I knew her request was perfectly reasonable, but that still didn’t make it any easier. If there was even the smallest chance of catching Preston and the Reaper girl, then I had to use my magic to try and find out what I could, even if it meant touching a dead man. I wanted the two of them captured and locked away—for good this time. So I drew in a breath, leaned down, and took the dead man’s hand in mine.
The images and feelings flooded my mind, the way they always did.
I’d never touched a dead person before, but I got the sense that all the memories and feelings associated with this man were quickly fading away, right along with the warmth of his body. Try as I might, I could only see and feel what the Reaper had experienced during his last few minutes. The rest of him was already gone. So I focused on the last memory I could see—the three Reapers sitting in a car.
“Are you sure about this?” the dead man asked, staring across the street at my grandma’s house. “I mean, this broad might be old, but she used to be a Champion. Nike’s Champion. You know how much trouble they’ve given us over the years.”
“Relax, Stuart,” Preston sneered in a confident voice. “There’s no way one old lady will be able to take out three Reapers, especially since we’ve got the element of surprise on our side.”
Preston turned around to look at the Reaper girl sitting in the backseat. I couldn’t see her face because of the mask she wore, but a spark of red flashed in her eyes through the slits in the rubber.
“You’ve been awfully quiet back there,” Preston said. “What are you? Scared?”
The Reaper girl tapped her finger on her lips. Well, okay, they weren’t really her lips, but Loki’s melted ones. The motion caused something gold to glint around her finger, something that had a familiar shape—
“No, I’m not scared,” she said in a low, throaty voice. “But perhaps it would do you good to be a little more careful, Preston. After all, you’re the one who’s spent the last few weeks locked up because of Nike’s Champion.”
“That Gypsy bitch,” Preston snarled. “You should have let me kill her in the prison.”
The Reaper girl shook her head. “We stick to the plan, remember? We’re only here because you’re so determined to kill the grandmother, and it doesn’t interfere with anything else. If you knew what was smart, you’d go straight to the safe house like I told you to.”
The girl’s tone was casual, but there was no mistaking the authority and power in her voice or the fact that she was the one in charge. Preston shrank back a little in his seat.
“No,” he said. “Not until I keep my promise to Gwen. That Gypsy has spent the last few weeks digging through my brain. I’m going to hurt her where she’ll feel it the most. So let’s go.”
Preston opened the car door and headed toward the house. The others followed him. After that, the dead man’s memories grew more and more disjointed. There was a blur of movement, the shatter of breaking glass, and then finally, a bright, agonizing flash of pain as Grandma Frost stabbed the Reaper with her sword. After that, the world slowly faded to black until there was nothing else to see or feel—and no more secrets left to discover.
I let out a breath and opened my eyes. The others stared at me, their faces tight with concern and questions. I let Grandma Frost help me up and then I fell into a chair and slumped over the kitchen table.
“Did you get anything?” Ajax asked in his deep, rumbly voice.
I shook my head. “Not much. I only got a few snatches of conversation, mostly Preston and the Reaper girl sniping at each other, although she did mention something about a safe house. Do you think they’re still in the area?”
Nickamedes nodded his head. “It’s likely. It’s only been a few hours, so the Reapers probably haven’t had a chance to smuggle Preston out of the country yet so he can be reunited with his parents, wherever they’re hiding.”
Metis, Nickamedes, and Ajax started talking, with Oliver and Grandma Frost chiming in, about where the Reapers might be hiding Preston and what their next move would be to get him to safety.
Maybe it was wrong, but I felt like everything that had happened so far had gone exactly the way the Reapers had wanted it to. Sure, the Reaper girl had dropped the map at the museum, so we knew the Helheim Dagger was hidden in the library, but other than that, we had nothing. Several kids had been killed at the coliseum, I hadn’t found the dagger, and now Preston had escaped and was free to terrorize people once more. I’d say it was Reapers 100, Gwen 0.
And it didn’t look like the score was going to change anytime soon.
