Spartan Destiny

by Jennifer Estep

  The second his hand closed over the artifact, the Heart’s eerie red light intensified, burning so brightly that it seemed as though Covington was holding a bloody sun in his hand.

  Everyone stopped what they were doing. Aunt Rachel, Takeda, and Professor Dalaja quit attacking the Reapers. Zoe stopped summoning chimeras and sending out lightning bolts. Drake and Ian quit punching each other on the floor. Even the gryphons, the basilisks, and the dragon stopped fighting, instead flapping their wings and hovering in midair over the checkout counter.

  I paused too, just for a moment, squinting against the harsh red light. Covington realized that I was standing in front of him, and a smug smile twisted his face. Determination roared through me, and I sprinted forward again.

  But once again, I was too late.

  Before I could reach him, much less swing my sword at him, Covington threw away the remains of the plastic box and lifted the Narcissus Heart to his chest. Then he shoved the artifact against the Chloris Amulet, which was still hanging around his neck. Perhaps it was my imagination, but I thought I heard a soft click, like a key opening a lock.

  The Narcissus Heart burned even more brightly than before, and the red glow completely engulfed Covington. But the light didn’t stop there. It rolled off the Reaper just like the red narcissus venom had spewed out of his smoke bombs.

  An instant later, the brilliant red light engulfed the entire library.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  For one heart-stopping moment, I thought Covington had already turned me into a Reaper.

  The brilliant red light from the Narcissus Heart blotted out everything else. Covington, Ian and Drake, my friends and the other Reapers, the creatures overhead. Everything vanished, and all I could see was that eerie red light, burning my eyes with the intensity of a thousand suns.

  I blinked and blinked, but I couldn’t see anything, not even Babs in my hand. I stumbled around, trying to get my bearings. I still couldn’t see anything, but I could hear something, slowly growing louder and louder.

  Thump.

  Thump-thump.

  Thump-thump-thump.

  The noise was soft at first. A single beat, like someone had dropped a book on the library floor. But then it came again. And again and again, until it merged into a quick, steady rhythm.

  It sounded like…a heartbeat.

  My stomach twisted with worry, fear, and dread, but I forced myself to keep blinking and squinting against the glare. The intense red light slowly faded, but I almost wished it hadn’t, given what it revealed.

  Covington was standing in front of me, his head bowed, one hand holding Fafnir’s Dagger and the other one cupping the Chloris Amulet. The amulet looked the same as before—a round disk of polished jet wrapped with silver vines—but with one noticeable difference.

  The Narcissus Heart was now firmly anchored in the center of the amulet.

  The Heart was still burning with that eerie red light, but the most disturbing thing was the fact that it was actually pulsing, actually beating, like it was a real heart that Covington was wearing around his neck.

  Thump-thump-thump.

  Thump-thump-thump.

  Thump-thump-thump.

  The Narcissus Heart kept beating with a strong, steady rhythm. Just staring at it made me sick to my stomach, but I tightened my grip on Babs. Maybe it wasn’t too late. Maybe I could still stop Covington before he used the artifact—

  His head snapped up, and I realized that the Heart wasn’t the only thing that had changed. So had he. Oh, Covington still had his brown hair and goatee, but his hazel eyes were now the same red as the Narcissus Heart.

  For a moment, I thought he had miscalculated, that the artifact had turned him into a mindless zombie, the same way the red narcissus venom had turned my friends. Then he smiled at me, and I realized it was much, much worse.

  Covington wasn’t a mindless zombie—he knew exactly what he was doing.

  “The power,” he whispered. “I never realized that it would feel like this. I never thought that it would be so strong. That I would be so strong!”

  Mateo was still the closest to the Reaper, and he shook off his daze and scrambled to his feet. Mateo’s mouth flattened out into a thin, determined line, and he darted forward, probably to try to tear the amulet off Covington’s neck. Despite the fact that Mateo was wearing Hermes’s Sandals, Covington was still quicker.

