Midnight Frost

to their feet because they were all wearing long, black coats, just like the Reaper girl.
    And because they all held sharp, curved swords, just like hers—and because every single person’s eyes were glowing that bright, eerie Reaper red.

Chapter 12
    Oliver and Alexei realized what was happening the same time I did. Oliver cursed, while Alexei finally pulled his twin swords out of his backpack. Oliver grabbed my shoulder and shoved me behind him, so that I was standing in between him and Alexei.
    “We need to get out of here,” Alexei said.
    The Bogatyr turned toward the back of the car. He hadn’t taken two steps in that direction before the door hissed open, and more people entered from that side, also wearing long, black coats and carrying swords. The fiery red glow from the Reapers’ eyes seemed to darken the inside of the train, despite the sunlight streaming in through the windows.
    Alexei stopped short, and I almost rammed into him from behind.
    “Trapped,” he said in a voice loud enough for Oliver to hear. “Exit’s blocked.”
    “Same on my side,” Oliver said, reaching down and grabbing a magazine from the slot on the back of one of the benches.
    “Well, then,” Alexei said, twirling his swords. “Let’s clear a path.”
    “My pleasure,” Oliver replied, rolling the magazine into a long, thin, tight tube.
    The two guys rushed forward to meet our enemies.
    Clash-clash-clang!
    Alexei’s twin swords smashed against the blade of the Reaper in front of him. Even though he could only maneuver from one side of the aisle to the other, Alexei never stopped moving, never stopped fighting, never stopped attacking. Bogatyrs had incredible endurance that way.
    On his side of the car, Oliver ducked under a Reaper’s wide swing. The Spartan might not have had a traditional weapon, but he didn’t need one. He whipped the rolled-up magazine this way and that, slamming it into his opponent’s chest, throat, and face.
    Thwack-thwack-thwack.
    The Reaper choked and sputtered, trying to suck air back down into his lungs. While he was distracted, Oliver plucked the Reaper’s sword out of the other guy’s hand, flipped it around, and then stabbed the Reaper in the chest with his own weapon. I couldn’t see Oliver’s face, but he was probably grinning.
    Logan would have been.
    But as soon as that Reaper toppled to the floor, another stepped up to take his place—and all I could do was stand in the middle and watch my friends fight another battle for me.
    I turned first one way, then the other, but the aisle wasn’t quite wide enough for me to get to the Reapers from where I was standing. At least, not without me pushing past Oliver or Alexei, and I couldn’t risk doing that for fear of spoiling their concentration. But I was determined to help my friends, so I hopped up onto the bench on my left and started crawling over it toward the back of the car, where the majority of the Reapers seemed to be coming from.
    “Gwen!” Alexei said, spotting me out of the corner of his eye and realizing what I was up to. “Stay put! Stay behind me!”
    I didn’t bother answering him. I couldn’t stay put, and I couldn’t just stand there and do nothing. Not while he and Oliver were fighting so many Reapers. I might not be the best or most skilled warrior, but I was no coward, especially when it came to helping my friends.
    As I heaved myself across the benches, I noticed the girl who’d been sitting in the back of the train. She was standing up on her bench just like I was. The girl kept looking back and forth between the Reapers and Alexei, as though she was watching an intense sporting match. She didn’t move to attack my friend, but she didn’t try to help him either. Since the girl seemed to be staying where she was and out of the fight, I put her out of my mind and kept climbing over the benches as fast as I could.
    A Reaper girl who looked about my age moved to attack me, but I swung Vic and sliced the sword across her chest. Blood spurted out of her wound and spattered onto my hand, sliding across my skin like warm drops of rain. I gritted my teeth and ignored the awful sensation.
    “Get her, Gwen!” Vic crowed, not having any problems with the blood that covered his blade. “Get her!”
    I lashed out with the sword again, this time stabbing the blade deep into her stomach. The Reaper girl screamed and lurched back into the boy behind her, but he put his arms on her shoulders and shoved her