Midnight Frost (21 page)

“Gwen!” Alexei shouted.

He used his twin swords to cut down first one Reaper, then another. But before he’d taken more than a half dozen steps in my direction, two more Reapers had moved to block him.

I waved him off. “I’ll be okay! Help the others protect Daphne! She’s the only way we can keep the rocs from joining in the attack!”

Alexei didn’t like it, but he nodded and started working his way back to the others.

“Oh good,” a voice purred behind me. “She’s sent away her bodyguard.”

I turned to find Vivian and Agrona standing behind me, along with their two rocs. Both of the Reapers were holding swords. They slowly advanced on me, and I raised Vic once more. Vivian was still holding Lucretia, and the red glow of the female sword’s eye was even brighter than before.

“Look,” Lucretia purred. “Dull little Vic might finally get some use in the fight after all. If my first blow doesn’t just snap his puny blade in two.”

“Lucretia!” Vic shouted. “Come over here and say that!”

“With pleasure!” the other sword crowed back.

And those were all the insults they were able to exchange before Vivian and I charged at each other.

We battled through the ruins. Over rocks, around rocks, ducking and darting, moving back and forth and up and down, trying to get every little advantage we could to hurt the other girl as much as possible. We trampled the flowers underfoot, our boots smashing the beautiful blossoms into runny smears of color. Petals whipped through the air at our frantic movements, and the crisp scent of the flowers took on a thick, coppery stench as blood spattered onto the blossoms from the nicks and cuts Vivian and I were able to inflict on each other.

Finally, I managed to drive her back against a large boulder and slashed out with my sword. Vivian ducked to one side just in time to keep me from taking off her head, but I still managed to open up a deep gash on her right cheek.

Vivian gasped in pain and surprise and brought her fingers up to her face. She pulled them down, staring in disbelief at the blood on her hand.

“You cut me,” she said. “You cut my
face
.”

I twirled Vic in my hand. “I’ll do more than that, before this fight is through.”

“Not so fast, Gypsy,” Agrona said.

Up until now, she had just watched the two of us fight. At first, I’d wondered why Agrona hadn’t joined forces with Vivian, but then I’d realized she was holding her sword at an awkward angle, as though she wasn’t used to wielding it with her left hand. Her right hand—her sword hand—must have been too badly damaged by Vic to be of any use. All she could do was watch—until now.

Agrona snapped her fingers, and her Black roc charged forward.

I threw myself to one side, barely managing to avoid the vicious swipe of the roc’s talons. If I’d held my ground, I would have been dead, my chest ripped wide open by the creature’s claws. But the roc was faster than I was. I’d barely gotten back onto my feet when the roc whipped around and slammed one of its wings into my left shoulder. I grunted, and the force of the impact threw me five feet to the left. My legs went out from under me, and I stumbled to the ground, landing on my hands and knees. The roc launched itself into the air, hovering over me like an evil black helicopter. It pumped its wings once, then surged forward, its claws extended toward my throat—

A figure darted between me and the roc. At first, I thought it was Rory again, and it took me a moment to realize it was a guy my own age. He charged the roc, spun to one side, and managed to grab hold of the creature’s harness. The guy yanked on the long leather reins as hard as he could, causing the creature to stop two feet short of me. But he wasn’t finished. He moved forward again, tossing the leather straps over the roc in such a way that they bound the creature’s wings to its sides. The roc hit the ground with an audible
thud
, even as it
caw-caw-cawed
and frantically tried to tear off the leather straps with its beak.

Then, the guy turned to me, and my breath caught in my throat.

Ink-black hair, intense ice-blue eyes, and a crooked smile that made a warm, fizzy feeling explode in my heart.

“Logan?” I whispered.

His smile widened. “Hey there, Gypsy girl.”

My gaze locked with Logan’s. No matter how happy I was to see him, I couldn’t help thinking of my nightmares and how he had hurt me in them over and over again.

But instead of that awful Reaper red, his eyes were sharp and clear and as blue as they could be—the most beautiful blue I’d ever seen.

“Gypsy girl?” he asked. “Are you okay?”

“But how—when—why—” I sputtered like Vic had a few minutes ago.

Logan flashed me another smile and helped me to my feet. “Talk later. Fight now. Okay?”

I was so stunned that all I could do was just stand there. The roc got free and threw itself at Logan. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Vivian sneaking up on Logan’s blind side, and I put myself between her and the Spartan.

“Protecting your boyfriend’s back? Aw, how sweet,” Vivian muttered. “Not that it’s going to do either one of you any good.”

