Spartan Destiny

by Jennifer Estep

  “Not everyone,” Drake sniped. “Rory Forseti is still out there.”

  “Rory Forseti is up on the mountain somewhere, hiding and trying to figure out how to save her friends,” Covington said. “She’s not a threat to us at the moment. I want to make sure the campus is secure before we move on to the next step.”

  Drake snorted. “From what you’ve told me, there is no next step without the Narcissus Heart. I still can’t believe you can’t find it. I thought that stupid amulet around your neck was supposed to be like a homing beacon and lead us straight to the artifact. As far as I can tell, it’s just an ugly piece of junk.”

  Covington faced Drake. “You think it’s my fault that we haven’t found the Heart yet?”

  “Of course it’s your fault.” Drake sneered. “You let a seventeen-year-old girl thwart your grand master plan.”

  “Mmm.” Covington made a noncommittal sound, but a dangerous light flared in his hazel eyes.

  I tensed. I had seen that calculating look on Covington’s face before. Drake was in serious trouble. He just didn’t realize it yet—

  Covington stepped forward and used his Roman speed to pluck Drake’s sword right out of his hand. The Viking growled and lunged forward, but Covington snapped up the weapon, pointing the tip at Drake’s throat. Drake had to stop short to keep from getting skewered, although his hands clenched into fists.

  “I have the Chloris Amulet,” Covington said in a cold voice. “Which means that I am the only one who is fully immune to the red narcissus venom. If you have a problem with my leadership, then maybe I should let you join your dear brother and the rest of his friends. There’s always room for another soldier in my army.”

  Drake’s eyes widened, and fear sparked in his blue gaze. All around the dining hall, the other Reapers tensed. None of them wanted to end up as a zombie.

  “Now, do we have a problem?” Covington asked in that same cold voice.

  Drake swallowed and shook his head. “No, sir. No problem.”

  Covington stared at him a moment longer, making sure that he was properly cowed, then slapped Drake’s sword back into the Viking’s hand. “Good.”

  He turned back to the first Reaper. “I want to know more about your campus search. Did you find any loose floorboards in the buildings? Did you come across any freshly dug holes on the grounds? Any place where it looked like someone might have hidden something…”

  While Covington talked to the Reaper, I glanced at my friends, but Ian, Zoe, and Mateo still had the same blank stares as the last time I’d seen them in the library. Ian was carrying his ax, while Zoe had her electrodagger. Mateo was cradling his tablet in the crook of his elbow, as well as holding another tablet down by his side.

  The Reaper finished updating Covington, who nodded in satisfaction again.

  “Excellent. Keep me posted. But for right now, I want you to look at every single person and compare their faces and ID cards against the official academy roll. I want to make sure that everyone is accounted for and is here in the dining hall. I don’t want any surprises. Got it?”

  The Reaper nodded again, and Mateo handed him a tablet. The Reaper started swiping through screens and calling out names. One after another, the kids jerked their hands up into the air, and the Reaper marked them off on the list on the tablet.

  Covington pointed at two other Reapers, who moved away from the wall and stepped up beside him. Then he faced my friends.

  “Come along,” he called out. “I have more tasks for you.”

  He swept out the doors without waiting for a response. The Reapers headed after him.

  “Come on, you three,” Drake muttered. “You heard him. Let’s go.”

  Ian, Zoe, and Mateo headed toward the doors, with Drake following them.

  I couldn’t exactly sprint through the dining hall after them, so I moved back into the kitchen and slipped out a side door. Thanks to our training mission, I knew that bushes ringed the dining hall, and I slid in between them and the wall. Then, keeping low and using the dense foliage for cover, I moved forward until I could peek around the side of the building.

  Covington and the two Reapers had only walked a short distance away and were waiting for Ian, Zoe, Mateo, and Drake to catch up with them. I crouched down and stuck Babs point-first into the ground beside me so that she could also see what was happening.

