Spartan Destiny

by Estep, Jennifer

  I grinned back at him. “Yes, sir.”

  I turned to Gwen. “Where were you guys? I tried calling and texting, but I couldn’t get anyone to answer me.”

  She grimaced. “Grandma Frost called me this morning and said she had a bad feeling that you were in danger. She couldn’t see anything clearly, but I thought that maybe Covington was coming after the Narcissus Heart, so I called and left you a message. Then we got on a Protectorate plane to come here and make sure that everything was okay. We were in the air when you contacted us. That’s why we didn’t get back to you right away. I’m so sorry. I wish we had gotten here sooner.”

  So that was why I hadn’t been able to understand Gwen’s message. She’d been about to get on an airplane, and the engine had drowned her out.

  “It’s okay.” I reached out and squeezed her hand. “I’m just glad you’re here now.”

  She smiled and squeezed my hand back. “Me too.”

  Gwen looked around the table. “What do you say, guys? Let’s hear it for Rory Forseti, Spartan warrior, Gypsy girl, and all-around hero. Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!”

  The others smiled and joined in with her enthusiastic hurrahs. An embarrassed blush bloomed in my cheeks, but I looked at everyone.

  Babs, Aunt Rachel, Professor Dalaja, Zoe, Gwen, Vic, Takeda, Ian, Mateo, Logan, and Linus. All of my friends, all safe and here with me.

  It had been a long, hard road to get here, but I knew this was definitely one of the happiest moments of my life and something I would remember forever.

  * * *

  We stayed in the Bunker for another hour, straightening up as much of the mess as we could. By that point, it was after midnight, and there were still a thousand other details to see to, but Takeda ordered us to go home for the night.

  We rode the elevator up to the second floor of the library, went over to the balcony, and stared down at the destruction below. The Protectorate guards were still hard at work, cleaning up the mess. Logan and Linus headed downstairs to help the workers, along with Aunt Rachel, Takeda, and Professor Dalaja. That left me on the balcony with Ian, Zoe, Mateo, and Gwen.

  Mateo cleared his throat, shifted on his feet, and looked at the Valkyrie. “Now that we’re both not poisoned with red narcissus venom, we should talk about what happened at Rory’s cottage. I sort of thought that we were having a…moment there. You know, when you were lying on top of me looking all cute and adorable, not when you were trying to kill me. Anyway, I was wondering if you thought maybe it was a moment too?” His words came out in a rush, and he sucked in a breath like he was going to keep going before he lost his courage.

  Zoe rolled her eyes, grabbed Mateo’s shirt, and pulled him close. Then she stood on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his. Yeah, she had definitely thought it was a moment too.

  Mateo’s eyes widened in surprise, but he quickly got with the program. His arms snaked around Zoe, and he held her tight and kissed her back. Blue sparks of magic streamed out of Zoe’s fingertips and winked in the air all around them, bathing them both in soft, radiant light.

  I smiled, joy flooding my heart. After seeing so much ugliness today, I was happy that the two of them had finally gotten together.

  And theirs wasn’t the only bit of romance. Ian put his arm around my waist and pulled me close. I kissed his cheek, and he grinned back at me.

  Zoe and Mateo kept kissing for quite some time. Long enough for Ian to clear his throat.

  “So I guess the two of you are officially an item now?” he said.

  Zoe and Mateo broke apart. They had been so wrapped up in each other that they forgot they had an audience.

  “Um, yeah?” Mateo asked in an uncertain voice. “I know that you’re sort of Zoe’s unofficial big brother. Are you okay with that?”

  Ian grinned and punched him in the shoulder. “I’m more than okay with it.” Then he fixed a stern look on his face. “But you’d better treat her right, or you’ll have to answer to me.”

  Mateo nodded. He had no desire to tangle with the Viking, even if Ian was his best friend.

  Ian turned to Zoe. “And the same goes for you. You’d better treat him right too.”

  Zoe rolled her eyes again. “Of course I will. Because I’m awesome that way. Now, come on. I want to make sure the guards don’t zap themselves with my new electrospear. It’s buried down there in the rubble somewhere.”

