Midnight Frost

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.

Chapter 21
    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