She raised her sword and charged me. I tightened my grip on Vic and stepped up to meet her. Vivian attacked me over and over again, trying to use her Valkyrie strength to cut through my defenses. Red and purple sparks crackled in the air every time our blades met. Off to my left, Logan kept battling the roc, darting back and forth to keep out of range of the creature’s sharp, snapping beak.

Finally, the roc zigged instead of zagged, taking Logan by surprise. His feet went out from under him, and the roc launched itself into the air once more.

“Logan!” I screamed, knowing he wouldn’t be able to get out of the way before the creature dive-bombed and tore him open with its claws—

A golden arrow zipped through the air and buried itself in the roc’s side. The creature collapsed, its body barely missing crashing into Logan’s. He rolled to the side, trying to shake off his daze from hitting the ground.

“You’re welcome!” Daphne shouted across the courtyard.

I waved at her and turned my attention back to Vivian. This time, I threw myself at the other girl.

I attacked Vivian with all the strength, skill, and fury I could muster. The intensity of my attacks seemed to surprise her, as though she was the only one of us who could be so fierce and vicious. I’d told Daphne before that the Reapers hadn’t seen my crazy yet—but I showed it to Vivian.

I attacked her with everything I had.

All the moves Logan had shown me. All the sneak attacks Oliver and Kenzie had taught me. All the positions Ajax had drilled me on in gym class. All the passion and intense ferocity Daphne gave to everything in her life. All the fluid grace of Alexei’s movements. All the quiet devotion Carson showed to his friends. All the pain, anger, and frustration Rory and Rachel had felt these last few months. All the love Grandma Frost, Nyx, and Professor Metis had always given me. All the cranky concern Nickamedes and Vic had for me.

I hacked and slashed at Vivian with all of that and more. And for the first time, it actually seemed like
enough
. I couldn’t hurt her—not seriously—but she couldn’t break through my defenses either.

The longer we fought, the more frustrated she grew, until her eyes were glowing like two pools of molten lava in her face.

“Why won’t you just die?!” she hissed.

“You’re going to fail again, Viv,” I mocked. “Because you’re not killing me today. Not by a long shot. Not with those weak-ass moves. And look. The rest of your friends are losing too.”

Vivian’s gaze darted around the ruins. By this point, Daphne had killed all of the rocs, except for Vivian’s, and the Valkyrie was now picking off the Reapers one by one with her bow. Ajax and Alexei were battling three Reapers, while Carson and Oliver had cornered two more. Rachel was off to the side, fighting the last one, and I could still hear Covington screaming, which meant that Rory had him under control. One by one, the Reapers were falling. It was only a matter of time before my friends finished off the rest of them and came to help me against Vivian.

The Reaper girl knew it too. She cursed and lashed out at me with her sword, causing me to leap back. Then, she turned and raced toward her roc. Agrona had realized the tide had turned against the Reapers, and she was already trying to climb up onto the bird’s back, although her damaged hand slowed her down. Vivian used her Valkyrie strength to shove the other woman up and onto the roc, then climbed in front of her.

“Go, Gwen!” Vic shouted, his voice slightly muffled by my sweaty palm over his mouth. “Go! Don’t let them get away again!”

I started toward them, but Logan was quicker. The Spartan got to his feet and hurried toward the roc, quickly outpacing me. By this point, Vivian was on top of the creature and had the reins in her hands. All she had to do was slap them down, and the bird would take flight. But instead, she looked at me, a cruel smile curving her face.

“No! Logan!” I screamed. “Stop!”

But he didn’t listen to me. Instead, he kept running as fast as he could because he had his own score to settle—with his former stepmom.

“Agrona!” Logan shouted. “Face me!”

Agrona leaned forward and whispered something in Vivian’s ear, and the Reaper girl’s smile widened. I raced along behind Logan, but I knew I was going to be too late—
again
.

Logan was ten feet away from the roc and closing fast. Seven feet . . . five . . . three . . . Just as he started to launch himself through the air and onto the roc, Vivian let out another high, earsplitting whistle. The roc darted forward—and jabbed its beak into Logan’s side.

All of his forward momentum abruptly stopped, and he tumbled backward to the ground.

“Logan!” I screamed again.

He groaned and didn’t answer me, although his legs kicked out, sending up sprays of petals.

“Finish him!” Agrona hissed. “Now!”

Vivian let out another whistle, and the roc darted forward once more—but this time, I was there.

I put myself between Logan and the bird and swung my sword in a vicious arc. The roc jumped back to avoid me.

“Forget them!” Agrona screamed. “Get us out of here!”

But Vivian wasn’t about to give up this chance to finally murder me. Again and again, she urged her roc forward. Again and again, I lashed out with my sword, keeping the creature from killing me and Logan. It was bizarre, fighting something more than twice my size, but maybe all those mornings of weapons training had finally started to sink in because I actually held my own against the creature. Then again, it was also burdened by the two riders on its back, whereas all I had to do was avoid its raking claws and sharp, stabbing beak.

