack, Daphne put an arrow into his chest. The Reaper crashed to a stop at our feet. But Carson continued to stand there, staring down at the horn in his hands as if nothing else mattered. I bit my lip. I wanted nothing more than to reach out and shake him, but I didn’t want to ruin his concentration . . . or whatever he was doing.

The Celt will know what to do with the horn when the time comes, Nike’s voice whispered in my mind. That’s what the goddess had said to me when I’d questioned her about why my friends had the artifacts they did.

I cut down another Reaper charging at us. Logan did the same. Whatever it was, I hoped that Carson figured it out soon. Otherwise, the three of us were dead.

Another Reaper fell at my feet, thanks to Daphne and her arrows, and I looked over at the far edge of the quad, where Vivian, Agrona, and Loki were still standing, out of the main part of the fight. Vivian spotted me, then her golden gaze flicked to Carson. She frowned and pointed us out to Agrona. Loki followed Vivian’s finger, but instead of staring at me with hate in his eyes as usual, his angry gaze locked onto Carson instead. His eyes bulged in surprise, then his face mottled with red rage.

“Kill him!” Loki screamed at the Reapers. “Don’t let him blow that horn—”

But it was too late. Carson slowly brought the Horn of Roland up to his lips, closed his eyes, and started to play.

Chapter 26

One sweet, simple note drifted out of the horn, so soft that I thought I had only imagined it at first. Carson opened his eyes, drew back, and frowned, staring at the horn as if he was confused, as if it hadn’t done what he’d thought it would or what he wanted it to.

“Now would be a great time for you to use your music mojo to get us out of this!” I yelled at him, even as I battled a Reaper who was creeping up on his blind side.

“Gwen’s right!” Logan shouted, fighting off another

Reaper.

Carson was a Celt, sort of like a warrior bard, and he could play practically any instrument he picked up. I hoped he found a way to make the horn do whatever it was supposed to do before the Reapers overwhelmed us—

“Don’t worry, guys,” he said, his voice soft and almost dreamy-sounding. “I think I’ve got it now.”

Carson nodded, and that strange black gleam in his eyes brightened, as if he’d finally figured out some sort of great secret about the horn.

More and more Reapers started heading in our direction, urged on by Loki’s continued screams about killing Carson. I watched in horror as one Reaper broke away from the other warrior he was fighting and raced in our direction. Then another one, then five more, then ten more, until it seemed as if every single Reaper on the quad was running toward us with the sole intention of killing Carson where he stood. Even as Logan and I stepped in front of him, I knew we wouldn’t be able to stop the Reapers from swarming over us and taking him out.

“Carson!” I screamed. “Play the freaking horn! Now!” “Okay,” he said in that same soft, dreamy voice. “I

can do that.”

He brought the horn to his lips. Once again, a single, sweet note sounded, but the Reapers kept coming. Daphne dropped three more of them with her arrows, sending the projectiles into three different targets at once. But more and more Reapers rushed forward to take their places.

“Carson!” I screamed again, slashing Vic back and forth as fast as I could, lashing out at every single warrior I could reach, with Logan doing the same thing beside me. “Carson!”

Just when I thought the Reapers were going to overrun us, Carson drew in another breath and began to play in earnest. Note after note erupted from the horn, each one stronger and sharper than the last. Carson blew and blew on the horn, his fingers pressing into the onyx keys as though it were a regular tuba he was playing instead of a powerful artifact.

At first, the music didn’t seem to have any effect. The Reapers kept coming and coming, and Logan and I kept fighting them off, one after another, even though my arms ached from the effort of holding on to Vic and driving the sword’s blade into my enemies over and over again. Meanwhile, Daphne kept shooting arrows, and between the three of us, we managed to keep Carson safe.

But then, through the music, I heard another sound.

Crack.

Crack-crack. Crack.

At first, I thought I was just imagining the sounds through the yells, shouts, and screamsof the fight. Then, I heard it again . . . and again . . . and again . . .

Crack.

Crack-crack. Crack.

Each successive crack sounded louder than the one before it, as though someone was firing a cannon over and over again. I instinctively ducked down, and so did everyone else, wondering where the sounds were coming from and what they really were. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something move.

A statue.

One of the gargoyles perched on the steps of the English-history building slowly began stretching and moving, as though it was waking up after a long, long sleep. In a way, I supposed that’s exactly what it was doing. I thought I was only imagining the statue moving, that maybe I’d been fighting too hard for too long and had taken one too many blows to the head. But then, the gargoyle on the other side of the steps began to move and stretch as well, and I finally realized what the Horn of Roland did and why it had fallen into Carson’s hands.

Because it brought the statues of Mythos Academy to

life.

Carson kept playing and playing, the sounds of the Horn of Roland rising up to drown out everything else. It was a soft, sweet sound, but yet, somehow fierce and wild and loud and free all at the same time. It was the kind of music that made you want to dance and dance and dance until you laughed with joy and simply collapsed from the fast, sheer thrill of the movement and the music. Slowly, the Protectorate guards and the Reapers stopped fighting, all of us hypnotized by Carson’s wonderful playing.