Midnight Frost (Mythos Academy #5)(25)
Author: Jennifer Estep

"Gwen!" Alexei said, spotting me out of the corner of his eye and realizing what I was up to. "Stay put! Stay behind me!"

I didn’t bother answering him. I couldn’t stay put, and I couldn’t just stand there and do nothing. Not while he and Oliver were fighting so many Reapers. I might not be the best or most skilled warrior, but I was no coward, especially when it came to helping my friends.

As I heaved myself across the benches, I noticed the girl who’d been sitting in the back of the train. She was standing up on her bench just like I was. The girl kept looking back and forth between the Reapers and Alexei, as though she was watching an intense sporting match. She didn’t move to attack my friend, but she didn’t try to help him either. Since the girl seemed to be staying where she was and out of the fight, I put her out of my mind and kept climbing over the benches as fast as I could.

A Reaper girl who looked about my age moved to attack me, but I swung Vic and sliced the sword across her chest. Blood spurted out of her wound and spattered onto my hand, sliding across my skin like warm drops of rain. I gritted my teeth and ignored the awful sensation.

"Get her, Gwen!" Vic crowed, not having any problems with the blood that covered his blade. "Get her!"

I lashed out with the sword again, this time stabbing the blade deep into her stomach. The Reaper girl screamed and lurched back into the boy behind her, but he put his arms on her shoulders and shoved her forward. I put one hand down on a brass rail, bracing myself, and kicked her in the chest, sending her flying right back into the boy. They both fell to the floor. I could hear the boy yelling as he tried to shove the dead girl off him, but since he wasn’t an immediate threat, I continued climbing over the benches.

Behind me, I could hear Oliver and Alexei shouting to each other as they counted off the Reapers they killed.

"One down!" Alexei said.

"Two down!" Oliver chimed in.

"Three!"

"Four!"

I finally managed to crawl to the back of the car and an open space that was reserved for storing luggage. I’d just put my feet down on the floor when the Reaper boy finally managed to push the dead girl off him. He scrambled to his feet and charged at me.

I didn’t have time to raise my sword, so I stepped forward and punched him in the face. The blow didn’t have much of an effect on the Reaper, but it made him hesitate long enough for me to shove Vic into his stomach. The boy screamed and fell to the floor.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one of the Reapers who’d been attacking Alexei turn in my direction, reach underneath his coat, and pull out a small crossbow. He leveled the weapon at my head.

Thwang!

Even as I started to move, I knew I couldn’t duck out of the way in time to keep the arrow from hitting me –

Something moved off to my right, a shadow flitted in front of my eyes, and I heard the distinct sound of wood hitting flesh. I blinked.

Smack!

The arrow had stopped a foot from my face.

Eyes wide, my head snapped to the side, and I realized that the angry girl from the train station was there – and that she was holding the arrow in her hand like it was a football she’d just plucked out of midair.

"You’re welcome," she said in a snide voice.

Then, she tossed the arrow up in the air, grabbed it by the end, and threw it at the Reaper with the crossbow. The arrow sank into his throat. The man clawed at the projectile, trying to rip it free, even as his legs went out from under him, and he dropped to the floor.

"A Spartan," I whispered. "You’re a Spartan."

"Yeah, and you and your friends seem to be in a lot of trouble," the girl sniped.

She stepped in front of me and picked up the dead Reaper’s crossbow. A second later, she slammed the heavy wood into the side of another Reaper’s face. I shook my head, stepped up, and got back into the fight.

Together, the girl and I advanced on the Reapers who were clustered in front of Alexei and climbing up onto the benches so they could swarm around and attack him all at once. She’d step up and hit one with the crossbow, then slide to the side, leaving me enough room to move forward and kill the Reaper with Vic. When the crossbow finally splintered, then shattered, she used one of the broken pieces as a dagger, stabbing it into everyone she could reach.

Logan would have definitely approved.

Seeing that we had a handle on the Reapers on this side of the car, Alexei whirled around to help Oliver deal with the ones who were attacking him. Working together, the four of us cut through the rest of them. Three minutes later, it was over, and all the Reapers were dead.

We stood there, weapons clutched tight in our hands, blood everywhere, bodies stacked up two and three deep at our feet, with even more Reapers sprawled over the benches and tables. For a moment, the only sounds were our harsh, raspy breaths and the grind of the gears as the train kept chugging up the mountain.

"Well," Vic said in a cheery voice. "That’s the way to start the day off right. Blood before breakfast. Always a treat, if you ask me."

The Spartan girl gave me a strange look, like she thought I was the one who was talking. Please. As if I would ever say such gruesome things – or could manage an English accent right now.

"Shut up, Vic," I muttered.

I looked at Oliver and Alexei. "You guys all right?"

They both nodded, and we all stared at the Spartan girl.

"I’m fine," she sniped again. "Thanks for asking."

Alexei stepped forward, probably to start searching the bodies, when the door at the front of the car hissed open. We all tensed and whirled around toward the opening.

Daphne stepped inside, with Carson and Coach Ajax right behind her.

"I can’t believe they were out of blueberry bagels already – "

Her voice cut off, and she stopped in the middle of the aisle. Carson ran into her back and bounced off. Daphne’s black eyes fixed on the dead Reapers, then her gaze flicked to Alexei, Oliver, and finally me.

"So," I asked. "How was breakfast?"

Daphne arched an eyebrow. "Obviously not as exciting as yours."

I grimaced at her words.

Chapter 13

Ajax shouldered past Carson and Daphne. The coach went from one Reaper to another, looking at them all in turn. Finally, he shook his head.

"I thought they’d at least wait until we got to the ruins before they attacked," he rumbled. "I’ll have to call ahead and report this. Everybody stays in here where I can see you until we get to Snowline Ridge. Understand?"

We all nodded.

Ajax pulled out his cell phone and moved to the front of the car. He punched in some numbers and started talking in a low voice, probably alerting the members of the Protectorate about the battle – and the fact that they needed to come and deal with the blood and bodies.