Chapter 18
By the time we straightened up Grandma Frost’s house and put everything back in some semblance of order, it was after dark. Metis tried to get me to go back to the academy, but I refused, wanting to stay with my grandma for the night. Grandma said that she didn’t see Preston and the Reaper girl coming back, according to her psychic visions, but I couldn’t shake the feeling they might try to hurt her again, so I stayed, along with Nott, who was still hidden in the garage. Metis also said that she’d post a few guards—the men and women in the coveralls—outside on the street to keep an eye on things.
Several hours later, Grandma came up to my room to tuck me in for the night. I lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling and brooding.
“Uh-oh,” Grandma said, sitting on the edge of the bed. “I know that look. What’s wrong, pumpkin?”
I sighed. “There was something else, something else I saw when I touched the dead man earlier today, something I didn’t tell the others.”
Grandma nodded. “I thought as much, given how quiet you were after that. What did you see, Gwen? You can tell me. You can tell me anything.”
I rolled over onto my side to look at her. “When I was fighting the Reaper girl in the academy prison, she had a chance to kill me—but she didn’t. In the memory I saw of her, she told Preston that she didn’t kill me because the Reapers have some sort of plan. What do you think it could be? Do you—do you think it involves me somehow? Because I would never help them. Never. But what she said scares me just the same.”
Grandma Frost reached down and threaded her fingers through mine, but for once, the warmth of her touch didn’t soothe me. “I know you would never willingly help the Reapers, pumpkin,” she said. “There’s no telling what that girl meant. She could have just been showing off for Preston.”
“But I feel like it’s important,” I insisted. “Like I’m missing something obvious about everything that’s going on. It’s like I have all the pieces of the puzzle, but they just won’t fit together, no matter how hard I try to make them.”
“I know, pumpkin. Sometimes I feel that way about my visions, especially when I only see a part of someone’s future. You’ll figure it out,” Grandma said. “The answer will come to you in time. I have faith in you, and your mom and Nike do, too. Never forget that.”
She kissed my cheek, and the familiar softness of her love washed over me again. “Now, try to get some sleep,” Grandma said and left the room.
Even though I didn’t really think I could sleep, I did as she asked and snuggled deeper under the covers. I supposed I was just as exhausted as Nott because I was asleep in minutes.
A jumble of images filled my mind, everything and everyone I’d seen over the last few days. Sometimes my mind went all wonky like that, as my brain struggled to process all the information my Gypsy gift downloaded on a daily basis.
The attack at the coliseum. The Reaper girl and the flash of red in her eyes. The feel of Vic in my hands and the sound of the sword snarling as I used him to battle the Reapers. The cruel whispers in the library and the horrible, aching sensation of fingers digging into my mind. All the images of Black rocs I’d seen in the Reaper girl’s living room suddenly transforming into the real creatures, taking flight, and throwing themselves at me, pecking at me with their sharp beaks, suffocating me with their thick, black wings.
Then, finally, I saw the gryphons, the ones guarding t
he entrance to the library. They stared straight at me like usual, but instead of being stone, their eyes were red—Reaper red. I watched, horrified, as the statues began to move. One of them, the right one, hopped down from its perch and began to slowly stalk toward me—
I woke up in a cold sweat, thrashing at the covers that had twisted around my body like a snake curling around its victim. After a few seconds, I realized I was awake and that the gryphons, the rocs, and all the rest of it had just been a dream. Just a bloody dream, as Vic would say. I looked over at the nightstand where I’d propped up the sword. Vic’s eye was closed, and his mouth was loose and slack. A series of soft mumbles sounded, telling me he was asleep.
“Bloody Reapers,” the sword muttered. “Kill them all... .”
Every once in a while, Vic’s eye would twitch, like he was chasing after the Reapers that haunted his dreams. For once, the sword’s bloodthirsty attitude made me smile. It was nice to know I could always count on Vic’s being, well, Vic. Even when he was asleep.
