Killer Frost (Mythos Academy #6)(75)

“You two seem to be the most familiar with the gryphons,” he said. “Do you think you can convince them to fly the wounded out of here?”

Rory looked at me, and I nodded at her. She, in turn, nodded at Linus. “We’re on it.”

Rory and Rachel disappeared into the back of the library to climb up to one of the balconies to talk to the remaining gryphons.

“It will still take the gryphons several trips to evacuate everyone,” Inari said.

Linus ran a hand through his hair, leaving streaks of blood behind in his blond locks. “I know. We need to think of a way to buy ourselves some more time. It won’t be long before the Reapers try to enter the library, if that’s not what they’re doing already.”

“So how do we stall?” Sergei asked, clutching his hand to his side, blood trickling out from the wound he’d gotten there.

Linus shook his head. “I have no idea.”

I thought for a minute, then pulled my phone out of my jeans pocket. To my surprise, the device was still intact, and I quickly scrolled back through my call history until I could pull up Vivian’s number. When I was sure I could reach her, I stepped forward.

“I might have an idea that can buy us a little more time.”

Linus looked at me. “And what would that be?”

“We give the Reapers exactly what they want. We let them walk right on into the library.”

“And why would we do that, Miss Frost?” Linus asked. “We’re trying to keep them out of here, in case you haven’t noticed.”

I stared back at him. “We let them in here so they can finally kill me.”




I quickly outlined my plan. Nobody liked it, especially not Logan.

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “No way, Gypsy girl.”

I looked at him. “You know it’s the best option we have at this point. The only option, really. They’ll go for it. You know they will. Especially Vivian, since she’s failed to kill me so many times in the past. She’ll want to prove herself to Loki by finally taking me down.”

Logan opened his mouth, but his dad cut him off. “She’s right,” Linus said. “The Reapers know they

have us trapped and outnumbered. They’ll want to savor their victory. I know Agrona. She’ll agree to it.”

“And Vivian will be practically salivating at the thought of killing me,” I added before Logan could protest any more. “And while the two of us are fighting, it will give the Protectorate more time to evacuate the folks in the back of the library. Trust me. It will work. Besides, this is what you’ve been training me for all these months, right? Surely I didn’t get up early all those mornings for nothing.”

I gave him a wobbly grin. Logan tried to return the expression, but he couldn’t. Yeah. I knew the feeling.

Logan didn’t like it, but he realized it was our only option, and he reluctantly agreed. We worked out a few more of the details. When everyone knew what their part was, I hit the button to dial Vivian’s number. Of course, it wouldn’t matter how clever my plan was if the Reaper girl hadn’t bothered to bring her phone with her—

“What on earth could you possibly want?” Vivian’s voice filled my ear.

“Hey, Viv. I’ve decided to make this your lucky day. I’m offering you a trade.”

She laughed. “Trade? What sort of trade? You don’t have anything we want, Gwen. Especially not when we’re going to come in and take it from you anyway.”

“Sure I do,” I replied. “Because you still want my head on a platter, and you still want to be the one to give it to Loki. Besides, isn’t it your duty as his mighty

Champion to finally kill me?”

“Oh, don’t you worry,” she said in a smug voice. “I’ll be doing that as soon as we get into the library. It shouldn’t be too much longer now. I noticed all those shiny new weapons your friends had out on the quad. Well, you weren’t the only one who thought to bring some artifacts with you.”

In the background, I heard a kind of loud whining sound, almost like a power saw. I wondered what sort of artifact could cut through the library doors and the bars that held them shut, but it didn’t really matter. Part of me didn’t want to know anyway.

“Sure, you can get into the library eventually,” I said. “But who knows how long that will take? And yeah, you’ll probably end up killing us all, but who knows what Reaper might get to me before you do? I wouldn’t want to rob you of your chance to finally prove that you’re worthy to be Loki’s Champion.”

She didn’t say anything for a moment, and I knew I

had her. “And what do you want in return?”

“You and me fight in the middle of the library, nobody else, and with just Vic and Lucretia,” I said. “No other weapons or artifacts.”

“And when I finally kill you?” she asked. “What do you want in return for the promise of your own death?” “You let everyone else live,” I said. “That’s the deal.”

Silence.

“Let me ask Agrona,” Vivian said.

More silence. In the background, I could still hear that saw buzzing, which effectively drowned out any chance I had of overhearing Vivian and Agrona. No matter what they said, I wouldn’t believe them. They would never let anyone live, especially not Linus, Sergei, and Inari. Vivian and Agrona knew that they were too important to the Protectorate. Without them, the Pantheon resistance would quickly crumble, and there would be nothing to stop Loki from enslaving the entire world, just as he’d tried to do all those centuries ago.