  Mateo charged at him, and Covington snapped up his hand. The Heart pulsed again, and an invisible wave of power rippled out of Covington’s hand and slammed into Mateo, sending him flying backward. He crashed into one of the bookcases and dropped to the floor.

  “Mateo!” Zoe screamed.

  She was still standing on the second-floor balcony, and she raised her electrospear and sent a bolt of electricity shooting out at Covington. The lightning hit him square in the chest, but the Heart pulsed again, and the lightning bounced harmlessly off his body and zinged into a nearby artifact case, reducing it to splinters.

  Covington laughed and snapped up his hand again. Another invisible wave of power rippled out from his palm and shot up to the balcony. The stone railing exploded, knocking Zoe back. She cried out once, but then she was silent, and I couldn’t see her or any of her blue sparks of magic through the clouds of dust that rose up from the shattered stone.

  “Zoe!” Ian shouted, scrambling to his feet and grabbing his ax.

  Before he could charge forward, Covington sent out another wave of power, knocking Ian back down to the floor beside Drake.

  Aunt Rachel, Takeda, and Professor Dalaja tried next, but Covington spotted them out of the corner of his eye, and he sent out another burst of power that took them down as well.

  The gryphons screeched and dive-bombed him, but yet another burst of power sent them flying through the air and slamming into a wall on the far side of the library. They dropped to the floor out of sight.

  It all happened so fast that I didn’t have time to react. One moment, we were all staring at Covington. The next, all of my friends were down, and I couldn’t tell how badly they were injured. I was literally the last one standing.

  Covington turned toward me and smiled again. Then he crooked his finger, clearly challenging me to attack him. I let out a primal scream of rage, raised Babs high, and charged straight at him.

  Covington stood there, smiling and holding his hands out wide, giving me a clear shot at him. I whipped up Babs and brought her down, determined to destroy him once and for all—

  CLANG!

  The sword hit his chest and bounced right off.

  Shock spiked through me. Even though Zoe’s electricity hadn’t hurt him, I had thought Babs’s blade would be able to at least cut him.

  Covington’s smile widened, but he still didn’t move, so I growled, raised the sword, and tried again.

  CLANG!

  Once again, the sword rattled off his chest.

  CLANG!

  CLANG! CLANG!

  CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

  I tried again and again, hacking and slashing at Covington with all my might, but the result was the same every single time. Babs’s blade couldn’t so much as nick his red Reaper cloak. He must be using the Narcissus Heart to shield himself from my blows.

  Frustration surged through me, but I shoved it away. If I couldn’t kill Covington outright, then I would destroy the Heart. Without its protective magic, he would be as vulnerable as anyone else. So I raised my sword and attacked, this time swinging my weapon at the Narcissus Heart as hard as I could.

  CLANG!

  The blade bounced off the artifact just like it had bounced off Covington’s body. I should have been expecting that, but I’d been hoping that Babs’s magic would somehow cut through the artifact’s power. More frustration surged through me, but I lifted Babs and tried again.

  CLANG!

  And again, and again, all with the same useless result.

  CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

  Finally, I realized that it was
no use, and I lowered the sword to my side.

  Covington gave me another smug smile, his eyes burning an even brighter red than before. “You’re too late, Rory. Nothing can stop me. Certainly not that pitiful blade of yours.”

  His eyes weren’t the only things that had changed. Covington’s voice had dropped to a low, silky rasp. The sound reminded me of a monster slithering along the floor, creeping up on the unsuspecting people who were walking past it.

  I gritted my teeth and raised Babs for another useless strike, but Covington snapped up his hand, and another invisible wave of power slammed into my arm. The blast knocked Babs out of my hand, and she dropped to the ground and slid across the floor. I started to lunge toward the sword, but her green eye widened, and her mouth dropped open in surprise or fear or maybe both.

  “Rory!” she yelled. “Look out! Behind you!”

  I whirled around, and that was when the vine wrapped around my waist.

