Killer Frost

Chapter 23

Everyone grabbed their weapons and started trickling outside, except for a few folks like Grandma Frost, who were staying here to protect the library from any Reapers who might try to sneak inside. Those armed with bows and arrows, including Rory and Rachel, climbed to the upper levels of the library to head out onto the balconies and serve as archers from those vantage points.

I also stayed behind to talk with Nickamedes. He put Nyx down on a nearby table and leaned on his cane. The battle hadn’t even begun yet, but he already looked tired, which told me how much he needed what I was about to give him.

I grabbed what was left of Sol’s candle out of my jeans pocket and put it down on the table where Nyx was. She came over and started sniffing it out of curiosity. Then, I reached down, pushed up my sweater sleeve, and plucked the last silver laurel leaf off the mistletoe bracelet around my wrist. I held it out to him.

“What’s this?” he asked, staring at the leaf, which glinted underneath the library lights.

“It’s for you. I saved the last one for you, so you can use it to heal your legs. You should hold on to the candle too.”

Nickamedes shook his head. “You don’t have to do

that, Gwendolyn. It’s not your fault that I was poisoned, and it’s not your fault that my legs haven’t fully recovered.”

“Yes, it is,” I insisted. “And there’s a very real chance I won’t make it through the battle today. So I want you to have this. Just in case.”

Nickamedes stared at me. “You should keep it. You need it more than I do.”

“I can’t see the future like Grandma Frost, but whatever happens today, this is the end for me. But it doesn’t have to be for you. Besides, if we fail, if I fail, someone will have to pick up the pieces. Someone will have to go on, will have to keep fighting the Reapers for as long as possible, and I know that someone is you.”

He opened his mouth like he wanted to argue with me, but he clamped his lips shut. I held out the leaf again, and he finally, reluctantly, took it.

“All right,” he grumbled. “But I’m just holding on to it for you. That’s all.”

He slipped the leaf into his pants pocket. Nickamedes stared at me, his blue eyes bright. Then, he did something I never imagined he would do in a million years. He stepped forward, reached out, and hugged me tight with one arm.

“If I am ever lucky enough to have a daughter, I hope that she’s just like you, Gwendolyn,” he whispered.

Emotion clogged my throat, and I nodded and tried to blink back the tears from my eyes. That was one of the nicest things anyone had ever said to me.

“And you’ve been more of a dad to me than anyone else ever has,” I whispered back.

He hugged me even tighter.

Slowly, I drew back, and Nickamedes and I both dropped our eyes, not quite looking at each other.

Nyx let out a soft whine from her position on the table, and I went over and rubbed her ears between my fingers, the way I had a hundred times before. She gave a contented sigh, and I let my emotions flow into her, trying to show her how much I loved her. Her tail thumped against my side in response, and I petted her one final time before forcing myself to step away.

“Keep an eye on Nyx for me, okay?”

“Don’t you worry, Gwendolyn,” Nickamedes said, straightening up as much as he could. “I will protect her with my life.”

I nodded. I knew he would.

There was nothing left for me to do but draw Vic out of his scabbard. He’d been quiet the last few hours, resting up for what was to come. I held the sword up so that we were eyes-to-eye.

“Are you ready for this?” I asked.

His mouth split into a wide grin, and his purplish eye gleamed with anticipation. “I was made for this, Gwen. And you too. You’ll see. We’ll come through this battle just fine. With dead Reapers all around! And Loki cringing at our feet!”

The sword went off on another one of his rants. I let his loud, quick, excited words wash over me, but I kept staring at him, memorizing his features, in case this was the last time that we ever went into battle together.

“Well, then,” I said, when he finally wound down. “I

guess we should get on with things then.”

I saluted Nickamedes and Nyx with Vic, then hurried outside to join the others.

I left the library and headed down the main steps, stopping at the two gryphon statues. I wasn’t the only one. Carson was also there, crouched down beside them, still rubbing his hands over the Horn of Roland. He kept glancing at the horn, then at the statues, as though the two were somehow connected.

Daphne was right beside him, her bow, Sigyn’s bow, out and ready. If things went badly, she was to head up to one of the balconies and cover us while we retreated back into the library, something I thought was bound to happen, given that Loki was leading the attack. I didn’t know what magic the Protectorate might have, but how was it supposed to stop a god? I didn’t know, but I had a bad feeling that I was going to find out.

Logan was waiting for me out on the quad, so I headed in his direction. He was carrying the Sword of Thanatos that he’d shown me before and had thrown a gray Protectorate robe on over his clothes for extra warmth. So had all the other students. I was the only one who wasn’t wearing one, but my purple plaid jacket was thick enough. Besides, we’d be fighting soon enough, and then no one’s clothes would matter. Nothing would but surviving.

All around the quad, the other kids and adults were getting into defensive positions, with archers stationed on the balconies of the buildings and the other warriors in small groups below so they could watch each other’s backs. The Reapers might come in at the edge of campus, but I wouldn’t put it past them to have Black rocs fly over to the quad and drop some warriors off so they could attack us from multiple sides at once—

A large shadow zoomed over the quad, and my breath caught in my throat, thinking that the Reapers were already here. My head snapped up, and I realized that the leader of the gryphons had landed on top of one of the library towers. And he wasn’t the only one up there. The baby was there too, along with the third gryphon I’d seen before, and several more besides that. They must have been the ones that Rory had said had been staying in the park near my grandma’s house.

I waved, and the leader let out a loud screech. One by one, all of the gryphons joined in his fierce battle cry. My heart lifted, and I knew that they would fight with us to the end. The Eir gryphons hated the Reapers and how they enslaved gryphons, Black rocs, Nemean wolves, and other creatures.

“Come on,” Logan said when the sound of the gryphons’ cries had faded away. “My dad’s down by the front gate.”

I nodded, and we headed toward the far edge of the quad. Once again, I was aware of everyone staring and whispering about me. So I raised my head and tried to look as strong and confident as possible, although my legs trembled, and my knees threatened to buckle with every step I took.

As we walked down the hill to the lower quad, we passed more and more Protectorate guards, each one wearing a gray robe and carrying at least one sword. The guards were going to be the first lines of defense, with the students and adults on the quad serving as backup and the library being our final fallback point.

We found Linus, Sergei, Inari, Alexei, and Oliver standing behind a cluster of maple trees about fifty feet away from the main gate. Like everyone else, they all wore gray robes and were carrying swords. Two swords, in Alexei’s case, since he had the twin Swords of Ruslan clutched in his hands.

“What’s happening?” I asked.

Linus jerked his head at the gate. “Nothing at the moment, but our sources in Cypress Mountain say they’ve seen a multitude of SUVs gathering in some of the parking lots and that several Black rocs carrying riders have been spotted overhead.”

My head snapped back as I peered up into the sky, but I didn’t see any of the creatures flapping their wings and zooming through the air above. Perhaps the gryphons could at least keep the rocs and their riders away from the academy long enough to give us a fighting chance.

“You two should get back up to the main quad,” Linus said. “Where it’s safer.”

I looked at Logan, and we both shook our heads. “This is our fight too, Dad,” Logan said.

“He’s right,” I said.

I didn’t add what we were all thinking—that I was supposed to be the one to kill Loki. To do that, I had to get close to the god, which meant being at the front of the fight.

“Well, at least get out of sight then,” Linus said. “For now. Please.”

This time, Logan and I did as he asked, sliding behind the stand of maples and out of view of anyone who might be looking through the main gate. Alexei and Oliver moved to join us, the two of them flanking me.

Then, I hunkered down beside my friends and waited for Loki and the Reapers to attack.