Killer Frost Read online

  The vehicle rumbled to life and drove away a second later.

  She was gone.

  Grandma Frost was gone.

  “No!” I screamed, feeling like my heart had just been ripped out of my chest.

  “Ah, Gwen,” Vivian purred. “You don’t know how long I’ve waited to hear you scream like that.”

  I ignored her taunt and lashed out with Vic. Vivian lurched to one side, and I ran past her, racing after the SUV, even though I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to catch it. Nyx was still chasing after it as well, moving as fast as she could on her short, pup-sized legs.

  But Vivian wasn’t about to let me go that easily. She whipped her sword down and out, and I felt the blade bite into my left shin even as I tripped over it.

  I landed facedown, my forehead hitting the ground and momentarily stunning me. But I forced the dizziness away and rolled over onto my back to block the attack I knew was coming—

  Vivian put the tip of her sword against my throat and planted her black boot on my right wrist—the hand that I was using to hold Vic. I couldn’t move without her breaking my bones, but I tightened my fingers around the sword’s hilt. I wasn’t letting go of my weapon. If she wanted Vic, she’d have to pry him out of my cold dead hand.

  “Do it,” I said through gritted teeth. “Go ahead and kill me.”

  Vivian stared down at me, that Reaper red spark flickering in her golden eyes. She turned her sword, the point digging into my skin and drawing a bit of blood. Her golden Janus ring glinted on her finger, the ruby chips in the god’s two faces, one looking forward into the future, and one looking back into the past, flashing in the sunlight.

  “As much as I would enjoy it, I’m afraid that’s not the plan,” she said. “At least not for today. But there’s nothing to stop me from hurting you—”

  “Gwen! Gwen!” I heard Alexei shout again.

  Vivian glanced over her shoulder. Alexei and Aiko must have been closer than she would have liked because her mouth turned down into a petulant pout. She whipped around to me again.

  “The deal is simple. You either bring us the candle, or your precious grandmother dies,” Vivian hissed. “I’ll call you with the details later, but the choice is yours, Gwen.”

  I opened my mouth to say something—I wasn’t quite sure what—but Vivian raised Lucretia high and slammed the hilt of the sword into the side of my head.

  The world snapped to black.

  Chapter 10

  Something warm, wet, and sticky touched my cheek, jerking me out of the darkness that I’d been drowning in for what seemed like forever. A small, hopeful yip sounded, and a solid weight bounded up onto my chest.

  I opened my eyes to find Nyx wagging her tail and staring down at me with her bright, twilight-colored eyes. When she realized that I was awake and looking at her, she let out another happy yip and licked me on the cheek again. I wrinkled my nose. Vic was right. Her breath wasn’t the best in the world, but I was so happy to see her that I didn’t care. I rubbed her ears between my fingers, and Nyx’s tail thumped against my ribs in contentment.

  I sat up and realized that I was in the academy infirmary, lying on one of the hospital beds. I still had on the same clothes I had been wearing earlier. They were ripped, torn, dirty, and bloody from where I’d scrambled up the hill and down the other side, but the briar scratches on my hands and arms had disappeared. Other than a slight headache, I felt fine, and I knew Professor Metis or maybe Daphne had used her magic to heal me.

  Nyx licked my cheek again, then hopped from the bed over onto a chair where Vic was propped up. She licked his cheek as well, and the sword’s eye popped open.

  “Ugh, fuzzball!” he groused. “I told you not to wake me up until Gwen was awake too.”

  Nyx let out another happy yip and hopped back over onto the bed. Vic realized that I was in fact awake and sitting up, and some of the worry eased out of his metal face.

  “How do you feel?” he asked.

  “I’m okay. What’s going on?” I asked. “Where’s

  Grandma Frost?”

  Vic gave me a serious look, his purple eye dark and solemn. “I’ll let the others tell you.”

  A hard knot of fear formed in the pit of my stomach. “The Reapers have her, don’t they?”

  “I’m afraid they do.”

  I pressed my fist to my mouth, fighting back tears, nausea, and the urge to scream all at the same time. Vivian and Agrona had Grandma Frost at their mercy— something I knew they didn’t have a single shred of in their entire bodies.

