Midnight Frost

murmured, cracking his knuckles. “On my mark, raise your weapons and retreat back into the courtyard. Make the Reapers come to us. Engage them at will, but stay in groups and stay away from the rocs. Otherwise, the birds will tear us to pieces with their beaks and talons. Daphne, you stay behind all of us and pick off as many of the rocs as you can with your bow.”
    She nodded and started easing backward. The others tightened their grips on their weapons and raised them into attack position.
    One by one, the Reapers unbuckled themselves from the rocs, slid to the ground, and started creeping forward. I drew in a breath and brought up Vic, ready to fight once more—
    A hand snaked around my waist from behind. Before I could react, before I could move or try to fight back, cold, sharp metal pressed against my throat—a dagger.
    But even more surprising was the person holding it.
    “Don’t make a move,” Covington hissed at my friends. “Or Nike’s Champion dies.”

Chapter 26
    Everyone froze.
    I hadn’t seen or heard Covington move, but he had to be a Roman to have gotten behind me that fast. My friends looked back and forth between the dagger at my throat and the Reapers still creeping toward us. My psychometry kicked in, showing me flickers and flashes of all the people Covington had killed with the dagger—and how he planned to do the same thing to me.
    “Covington?” Ajax asked, the shock apparent in his voice. “What are you doing?”
    “What I’ve been doing for years,” the librarian said in a sly, satisfied tone. “Ensuring the downfall of the pathetic Pantheon one death and one artifact at a time.”
    “What do you mean?” I asked.
    He laughed in my ear, the sound even more chilling than the air around us. “Who do you think has been helping the Reapers find so many artifacts lately? I’ve been using the resources in the Library of Antiquities to track down the objects that we need—that Loki needs—to finally defeat the Pantheon and win the second Chaos War. But time and time again, you and your little friends have been there first. You’ve already gotten Sigyn’s bow, the Swords of Ruslan, and the Horn of Roland, and you almost stopped Agrona from getting the Apate jewels. How are you doing it? How do you know so much about artifacts?”
    I didn’t answer him, but my eyes met Oliver’s, and I could tell he was thinking about the same thing I was—the drawing he’d done for me of all the artifacts, people, and creatures that Nike had shown me. The one I had stuffed in my backpack right now. Another thing I couldn’t let the Reapers get their hands on.
    “Tell me!” Covington screamed and pressed the dagger into my throat.
    I winced as the blade sliced into my skin, but I didn’t answer him. I wasn’t telling him about the drawing or the fact that I knew there were other artifacts out there—ones that might make the difference between who won and who lost the looming Chaos War. I wasn’t telling him anything—not one damn thing .
    I didn’t get a chance to respond before Rachel stepped forward, a horrified look on her face.
    “Rebecca . . . Tyson . . . You said they attacked you . That they were trying to steal artifacts from the library. You said they murdered those students, and that you had no choice but to defend yourself against them—against the poor, misguided Reapers . That’s what you called them.”
    “They were fools,” Covington sneered. “They agreed to break in to the Library of Antiquities and steal artifacts to make it look like a robbery and a Reaper attack gone wrong so suspicion wouldn’t fall on me. But at the last moment, they changed their minds and tried to stop me.”
    Rory moved to stand beside Rachel. Anger made her cheeks burn and her eyes flash, and her hands were clenched into tight fists. “Why? Why did they try to stop you?”
    “They were unhappy,” he sneered again. “They didn’t want you to grow up to be like them. Boo-hoo. They were even talking about leaving the Reapers completely. But they should have known better. No one leaves us— ever .”
    “So you framed them,” Rory said, her voice raspy with rage. “You framed them for what you did.”
    “Oh, grow up, you stupid girl,” Covington snapped. “Your precious parents were hardly innocent. They were Reapers for years— years . You have no idea the things they did, all in service to Loki.”
    Tears streaked down Rory’s face, but she didn’t bother to brush