Since I couldn’t go back to sleep, I got up and dug my mom’s diary out of my messenger bag. I’d left the bag in the academy prison when I’d chased after Preston and the Reaper girl, but Metis had brought it to me. I snapped on a light and flipped through the crinkled pages, but even my mom’s words couldn’t bring me any comfort tonight.
I put the diary aside, but there was another book in my bag—the gryphon book I’d picked up last night in the library. The Use of Gryphons, Gargoyles, and Other Mythological Creatures in Architecture. Still remembering my strange dream of the statues stalking me, I opened the book, settled down under my comforter, and started reading.
For the most part, the book was super, super boring. If you were into architecture or old buildings, yeah, it might be cool, but to me, it was a total snooze. After a few eye-glazing pages, I gave up reading and just flipped through and looked at the photos, which were way more interesting. Basically, the book featured pictures of the creature-feature statues on famous buildings in the mythological world. I didn’t recognize most of the structures, but the Crius Coliseum was included—and so was the Library of Antiquities. Lots of photos of the library’s statues were shown. Of those, the two gryphons by the front steps got the most space, having their own two-page spread in the book.
Height, weight, type of stone used. All that and more about the gryphons was chronicled in dull little info boxes. The statues were estimated to be seven feet tall and weigh in at a whopping three tons each. Only seven feet tall? Really? The statues always seemed so much bigger to me. Even in the photos, they looked larger than that, but I couldn’t decide if it was just a trick of the light playing across the pages.
I sighed. I didn’t know why I was wasting my time looking at the gryphons. They were just statues after all. The Helheim Dagger was what I was really after, even though I was no closer to finding it than when I’d first started. Not to mention the fact that the Reaper girl had beaten me twice this week, Preston was free, and Logan and Daphne weren’t speaking to me.
Right now, I didn’t feel like Nike’s Champion. I didn’t feel brave or strong or smart. I didn’t feel like I’d done a single thing that had been worthwhile. I was just Gwen Frost, that Gypsy girl who always messed up.
Disgusted with myself, I put the book aside, snapped out the light, and brooded in the darkness.
Grandma Frost drove me back to the academy the next morning. Nott took up most of the backseat, her enormous gray head stuck out the window like she was just a regular dog out for a ride in the car. The wolf made me smile when absolutely nothing else had these past few days.
Before we’d left the house, I’d asked Grandma if she wanted me to leave Nott with her, to help protect her in case the Reaper girl or Preston came back to the house. Grandma Frost had stared at the Fenrir wolf, and she’d gotten that empty, glassy look in her violet eyes again.
“No,” she’d murmured. “I think the wolf should go back to the academy with you, pumpkin. Nott came to you, not me. She belongs with you.”
I said good-bye to Grandma Frost and snuck Nott back to my dorm room. Then, it was time for me to head to the gym for weapons training. Kenzie and Oliver were already there waiting for me—and so was Daphne.
The Valkyrie was sitting on the bleachers talking to the two Spartans, but she got to her feet as soon as she saw me. She was wearing one of her favorite pink argyle sweaters over a black skirt and black tights. She stalked over and stared at me a second, before lurching forward and giving me a bone-crushing hug.
“Daphne ... ,” I wheezed, my back cracking. “I ... can’t ... breathe... .”
“Oops. Sorry about that. How are you?” she asked, pulling back and giving me a critical once-over. “Oliver called me last night and told me what happened. I was going to call you, but I didn’t know if you’d pick up or not because of what happened outside Metis’s office yesterday.”
I shrugged. “I’m okay, I guess. Metis healed the bumps and bruises I got fighting. My grandma’s fine too—that’s the most important thing. I still can’t believe the Reaper girl managed to free Preston from the academy prison.”
Daphne’s eyes narrowed. “Do you have any idea how she did it?”
I shook my head. “Not a clue. But I opened the door, and there she was, larger than life, like she’d had every single one of the door codes and magic mumbo-jumbo passwords she needed to get past the locks. Even Metis isn’t really sure how she managed it. And of course I was stupid enough to open the door to the prison for her. Apparently, that’s why the sphinxes carved into the door didn’t attack or do whatever they were supposed to do. That’s what Metis said, anyway.”
