Midnight Frost (Mythos Academy #5)(56)
Author: Jennifer Estep

"So what happens now?" I asked, forcing out the words through the hard knot of emotion in my throat. "After we get down the mountain? Will you come back to Mythos with us?"

Logan shook his head. "I’ll return to the academy to make sure Nickamedes is okay – but I’m not staying. After that, I’ll go back to be with my dad."

"For how long?" I whispered.

He shrugged again. "I don’t know. I just don’t know. I’m sorry, Gwen. Really, I am."

Logan gave me a sad smile, then quickened his pace, leaving me alone at the back of the group. But I didn’t mind too much. At least this way, no one saw my face pinch tight with pain or heard the sob that escaped my throat. Logan might be here, but he was still as far away and lost to me as ever, and I didn’t know how to fix it – I didn’t know how to fix us.

Now, I wondered if it was even possible – or if Logan and I were as crumbled and broken as the ruins around us.

We reached the rope bridge a few minutes later. My heart was still aching, but I kept my emotions in check. As Ajax had said, we were still in danger, and turning into a weeping, wailing mess wouldn’t help.

Ajax held up his hand, and we stopped. The coach looked this way and that, just like the rest of us did, but there was no sign of Vivian, Agrona, or any other Reapers. Ajax took a few steps out onto the bridge, testing it, but it seemed as sturdy as when we’d first come up here. It looked like the Reapers had expected to kill us in the courtyard and hadn’t bothered to sabotage the bridge.

"All right," Ajax said. "Let’s get this over with. And keep your eyes open. There could still be more Reapers waiting on the other side to ambush us."

Ajax and Oliver crossed the bridge first. I held my breath, but they made it over to the other side safely, and no Reapers came rushing out of the forest to attack them.

Rory went next, prodding a dagger into Covington’s back to get him to shuffle along in front of her. She’d used some of the climbing rope we’d brought along to tie his hands together. The evil librarian hadn’t said a word as we’d been walking, although he kept giving us all murderous glares.

Rachel hurried after her niece, and Daphne and Carson followed them. Alexei hesitated, but I waved him on ahead.

"Logan and I will cross last," I said.

Alexei looked at me, then Logan. After a moment, he nodded and set off across the bridge. He made it to the other side without any problems.

"You first, Gypsy girl," Logan said.

I started to step onto the bridge –

Caw-caw-caw.

I froze.

Caw-caw-caw.

The roc’s shrieks sounded once again, although for some reason, it seemed as if the cries were coming from the ground beneath my feet, rather than the clouds above. I moved away from the bridge, raised Vic, and turned this way and that, searching for the roc – and the Reapers that would be riding the creature.

A second later, instead of dropping down from the sky, a Black roc soared up out of the chasm below. The creature smashed right through the middle of the bridge, snapping the boards and ropes in two like they were made of nothing more substantial than brittle matchsticks and thin thread. The splintered debris seemed to hover in midair for a moment before it silently floated down into the canyon far, far below.

The Black roc swooped back down, with Vivian and Agrona on its back. I tightened my grip on Vic, expecting the creature to dive-bomb forward and attack me and Logan, but instead, the roc only hovered above the chasm.

"Good luck getting off the mountain now, Gwen!" Vivian yelled.

She slapped the reins against the creature’s back, and they zoomed off into the sky. A golden arrow followed them, shot by Daphne, but the wind sent it skittering sideways, and it sailed off into the ruins.

Stunned, all I could do was stare up into the clouds and then back down into the yawning chasm in front of me. Slowly, the reality of the situation broke through my surprise.

Now, only empty air lay between me, Logan, and the others – and the Spartan and I were trapped on the wrong side of the bridge.

Chapter 29

I stared in disbelief at the canyon. We’d gotten the ambrosia flower, learned that Covington was a traitor, and had survived being attacked by Vivian, Agrona, the other Reapers, and their rocs. I’d thought we were finally free and clear.

I really should have known better by now.

"Gwen!" Rachel shouted, the wind whipping her words over to me. "You’ll have to take the other trail on the far side of the courtyard! It’s the only way you can get off the mountain now!"

I remembered her talking about the trail before – the steep, winding trail that she hadn’t gone down in years and that had probably been made impassible by falling rocks. Terrific. But Rachel was right – it was the only option we had.

"Where is it?" I shouted at her.

"Look at the map in your backpack! Go to the south side of the courtyard!" she yelled back. "It starts there! You can’t miss it!"

"Get as far down the trail as you can!" Ajax yelled, his voice booming across the open space. "We’ll come up and get you as soon as we can!"

He didn’t say it would take hours – if not longer. My friends would be lucky if they made it back to the academy by lunch. By the time they geared up for a rescue mission, dark would be approaching, and it would be too late to come searching for us without putting everyone in danger – which meant that Logan and I were most likely spending the night on the mountain.

Panic rose up in me, as cold and biting as the winter wind tearing through my hair, but I pushed it down. I couldn’t afford to panic. Not now. Instead, I plastered a smile on my face and waved at my friends.

"See you at the bottom!" I yelled.

They all stared at me, their faces pinched with worry. But there was nothing they could do – there was nothing any of us could do. So I forced myself to turn away from them.

Instead, I looked at Logan. Fear and unease flickered in his blue eyes, and his face was twisted into a painful grimace. He held his hand against his side where the roc had injured him, as though the wound was bothering him more and more, although I couldn’t see how bad it really was, given the heavy black snowsuit he wore.

"Please tell me you brought your supplies over to this side of the bridge."

He winced. "Sorry. I left all my gear behind when I came over to help you guys fight the Reapers."

That meant we only had what little food and water I had left in my backpack, along with my sleeping bag. But I didn’t know how warm it would keep us tonight with no tent to help keep out the cold.

As if being separated from my friends and low on supplies wasn’t bad enough, a few fat, fluffy flakes of snow started to drift down from the sky. The storm was here – and Logan and I were going to be stuck in the middle of it.