  I blinked and blinked, trying to process what was happening. A thick silver vine studded with black thorns had wrapped itself around my waist. I shrieked and grabbed the vine with my left hand, intending to tear it off, but the black thorns rose up and started scratching and stabbing into my hand. I screamed and yanked my arm away from the thorns.

  And that was when the vine started pulling me forward.

  My head snapped up. Covington was still standing in front of the checkout counter, the same as before, but for the third time, something about him had drastically changed. Or, rather, something about the Chloris Amulet had changed. Now, instead of simply anchoring the Narcissus Heart in place, the silver vines on the amulet were moving, twisting, and writhing, as though they were living things. The silver vine coiled around my waist was attached to the amulet, and it was slowly dragging me closer to Covington.

  I dug my boots into the floor, but the stone was slick, and the vine easily tugged me along. I tried to fight it, but I couldn’t yank the vine off my waist, and I couldn’t stop its persistent pulling. All the while, Covington stared at me, his eyes still glowing red, a smug, satisfied smile on his face.

  The vine quickly dragged me over to him. I growled and reached for the Chloris Amulet. If I couldn’t destroy the Narcissus Heart, then maybe I could at least rip the amulet from around his neck. Maybe that would cut off his power. But another vine shot out of the amulet and curled around my left hand, trapping it down by my side.

  Covington let out a low, mocking laugh. “There’s no use fighting, Rory. Not anymore. I’ve won, and you’ve lost. You can’t hurt me. Not as long as I’m wearing the Heart.”

  “I’ll never stop fighting,” I hissed, even as I struggled against the vines that were slowly tightening around my body. “I’ll find a way to defeat you. No matter what I have to do.”

  He tilted his head to the side. “You really do believe that, don’t you? We’ll see what you say after I use the Heart on you. If you can say anything at all by then.”

  He gave me another evil grin, then narrowed his eyes in concentration. More and more black thorns started sprouting on the silver vines wrapped around my body. Covington’s eyes narrowed a bit more, and all of the thorns arched away from the vines.

  I gritted my teeth. I knew what was coming next, but there was nothing I could do to stop it.

  Covington smiled at me again, then waved his hand.

  The black thorns arched up a little higher than before. And then they all slashed downward, stabbing into my body.

  * * *

  I screamed as the black thorns stabbed into my arms, legs, hands, and everything else they could reach. And then I screamed again as they wormed their way into my body.

  The sensation was the same as when Covington had pressed that red narcissus seed into my palm at the Idun Estate a few weeks ago—only much, much worse.

  Back then, only a single seed had been trying to infect me, and only a single black thorn had been stabbing into my skin. Now dozens and dozens of thorns were plunging into my body and then wriggling down, down, down, as deep as they could go, like woodland creatures burrowing into a mound of soft dirt.

  Not only could I feel the thorns ripping into me, but I could actually see the black tips wriggling around like worms underneath my blood-covered skin. Bile rose in my throat, but I forced it down. I opened my mouth to scream again, but I couldn’t even do that.

  The intense pain stole my breath away.

  As soon as the thorns stabbed into my body, they started releasing red narcissus venom into my system. In an instant, I felt like my blood was boiling, like I was being cooked alive from the inside out. Sweat beaded on my forehead, tears streamed out of my eyes, and my whole body trembled. My knees buckled, but that silver vine tightened around my waist, holding me upright.

  The first time Covington had tried to turn me into a Reaper at the Cormac Museum, I had had Babs in my hand and Freya’s Bracelet on my wrist. Together they had saved me from his Apate jewel. The second time he had tried, at the Idun Estate, I had grabbed a dagger and cut the red narcissus seed out of my own skin.

  But I didn’t have any of those things right now. Babs was out of reach on the floor, even though she kept yelling at me, and Freya’s Bracelet was locked around Ian’s wrist, and he too was down on the floor. Even if I’d had a weapon, I doubted it would have cut through the thick silver vines coiled around me.