  The door opened, and Metis stuck her head inside. “Oh good,” she said. “You’re awake.”

  She stepped into the room, along with Linus and Coach Ajax. Nickamedes shuffled in as well, leaning on his cane. The librarian shut the door behind him, and the adults formed a row in front of the hospital bed.

  “What are you doing to find my grandma?” I demanded. “Do you have any idea where the Reapers have taken her?”

  Linus shook his head. “Unfortunately not, Miss Frost. Alexei and Aiko told us what they witnessed of the attack, but I’d like to hear your version of events.”

  I told them about fighting the Reapers, chasing after Grandma, and my confrontation with Vivian—including what she wanted.

  “I told you that putting the candle on display was a bad idea,” I said, staring at Linus with accusing eyes. “Only the Reapers aren’t going to be stupid enough to try to steal it from the library like you wanted them to. Oh no. They’re going to make us hand it over to them instead.”

  Linus look at Metis, then Ajax, and finally Nickamedes. Metis and Ajax stared back at him with sad, but resigned faces, but anger burned in the librarian’s eyes, making them glint like chips of hard blue ice.

  “I’m afraid that’s not going to happen,” Linus said, squaring his shoulders and facing me again.

  That ball of fear in my stomach morphed into a lump of cold, hard lead. “What . . . what are you saying?” I whispered, barely able to force out the words.

  “We do not negotiate with Reapers,” Linus said. “We are not giving the Reapers the candle. We can’t afford to. Not after you told us what it does, and how they could use it to return Loki to his full strength.”

  For a moment, I cocked my head to the side, wondering if I’d heard him right—and really, really hoping that I hadn’t.

  “You’re . . . you’re not going to save her?” I sputtered in disbelief. “You’re not going to give the Reapers the candle?”

  Linus straightened up to his full height, his face harsher and sharper than ever before. “No. We are not giving the Reapers the candle. We cannot do anything that will potentially make Loki stronger.”

  My gaze snapped over to Metis and Ajax. They both looked back at me with tired, weary faces.

  “I’m sorry, Gwen,” Metis said. “We tried to convince him to change his mind.”

  “We all did,” Ajax chimed in. “You know how much we all care about Geraldine.”

  Nickamedes didn’t say anything, but he looked at the others, his own features pinched tight with disgust.

  “But I’m not going to budge,” Linus finished. “I

  can’t. Not as the head of the Protectorate.”

  “Can’t? Or don’t want to?” I said in a clipped voice. Linus sighed. “Can’t, Miss Frost. Believe me, I take

  no pleasure in this. No pleasure at all.”

  “But you . . . you can’t just leave her with the Reapers,” I protested, my hands balling into tight fists. “Vivian and Agrona will kill her—they’ll torture her—just out of spite.”

  “I’m sorry, Miss Frost,” Linus repeated. “Truly, I am. But there’s nothing I can do in regard to the candle. Rest assured that I have every available member of the Protectorate out looking for your grandmother. We are doing everything in our power to find her.”

  I glared at him. “Just not everything in your power to actually save her, right?”

  Linus’s lips pressed i
nto a hard, thin line, but he didn’t argue with me. He couldn’t.

  I looked at them all in turn. Linus. Metis. Ajax. Nickamedes. They stared back at me, a mixture of pity and resignation on their faces. Well, except for Nickamedes, who looked as angry as I felt. And I realized that they were actually going to do it. They were actually going to stand by and let my grandma die. Anger roared through me at the knowledge, melting that cold ball of lead in the pit of my stomach, and leaving behind a hard, sizzling determination, more intense than any I’d ever felt before.

  “Well, if you won’t save her, then I will,” I snarled. “No matter what it takes.”

  I got to my feet, grabbed Vic, and stormed out of the room.

  I knew that there was no use arguing with Linus, so I hurried into the waiting room, with Nyx scrambling to keep up with me. My friends were all there—Daphne, Carson, Oliver, Alexei, Logan. So was Raven, sitting at the reception desk, her black combat boots propped up on top of the smooth wooden surface, reading through one of her celebrity gossip magazines like usual. Raven gave me a curious look, then flipped another page. The faint crackle was the only sound in the room.

