Midnight Frost (16 page)

I couldn’t stand still, so I tiptoed to the end of the hallway and peered out into the main room. Rory must have gotten over her snit because she and Rachel were sitting in front of the fireplace, playing some sort of board game.

“And what about Rory’s parents?” I asked.

Grandma sighed. “I don’t know much about them, only that they followed a different path from your dad. They were Reapers, and they always stayed Reapers.”

“But why didn’t they tell Rory anything about being Reapers? Why didn’t they make her one of them? Why didn’t they raise her to be a Reaper too?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “Maybe they wanted her to decide to become a Reaper of her own free will. Maybe they were secretly hoping that if she didn’t know about them, she might choose a different path in life. I can’t answer that for you—or her.”

I stared at Rory. Rachel said something, and a smile spread across Rory’s face, softening the scowl she always seemed to wear. For a moment, she almost looked relaxed . . . and happy. I wondered if it was because none of the other kids were around to sneer at her—or judge her for the horrible things her parents had done.

“Thank you for telling me this.”

“You’re welcome,” Grandma said. “Although I should have told you a long time ago, pumpkin. But with your mom being murdered and you going to Mythos and everything that’s happened these last few months . . . it never seemed like there was a good time to bring it up. You’d gone through so much already. I didn’t want to cause you any more pain.”

“I know you were trying to protect me,” I said. “But we both know you can’t do that anymore. At least now I know the truth about my dad, even if I don’t like it.”

“That you do.”

We were silent for a few moments before she finally spoke again.

“Be careful tomorrow,” Grandma Frost said. “I know your friends are going to be with you, but I don’t like the thought of you going up to those ruins. Especially since the Reapers know you’re coming.”

“I’ll be careful. Ajax is taking a lot of precautions. We’ll be ready for whatever the Reapers have in mind.”

“I know, but that won’t keep me from worrying.”

“How’s Nickamedes?” I asked, realizing she hadn’t said anything about him while we’d been talking.

She hesitated. “He’s getting worse. He has a fever. Not too high right now, but Metis says it’s just a matter of time before his temperature shoots up and the poison starts overpowering her healing magic. He also . . . he can’t feel his legs sometimes. The numbness comes and goes. It’s another sign of the poison spreading. Metis thinks . . . the paralysis could be permanent, even if the ambrosia flowers flush the poison out of his body.”

I rubbed a hand across my head, which was suddenly aching. Here I was, worried about my family drama, as Daphne had said, when Nickamedes was suffering—because of me. But I pushed my worry for him aside and embraced the other emotion blazing through me—determination to find the flowers and get them back to the academy in time.

“I love you, pumpkin,” Grandma Frost said. “Be good, and be careful.”

“I will. I love you too, Grandma.”

We hung up. I went back into the bedroom, shut the door behind me, walked over, put my phone on the nightstand, and crawled into bed next to Daphne. I knew that I should rest, that tomorrow would be even longer and tougher than today, but it was still a long, long time before I was able to tune out the snores and fall asleep.

For once, I didn’t dream of Logan stabbing me. Instead, there was just a deep, quiet blackness that I let myself drift along in until it was time to get up. Maybe my subconscious realized that I’d be in enough danger tomorrow without dreaming about more of it tonight.

We gathered in the dining hall for a late breakfast before shouldering our gear and heading out. Covington was waiting for us at the main entrance. Once again, I stared up at the gryphons perched on either side of the gate. The creatures stared at me like always, but today, their gazes seemed dark and hooded, as if they had some inkling of the Reapers’ plans and how dangerous it was going to be for us on the mountain. I sighed and looked away from them. Yeah, I had a feeling it was going to be a
Gwen-fighting-for-her-life
kind of trip.

A large black van was waiting outside the gate, and we climbed inside. Covington steered the van through Snowline Ridge, passing by all of the shops before the road narrowed and started curving upward. Eventually, he pulled the van off the road into a paved lot that fronted a park. A sign by the entrance read S
NOWLINE
R
IDGE
R
ECREATION
A
REA
. It featured a carving of green pine trees and the rocky gray mountain looming above them. Covington stopped the van. Ajax turned around so he could look into the back where the rest of us were sitting.

“We all know what we’re up against,” Ajax rumbled. “And we all know what’s at stake. Nickamedes is hanging on—for now. But the sooner we get the antidote to him, the better.”

I’d called Grandma Frost this morning. She’d tried to pretend that everything was okay, but I’d heard the strain in her voice, and she’d finally told me that Nickamedes had gotten much worse overnight. Metis was now using all of her energy to heal him, but the poison had already started to overtake her magic. Grandma had reluctantly told me that we only had about three more days, maybe less, before Metis’s magic failed completely, and the poison raged unchecked through Nickamedes’s body.

“But if any of you don’t want to do this, I’ll understand,” Ajax continued. “At the very least, it’s going to be dangerous. At the very worst, well, I don’t think I have to tell you how bad that could be.”

“Worse than the Reapers murdering my mom and killing Nott? Worse than them using my blood to free Loki? Worse than them trying to put Loki’s soul into Logan’s body?” I asked, staring back at Ajax. “We’ve been through plenty of bad stuff already. This will just be another twisted version of it. Right, guys?”

