Killer Frost

Chapter 32

Once again, I woke up with a gasp and sat bolt upright. I sucked down breath after breath, trying to figure out what was going on and where I was. Slowly, everything came rushing back to me.

I looked up to find my friends clustered around me. Logan. Daphne. Carson. Oliver. Alexei. Linus, Metis, and Grandma Frost loomed over them, while Nyx was sitting on the floor beside me. So was Nickamedes, a small bit of white, melted wax clutched in his hand. They all looked at me with wide, frightened eyes.

I stared past them up at the fresco on the ceiling. It was completely free of shadows now, and I could see all the images of the battle that we’d just been through. Me, Logan, and everyone else fighting the Reapers, from the first attack at the main gate to the final confrontation here in the library. The fresco featured all that and more, and somehow, I knew it would never be covered with shadows again.

Next, I looked down at my right palm. Now, instead of two scars, I had three. But the really weird thing was that they formed a sort of snowflake design—one that was exactly like the necklace Logan had given me, the one I was wearing right now. And I knew that if I pushed my shirt aside, I’d see the exact same three marks in the exact same pattern on my chest, right over my heart. I grimaced, but I didn’t really mind. Because the marks would always remind me of the battles I’d survived— and how victorious I’d been in the end.

“Gwen?” Logan asked, his voice hoarse, as though he’d been screaming and screaming for a long time. “Is that really you?”

“Yeah,” I said. “It’s me. I’m . . . okay. I think.”

My gaze flicked up to the second-floor pantheon to the empty spot, but it wasn’t empty anymore—a statue of Loki stood there, wrapped in thick, marble strands of mistletoe.

The others followed my gaze. One by one, their mouths dropped open, and they all let out sharp gasps of surprise.

“Is that . . .”

“That looks like . . .” “Could it be . . .”

“Loki,” I said. “He’s gone now, and he won’t ever be able to hurt us again.”

“What happened?” Linus asked.

I shook my head. “I’m not quite sure. Nike came to me. She said that when Loki . . . infected me, he gave up his own immortal body, and I forced him back into the gods’ realm by stabbing myself. She said that he would never be able to come back to the mortal realm ever again. So . . . I think we’re finally safe from him. I think we’re finally free from him. Forever.”

“Are you sure?” Metis asked.

I looked at the statue again, half-expecting it to glare at me the way all the other ones did, but Loki remained still, frozen, and locked in place, and I didn’t sense any vibes rippling off the stone—not a single one.

“Yeah,” I said. “I’m sure.”

For a moment, there was silence. Carson peered up at the statue of Loki, then around at everyone else.

“So,” he said. “I guess this means that we . . . won?” More silence. Then, slowly, grins spread over my

friends’ faces. Everyone started laughing and cheering and clapping each other on the back until the entire library was filled with the happy sounds. Logan held out his hand, helping me up and onto my feet. He wrapped his arms around me, holding me tight, and I leaned into him, enjoying the moment.

It was over.

The second Chaos War was over. And we’d won. For good.

Forever.

But our happy respite was short-lived. Because we had been through the battle to end all battles, and we had all paid a high cost. Many Reapers were dead, and Logan had managed to kill Agrona for all her crimes against him and his dad. But most of the Protectorate guards were dead as well.

Including Sergei.

Warm, happy, boisterous Sergei had fallen in the library to a Reaper’s sword. Alexei crouched over his father’s body, holding his cold, dead hand and crying and mumbling in Russian. Oliver stood by his side, his hand on his boyfriend’s shoulder. My own heart ached in response to the waves of grief rolling off Alexei.

And Sergei wasn’t the only friend we’d lost. The bodies of many of the gryphons littered the quad outside the library, right next to those of the Black rocs they’d been fighting. Still more wounded and dead—mortal and creature alike—could be found in and around the library, on the quad, and all the way across campus and down to the main gate.

The next few days passed by in a blur, filled with an odd mix of tears and smiles. I went from one place to the next, trying to help wherever I could. Carrying bodies down to the morgue in the bottom of the mathscience building until they could be properly identified and buried. Cleaning blood off the floor in the library. Returning all of the artifacts we’d used to their cases and original locations in the library. Rounding up the artifacts the Reapers had used, including Lucretia, and putting them in the library basement until they could be examined and catalogued. I got up early, worked all day, and then dropped into bed at night utterly exhausted. And still, there was more to do the next day.