  I stopped in front of my friends and stared at Logan. The sad, stricken look on his face—on all their faces— told me that he already knew Linus wasn’t going to trade the candle for my grandma. I’d thought that Logan going all Reaper and trying to kill me had been bad, but this—this felt like a whole new level of betrayal.

  By everyone I cared about.

  “Miss Frost, please wait,” Linus said, following me into the room.

  Metis and Ajax trailed after him, with Nickamedes bringing up the rear.

  I whirled around to face him. “Why? So I can stand around and count down the hours until my grandma dies?”

  “It’s not like that at all, and you know it,” Linus said. “As I said before, we will do everything in our power to find your grandmother.”

  “Before or after the Reapers kill her?”

  Linus pressed his lips into a tight, thin line and crossed his arms over his chest.

  Daphne came over and tentatively laid a hand on my arm, pink sparks of magic streaking out of her fingertips and landing on my dirty clothes before quickly winking out. “Gwen, why don’t you take it easy?”

  I shrugged off her hand. “Take it easy?” I let out a harsh, bitter laugh. “I can’t take it easy. I can never take it easy. Not until Loki is dead.”

  Daphne frowned. “What do you mean?”

  I looked around and realized all of my friends were staring at me with the same wary, curious expression as she. Suddenly, I was so tired—tired of all the lies, all the secrets, all the problems that never seemed to end.

  I let out another bitter laugh. “You really don’t get it, do you? You don’t know what’s going on at all. None of you do. Except for her.”

  I jerked my head at Metis, but she stared back at me, her face neutral.

  “What do you mean?” Logan asked, coming to stand beside me. “Gwen, I know you’re upset, but what are you talking about?”

  “The candle,” I said. “I’m talking about the damn candle. Yeah, the Reapers want it to heal Loki, but that’s not all they’re going to get out of it.”

  Linus frowned. “What else could they possibly do with it? What else could they want it for? Surely, returning Loki to his full strength is their top priority.”

  “It may be the Reapers’ ultimate goal, but it’s not his,” I said. “Loki wants to be whole again, sure, for one specific reason—so he can finally murder me.”

  “And how do you know that?” Logan asked. “Because,” I spat out the words. “I’m the one who’s

  supposed to kill him. I’m the one who’s supposed to kill

  Loki.”

  Chapter 11

  Silence. Complete, utter silence.

  Linus whirled around to face Metis, his gray robe snapping around his body before falling free again. “Aurora? Is this true? How long have you known about this?” “Yes, I’m afraid it’s true.” She lifted her chin. “And I’ve known ever since the incident at the Garm gate when Loki was freed in the first place. That’s when Gwen told me that killing Loki was the ultimate mission Nike had given her, something the Reapers believe she can do

  as well.”

  “And why didn’t you tell me about this?” Linus demanded.

  “Because I knew you’d probably take Gwen away from the academy, her friends, and her grandmother,” Metis said. “Knowing you, Linus, you would have kept Gwen under lock and key until you thought it was time for her to finally complete her mission.”

  An angry flush stained his cheeks, but he didn’t deny her accusations.

  “I would have done what was best for Miss Frost,” Linus said in a stiff voice.

  “Yeah,” I sniped. “Because letting the Reapers kill my grandma is what’s best for me.”

  He turned to stare at me, but I glared right back at him. Anger didn’t even begin to describe what I was feeling. Neither did rage. It was . . . I just felt . . . fury. Molten, unending, white-hot fury. Because of all the evil that Loki and the Reapers had done, because of all the hard choices and sacrifices I’d been forced to make, because of all the loved ones I’d lost. And now, my grandma’s life was hanging in the balance, and no one seemed to want to save her but me.

  “But Metis is right,” Linus said, finally breaking the silence. “You need to be protected at all costs, Miss Frost.”

  He pulled his phone out of his pants pocket. “I’m going to get Sergei and Inari over here right now. We’ll get you to a secure location—”

  “No,” I cut in. “I’m not going anywhere.”

  “I’m afraid you don’t have a choice, Miss Frost,” Linus said. “If you can somehow actually kill Loki, then you need far more protection. At the very least, we need to relocate you from the academy to somewhere much more secure.”