  Covington jerked his head at one of the Reapers. “Take the Valkyrie girl, and search the cottage where Rory Forseti lives on the edge of campus. Maybe she hid the Narcissus Heart there. Drake, bring your beloved brother with us. We’re going back to the Bunker to keep looking for the artifact.”

  He turned toward the third and final Reaper. “And you, take the Roman boy to the dorms and then the main gate and make sure he finishes reprogramming the security system and his facial-recognition app. I want all of the cameras looking for Rory Forseti. I want to know the second she sets foot on the grounds.”

  “Surely, you don’t think the Spartan girl will be foolish enough to come back here, now that we have control of the academy,” one of the Reapers said.

  “Of course she’ll come back,” Covington replied. “Rory will be desperate to rescue her friends. She’s rather predictable that way, just like her parents were. Besides, I have a plan to make her return to the academy whether she wants to or not.”

  A chill swept through me at his words. I needed to rescue my friends before he put his latest scheme into motion.

  “You all have your assignments,” Covington said. “Find the Narcissus Heart and Rory Forseti. And don’t disappoint me. You won’t enjoy the consequences of your failure.”

  Drake and the other two Reapers swallowed and shifted on their feet at his threat.

  Covington eyed his minions a moment longer, making sure they were going to obey, then strode toward the Library of Antiquities.

  The two Reapers assigned to Zoe and Mateo snapped their fingers at my friends, who started walking along behind them, heading toward the edge of the quad.

  Drake looked at Ian, who was still standing in that eerie, zombielike state. He leaned forward and waved his hand in front of Ian’s face, but his younger brother didn’t move, didn’t flinch, didn’t do anything but stare straight ahead.

  Drake slowly lowered his hand. A concerned look filled his face, and his fingers curled around the hilt of his sword. He was right to be worried. He might be Covington’s right-hand man, but he knew that he couldn’t trust the evil librarian—and that Covington could easily poison him with the red narcissus venom too.

  Drake shuddered, grabbed Ian’s shoulder, and pushed him toward the library.

  I watched the Reapers split up and take Zoe, Mateo, and Ian with them. Three Reapers with three of my friends heading in three different directions. Now came the most difficult decision of my rescue mission so far.

  Whom should I save?

  Chapter Eighteen

  My gaze moved from Ian to Zoe to Mateo.

  I hadn’t expected Covington to let any of my friends out of his sight, much less split them up and send them off across campus with other Reapers. But it was another bit of good luck, and I planned to take full advantage of it. This was my best chance to try to save at least one of my friends.

  But who?

  The Reapers were heading in three different directions with Ian, Zoe, and Mateo, and there was only one of me. Even more important, I only had one artifact, Aphrodite’s Cuff, that might—might—combat the red narcissus venom. Even then, I didn’t know if the cuff would actually cure someone and fully return that person to his or her normal self. Still, it was my best option, and I had to try. Which brought me back to my original question.

  Whom should I save?

  “Who are you going after?” Babs whispered, analyzing the situation the same way I had.

  “I don’t know,” I replied in a low, miserable voice. “I want to save them all.”

  “But you can’t,” she replied in a sad, if matter-of-fact, voice.
“I know how much you care about your friends, and I know how much you want to save them all, but you can’t do that right now, Rory. You’ll only end up getting yourself captured, or worse.”

  “I know, but that still doesn’t make it any easier.”

  I looked at Ian, Zoe, and Mateo again. Whom did I choose?

  My heart automatically said Ian, but I pushed that thought away. To save my friends and defeat Covington, I had to think like a warrior, like a Spartan, like a true Champion, and I couldn’t let my emotions cloud my judgment.

  Right now, it was Babs and me against Covington, Drake, the other Reapers, and my infected friends. Not to mention all the zombified kids and adults in the dining hall. If he wanted to, Covington could order them to come after me as well. But in the end, this whole terrible situation boiled down to one simple question.

  Which one of my friends could help me the most?

  My head ached. So did my heart. I loved my friends, and they all had their strengths and weaknesses, just like I did. But I had to be smart about this, or everyone would be lost, including Babs and me.

