Crimson Frost Part 11

Apparently, Linus had decided to question Logan first, because he was standing beside his son, with Agrona hovering nearby. From the tense expression on Logan's face, I knew they were talking about me. Metis was speaking with Sergei, Nickamedes, Daphne, and Oliver. She waved at Inari, and the Ninja moved over to join them. I didn't see Raven anywhere. She must have left with the workers and bodies already.

That left me alone-until Alexei came over to me. I'd thought that he would just silently watch me like he'd been doing all day, but instead, he reached out and touched my arm.

Alexei hesitated. "I wanted to thank you-for saving my life tonight. Oliver's too. If you hadn't warned us when you did . . ."

"It was nothing."

"It wasn't nothing," he protested. "My first a.s.signment from the Protectorate, and I let myself be . . . distracted by Oliver when I was supposed to be watching you. I failed the Protectorate, and I failed my father."

"Your dad seems okay with how you handled yourself," I said. "Besides, everyone makes mistakes. Trust me. I've made some gigantic ones recently. You know, getting tricked into finding the Helheim Dagger, being forced to free Loki, dooming the entire world."

I winced. I'd tried to make my voice light, but even I could hear the darkness in my words. They were nothing to joke about. Especially not now.

"Yes, but you jumped into the middle of the fight," Alexei said. "And you made sure that Oliver and I had the weapons we needed to defend ourselves."

"You would have done the same for me, for any warrior."

He shook his head. "I don't know about that. My orders were to watch you-nothing else."

"Is that why you didn't do anything in the dining hall this morning? And when those guys threw their sodas at me outside the library? Because Linus told you not to interfere?"

He nodded.

"And now?"

He shrugged. "Now, I don't know what to think."

Sergei gestured at his son, and Alexei walked over to him. Well, it wasn't quite an apology for standing by while I'd been threatened, but it was a start. Right now, I'd take what I could get. Because I had a feeling things were going to get a lot worse before they got better-if they ever could.

Finally, an hour later, everyone had given their statements to the Protectorate, and we were all free to leave the library.

"Go straight back to your dorm room, Miss Frost," Linus warned me. "Alexei, make sure she gets there."

Alexei nodded, relief on his face at the fact that he was being given a second chance to watch me.

"I'm going too," Logan said.

Linus opened his mouth to argue, but he saw the stubborn set of Logan's jaw. "Fine. I'll see you at breakfast in the morning, just as we planned. Don't be late."

Logan sighed, but he nodded at his father. I said my good-byes to Daphne and Oliver, then left the library with Logan and Alexei.

It had grown bitterly cold while we'd been inside, and more snow had covered the ground since I'd stepped onto the balcony looking for the Reaper. I s.h.i.+vered and wrapped my gray scarf a little tighter around my neck to help keep out the chill. It was almost ten o'clock, and all the other students were already safe and snug inside their dorms for the night. The three of us made it over to Styx Hall without seeing anyone else. We stopped at the bottom of the steps, and Logan turned to Alexei.

"Can you give us a few minutes alone, please?" the Spartan asked.

I thought Alexei would say no, given what Linus had said to him in the library, but the Bogatyr nodded and drifted off to stand underneath one of the trees that ringed the dorm. Logan stared at me, his blue eyes somehow bright, despite the shadows around us.

"How are you holding up, Gypsy girl?" he asked in a soft voice.

"Oh, you know. Another day, another night, another battle to the death with Reapers in the library," I joked. "It's the Mythos Academy special."

Logan smiled a little, but we could both hear how hollow my words really were.

"Why do you think the Reaper took that box?" he asked. "I know you said you didn't get any big flashes off the case with your magic."

I shook my head. "No, nothing useful. Just the Reaper smas.h.i.+ng the gla.s.s and taking the artifacts. I'm going to go back tomorrow and try again, just in case I missed anything."

Logan nodded, and we were quiet for a few seconds.

"I'm sorry about my dad," he said.

"It's okay. He's just doing his job. I'd rather he be here and worried about you than not around at all, wouldn't you?"

Logan shook his head. "Maybe. But I'd rather he not dis my girlfriend every chance he gets. He started in on you again tonight in the library before Agrona distracted him by changing the subject."

My breath caught in my throat at the word Logan had just said. "Girlfriend?" I whispered.

Logan gave me a crooked grin. "Well, yeah. That's what we are now, right? Together? As in a real couple?"

Despite all the horrible things that had happened over the past few days, happiness erupted in my heart like fireworks streaking up into the sky and exploding in a hundred happy colors. If I'd had a Valkyrie's magic, sparks would have been shooting out of my fingertips like lightning. For a moment, everything was bright, beautiful, and perfect-simply perfect.

Then, Logan frowned, as if another thought had just occurred to him. "Unless you sneak back into the stacks and make out with just any guy who saves your life a few times."

I rolled my eyes and lightly punched him in the shoulder. "And there you go again, ruining the moment."

