Spartan Destiny

by Estep, Jennifer

  Everything was still, cold, and quiet, just as it had been for the last thirty minutes. Nothing was out of place, and nothing was out of the ordinary, but I still felt like something was wrong. Like we were missing something obvious and that our mission was about to go sideways. But try as I might, I couldn’t figure out what we had overlooked—

  Something moved at the edge of the grass, not too far away from the bushes where Mateo was still hiding.

  My eyes narrowed, and I peered in that direction, trying to see into the black shadows that blanketed that part of the grounds. As a Spartan, my instincts were pretty good when it came to picking up on potential danger, but I saw the exact same things as before: trees, bushes, benches, lights, paths, buildings, frost. Nothing unusual and absolutely nothing to be worried about—

  Babs cleared her throat, interrupting my thoughts. “Isn’t this exciting?” she whispered again.

  I kept scanning the grounds, but I still didn’t see anything. “Yeah. Exciting.”

  “Well?” she asked. “What are you waiting for?”

  She was right. Zoe and Ian were already inside, and it was my job to watch their backs. So I pushed my unease aside and changed my grip on Babs, so that I was holding the sword by her hilt.

  I looked out over the grounds a final time, but everything was the same as before, so I turned away from the view, raised Babs into an attack position, and stepped through the door.

  * * *

  Zoe and Ian were waiting for me. The door opened onto the building’s second floor, which was shaped like an enormous square. A balcony with a stone railing wrapped all the way around this level and overlooked the first floor below.

  The lights were turned down low on this level, and my friends were crouching in the shadows at the end of a large bookcase, making them almost invisible except for the silvery gleam of their weapons. Zoe had set her backpack on the floor and was clutching her electrodagger, while Ian was still holding his battle ax. Worry pinched their faces.

  “What took you so long?” Zoe asked.

  “Is something wrong?” Ian whispered.

  I shook my head. “Nope, nothing except for me being paranoid like usual. Let’s get into position and see if the Reapers show up. Mateo, where is Aphrodite’s Cuff?”

  That was the artifact we thought the Reapers were going to try to steal.

  Mateo’s voice sounded in my ear. “It’s on the first floor, at the end of aisle nine, the same as when we did our initial recon here earlier today. I can see the cuff on the security cameras. It’s sitting in its case. No sign of the Reapers yet.”

  “Roger that.” I looked at my friends. “You guys go down to the first floor and get into position around the artifact. I’ll stay up here on the second floor and keep an eye on everything below. I’ll let you know if I see anything suspicious. When the Reapers show up and try to steal the cuff, we’ll move in, surround them, and force them to surrender.”

  Zoe and Ian both nodded, then got to their feet and moved around the bookcase. They sidled along the wall, pushed through a door, and slipped into a stairwell, disappearing from sight.

  I waited until the faint echoes of their footsteps had faded away before stepping away from the bookcase, crossing the open floor, and hunkering down next to the balcony railing. I looked around, but nothing was moving on this level, so I peered through the spaces in the railing at the first floor below, keeping watch until Zoe and Ian could creep down the stairs.

  The building’s lights had been dimmed for the night, although the ones on the first floor were still bright enough to let me easily see everything down there. A long counter surrounded by tables and chairs and a silver cart clustered together in the middle of the first floor. Several cushioned chairs and couches were sitting off to one side, arranged around an enormous freestanding fireplace that was made of the same blackish stone as the rest of the building. Colorful rugs covered much of the floor, while thick wooden beams supported many of the walls and the upper levels.

  Bookcases ringed that center section and spiraled out through the rest of the first floor, the tall, wide shelves looking like rows of soldiers standing at attention and guarding the furniture in their midst. The shadows were particularly deep and ominous in those sections, and blackness cloaked many of the aisles. But even in the darkest spots, bits of glass winked like sly eyes, inviting people to brave the shadows and come admire the artifacts on display.

  I studied every single part of the first floor, from the furniture in the center, to the fireplace off to one side, to the far ends of the bookcases, and back again, but I didn’t see anyone. No guards, no Reapers, no one. Maybe Mateo was right. Maybe this would be a piece of cake. Either way, the mission was an important test, one to mark how far the Midgard had come as a team in the last few months, and I wanted to complete it successfully. Spartans were rather competitive that way.

  Since the first floor seemed to be clear, I studied the second level again, making sure that I was still alone up here. And I was—except for the statues.

  White marble statues ringed the balcony. Most of the figures were towering, imposing creations, and they clutched everything from stone weapons to food to a few small animals that were frozen in place, just like the main figures themselves were. I examined each one of them, in case someone was hiding in plain sight, but they were all just still stone.

  Finally, I glanced up at the statue that was closest to me, a woman with long hair that trailed past her shoulders. She was quite beautiful, despite the serious look on her face and the old, faded scars that crisscrossed her hands and crawled up her arms. Still, the longer I stared at her, the more cold worry trickled down my spine.

  “What do you see that I don’t?” I whispered.

  Of course, the statue didn’t respond, but her lips seemed to press together, as if she were even more worried than before. I looked at her a moment longer, but she wasn’t going to give me any answers, so I turned my attention back to the first floor.