  All I had left was the healing magic that Sigyn had given me, and even that was fading fast. The cool, soothing power flooded my body over and over again, trying to combat the black thorns and their horrible venom. But every time I would get a brief moment of relief, another thorn would burrow into my skin, and a fresh wave of venom would scorch through my veins.

  Covington tilted his head to the side again, studying me as though I was some artifact in a museum. “Interesting. I thought you would have completely succumbed to the venom by now. Perhaps your healing magic is stronger than I realized.”

  “I told you…that I would never…stop fighting…” I rasped between waves of pain.

  He started laughing. And not just small chuckles. Oh, no. These were great big laughs that shook his whole body. Each mocking sound made more anger spike through me, right along with the black thorns.

  “What’s…so…funny?”

  He smiled. “Your parents said the same thing to me right here in the library when they told me that they were leaving the Reapers, that they were leaving me. Rebecca and Tyson said that they would never stop fighting for a better life for you, one where you were free of the Reapers and free to make your own choices. Of course, they didn’t get to fight very long, since I killed them the second they turned their backs.”

  Covington waved his hand, once again pointing out the spot where he had murdered my parents. Usually, it was just a bare patch of floor, but right now, it was littered with splintered pieces of furniture, torn pages from books, and other debris from the battle.

  My gaze locked onto an oily black stain on the floor. It was the dragon’s blood, from where it had been injured by the gryphons, but in an instant, everything else disappeared, and that stain turned into a black Reaper cloak wrapped around my mom’s body. That cloak spread out and morphed into the one that covered my dad’s body as well.

  I blinked, and I saw it all again as if it had happened just a moment ago. My parents lying dead on the library floor. Their black Reaper cloaks draped over their bodies like shrouds, their mouths frozen open in screams of pain and surprise, their sightless eyes fixed on the ceiling, and their blood oozing across the floor, filling my nose with its coppery stench…

  The black thorns burrowed even deeper into my skin, releasing a fresh wave of venom, but that agony was nothing compared with the red-hot rage beating in my heart. I grabbed hold of that rage and let it drown out everything else. The vines tightening around my body, the thorns stabbing into my skin, the red narcissus venom that was burning me alive from the inside out. I blocked it all out, and I focused on the rage in my heart, pulling it up,
up, up, along with every scrap of healing magic I had left.

  Oh, I was still in agony from the vines, thorns, and venom, but I felt more like myself than I had since that first silver vine had snaked around my waist. Since my healing magic was keeping the thorns and the venom at bay, at least for the moment, I reached for the other bit of power I had, something I’d almost forgotten about.

  My Spartan killer instincts.

  I was a Spartan, just like my mom and dad. They had done everything they could to leave the Reapers and free me from the evil group. They had fought right up to their very last breaths, and I was determined to fight just as hard as they had.

  But the rage and determination surging through my body didn’t make my dire situation any better. Those silver vines were still curled around my waist and left arm, and those black thorns were still stabbing into me over and over again. I had to get rid of the vines and thorns, or eventually the venom would overcome my healing magic, and then I would be lost, forever doomed to be Covington’s Reaper zombie.

  My right arm was still free, and I needed something to cut through the vines. Once my left arm was free, I could worry about ripping the thorns out of my skin and stopping the spread of the venom.

  I glanced down at the floor, but I couldn’t reach Babs, and my friends were either still unconscious or groaning with pain and trying to get back up onto their feet. Even if one of them could have tossed me a sword, I didn’t know if I could have caught it with only one arm, given my awkward position. But I was a Spartan, and I could use anything as a weapon, so I kept looking around, this time focusing on what I could actually reach.

  I didn’t have any more weapons or artifacts on me, and I was standing in an open space in front of the checkout counter. I couldn’t get my hand on so much as a single tattered book that had fallen to the floor and had gotten trampled during the battle. Besides the vines and thorns, the only other thing within reach was…