  Ian looked at Gwen and me. “Meet us downstairs when you’re finished?”

  I nodded. “Yeah.”

  He grinned at me again, then the three of them disappeared into the stairwell.

  That left Gwen and me standing alone on the balcony. Down below, a couple of Protectorate guards were crouching next to Covington’s body, and they picked him up, put him on a stretcher, and zipped a black body bag up over his face, hiding him from sight. I shuddered.

  “It’s over,” Gwen said in a soft voice. “You won, and he lost.”

  “I know.” I let out a breath. “And I’m glad I saved my friends.”

  “But?”

  “But I wish I had been able to save everyone. I wish all those flowers at the Eir Ruins hadn’t had to give their lives to save mine. And I especially wish my parents were still alive. That Covington had never killed them. Maybe things would have been different if they had lived. Maybe my parents would have stopped Covington a long time ago, and none of this would have ever happened.”

  Gwen gave me a sad smile. “I know exactly how you feel. I wish my parents were still alive too. And Nott and Sergei Sokolov and everyone else we’ve lost.”

  She fell silent, obviously thinking about her fallen friends. Nott was Nyx’s mother and had died saving Gwen from several Reapers, while Sergei Sokolov was one of the many Protectorate members who’d been killed during the battle at the North Carolina academy.

  “I wish everyone was still alive,” Gwen continued. “Everyone the Reapers have ever hurt and killed. But we can’t bring them back. All we can do is honor their memories by loving the people who are with us right now as much and as best as we can.”

  Tears gathered in my eyes. Gwen reached out and hugged me. I blinked away my tears and hugged her back even tighter.

  After several long seconds, we broke apart.

  “Meet us downstairs when you’re ready,” she said.

  I nodded. We hugged again, and Gwen headed toward the stairs.

  I waited until the sound of her footsteps had faded away, then went over to Sigyn’s statue. Despite the chips and cracks in the white stone and the chunks missing from her body, the goddess was standing straight and tall, and a proud smile curved her lips. Seeing how happy and at peace she was eased some of my own misery, guilt, and heartache.

  I pulled Babs out of her scabbard and cradled the blade in my arms so that we could both look at Sigyn. We stayed there for several moments in silence, studying the goddess. Finally, Babs cleared her throat.

  I glanced down at her. “Yes, Babs?”

  “You know how much I love a good battle,” the sword began.

  “But?”

  She sighed. “But do you think we could take it easy for a while? All the constant danger, narrow escapes, and daring rescues are wearing me out. Not to mention the fact that you have been dropping me all over the place the last few days.” She gave me a reproachful look.

  A happy bubble of laughter escaped my lips. “I think we’re done with the fighting, at least for a while. And I promise I will do my very best not to drop you from now on.”

  That seemed to satisfy the sword. “Good.”

  I had started to turn away from Sigyn’s statue to head downstairs when Babs cleared her throat again.

  “Aren’t you going to take those with you?” she asked.

  “What?”

  The sword rolled her eye downward. “The box and the flower. There on the floor behind Sigyn’s statue. Don’t tell me you forgot you left them here.”

  So much had happened that I had totally forgotten about them. I looked b
ehind Sigyn’s statue. Babs was right. The white Chloris box and the potted winterbloom were sitting in the same spots I had left them in before the final battle with Covington.

  I crouched down and propped Babs up against Sigyn’s statue. Then I grabbed the items and pulled them closer. The white Chloris box gleamed as though it had been freshly polished, while the winterbloom waved its petals at me like usual. Somehow they had been completely untouched by all the fighting and chaos in the library.

  I was glad the items had survived, truly, I was, but seeing the emerald hearts on the box and the winterbloom reminded me of the destruction at the Eir Ruins and how all the flowers there had died and withered to ash—

  So what’s in the white box then? Why is it so useless? My own voice echoed in my ears, along with Covington’s snide reply. More seeds, of course. For all kinds of flowers.

  “More seeds,” I whispered, my heart rising with hope. “More seeds.”