I looked at my friends. They all nodded their heads in agreement.

Daphne cracked her knuckles, causing pink sparks of magic to hiss in the air around her. “Gwen’s right. The Reapers will bring it—and so will we.”

Ajax stared at us all in turn. Whatever he saw in our eyes seemed to satisfy him because he finally nodded. “All right,” he said. “Let’s do this.”

 

We got out of the van. It seemed even colder now than it had yesterday, or maybe that was because I knew there wouldn’t be a hot shower and a warm bed waiting for me at the end of this day. Instead, we’d find someplace to camp in the ruins, which meant a fire, some tents, and a sleeping bag spread over the snowy, rocky ground—and that was if the Reapers didn’t attack us first.

Rachel led us through the parking lot and over to a trailhead, which was marked with a small sign. The wind had worn most of the paint off the wood, but I could still make out the figure of the goddess Eir on the marker, her finger pointing up, as though she was personally directing us to the ruins. I shivered, shouldered my backpack, and fell in step with the others.

Rachel took the lead, followed by Rory, then Covington. Daphne and Carson followed the librarian, with Oliver and Alexei behind them. I was in the back with Ajax trailing along behind me. We walked in silence.

I wasn’t really an outdoors sort of girl, preferring to curl up in my room and read comic books and graphic novels, but even I had to admit this was a pretty place to hike. There was more snow on the mountain than down at the academy, several inches in some of the higher drifts. Snow-crusted pine trees lined either side of the trail, while needles that were longer than my fingers and pinecones bigger than my fist stuck up out of the white powder here and there. The sharp tang of the trees’ sap permeated the air, mixing with the crisp scent of the snow. A few birds fluttered back and forth in the branches, softly chirping to each other.

Every once in a while, a dark shadow would zoom over the trail and across the forest, causing the other birds to scream and take flight from their warm roosts. The third time it happened, I looked up, trying to figure out what was causing the birds to freak out.

Ajax touched my shoulder. “Gryphons,” he explained. “Don’t worry. They rarely attack humans, especially a group as large as ours.”

Well, that didn’t exactly make me feel better, but I nodded and walked on. There was nothing else I could do.

But the farther up the mountain we trudged, the more I became convinced that someone was following us.

I don’t know exactly when I noticed it, but I sensed a shadow on my left, moving parallel to me through the forest. This vague shape I could almost see out of the corner of my eye. If I sped up, the shadow sped up. If I slowed down, it did too. Several times I looked straight ahead before snapping my head to the left, trying to get a better look at whatever it was. But I only saw trees and more trees. If Ajax thought my behavior was strange, he didn’t comment on it. Then again, it wasn’t the weirdest thing I’d ever done.

Finally, I got fed up with trying to spot the mysterious shadow and concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other. If there was a Reaper or someone or something else out there, it seemed content to follow alongside us and not attack. I guessed I’d have to be happy with that—for now.

We’d been hiking for about an hour when Rachel called a halt near a stream. The water running between the two banks was sluggish, since a thin layer of ice covered most of it. But it was a nice spot, and we sat down on the flat rocks along the bank and dug some snacks out of our backpacks.

“Everybody take a breather for a few minutes,” Rachel said. “We still have at least another hour to go before we make it to the ruins at the top.”

We’d grabbed some trail mix from the dining hall this morning, and I tore into my packet. Dried mango and apricots mixed with tart cherries, big chunks of dark chocolate, slivered almonds, and honey-toasted oats. The flavors exploded on my tongue, a perfect mix of sweet and salty, with a great crunch and a hint of sour from the cherries. Yum. So good.

After we finished our snack and chugged down some water, Daphne, Rory, and I headed into the woods to answer the call of nature, so to speak. All the while, though, I kept scanning the trees for that mysterious shadow I’d spotted earlier. But I didn’t see or hear anything, and I didn’t get the sense that I was still being watched. Maybe it had just been some animal following us. That’s what I told myself anyway, even if I didn’t really believe it.

The three of us started to head back to the others when a soft whine sounded.

I froze, wondering if I was only imagining things, but the whine came again. That sounded like . . . Nyx.

I frowned. But there was no way the wolf pup could be here. She was back at the academy, safe and sound with Grandma Frost. But the small, plaintive wail came again, indicating that some sort of critter was in trouble. So instead of following the others back toward the trail, I veered off into the trees.

“Gwen?” Daphne asked, finally noticing I wasn’t following along behind her and Rory. “Where are you going?”

“Don’t you hear that? It’s coming from this direction.”

She sighed and put her hands on her hips. “And of course you’re going to go see what it is, despite the fact that the woods are probably crawling with Reapers. Sometimes, Gwen, I think you’re going to be the death of me.”

I paused long enough to stick my tongue out at her, then headed deeper into the woods. After a moment, Daphne and Rory followed me. I stopped every few feet, looking and listening. I also drew Vic out of the scabbard belted to my waist.

The sword yawned and slowly opened his eye. “What’s going on? Are we at the ruins already? Are there Reapers for me to kill?”