  A door creaked open, and Zoe and Ian crept along the main aisle that led from the double doors over to the cluster of furniture. They both had their weapons up and at the ready, and their heads swiveled back and forth, scanning everything around them.

  I looked over the first floor again, but everything was the same as before. Ian glanced up at me, and I nodded, telling him the coast was clear. He gestured at Zoe, and the two of them headed toward the artifact case that contained Aphrodite’s Cuff.

  As they crept along, I got to my feet and moved from one statue and shadow to the next, tracking their progress and keeping an eye out for guards, Reapers, or anything else that might threaten my friends—

  Click-click-click-click.

  I froze. For a moment, I wondered if I had only imagined the sound, but then it came again, a little louder and closer than before.

  Click-click-click-click.

  I frowned, trying to place the familiar noise. If it had been a little louder and heavier, I would have thought it was footsteps, but those faint whispers sounded like…toenails softly hitting the floor.

  Click-click-click-click.

  The sound came for a third time, and I realized it wasn’t toenails. It was something far, far worse.

  Claws.

  And in my experience, the only things that came with claws were mythological monsters.

  Since I had joined the Midgard, I had dealt with more than my fair share of monsters, including Typhon chimeras and Serket basilisks. The chimeras and basilisks were horrible, deadly creatures in their own right, and I had no idea what other monsters the Reapers might be able to summon.

  But I had a bad, bad feeling that I was about to find out.

  My gaze snapped from one section of the first floor to the next, but I didn’t see any monsters or anything else suspicious. Still, I knew that someone—or something—else was in here with us.

  I crouched down and peered through the gaps in the railing again. Down below, my friends had found the appropriat
e artifact case at the end of one of the aisles, and Zoe pulled a small padlock out of her pocket and attached it to the case. Like her dagger, the Valkyrie’s electrolock would shock anyone who dared to touch the case, making it another layer of protection for Aphrodite’s Cuff, which was housed inside the glass.

  Once that was finished, Zoe and Ian looked around, debating where they could hide and still see the case at the same time, since our mission was to keep a watch on the artifact, then surround and capture the Reapers when they tried to steal it.

  Ian flashed me a thumbs-up, indicating that everything was going according to plan. I nodded back, although my own worry kept increasing. I didn’t hear those claws hitting the floor anymore, which meant that whatever monster they were attached to had most likely hunkered down somewhere.

  Ian must have sensed my worry, because he stared at me, a questioning look on his face. I held up a clenched fist, telling him and Zoe to hold their positions. I still didn’t see anything on the first floor, but I couldn’t shake the uneasy dread that had curled up in my stomach, so I decided to check in with the final member of our team.

  “Mateo?” I whispered. “Are we still clear? Mateo?”

  Static crackled in my ear, but he didn’t answer me. Mateo wouldn’t abandon his position, and he certainly wouldn’t take out his comms device unless…

  Something was wrong.

  Ian and Zoe both frowned. They had heard the crackling static through their own earbuds. Ian hefted his ax a little higher, and Zoe did the same with her electrodagger.

  “Guys,” I whispered. “Head back toward the stairs, but walk, don’t run. Someone else is in here with us, and we don’t want to tip them off that we know they’re here.”

  “But what about protecting the artifact?” Zoe whispered back. “That’s the mission.”

  “I know, but we can’t protect anything if we’re dead. Us getting out of here alive is the most important thing right now,” I replied.

  Ian and Zoe both nodded, then headed back the way they’d come.

  Once again, I crept along the second-floor balcony, following their progress and keeping an eye on everything below. Ian and Zoe made it back to the center aisle. They both looked left and right, but they didn’t see anything, and neither did I. My friends glanced around a final time, then stepped into the aisle to head back toward the stairs.

  And that was when the Reapers finally showed themselves.

  A shadow detached itself from the fireplace and slithered onto the floor. I blinked, wondering where it had come from, but then I realized that a second shadow was right behind that first one—and they had both just crawled out of the cold fireplace.

  That was why I hadn’t spotted them. I had been looking in the wrong place. I had expected the Reapers to hide in the shadowy stacks or behind the long counter. Not to be holed up in the freaking fireplace. But the Reapers were sneaky, and I should have been expecting the unexpected. That was my mistake, and I was going to have to pay for it.

  And so were my friends.

  The two shadows straightened up. They were both wearing long black Reaper cloaks with the hoods pulled up, along with creepy black harlequin masks covered with red diamond-shaped patterns. And worst of all, they were both carrying swords, which they drew the second they were on their feet.

  Ian heard the soft rasps of the weapons sliding free of their scabbards, and he whirled around. “Zoe!” he yelled. “Watch out!”

  Zoe whirled around as well, brandishing her electrodagger at the two Reapers. For a moment, the four of them studied one another, waiting for someone to make the first move. Then one of the Reapers let out a loud battle cry and charged forward, and the fight was on.

  Ian stepped up to engage one of the Reapers, while Zoe battled the second one.

  “Rory!” Babs yelled, her lips moving under my palm. “You have to help them!”

  “I know!” I yelled back. “I’m working on it!”