The Spartan laughed and drew me into his arms. The heat of his body washed over me, driving away the cold and awakening all the feelings I had for him-feelings that made me wish Alexei wasn't standing a few feet away.

"I'm glad you're okay," I whispered, gazing up at him.

"You too."

"When I saw the Reapers in the library, I was so worried that maybe they'd already killed you and Daphne-" My throat closed up, and I couldn't get the words out to tell him how scared I'd been of losing him.

"But I made it through another battle and so did you, Gypsy girl," he said in a gentle voice. "No matter what happens, I'll always come back to you."

"Promise?" I asked in a shaky voice.

Logan's eyes burned with icy determination. "Promise."

He leaned forward, resting his forehead against mine. I stood up on my tiptoes and kissed him once, softly, before putting my head on his chest. Logan's arms tightened around my back, and he pulled me even closer. And we stayed like that, just holding each other in the cold dark for as long as we could.

Chapter 15.

I hadn't thought it was possible, but the next day was even worse than the one before.

Word got out about the Reaper attack at the library, the way it always did, and it only made the other students angrier at me. Apparently, they all believed that I'd planned the whole thing, just like Linus did. Harsh mutters and snide comments followed me wherever I went.

"Where's your black robe, Reaper girl?"

"Going to bring more of your friends on campus to attack us?"

"Why don't you just get lost, you murdering b.i.t.c.h?"

I'd been used to being ignored by the other kids, but now I was the center of attention at Mythos. Everyone watched me all day long, and every time I reached into my messenger bag for a pen or a piece of paper, the other students and even some of my professors tensed up, as though I was going to pull Vic out of his scabbard and go all Reaper on them. Some of my cla.s.smates, like Helena Paxton, probably wanted me to do that very thing so they could lash out at me with their own weapons.

I kept my face blank, and I didn't respond to the threats and taunts, even though the words and accusations hurt, like invisible daggers slicing off my skin one layer at a time, leaving me b.l.o.o.d.y, exposed, and aching from head to toe.

But my friends kept their promise to watch my back. Daphne and Carson walked me from cla.s.s to cla.s.s to cla.s.s in the morning, while the three of us sat with Logan and Oliver during lunch. The other kids glared at my friends, but n.o.body wanted to take them all on, especially not Logan.

Alexei was there too, watching and following me all day. He didn't talk much, but every once in a while he would nod his head at me. He seemed to have thawed a little bit toward me.

But my friends couldn't be with me in my cla.s.ses, and all the other students pulled their desks away from mine once again. Finally, it was time for gym. Yesterday, I'd stood by myself at the edge of the mats all period long, watching everyone else fight. Today, I was wondering if it would be even more humiliating-or dangerous. I'd thought that some of the students might decide to come after me with their weapons, but to my surprise a few folks stood up for me.

"I'll be sparring with Gwen today," Morgan McDougall announced in a loud voice before Coach Ajax could randomly a.s.sign us partners like he sometimes did. The Valkyrie twirled a staff around and around in her hands, green sparks of magic shooting out of her fingertips.

"Me too," Talia Pizarro chimed in. The Amazon stood next to Morgan, slas.h.i.+ng her sword through the air.

The girls were issuing a clear warning to the others, and I gave them grateful smiles. Morgan winked at me, her hazel eyes warm.

"Hey," she said. "Us school s.l.u.ts have to stick together, right?"

I knew that Morgan meant the word s.l.u.t as a sort of in-joke between us, and my smile widened a little. "You'd better believe it."

Carson also stuck up for me again in myth-history, leaving his desk right in front of mine and grinning at me before burying his nose in a stack of sheet music and staying that way until Metis started cla.s.s. Carson was obviously stressing about the winter concert tomorrow, so I left him alone. Besides, I had other things on my mind too-my impending trial, for one.

With the other students taunting me and the Reaper attack, I hadn't had a chance to think too much about the trial, but Linus had said that it would start after cla.s.ses today. All day long, I'd kept gazing at the clocks on the walls, watching the hours and minutes tick away until I was all out of time.

The last bell of the day rang, signaling the end of myth-history. I sat in my seat and waited until all the other students had filed out before getting to my feet. Once again, I kept my face calm, but my movements were slow and stiff, and I felt like there were a pair of hands deep inside my chest, tying my insides into tighter and tighter knots. Alexei stood in the corner, watching me, just like he had all day long.

Metis tucked her papers in her briefcase and turned to face me. "It's time," she said. "Please follow me."

I nodded, not sure what else to do, not sure what else I could do without opening my mouth and insisting once again that the Protectorate had it all wrong, that I wasn't a Reaper.

I slung my messenger bag over my shoulder. It felt light, empty almost, without Vic in it. I'd taken the sword back to my room after gym cla.s.s. I didn't want him to pipe up and say the wrong thing at my trial and risk the Protectorate taking him away from me. Naturally, Vic had grumbled about being left behind- "Gwen?" Metis asked. "Are you okay?"

