Killer Frost (Mythos Academy #6)(16)
“Vivian!” Agrona screamed, running toward us. “We’re leaving! Now!”
“No, you’re not!” another voice chimed in.
I whipped around. Grandma Frost had managed to get out of the SUV. She wobbled on her feet, but she hurried toward Agrona as fast as she could, a sword clutched in her wrinkled hand.
Vivian’s golden gaze flicked from me to Grandma Frost and back again, and her eyes narrowed. “This isn’t over, Gwen!” she hissed.
Vivian raised her fingers to her lips and let out a loud whistle. A shadow fell over the two of us, and a Black roc dropped down from the sky. I thought I’d scared all of the birds away, but Vivian’s must have been better trained than the others because it landed right beside her, looking completely calm and unconcerned by the battle raging all around it. I charged at her, determined not to let her get away again—
Vivian let out another loud, sharp whistle, and the roc lashed out with one of its wings, knocking me off my feet. I hit the ground hard, and white spots winked on and off in front of my eyes.
Still, I raised my sword, expecting Vivian to try to end me while my defenses were down, but she was too busy climbing onto the roc’s back and pulling Agrona up behind her to attack me.
Vivian grabbed the black leather reins attached to the harness on the creature’s back and slapped them down hard.
Even as I scrambled to my feet, I knew I was going to be too late to stop her from getting away—again.
“Fly!” This time, it was Vivian screaming the word instead of me. “Fly! Fly! Fly!”
The Black roc let out a loud screech, pumped its wings once, and zoomed up into the sky, taking Vivian and Agrona with it.
Chapter 5
All I could do was stand there and watch the Black roc grow smaller and smaller as it flew away. I let out a vicious curse, but that wouldn’t bring back Vivian, Agrona, and the roc. Nothing would—
A hand touched my shoulder. I whipped around and raised Vic, thinking that one of the Reapers was getting ready to punch me in the face or ram his sword into my chest. But it was only Grandma Frost standing behind me. I let out a breath, lowered Vic, then reached forward with my free arm and hugged her tight.
Her arms wrapped around me, hugging me back even tighter, and I felt a wave of love and concern wash over me. I drew back.
“Are you okay?” I asked, scanning her face.
She nodded. “Fine. Just a little shaken up from the crash. How about you, pumpkin?”
“I have a few bumps and bruises from the wreck, Reapers, and rocs, but that’s all. Let’s go check on the others.”
By this point, the battle was over, and Aiko was helping the other members of the Protectorate round up the few Reapers who hadn’t been killed. I hurried over to Oliver, who was sitting on the back bumper of the artifacts van. Like me, he was covered with cuts, blood, and bruises from the fight. In front of him, Linus and Inari were crouching over the dead Reapers and murmuring softly to each other. They too had taken a few licks during the crash and subsequent battle, but all three of them seemed to be more or less in one piece.
“Are you guys all right?” I called out.
Oliver nodded and waved his hand at me, so I ran over to the smashed SUV, the one that I’d been riding in. By this point, Sergei and Logan had both gotten out of the vehicle and were sitting on the pavement a few feet away. Blood and bruises covered their faces from where the windows had shattered and the flying glass had sliced into their skin, and they both sat stiffly, each with one hand braced on the ground for support, as if it hurt to be fully upright. Alexei was kneeling by Sergei’s side, speaking softly to his dad in Russian.
I dropped down in front of Logan. “Are you okay?” He smiled at me, despite the blood on his face. “I’ll
live, Gypsy girl. Don’t worry. It’s only a few cuts. Besides, it was worth it to see the look on Vivian and Agrona’s faces when you made those rocs run right into the middle of all those Reapers.”
“You saw that?”
He nodded. “Through the windshield. My seat belt was stuck, or I would have come and helped you fight Vivian and Agrona.”
He started to push himself up and onto his feet, but the motion caused more blood to well up out of the deep, jagged cut on his forehead and dribble down into his eyes. I unzipped my coat and used Vic to cut off the bottom part of my sweater. I held the fabric up to Logan’s forehead.
“Stay still,” I commanded. “Don’t try to move.”
His lips quirked up into another smile, but pain glinted in his eyes. “Yes, ma’am.”
I stayed by Logan’s side, keeping pressure on the wound and trying to get the bleeding to stop. All around me, the members of the Protectorate moved through the Reapers, checking to see which ones were alive and which ones were dead. I glanced at the van, but it looked like all of the boxes containing the artifacts were still intact and inside. The Reapers hadn’t managed to get their hands on any of them.
I let out a long, weary breath, although my relief was short-lived. Because I knew that it wouldn’t be long before Vivian and Agrona struck again.
At least two dozen dead Reapers lay crumpled on the ground around the vehicles, and another half-dozen were rocking back and forth on the pavement and moaning from the pain of their wounds. I’d never seen so many of the other warriors in one place before, not even when they’d taken people hostage at the Aoide Auditorium during the winter band concert.