  “What?” Babs asked. “What are you babbling about? And why are you crying?”

  Tears streamed down my face, but for the first time tonight, they were tears of happiness.

  “I’ll tell you later. Right now, I just want to be with my friends.”

  I grabbed Babs and slid her back into her scabbard. Then I tucked the white Chloris box under my arm, along with the potted winterbloom. I nodded to Sigyn one more time and left the goddess behind for the night.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Despite the Reaper attack, the next morning dawned clear and bright at Mythos Academy, and my alarm went off way too early, just like always. I slapped it into submission, then crawled out of bed, took a shower, and got dressed.

  Despite all the chaos and confusion of yesterday, Linus Quinn and the other Powers That Were had decided that the best thing would be if everything proceeded as normal today, which meant that I had to go to my regular classes. I had saved everyone at the academy, and I was going to get nothing but homework in return. It didn’t seem fair, but I didn’t mind. Too much.

  I found Aunt Rachel in the kitchen, whipping up a fantastic breakfast. Gwen was already sitting at the table, with Vic, her talking sword, propped up in the chair beside her.

  “Finally,” Vic said, rolling his twilight-colored eye. “I was wondering if you two sleepyheads were ever going to get up.”

  I propped Babs up in the chair across from Vic.

  Babs glared at the other sword. “In case you’ve forgotten, I was busy fighting Reapers all day yesterday. All you did was sit on an airplane.”

  “I would have been quite happy to battle the Reapers if we had gotten here in time,” Vic snapped back in his cool English accent.

  Babs sniffed. “Yes, but you didn’t get here in time, did you? So I was the one who ended up doing all the work, including taking down Covington. So I think I earned a few hours of beauty sleep.”

  “Well, you certainly needed them,” Vic sniped back at her. “Although you’re still looking old, dull, and ragged this morning.”

  Babs’s eye narrowed. “The only one who is old, dull, and ragged is you, especially when it comes to your pitiful attempts at witty banter.”

  Vic’s eye narrowed as well, and he opened his mouth to snipe back at her again, but Gwen cleared her throat, interrupting him before he could get started.

  “Great! Rory’s here! Let’s eat!” Gwen chirped in a light, happy voice.

  Babs and Vic kept glaring at each other, but they ceased their verbal sparring. For now.

  After an absolutely delicious breakfast of cinnamon-apple pancakes with homemade vanilla syrup, scrambled eggs, and loads of bacon, I grabbed my messenger bag, along with Babs, and kissed Aunt Rachel on the cheek. Gwen stayed behind to help Aunt Rachel clean up the kitchen, while I headed across campus.

  Several minutes later, I stepped onto the main quad. Kids were packed into the area, with their phones in one hand and their coffees in the other. Snatches of conversation filled the air.

  “I still can’t believe there was a gas leak in the library yesterday.”

  “It was so boring sitting in the dining hall all day long.”

  “I’m just glad everyone’s okay…”

  And the conversations went on and on, with everyone chattering about what had supposedly happened. Linus Quinn and the Protectorate guards had told everyone that there had been a gas leak and minor explosion in the Library of Antiquities that had released some toxic fumes into the air. Supposedly, those toxic fumes had spewed out into the quad, and everyone had been taken to the dining hall as a precaution.

  Several Protectorate doctors had examined the students, as well as me and my friends, and they had determined that Covington had used two separate strains of red narcissus venom. The strain he had infected my friends with had let them realize what was happening, as well as keeping their memories. No doubt, Covington had delighted in the thought of my friends being aware of exactly what he was doing to them and then never being able to forget it afterward. I also thought the artifacts I’d used to cure my friends had played a role in them still knowing what had happened while they were infected.

  But the strain that Covington had used on the students had completely wiped their memories. The only thing the students remembered was sitting in the dining hall and not the red smoke and the Reapers who had put them there. Maybe it was better that they didn’t know the truth, especially how close they had come to never waking up from the venom.

  A sign posted outside the library said it would be closed today for repairs, adding to the lie. But other than that, everything was normal. I stood at the edge of the quad, soaking up all the sights, sounds, and laughter. I was just glad that we had been able to save everyone and defeat Covington and Drake.