"Sure," I said. "Just terrific. Let's go get this over with."

I followed Metis out of the cla.s.sroom, to the end of the hallway, and then outside. Alexei trailed along behind me, and Sergei and Inari were waiting at the bottom of the steps of the English-history building, I supposed to keep me from bolting.

The two men fell in step on either side of me, with Metis leading the way and Alexei bringing up the rear. We crossed the quad in silence, although stares and whispers sprang up in our wake.

Daphne, Carson, Logan, and Oliver were out on the quad too, right outside the math-science building. My friends stared at me, their faces tight with concern. They weren't allowed at my trial, so this was the only support they could give me. I looked at my friends and smiled, as though everything was going to be okay, but I didn't stop to talk to them. If I did that, I didn't know if I'd be able to get through this.

I trudged up the steps to the math-science building and went inside with the others. Then, down, down, down, we went, with Metis punching in codes on keypads and chanting a bit of magic mumbo jumbo when necessary.

All too soon, though, we were on the bottom level in front of the door that led into the academy prison. I eyed the sphinxes carved into the stone, but once again the creatures stared at their feet instead of me.

Metis used her skeleton key to open the door, and I felt Sergei's hand on my arm a moment, gently guiding me forward. I swallowed and stepped through the opening to the other side.

The prison looked the same as always-Raven's desk in the corner, gla.s.s cells stacked on top of each other, the hand-and-scales carving on the domed ceiling. But there were two new additions. A stone interrogation table stood in the same place as before, directly below the carving, although it was twice as big as the one where Preston had always sat. But what really caught my attention was a second table that had been erected on the far side. Together, the two tables created a loose T shape, with the second table forming the top part of the letter. The second table had also been set on a stone dais, raising it up several feet off the ground, and seven chairs were arranged behind it. That's where my jury would sit, I thought bitterly. Looking down on and judging me from above.

A hand touched my shoulder, and a faint, familiar jingle-jingle-jingling sounded. I turned, and Grandma Frost was there. She wore a black pantsuit with her usual black shoes, and she'd tied a violet scarf around her throat and another one in her hair. The silver coins on the ends glimmered in the light.

"Grandma!" I said and hugged her tight.

She smoothed down my hair. "Don't you worry, pumpkin. I'm right here with you. We'll set these yahoos straight."

"And so am I," another voice cut in.

I let go of Grandma to see Nickamedes standing behind her. "I don't understand."

The librarian straightened up to his full height. "I'm to represent you in your defense and see that your rights are not violated."

"You would do that for me? Even though I wrecked the library again last night?"

He grimaced a little, but his eyes remained kind in his face. "Even though."

"If the pleasantries are over with," Linus Quinn said, striding into the prison, along with Agrona, Ajax, and Raven, "let us begin."

The door clanged shut, sealing us all in the prison. The sound seemed to echo through the whole chamber over and over again, until the force of it rattled my teeth.

I swallowed my growing dread and followed Nickamedes over to the interrogation table. I took a seat in the middle, with the librarian on my right and Grandma Frost on my left. Grandma took my hand in hers, but the warmth of her fingers and the feel of her love wasn't enough to drive away the cold that had seeped into my bones and the fear that quickened my heart.

Alexei moved to stand behind me and off to my right. The others climbed the steps to the dais and took their seats behind the table there. Linus sat in the middle, with Agrona, Inari, Sergei, Raven, Metis, and Coach Ajax taking the other chairs. Metis gave me an encouraging smile, but I knew the odds were stacked against me. There were seven people on the jury, which meant that I needed at least four to get a majority vote. Metis and Ajax would be on my side, but I doubted any of the others would be, except maybe for Raven.

I looked at the old woman, and she stared back at me. For an instant, her features flickered, as though they weren't her true face, as though there was another person lurking underneath the wrinkles and liver spots. The same thing had happened a few weeks ago at the Crius Coliseum. I blinked, and Raven was just Raven again. Strange, but then again everything about her was strange, including the fact that she already looked bored. Well, I didn't care if she was bored or if she slept through the whole freaking trial, as long as she sided with Metis and Ajax in the end.

But even if she did, I'd still need at least one more member of the jury to vote for me, and I didn't know who it might be. Certainly not Linus, who'd made his feelings about me so clear already. I doubted Agrona would vote against her husband, so that left Inari and Sergei. I looked at them, and they both stared back at me with smooth expressions, telling me nothing of what they might be thinking or what they'd uncovered about me while they'd been on campus.

When everyone was seated, Linus picked up a small gavel and rapped it against the table. "We will now come to order."

Everyone quieted down, and I drew in a breath-my trial was about to begin.

Chapter 16.

Linus shuffled some papers around on the table, while the others did the same. Everyone except for Raven, who seemed to be reading another one of her celebrity gossip magazines. At least, I thought I saw a bright, glossy cover hidden in among the stacks of papers in front of her. She noticed me watching her and gave a little shrug. Good to know she was taking this so seriously.