Midnight Frost

taste behind. After a moment, his eyes bulged, and he reached up and started clawing at his throat.
    “Burns . . .” he rasped. “It . . . burns . . .”
    His legs went out from under him, and he collapsed on the cold, snow-dusted grass. I went over to him, but it was no use. Jason started convulsing, and a strange smell filled the air—almost like the sharp tang of a pine tree. As quickly as he started convulsing, the Reaper stopped. His head lolled to the side, and a bit of white foam trickled out the side of his mouth.
    I watched as the fierce red light burning in Jason’s eyes dimmed, dulled, and finally died—and so did he.

Chapter 6
    I don’t know how long I stood over Jason’s body, staring into his sightless eyes as if they would tell me something important.
    As if they would actually let me understand why someone would willingly choose to serve a god who wanted to hurt, kill, and enslave other people. As if looking into his eyes would tell me why he’d sacrificed himself for such a horrible creature as Loki. Was it the power the evil god promised his followers? A desire to be as cruel as Loki himself was? Or something else entirely? I didn’t know, and I didn’t understand. I didn’t know if I would ever understand—or maybe I just didn’t want to.
    “Gwen?” Oliver said, putting a hand on my shoulder. “Are you okay?”
    I let out a breath. “Yeah. We’re alive, and he’s not. I guess that’s all that matters, right?”
    “Of course that’s all that matters,” Vic said. “Don’t you think so, fuzzball?”
    Nyx let out a yippy growl, agreeing with him.
    Oliver slung his arm around my shoulders, and I moved closer to him, glad he was here with me. After a moment, I stepped away from him and stared down at Jason’s body again.
    “Do you think—do you think I should touch him?” I asked. “Before his memories completely fade away?”
    Oliver shook his head and pointed at the red paper pouch in Jason’s hand. “No. We don’t know how that poison works or what other kind he might have on him. It could be on his skin, on his clothes. It’s not worth the risk. The Protectorate guards will look through his backpack and check out his phone and laptop. Hopefully, that will tell them exactly what he was up to and who he was working with. Maybe it will even give the Protectorate some leads on where Vivian and Agrona might be.”
    “And what if that’s not enough?”
    Oliver shrugged. “It’ll have to be—”
    A phone started ringing. Oliver and I looked at each other, then at the dead boy. It was his phone. I hesitated, then dropped to my knees beside him.
    “Gwen? What are you doing?” Oliver asked.
    “Don’t worry. I’ll be careful.”
    I pulled down the edge of my hoodie sleeve and used it to fish Jason’s phone out of his jacket pocket, careful not to touch the phone with my bare fingers, before getting back up onto my feet. Still using my sleeve, I tapped the screen to accept the call and held the phone up close to my ear.
    “Finally!” Vivian Holler’s voice filled my ear. “I was starting to think you were never going to pick up. Is it done yet?”
    I didn’t know who I’d expected to be on the other end of the line, but hearing the Reaper girl’s voice startled me so much that I almost lost my grip on the phone. For one crazy moment, I wondered if this was some twisted new version of my nightmare. But it couldn’t be that—otherwise Logan would have been here, stabbing me to death again.
    “Jason?” Vivian asked again. “Are you there? Did Gwen drink the poison?”
    I finally found my voice. “So sorry to disappoint, Viv. But I’m not dead yet.”
    Oliver’s eyebrows shot up in his face at the realization of who I was talking to.
    But Vivian must have been just as surprised to hear my voice as I’d been to hear hers because she didn’t say anything. Instead, I heard a faint rasp-rasp-rasping sound. I frowned. It almost sounded like she was jogging across a lawn or something.
    “Well, that’s too bad,” Vivian finally sniped. “Do me a favor, though. Put Jason on the phone. I want to tell him exactly what I plan to do to him for his failure to poison you.”
    I stared down at his body. “That’s going to be a bit difficult, since he’s already dead.”
    “Good,” she snarled. “You’ve saved me the trouble of killing him.”
    I didn’t respond.
    “Oh, come on, now, Gwen,” Vivian said. “Why are you looking so glum? You’ve managed to