  So I let my Spartan instincts take over, and I analyzed everything I knew about my friends. Ian with his Viking strength and fighting prowess. Zoe with her Valkyrie magic and gadgets. Mateo with his Roman speed and computer skills.

  “Drake is almost at the library with Ian, and the other two Reapers are leaving the quad with Zoe and Mateo,” Babs whispered again. “You have to make a decision, Rory. Right now. Or you won’t be able to save any of them.”

  She was right. I had to pick someone.

  So I stared at my friends again, and I thought about what I knew of Covington’s plans. I also listened to my Spartan instincts and what they were telling me to do, instead of my heart.

  And then I made my decision.

  My heart ached, and my stomach twisted with grief and guilt, but I made my decision. It was one of the hardest things I’d ever had to do, but I had to be ruthless about this. One wrong move, one wrong choice, and all three of my friends would be lost, along with everyone else at the academy.

  “Rory!” Babs hissed. “What are you going to do? Who are you going to save?”

  Ian, I thought, but the name that came out of my mouth was different.

  “Mateo,” I whispered. “I’m going to save Mateo.”

  Babs blinked in surprise. She had clearly expected me to go after Ian. I certainly wanted to, but that wasn’t the smart move. No, right now, I needed to rescue Mateo.

  Babs opened her mouth, like she was going to question my decision, but after a moment, her hilt quivered, as if she was trying to nod her half of a head. “All right, then. Let’s go get him.”

  I flashed her a grateful smile and pulled the sword out of the ground. I twirled Babs around, settling her hilt into my hand. Then I glanced over at the Library of Antiquities.

  Drake and Ian were climbing the library steps. Drake opened one of the doors and shoved his brother inside, and Ian stumbled forward without complaint.

  My heart ached, and my stomach twisted again, but I had made my decision, and I knew it was the right one. So I waited for the library door to swing shut behind Ian and Drake, then turned and headed after Mateo and his Reaper guard.

  * * *

  Keeping low, I followed the row of dense bushes over to the dining-hall steps, then peeked around them. In the distance, Mateo and his Reaper left the quad and headed down the hill toward the student dorms, vanishing from my line of sight. Zoe and her guard had already disappeared.

  I glanced around, but the area was deserted now, so I straightened up, moved away from the dining hall, and darted over to the nearest bush on the quad. I crouched down behind the thick green leaves and glanced around again, but the area was still deserted, and no shouts or alarms sounded. So I straightened up and hurried over to a nearby tree.

  I repeated the process, hopscotching from one bush and tree to the next, until I had reached the edge of the quad. I had started to move away from the final tree and head down the hill when I spotted a glimmer of gold out of the corner of my eye.

  My head snapped in that direction, and I lifted Babs, thinking someone else had stepped onto the quad. But the golden glimmer wasn’t a person. In fact, I couldn’t tell what it was, since it was buried in the grass next to the library—

  My eyes widened, and my breath caught in my throat. Suddenly, I knew exactly what that golden glimmer was.

  Typhon’s Scepter.

  I had lost the artifact when I fell off the library roof earlier, so it made sense that it had landed on this side of the building. The Reapers must not have spotted the scepter in the grass.

  I hesitated, torn between going after Mateo right now or grabbing the artifact and then heading after my friend. I couldn’t afford to let Mateo and the Reaper get too far ahead of me, but I also needed all the weapons I could get. I weighed the risks and rewards for a few more seconds.

  And then I made my decision.

  I drew in a breath and let it out. Then I slipped out from behind the tree and sprinted toward the library.

  “Rory!” Babs hissed. “What are you doing? I thought that you were going after Mateo, not Ian!”

  I was running so fast that I didn’t have the breath to answer, so I stayed silent and focused on sucking more air into my lungs and moving even more quickly. I also put one hand on my messenger bag to keep it from slapping back and forth against my body.

  It took me less than a minute to reach the area where I had seen the glimmer, although it seemed like much longer than that. Any moment, I expected shouts to tear through the air, as one of the Reapers stepped outside the library and spotted me. But no voices sounded, and I dropped to my knees, running my hand through the grass and searching for the scepter.

