Midnight Frost

still clutching that keyboard.
    Jason lunged forward. The attack caught me by surprise, and I stumbled back a few more steps. My hip hit the side of one of the study tables, and I growled with pain. I raised Vic, expecting Jason to try to end me while my defenses were down, but, instead, he turned and ran again. I started after him, but my legs got tangled up in a chair, and it took me a few precious seconds to free myself, even though I knew any delay on my part would let him escape.
    But I’d forgotten I wasn’t the only one fighting the Reaper—Nyx was too.
    I don’t know how she did it, since she was actually behind me, but the Fenrir wolf pup sank down on her haunches and sprang through the air, leaping farther than I’d ever seen her go before—and landing on the back of one of Jason’s legs.
    Nyx let out another growl and sank her needle-sharp baby teeth into his calf. Jason yelped in pain and staggered forward, his leg almost buckling beneath him. Nyx drew back and bit him again. Jason managed to shake her off, sending the wolf pup sliding across the floor, but he was limping as he headed toward one of the side doors, shoved it open, and staggered out.
    Oliver finally reached me. “Gwen! Are you okay!”
    “I’m fine. We have to get him!”
    He nodded, and we pushed through the door after our enemy. Nyx scrambled to her feet and chased after us, as well.
    The wolf pup must have done more damage to Jason than I’d realized, because he hadn’t made it very far, having only hobbled down a set of steps and then a few feet out onto the quad, leaving a trail of blood drops behind him. Oliver threw away his keyboard, leaped onto the balcony wall, then launched himself through the air and onto Jason’s back. The two guys hit the snowy ground with an audible thud .
    Jason tried to attack Oliver, but the Spartan slapped his sword away. The Reaper managed to throw Oliver off of him, and both guys sprang back up onto their feet.
    I raced down the steps, Vic still clutched in my hands, and Oliver and I both slowly advanced on Jason. Nyx was there too, her violet eyes fixed on him, teeth bared, and growls rumbling out of her tiny throat like a car engine steadily churning. Jason turned to run, but once again, his leg almost went out from under him. He yelped with pain and pulled up short.
    “It’s over,” I said. “You’re hurt, and we’re not. Give it up.”
    He turned to face us. His eyes, which were still that horrible Reaper red, zoomed from me to Oliver and back again. Instead of answering me, Jason reached into his jeans pocket. I tensed, expecting him to come up with a dagger or maybe a throwing star, but all he pulled out was a red paper pouch. He wasted no time in ripping it open with his teeth.
    Oliver started forward, but I held up my hand, stopping him. That pouch probably had the same kind of white powder in it that I’d seen Jason dump into the water bottles. Maybe you had to eat the poison for it to work, or maybe it just had to touch your skin or get in your nose or eyes. Either way, he could easily douse us with it, and I didn’t want to take that risk.
    Jason realized we weren’t going to be dumb enough to charge him, and his mouth twisted down into an angry, sullen pout. Behind us, more lights turned on inside the library, and more shouts and yells cut through the night air.
    “It’s over,” I repeated. “The Protectorate guards will be here any second. You’re done. Give it up.”
    Jason stared at me, considering my words. He looked at Oliver again, then his red gaze dropped to the pouch in his hand. He hesitated a second longer, then raised it up, and I realized what he was going to do—poison himself, sacrifice himself, to the evil god.
    “Don’t do it,” I warned. “Loki isn’t worth it. Trust me. You’ve already ruined your life by serving him. Don’t let him take away what’s left of it too.”
    “As if I could go back to the other Reapers after failing my mission. And of course Loki is worth it,” Jason sneered. His voice, which I remembered being so soft and kind, was now harsh with hate. “You’ll realize that soon enough—when you and all of your stupid friends are cowering at his feet. That day is coming, Gypsy—sooner than you think.”
    Even as I started forward to try to stop him, I knew it was already too late. Jason drew in a breath, tipped the contents of the pouch into his mouth, and swallowed them. He grimaced, as though the powder left a bad