“Gwen!” Daphne screamed behind me. “Duck!”

I immediately dropped down on my knees. A second later, a golden arrow zipped over my head. But Vivian had heard Daphne’s shout too, and she managed to maneuver her roc out of the way of the arrow, which sailed over the creature’s head.

“Stay down!” Daphne shouted and loosed another arrow.

Vivian and her roc managed to avoid the second arrow, as well.

“Get us out of here!” Agrona screamed again. “Now!”

This time, Vivian listened to her. She slapped the leather reins down against the roc’s back. The creature let out another loud, screaming cry before it flapped its wings, zoomed up into the sky, and disappeared.

 

I waited a few moments to make sure that Vivian and Agrona weren’t going to come back for another strike, then turned to Logan. He’d gotten back up onto his feet, although he was holding his hand to his side.

I hurried over to him. “Are you okay?”

He smiled, although I could see the pain in his eyes. “I’ll live, Gypsy girl. Just a little scratch.”

“Are you sure? Let me take a look at it—”

“No!” he said, violently twisting away before I could touch him. “Don’t touch me! Just . . . don’t.”

I stood there, my hand stretched out toward him. Logan must have seen the hurt in my face because he blew out a breath.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “I just . . . I’m sorry. I’ll be okay. Really, I will be. Nothing to worry about.”

I dropped my hand and stared at him, not sure what to do, not sure what to say. This was the moment I’d longed for ever since he’d left. To see Logan again. But now that he was here, now that we were face-to-face, I realized things still weren’t right between us—and I didn’t know how to make them that way again.

“Gwen! Gwen!” My friends’ voices echoed through the ruins.

A second later, they were all crowding around me and Logan. Daphne, Carson, Oliver, Alexei, Ajax, Rachel, even Rory, who shoved a bloody, bruised, and disheveled Covington along in front of her.

My eyes scanned each one of them. Except for Daphne, everybody had some lumps, bumps, and bruises. Carson was limping and using his staff to stand upright, as though he’d twisted his ankle, while Ajax’s right arm appeared to be broken from the awkward way the coach was holding it against his side and grimacing. Rachel and Oliver both had bloody faces and scraped knuckles, and blood dripped from a series of deep cuts on Alexei’s left arm. But no one seemed to be seriously injured. At least, nothing Daphne couldn’t take care of with her healing magic until we could get back to the academy. I let out a quiet sigh of relief that no one had been hurt worse.

“Are you okay?” Daphne asked.

“I’m fine. Just a little beat up, bloody, and bruised. Nothing to worry about,” I said, echoing Logan’s words.

Once they realized I was okay, they all looked at Logan, who shifted under the weight of their curious gazes. Everyone seemed surprised to see him—except Oliver.

Oliver saw me watching him and winced. I thought of all the times he’d been texting on his phone the past few days. I’d thought he’d been talking to Kenzie back at the academy, but now, I knew better.

I narrowed my eyes. “You were texting with Logan this whole time. That’s why you were so certain he hadn’t been captured by Reapers. You knew he was here.”

A guilty flush crept up Oliver’s neck, but he didn’t say anything.

“Um, hello. Totally lost right now. Who is this guy?” Rory asked, jerking her thumb at Logan. “And why are you all looking at him like you’ve just seen a ghost?”

Logan winced, but he stared at her. “I’m Logan Quinn.”

Rory’s brow furrowed in confusion, but after a moment, her face brightened. “Oh. You’re the guy who went all Reaper on Gwen and tried to kill her. Right?”

“Yeah,” Logan muttered. “That’s me.”

Rory opened her mouth, but Daphne elbowed the other girl in the side and shot her a warning look. Rory glared at her and took a step forward, like she was going to shove Daphne, but Rachel stepped between them.

“That’s enough,” she said, her eyes darting around the ruins as if she expected more Reapers to appear at any second. “We need to get out of here—right now.”

Oliver gestured at the Reapers’ bodies. “But what about them? Don’t you want us to check them? They might be able to give us a clue as to where Vivian and Agrona went.”

Ajax shook his head. “There’s no time. Vivian and Agrona could come back with reinforcements, not to mention the snow that’s going to start coming down soon. We need to get off the mountain and back to the academy as quickly as possible. So let’s move.”

We all hurried to grab our backpacks and other gear from where they had fallen. Five minutes later, we walked out of the ruins, leaving nothing behind but dead Reapers, dead rocs, and a courtyard full of crushed, broken, blood-covered flowers.