  “Where I can do what? Twiddle my thumbs until the Reapers find me and try to kill me again? I don’t think so,” I said. “And I do have a choice. I always have a choice. It’s a little thing called free will. Maybe you should read up on it. I’m sure there are some books about it in the library that Nickamedes could find for you.”

  That angry flush darkened on Linus’s pale cheeks. “You are leaving the academy, Miss Frost. It’s not a request. It’s an order.”

  “I don’t take orders from you.” I raised Vic. “You so much as lay one finger on me or order any of your Protectorate guards to do the same, and I will fight back with everything I have. Worse than that, I’ll use my magic on you. My touch magic. Remember at my trial when I told you that I used it to kill Preston Ashton? Well, I could do the exact same thing to you, Mr. Quinn.”

  Carson gasped at my threat, and my other friends all looked shocked. Logan kept glancing back and forth between me and his dad, not sure what to do. Even Linus looked a bit uncertain, his eyes flicking to my hand, which was wrapped tight around Vic’s hilt.

  “I’m a Champion, remember?” I snarled. “Nike’s Champion, the best of the best. That’s what you told Nickamedes once. Believe me when I tell you that you don’t want me to prove it to you.”

  “You’re angry right now,” Linus said. “I understand that. I know how hard it is to lose the people you love to the Reapers.”

  His gaze went to Logan, and the raw, naked hurt in Linus’s eyes cut through my fury, leaving nothing behind but a hollow, bitter ache in my heart.

  “I understand that,” I replied, echoing his words. “And I’m so sorry about your wife and daughter. Sorrier than you will ever know. But you have a chance to help me save my grandma. Will you do that? Please? Or are you going to leave her to the Reapers?”

  Linus stared at me, and I could see the struggle in his eyes. I knew he was weighing my grandma’s life against all of those he was responsible for, every single member of the Pantheon. And I knew what his decision would be, what it had to be. If our positions had been reversed, I probably would have don
e the exact same thing. I’d already lost so much to the Reapers—we all had—and I didn’t want to give them the candle either. I didn’t want to make Loki stronger. I didn’t want to potentially bring about the destruction of the Protectorate and the Pantheon.

  But I couldn’t bear the thought of losing my grandma— I just couldn’t bear it.

  “I’m sorry, Miss Frost,” Linus said. “But I cannot give the Reapers the candle under any circumstances.”

  I gave him a stiff nod. “You don’t want to trade the candle for my grandma? That’s fine. I understand your reasoning. Really, I do. But don’t expect me to save you in return.”

  I turned, pushed past my friends, and stormed out of the infirmary.

  I didn’t get far. I’d just stepped back outside when Nyx and my friends caught up with me. Daphne, Carson, Oliver, Alexei, Logan.

  Daphne was the quickest, and she darted forward and latched on to my arm, stopping me in my tracks with her Valkyrie strength. “Nike told you that you’re supposed to kill Loki? Why? Why didn’t you tell any of us about that?”

  The others gathered around me, forming an unbreakable ring, and I found myself sighing.

  “Because I didn’t want you to worry,” I said. “I figured I was worried enough for all of us.”

  “How does she expect you to do that?” Oliver asked, his green eyes dark and serious.

  I thought of the laurel bracelet hanging off my wrist. “I have no idea.”

  I figured it wasn’t actually a lie, since I didn’t know how to use the bracelet to kill Loki, or if it could really even hurt him in the first place.

  “Why didn’t you tell us, Gwen?” Carson asked again, peering at me through his black glasses. “Why didn’t you let us know what you were dealing with? We would have helped you through it. You should have known that.”

  The hurt and sorrow in his eyes made the rest of my anger evaporate. “I do know that, and I’m sorry I didn’t tell you guys before. With everything that’s been going on, there never seemed to be a good time to bring it up.” I winced even as I said the words. Because they were some of the same lame excuses that Grandma Frost, Metis, and Nickamedes had used to keep secrets from me, like my mom being Nike’s Champion, or my dad, Tyr Forseti, being a Reaper at one time. I never thought I would do the same thing to my friends, but I had