“I’m not sure,” I whispered. “Stand by.”

I kept going into the woods, with Daphne and Rory behind me. The Valkyrie had nocked an arrow in her bow, but the Spartan girl wasn’t carrying any weapons. Then again, she didn’t need them. Rory could pick up a twig and stab someone to death with it or slice open a Reaper’s throat with the edge of a frozen leaf.

“You know there are bears out here, right?” Rory said. “Great big grizzlies. Believe me when I tell you that you do not want to come face-to-face with one of them.”

“They can’t be any worse than Reapers, can they?” I quipped.

Rory muttered something under her breath about me being flat-out crazy. I grinned and walked on.

The cries grew louder and more plaintive the farther we went, almost as if whatever was out there could hear us approaching and knew that it couldn’t escape before we found it. Finally, we crouched down behind a tree several feet away from whatever was making the noise. Even though it sounded like a wounded animal, I wasn’t going to rush toward it. Daphne was right when she said the forest was probably full of Reapers, and this could easily be one of their traps.

“What do you want to do now?” Daphne asked. “Because whatever that is, it doesn’t sound happy.”

“I’ll go see what it is,” I whispered. “If it is a Reaper trap, maybe we can at least take some of them out before we get to the ruins. Cover me.”

She nodded, and so did Rory.

I got to my feet, tightened my grip on Vic, and rounded the tree. I tensed, expecting an arrow to come zooming out of the woods. But when nothing happened, I slowly started moving forward. I’d only gone about ten feet when I stepped into a small clearing and finally spotted the source of the cries—a baby gryphon.

At least, I thought it was a baby. It was still about three feet long from its beak to the fuzzy tuft on the end of its lion’s tail. The gryphon’s fur and wings were a beautiful bronze that glimmered in what little sunlight slid through the trees to the forest floor. Its eyes were the same mesmerizing shade, although its beak and claws were as black and shiny as ebony.

The gryphon caught sight of me and stopped its struggles, although it narrowed its eyes and sank down onto its haunches, like it was getting ready to leap on me and tear me to pieces.

At first, I wondered what was wrong with the creature, but then I realized why it was crying—its back right foot was caught in a metal trap. Actually,
trap
wasn’t the right word. This thing had so many rows of teeth that it looked more like a torture device. The gryphon must have stepped on the trigger, causing the trap to snap shut, and the rows of sharp metal teeth had dug into the poor thing’s leg. A thick metal chain secured the trap to a tree, keeping the gryphon from flying away. The creature must have been there a while because the blood in its fur had already matted.

“It’s okay,” I called out to my friends. “It’s not a Reaper.”

Leaves crunched, and Daphne and Rory moved to stand beside me.

“That’s a snap-snare,” Rory said, disgust evident in her voice. “It’s like a bear trap, but with more teeth. Reapers leave them in the forest in hopes of capturing gryphons. Fenrir wolves too. The more you struggle, the deeper the teeth tear into your body.”

The baby gryphon’s tail started lashing from side to side at the sound of Rory’s voice, and it studied each one of us in turn. Its bronze eyes narrowed that much more, and it grew very still, except for its tail, which kept whipping from side to side. Suddenly, the creature leaped through the air, its claws aiming for my throat—

But the chain attached to the trap jerked it back, and the gryphon thumped to the ground about five feet in front of me. The creature screeched with surprise and pain, but I could also hear the faintest whimper in its high cries. Despite its tough façade, the gryphon was scared, tired, and hurting. I knew the feelings. Reapers and their cruel schemes had a way of doing that to you.

“Easy, boy,” I said, taking off my gloves, holding out my right hand, and creeping toward the creature. “We’re not here to hurt you. We’re going to get that nasty thing off your leg.”

“What are you doing?” Rory hissed. “That gryphon will bite your hand off if you get too close to it. In case you didn’t notice, it would have torn your throat out if that chain hadn’t stopped it. Are you out of your mind?”

“Have you met Gwen?” Daphne sniped. “Because crazy is kind of her thing. Believe me, this is mild compared to some of the stunts she’s pulled.”

I shot her a dirty look, then turned back to the gryphon. “It’s just scared and confused,” I said. “That’s why it tried to attack me. I’m not going to leave it here for the Reapers to find. You know what they did to Nott. You know what they’ll do to this little guy too.”

“Fine, fine. Be all brave and heroic,” Daphne muttered. “But don’t blame me if it backfires.”

I handed Vic to the Valkyrie. Then, I dropped down on my hands and knees, putting myself on the gryphon’s level, and slowly crawled toward it. The creature sat on its back haunches and watched me approach, even more wary than before. Its claws started digging into the snow-covered ground as if it was thinking about springing at me again. I could see the suspicion in the gryphon’s eyes, but I wasn’t leaving it there—even if it did lash out at me again.

Closer and closer, I crept. By this point, the gryphon could have surged forward and swiped at me with its claws—quite easily. But instead, the creature watched me. Maybe it sensed I wasn’t an enemy. Maybe it realized I wanted to help. Or maybe it just wanted me to get as close as possible so it could do the most amount of damage to me. I was about to find out. I was three feet away from it, two, one . . .