  I stepped onto one of the cobblestone paths and looked around, searching for my friends. I spotted Ian leaning against one of the maple trees, and I hurried over to him.

  He noticed me, pushed away from the tree, and smiled, his gray eyes gleaming like silver stars in the morning sunlight. Ian leaned down and kissed me. I wanted to wrap my arms around his neck and lose myself in his embrace, but I was aware of the other students moving around us, so I settled for kissing him a second time, and then a third, before glancing around the quad.

  “Why are you standing here alone?” I asked. “Where are Zoe and Mateo?”

  Ian jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “I’m not alone. Not exactly. They just haven’t come up for air in the last three minutes.”

  I looked over in that direction. Zoe and Mateo were sitting on one of the many iron benches that dotted the quad, just a few feet away from where Ian and I were standing.

  And they were kissing.

  I might have been worried about a public display of affection, but the two of them definitely weren’t. Blue sparks shimmered in the air all around them, as though they were sitting in the middle of a fireworks display, but they didn’t seem to notice or care about the other kids moving around them. The Valkyrie and the Roman kept kissing and kissing, as though there was no one else in the world except for the two of them.

  I cleared my throat, but Zoe and Mateo kept right on kissing. I cleared my throat again, with the same result. Finally, I drew Babs from the scabbard on my belt and held her out toward the happy couple.

  “Babs, do your thing.”

  She grinned. “With pleasure.”

  The sword puckered her lips and let out a loud, ear-splitting whistle. That finally made Zoe and Mateo break apart, both of them wincing.

  “Are you trying to shatter my eardrums?” Mateo muttered. “Because I think you succeeded.”

  “Thank you, Babs,” I said.

  The sword gave the two of them a smug look, then closed her eye to take her morning nap.

  I looked at Zoe and Mateo again. “So I take it coupledom is working out for you guys so far?”

  They stared dreamily into each other’s eyes.

  “Yep,” Mateo replied.

  “Definitely,” Zoe agreed.


  “Mmm-hmm,” I said in a knowing voice.

  Zoe rolled her eyes and waved her hand, making more sparks of magic flicker in the air. “Go ahead and say it. I know you want to.”

  “I told you so,” I said in a singsong voice. “I told you so, I told you so, I told you so!”

  Zoe rolled her eyes again, but she was grinning. “Yeah, yeah, you did.”

  Mateo grinned at me too, then turned to Zoe. He leaned over and whispered something in her ear that made her smile again and made even more sparks of magic stream out of her fingertips. A few seconds later, the two of them were snuggling up together on the bench again.

  A strong arm wrapped around my waist, and I turned toward Ian, who pulled me even closer.

  “Zoe and Mateo can take care of themselves,” he murmured in a low voice.

  “Yes, they can.” I looped my arms around his neck and drew his lips down to mine.

  And I forgot all about public displays of affection and everything else, except for Ian, until the bells rang, signaling that it was time to get to class.

  * * *

  The rest of the day flew by, as did the rest of the week. Gwen, Logan, and Linus hung around campus for a few days to help with the cleanup and make sure that no one asked any awkward questions about the Reapers, red clouds of smoke, or anything else. But it seemed as though everyone believed the lie about the gas leak, and no one seemed worried about another Reaper attack. So everything worked out the way Linus and the Protectorate wanted it to.

  On Saturday morning, Ian and I went to the airport to see them off. Linus Quinn was already on the plane, along with some Protectorate guards, and Ian was shaking hands with Logan. Gwen and I hugged each other tight for several long seconds before we broke apart.

  “You’ll have to visit me in North Carolina over the holidays,” Gwen said. “We’ll go on double dates, play with Nyx, and listen to Vic and Babs fight over who is the best talking sword ever.”

  “Fight?” Babs sniffed. “There’s nothing to fight about. It’s obvious that I am the best talking sword ever.”

  “Ha!” Vic replied. “Of course, you would say that. But everyone knows that I am the best talking sword ever.”