And I wasn’t the only one who was busy. Not all of the Reapers had been killed, and the wounded were rounded up and taken down to the academy prison.

Including Vivian.

Agrona appeared to have been right when she’d said that I’d destroyed the Reaper girl’s mind because we found her hiding back in the stacks, curled up into a ball, rocking back and forth just like she had before. All the while, she kept murmuring nonsense. Well, to the others, it was nonsense about hairbrushes, gloves, and Reaper red walls. To me, it made perfect sense because I knew all about the horrible memories she was seeing over and over again in her mind. Either way, she wasn’t a threat now, and she was taken to the prison, along with the other wounded warriors.

A few of the Reapers had escaped from the library, and Linus, Inari, Aiko, and what was left of the Protectorate were hot on their trail, but I wasn’t too worried. With Loki gone, the Reapers would need some time to regroup—if they ever could. I didn’t know what the Reapers would do next, and right now, I didn’t care. As Nike had said, my part in the battle was done, and now, it was time to rest and try to recover from all the wounds and scars I’d gotten along the way.

Three days later, I stood in the parking lot behind the gym and watched a group of Protectorate guards load Sergei’s coffin into the back of a waiting limousine to be taken to the Cypress Mountain airport. Alexei was taking his father home to Russia to bury him, and Oliver was going with him. Logan had also come to see them off.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I wish we could have saved him. I wish we could have saved everyone.”

Alexei nodded. He hadn’t spoken much since the battle, and I knew he was hurting. We were all hurting, despite the fact that we’d won.

“He died serving the Protectorate and helping his friends,” Alexei said. “He always told me there was no greater calling, no greater honor, than that.”

His face was as stoic as ever, but I could see the pain glimmering in his hazel eyes and the sad slump of his shoulders. So much pain. And I couldn’t help but think that if I’d been smarter or stronger, I might have figured things out sooner and spared us at least some of the grief we were feeling. But it had been a fight to the death, and now, we were paying the price—the loss of those we loved. “I’ll be back soon,” Alexei said, finally turning to

look at me.

“We both will,” Oliver chimed in. “Count on it.”

I nodded. I was too emotional to speak, so I settled for hugging them both as tight as I could. Logan did the same.

Alexei laid a hand on his father’s coffin before closing the back door of the limo. He got into the back passenger’s seat, along with Oliver.

Logan wrapped his arms around me, and together, we watched our friends leave the academy.

We said a lot of good-byes that day, not only to Alexei, Oliver, and Sergei, but to Rory, Rachel, and the gryphons too. I met them down by the main gate in the spot where the gryphons had brought us when we’d escaped from the Reapers. A car was waiting on the other side of the gate to take Rory and Rachel to the airport.

“Well, Princess,” Rory said. “I guess this is good-bye again. I’ll say this. Things are never boring with you around.”

I grinned. “They aren’t boring with you around, either. What are you going to do now?”

She shrugged. “I guess I’ll go back to the Colorado academy and see how things are shaking down out there.” News of the battle had spread to the other academies around the world. I didn’t know much about what was happening at the other schools, but I imagined that

everyone felt a collective sense of relief. I certainly did. “And what about the other kids? And how they were

treating you before because your parents were Reapers?” She shrugged again. “We’ll see if this changes any-

thing, but I doubt it.”

I doubted it too, since folks had long, long memories when it came to Reapers, but I hoped for the best for her. And I couldn’t help but think back to Sigyn and Nike’s conversation and wonder what plans, if any, they might have for Rory. But that was for her to discover, not me.

So I hugged her and Rachel good-bye, then turned to the gryphons. Most of them had already left, but the leader and his baby had stayed behind.

“Thank you for coming,” I said, laying my hand on his wing and using my psychometry to show him how grateful I was for that and all they’d done for me and my friends. “For fighting with us. For everything.”

The gryphon let out a much lower, softer, sadder screech, and I felt his pain about the gryphons he’d lost. He nudged me, and I reached up and scratched his head before doing the same thing to the baby.

Then, the adult gryphon pumped his wings once, and he and his baby rose up into the sky to start the long, wearying journey home, their wings, heads, and hearts drooping from everything that had happened.

I knew how they felt. It would take a while for all of us to fully recover—if we ever truly could.