Midnight Frost

and intense ferocity Daphne gave to everything in her life. All the fluid grace of Alexei’s movements. All the quiet devotion Carson showed to his friends. All the pain, anger, and frustration Rory and Rachel had felt these last few months. All the love Grandma Frost, Nyx, and Professor Metis had always given me. All the cranky concern Nickamedes and Vic had for me.
    I hacked and slashed at Vivian with all of that and more. And for the first time, it actually seemed like enough . I couldn’t hurt her—not seriously—but she couldn’t break through my defenses either.
    The longer we fought, the more frustrated she grew, until her eyes were glowing like two pools of molten lava in her face.
    “Why won’t you just die?!” she hissed.
    “You’re going to fail again, Viv,” I mocked. “Because you’re not killing me today. Not by a long shot. Not with those weak-ass moves. And look. The rest of your friends are losing too.”
    Vivian’s gaze darted around the ruins. By this point, Daphne had killed all of the rocs, except for Vivian’s, and the Valkyrie was now picking off the Reapers one by one with her bow. Ajax and Alexei were battling three Reapers, while Carson and Oliver had cornered two more. Rachel was off to the side, fighting the last one, and I could still hear Covington screaming, which meant that Rory had him under control. One by one, the Reapers were falling. It was only a matter of time before my friends finished off the rest of them and came to help me against Vivian.
    The Reaper girl knew it too. She cursed and lashed out at me with her sword, causing me to leap back. Then, she turned and raced toward her roc. Agrona had realized the tide had turned against the Reapers, and she was already trying to climb up onto the bird’s back, although her damaged hand slowed her down. Vivian used her Valkyrie strength to shove the other woman up and onto the roc, then climbed in front of her.
    “Go, Gwen!” Vic shouted, his voice slightly muffled by my sweaty palm over his mouth. “Go! Don’t let them get away again!”
    I started toward them, but Logan was quicker. The Spartan got to his feet and hurried toward the roc, quickly outpacing me. By this point, Vivian was on top of the creature and had the reins in her hands. All she had to do was slap them down, and the bird would take flight. But instead, she looked at me, a cruel smile curving her face.
    “No! Logan!” I screamed. “Stop!”
    But he didn’t listen to me. Instead, he kept running as fast as he could because he had his own score to settle—with his former stepmom.
    “Agrona!” Logan shouted. “Face me!”
    Agrona leaned forward and whispered something in Vivian’s ear, and the Reaper girl’s smile widened. I raced along behind Logan, but I knew I was going to be too late— again .
    Logan was ten feet away from the roc and closing fast. Seven feet . . . five . . . three . . . Just as he started to launch himself through the air and onto the roc, Vivian let out another high, earsplitting whistle. The roc darted forward—and jabbed its beak into Logan’s side.
    All of his forward momentum abruptly stopped, and he tumbled backward to the ground.
    “Logan!” I screamed again.
    He groaned and didn’t answer me, although his legs kicked out, sending up sprays of petals.
    “Finish him!” Agrona hissed. “Now!”
    Vivian let out another whistle, and the roc darted forward once more—but this time, I was there.
    I put myself between Logan and the bird and swung my sword in a vicious arc. The roc jumped back to avoid me.
    “Forget them!” Agrona screamed. “Get us out of here!”
    But Vivian wasn’t about to give up this chance to finally murder me. Again and again, she urged her roc forward. Again and again, I lashed out with my sword, keeping the creature from killing me and Logan. It was bizarre, fighting something more than twice my size, but maybe all those mornings of weapons training had finally started to sink in because I actually held my own against the creature. Then again, it was also burdened by the two riders on its back, whereas all I had to do was avoid its raking claws and sharp, stabbing beak.
    “Gwen!” Daphne screamed behind me. “Duck!”
    I immediately dropped down on my knees. A second later, a golden arrow zipped over my head. But Vivian had heard Daphne’s shout too, and she managed to maneuver her roc out of the way of the arrow, which sailed over the creature’s head.
    “Stay down!”