Killer Frost (Mythos Academy #6)(63)

And Vic was off, talking about how he was the ultimate sword of swords, how he was going to rip into all the Reapers that were coming to the academy, and other such nonsense. Logan and I exchanged a look, both of us amused by Vic’s antics. He leaned over and squeezed my hand, and I squeezed back.

Together, still listening to Vic rant, we started sorting through the rest of the weapons on the table.




I spent the next hour in the library, working alongside my friends. Nickamedes helped Daphne search through the electronic catalog of artifacts, telling her which items might be the most useful and important. She printed off a long list, which I divided up among me, Logan, Carson, Oliver, and Alexei. The five of us went back into the stacks, retrieved all of the items, and brought them to the study tables in the center of the library.

By the time we were finished, we had enough weapons, armor, garments, and jewelry to outfit a small army.

And we had the warriors to use them.

To my surprise, not all of the kids, professors, and staff members chose to evacuate the academy. Instead, many of them came to the library, determined to fight alongside us. Folks like Kenzie Tanaka, one of Logan’s Spartan friends, and his Amazon girlfriend, Talia Pizarro. Morgan McDougall, a former mean-girl Valkyrie who’d helped me out more than once over the past few months. Even Savannah Warren, the Amazon who was Logan’s ex-girlfriend, showed up.

I’d put Logan in charge of the weapons, and he quickly sized up every kid and adult and gave them the blade, bow, staff, or spear he thought would best suit them. Then, the other kids clustered around the study tables, familiarizing themselves with the weapons the way I’d seen them do so many times before in gym class.

But this wasn’t a class, and no one was going to pull their punches today.

Meanwhile, Raven manned the coffee cart, passing out free drinks and snacks to anyone who wanted something, although most folks just stood there, holding their food, instead of actually chowing down on it. I knew I was far too full of fear, worry, and dread to even think about eating right now.

Instead, I wondered why.

I wondered why the other kids and adults would risk themselves in a battle that we had a very real chance of losing, instead of evacuating to safety with the others. I asked the question out loud to Daphne, who was still typing furiously on the computer, searching for more artifacts, but she wasn’t the one who answered me.

Instead, Savannah piped up from her spot at a nearby study table.

“You’re not the only one who’s lost people to the Reapers,” Savannah said in a quiet voice, twirling a staff around and around in her hands. “This is our chance to finally confront the Reapers who took away the people we love.”

From what Daphne had once told me, most of Savannah’s family had been murdered by Reapers. I winced, thinking that I’d taken Logan away from her too, but she came over and laid a hand on my arm, as if she knew exactly what I was thinking.

“It’s okay, Gwen,” Savannah said, her green eyes serious. “I’ve moved on. In fact, I’m happier than I’ve ever been.”

She turned and smiled at a Viking I recognized from my English-lit class, one who gave her an adoring look in return. When he realized that we were both watching him, he blushed, ducked his head, and went back to hefting the battle axe in his hand.

“His name is Doug,” she said, answering my silent questions. “Apparently, he’d been into me for a while, and wanted to ask me out, but I was with Logan, so he thought he didn’t have a chance. Once I wasn’t, well, you know what happened. He’s great.”

“I’m happy that you’re happy,” I said. “I really mean it.”

Savannah nodded. “I know you do. And I’m happy for you guys too.”

She smiled at me, then went back over to her boyfriend. The two of them kissed and started working with their weapons again.

Another hour passed, and we were still grabbing artifacts from every part of the library and passing them out to whoever wanted one.

Finally, though, we stripped the library bare, everyone had all the weapons and artifacts they could wear and carry, and there wasn’t anything else left to do but wait. I was sitting at a table with Rory, Rachel, and Grandma Frost. Nyx was back in the office complex with Nickamedes, where she would be safe. My other friends were roaming around the library.

We hadn’t said much, but I was glad they were here with me. It made me feel better about things, like we might actually have a chance to win the looming battle after all.

But it wasn’t long before I realized that all the kids and even some of the adults were staring at and whispering about me, the way they always did.

“The Gypsy girl will get us through this . . .” “She won’t let the Reapers win . . .”

“Surely, she has to have some sort of plan . . .”

That last hushed comment made me grimace. Right now, the only plan I had was to try to kill as many Reapers as I could and not die myself. Other than that, well, I was open to suggestions. But I couldn’t tell any of them that. They were already frightened enough. We all were.

“You should go talk to them,” Rory said, hearing the same comments and whispers.

I looked at her. “Why? What good would that do? They all know what we’re up against. They don’t need me to spell it out for them again. Or to remind them how we’re probably going to lose. And die.”