Killer Frost (Mythos Academy #6)(71)

“Now would be a great time for you to use your music mojo to get us out of this!” I yelled at him, even as I battled a Reaper who was creeping up on his blind side.

“Gwen’s right!” Logan shouted, fighting off another

Reaper.

Carson was a Celt, sort of like a warrior bard, and he could play practically any instrument he picked up. I hoped he found a way to make the horn do whatever it was supposed to do before the Reapers overwhelmed us—

“Don’t worry, guys,” he said, his voice soft and almost dreamy-sounding. “I think I’ve got it now.”

Carson nodded, and that strange black gleam in his eyes brightened, as if he’d finally figured out some sort of great secret about the horn.

More and more Reapers started heading in our direction, urged on by Loki’s continued screams about killing Carson. I watched in horror as one Reaper broke away from the other warrior he was fighting and raced in our direction. Then another one, then five more, then ten more, until it seemed as if every single Reaper on the quad was running toward us with the sole intention of killing Carson where he stood. Even as Logan and I stepped in front of him, I knew we wouldn’t be able to stop the Reapers from swarming over us and taking him out.

“Carson!” I screamed. “Play the freaking horn! Now!” “Okay,” he said in that same soft, dreamy voice. “I

can do that.”

He brought the horn to his lips. Once again, a single, sweet note sounded, but the Reapers kept coming. Daphne dropped three more of them with her arrows, sending the projectiles into three different targets at once. But more and more Reapers rushed forward to take their places.

“Carson!” I screamed again, slashing Vic back and forth as fast as I could, lashing out at every single warrior I could reach, with Logan doing the same thing beside me. “Carson!”

Just when I thought the Reapers were going to overrun us, Carson drew in another breath and began to play in earnest. Note after note erupted from the horn, each one stronger and sharper than the last. Carson blew and blew on the horn, his fingers pressing into the onyx keys as though it were a regular tuba he was playing instead of a powerful artifact.

At first, the music didn’t seem to have any effect. The Reapers kept coming and coming, and Logan and I kept fighting them off, one after another, even though my arms ached from the effort of holding on to Vic and driving the sword’s blade into my enemies over and over again. Meanwhile, Daphne kept shooting arrows, and between the three of us, we managed to keep Carson safe.

But then, through the music, I heard another sound.

Crack.

Crack-crack. Crack.

At first, I thought I was just imagining the sounds through the yells, shouts, and screamsof the fight. Then, I heard it again . . . and again . . . and again . . .

Crack.

Crack-crack. Crack.

Each successive crack sounded louder than the one before it, as though someone was firing a cannon over and over again. I instinctively ducked down, and so did everyone else, wondering where the sounds were coming from and what they really were. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw something move.

A statue.

One of the gargoyles perched on the steps of the English-history building slowly began stretching and moving, as though it was waking up after a long, long sleep. In a way, I supposed that’s exactly what it was doing. I thought I was only imagining the statue moving, that maybe I’d been fighting too hard for too long and had taken one too many blows to the head. But then, the gargoyle on the other side of the steps began to move and stretch as well, and I finally realized what the Horn of Roland did and why it had fallen into Carson’s hands.

Because it brought the statues of Mythos Academy to

life.

Carson kept playing and playing, the sounds of the Horn of Roland rising up to drown out everything else. It was a soft, sweet sound, but yet, somehow fierce and wild and loud and free all at the same time. It was the kind of music that made you want to dance and dance and dance until you laughed with joy and simply collapsed from the fast, sheer thrill of the movement and the music. Slowly, the Protectorate guards and the Reapers stopped fighting, all of us hypnotized by Carson’s wonderful playing.

Meanwhile, the statues on all of the buildings began breaking free of their stone foundations, as drawn to the music as everyone else was. The gargoyles, the chimeras and dragons and basilisks, even the Minotaur, leaped down from their lofty perches and started ambling toward Carson, bits of stone cracking off their bodies from where the creatures had been standing in the same positions for so long.

And leading the procession were the two gryphons from the library steps.

They looked even fiercer and more lifelike than I ever could have dreamed, as though their dark gray stone was the thinnest sort of skin that housed their utter wildness. The gryphons came to stand beside Carson, one on either side of him, flanking him just like they always had the library steps. Both of the gryphons turned and bowed their heads to me and Logan. All I could do was bow back and hope that Carson knew what he was doing.

Finally, five minutes after it had started, Carson lowered the horn from his lips. By that point, all of the fighting had stopped on the quad, and everyone was still and silent, mesmerized by the band geek and how he’d brought the statues to life with his music.

Carson stared at the statues all around him, his black eyes gleaming with delight, as though he were the ultimate sort of Pied Piper.