  I abandoned all pretense of stealth and surged to my feet. My gaze darted around, searching for more enemies, but I didn’t see anyone else, so I rushed over to the bookcase that my friends had been crouching beside earlier. I didn’t want to waste time shoving through doors and running down steps, so I decided to take a quicker and more direct route down to the first floor.

  Zoe had left her backpack sitting on the floor, and I ripped open the top, searching through the items inside. Heavy-duty tape, scissors, a plastic case full of extra earbuds. The Valkyrie had stuffed all sorts of odds and ends inside her bag, but I quickly found what I wanted.

  Another small grappling hook attached to a long length of rope.

  I pulled out the items and hurried over to the balcony. I set Babs on the floor and then wrapped the hook and the rope around the railing and tugged on them to make sure they were secure. I grabbed Babs again, took hold of the rope in my other hand, and climbed up onto the railing.

  As a Spartan, I had the innate ability to pick up any object and automatically know how to kill someone with it. My Spartan instincts also let me see every single move a person was going to make a split second before he made it, especially when it came to a fight like the one raging below. I focused on the Reaper who was battling Zoe, studying everything about him, from the way he was holding his sword, to how high he lifted the weapon, to how his boots shuffled along on the floor right before he lashed out with another strike.

  My Spartan instincts kicked in, and the next few seconds of the fight unspooled in my mind like a movie that I was fast-forwarding through to get to the next scene. Zoe would brandish her electrodagger at the Reaper again, and he would whirl out of the way. Then he would come right back at her, and this time, he would force his way past her defenses and slice his sword across her stomach.

  Unless I stopped him.

  And I was going to stop him. All I had to do was wait for the right moment.

  The fight went exactly the way I’d expected it to. Zoe lashed out with her dagger, and the Reaper spun out of the way. The second he turned his back to her, I tightened my grip on the rope and stepped off the balcony.

  The rope burned my left palm as I slid down it, but that pain didn’t matter. Saving Zoe was the only thing I cared about right now.

  And I did it.

  I slid down the rope, and I timed my descent just right, so that I landed between Zoe and the Reaper. Even before my boots touched the floor, I snapped up Babs, blocking the Reaper’s attack.

  “Help Ian!” I screamed at Zoe.

  She scrambled back out of my way and hurried over to where Ian was still fighting the second Reaper.

  The Reaper in front of me jerked back in surprise, but I wasn’t letting him get away that easily. I darted forward, slipped past the Reaper’s defenses, and looped the rope that I was still holding around his neck. Then I whirled back around, tightening the rope.

  The Reaper yelped in surprise. He lashed out with his sword, but it was an awkward blow, and I smashed Babs into his blade, knocking his sword out of his hand. His weapon skittered across the floor and spun to a stop beside one of the tables.

  I turned back to the Reaper. He was trying to untangle the rope from around his neck, so I stepped up and kicked his leg out from under him. The Reaper let out a strangled cry and grabbed hold of the rope to try to keep himself from choking, but he wasn’t successful, and he went slack and still and dropped to the floor.

  He was out of the fight, so I turned toward the second Reaper, who was still battling Ian and Zoe.

  That Reaper swung his sword at Ian, driving the Viking back. The Reaper also spotted Zoe sneaking up on him, and he kicked out with his foot, sending a chair skittering in her direction.

  Zoe stumbled over the chair, growled, and raised her dagger, but it was too late. The Reaper stepped up and sliced his sword across her stomach. Zoe dropped to the floor without a sound.

  “Zoe!” Ian yelled.

  He hefted his ax and charged forward, but the Reaper coolly spun to the side and sl
iced his sword across Ian’s back. Ian also dropped to the floor without a sound.

  The Reaper whirled around to me, since we were the last two fighters standing. He stared at me, his blue eyes bright behind his creepy harlequin mask. He performed a low, mocking bow, then straightened up and crooked his finger in a clear challenge. He had taken care of my friends, and now he wanted to do the same to me.

  I let out a primal scream of rage, lifted Babs high, and charged at the Reaper.

  Chapter Two

  The Reaper easily sidestepped my charge—just like I wanted.

  He whirled around and brought his sword up, expecting to slice the blade across my back, just like he had done to Ian, but I snapped up Babs, and our weapons crashed together.

  I stared into the Reaper’s eyes. Surprise flickered in his blue gaze, along with respect. He leaned forward, trying to use his strength to drive me back, but I planted my boots on the floor and held my ground.

  “Is that all you’ve got?” I asked. “You’re going to have to do better than that.”

  Below his harlequin mask, the Reaper’s lips curved up into a sly smile. “Don’t worry, Spartan. I will.”

  He jerked his head back. My Spartan instincts kicked in, so I knew exactly what he was going to do, but he was half a second quicker than I was. Before I could react, much less move out of the way, he snapped his head forward and rammed it into mine.

  The sharp, hard blow made me stagger back. White stars exploded in my eyes, and pain pounded through my skull like a jackhammer. But as quickly as they appeared, the stars winked out, and a cool, soothing power rose up to take their place, as my healing magic rushed through my body. My magic had already fixed the nasty rope burn on my hand, and now it was easing the pounding ache in my head.