At my grandma’s house, Metis had taken me aside and said that Preston’s getting free wasn’t my fault, that she should have stayed in the prison with me, especially since Raven hadn’t been there. I’d realized that I wasn’t really angry at the professor for leaving me alone. No, I was mostly upset at myself for not being strong and smart enough to stop Preston and the Reaper girl. Some Champion I was turning out to be.
“Tell me everything,” the Valkyrie said, walking me over to one of the bleachers.
We sat there, and I told my best friend about Preston’s getting free, his attacking my grandma, and how I’d raced to save her. I also told her all about Nott, since I hadn’t mentioned the wolf and her reappearance to the Valkyrie yet.
“I, uh, got your calls,” Daphne said, cringing a little. “I thought you were just calling to talk. Or maybe to yell at me for all the things I accused you of. If I’d known your grandma was in trouble, I would have picked up.”
“I know,” I said. “How are you? How do you feel about your magic? You could have told me, you know, that you were freaking out about being a healer. I would have listened.”
“I know you would have listened,” Daphne said in a low voice. “I just—I wanted someone to blame, you know? I wanted it to be someone’s fault that my magic didn’t turn out like I thought it would. That it’s this instead.”
The Valkyrie held up her hand and that rosy glow coated her palm again. I leaned over and touched my fingers to hers. Once again, I felt the healing power emanating from her.
I thought about what Metis had said about my own magic, about how I could maybe use my psychometry to tap into other people’s powers. I don’t know exactly how, but I reached out and gave a little yank with my mind, and I felt the tiniest bit of Daphne’s magic pour into me.
It wasn’t just that the Valkyrie’s magic healed a person’s body. There was also a soothing quality to it, which reminded me of the feeling I got whenever I was around Metis. Vic always claimed the professor’s lectures put him to sleep, but to me, they were just calming. Even when Metis was talking about Reapers, Loki, and other horrible things, they seemed distant and far away. I got the same sort of soothing feeling from Daphne’s magic. It was kind of funny, since the Valkyrie could be so quick to anger—
“Gwen?” Daphne asked, the glow on her
palm dimming. “What are you doing?”
I dropped my fingers from hers, and the feel of her magic vanished. “Nothing. Just—nothing.”
I didn’t feel like explaining things to her, not when I was still trying to figure them out for myself. The Valkyrie closed her hand into a tight fist, and the rosy glow disappeared in a shower of pink sparks. The tiny flickers of magic cracked and hissed before slowly winking out one by one.
“I don’t like it, but I guess I’m stuck with it,” Daphne said, shaking her head. “Me, a healer? Can you imagine it?”
I could, maybe more than my friend realized. There was so much strength in her, so much goodness. Now, she had a way to share her power with others. “I think your magic is amazing, and I’m sure you’re going to do amazing things with it.”
Daphne stared at me, her lips splitting into a wide grin. We didn’t say anything for a few moments. Finally, the Valkyrie cleared her throat.
“Anyway, I’m sorry that I’ve been such a total bitch this week,” she said. “It was just Carson’s getting stabbed and my magic’s quickening and everything. It made me a little cranky.”
I’d say cranky was an understatement, but I let it slide. I’d been so wrapped up in my own problems that I hadn’t exactly been the greatest friend, either. “That’s okay. That’s what best friends are for, right? So we can be cranky together.”
Daphne gave me another grin, then playfully punched me in the shoulder, her Valkyrie strength almost making me fall off the bleacher. We both started laughing, and just like that, everything was right between us again.
We were still talking and joking around when the door to the gym opened—and Logan stepped inside.
Chapter 19
Logan strode toward me, and my heart rose up in my chest. By now, the Spartan was sure to have heard what had happened with my grandma, Preston, and the Reaper girl. I hoped he, well, I didn’t know exactly what I hoped. I was just glad he was here.
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