  “Where is it?” I muttered. “Where is it? Where is it?”

  My hand brushed against something hard and metal. There!

  I dug the gold scepter out of the grass and slid it into the back pocket of my jeans. Then I got to my feet, whirled around, and sprinted back in the opposite direction.

  I had lost precious time getting the scepter, so I reached the edge of the quad and raced down the hill without stopping. I looked up ahead, but I didn’t see anyone moving across the grounds in front of me. No Mateo, no Zoe, no Reapers.

  My heart sank, but I forced myself to slow down so that I wouldn’t fall. I wouldn’t catch up to anyone with a broken ankle. When I reached the bottom of the hill, I stepped off the main path and darted over to the nearest tree. I moved from that tree to the next one, just like I had on the quad. But the more seconds that ticked by and the more ground I covered, the more desperation filled me.

  Had I made the wrong choice? Had I let Mateo and the Reaper get too far ahead? Had I sacrificed saving my friend to get the chimera scepter?

  The questions gnawed at me, but I had no choice but to keep going. I stepped out from behind another tree—

  And there they were.

  Mateo and his Reaper guard were on the main path about fifty feet ahead of me. I jerked to a stop and darted back behind the tree. Then I slowly crept up and peered around the trunk.

  I glanced around, but Mateo and the Reaper were the only people in sight. Zoe and her guard must have already taken the path to the cottage. Either way, I still had a chance to save Mateo, so I darted from one tree to the next, quickly creeping up on them.

  Mateo and the Reaper reached the first of the student dorms, and the Reaper stopped and pointed up at a security camera mounted on one of the streetlights that lined the path.

  “Okay, kid,” the Reaper said. “This camera covers the dorm area, so update it while we’re here. Then we’ll go to the main gate, and you can do the same thing to the cameras there.”

  Covington must have used the Chloris Amulet to tell Mateo to obey the Reaper, because Mateo nodded, lifted his tablet, and started typing on it with one hand.

  I crouched down behind a bush and watched them. Maybe it was the
red narcissus venom clouding his mind or maybe updating the security system was a complicated process, but Mateo was typing much more slowly than normal. The Reaper studied him for a few seconds, then sighed, turned away, and pulled his phone out of his pocket. Shrill beeps and chimes echoed out of the device. The Reaper was playing a game while he waited for Mateo to finish.

  Distracted, the Reaper wandered a few feet away, while Mateo stayed in the middle of the path, still typing on his tablet. I wouldn’t get a better chance than this, so I pulled the strap of my messenger bag up and over my head and set the whole thing down on the ground so that it wouldn’t distract me during the fight. Then I got to my feet and sprinted forward, closing the distance between the Reaper and me as fast as possible.

  The guard must have heard the quick swish-swish-swish-swish of my boots through the grass, because he spun around. His eyes widened, and he dropped his phone and reached for his sword, but I didn’t give him the chance to use it.

  I sliced Babs across the Reaper’s chest. He screamed and tumbled to the ground, still fumbling for his sword, but I stepped up and buried my blade in his heart, ending his struggles. The Reaper’s breath escaped in a loud rasp, and he slumped to the ground, dead.

  I glanced around, wondering if anyone had heard the Reaper’s scream and might come to investigate. I was so busy staring at what was in front of me that I didn’t consider what was behind me.

  Crack!

  Something slammed into the back of my head, and I fell to my knees beside the dead Reaper. Babs slipped from my hand and landed in the grass a few feet away.

  “Rory!” she yelled. “Watch out!”

  I lurched to my right just in time to avoid getting stomped on. Then I rolled, rolled, rolled away and came up into a low crouch, wondering who my attacker was.

  The answer? Mateo.

  He must have still been under orders to kill me, because he hurried forward and lashed out with his boot again, trying to drive it into my ribs. He was also clutching his tablet in both hands like it was a baseball bat that he wanted to brain me with a second time.