I looked around the room again and noticed that several black-robed bodies littered the floor, along with those of the Mythos students. Nickamedes must have heard the commotion when the Reapers stormed into the coliseum and came out fighting. He would have too, since he was a Spartan just like Logan, with the same fighting skills and killer warrior instinct. Nickamedes had probably chased after the Reapers when they'd left.
The librarian looked just as wild and haggard as I felt, but concern filled his face as he stared at the blood on my clothes and on Vic. For the first time, I realized that maybe Nickamedes did care about the academy students after all-even me.
"Gwendolyn?" Nickamedes asked again. "Where's Logan?"
"He's fine. He went looking for you."
I slowly lowered my sword to my side, cold exhaustion filling my body like ice water being poured into a glass. I stared out at the dead students and all the other ones who were still bleeding and crying.
"Are you okay?" Nickamedes asked in a soft voice.
"I'm not hurt, if that's what you mean." I shook my head. "But I don't know that I'll ever be okay again."
Chapter 4
I don't remember much of what happened after that. Well, that's not exactly true. I remembered-I would always remember-even if all I wanted to do was forget.
Nickamedes called the Powers That Were at Mythos Academy, and thirty minutes later, other people started arriving. Most of them were professors at the academy, like Mr. Llew, my calculus teacher, Mrs. Banba, the economics prof, and Coach Lir, who oversaw the academy swim teams. Nobody called the cops. The regular mortal police wouldn't understand what had happened, and they just weren't equipped to fight Reapers-or to deal with the deadly destruction they'd caused.
Several other adults appeared as well, men and women dressed in heavy black coveralls. They opened the coliseum doors and pushed metal carts covered with black bags inside. I knew what they were here for-to load up the bodies and take them to the academy morgue. I shuddered and kept my gaze away from them.
Professor Metis and Coach Ajax showed up, too, since they were part of the academy's security council. Metis and Ajax, along with Nickamedes, were responsible for keeping the students safe while they were at Mythos. But we weren't at the academy right now-and no one had been safe today.
What surprised me most was the fact that Raven came to the museum. Raven was the woman who manned the coffee cart in the Library of Antiquities, one of the many duties she seemed to have at the academy. She was an old woman with white hair, black eyes, and a face that was streaked with wrinkles. Raven sported a flowing white gown just like the ones the coliseum staff had worn, although a pair of black combat boots peeked out from underneath her long skirt.
Raven stood off to one side of the museum, gazing out at the destruction. Her arms were crossed over her chest, and I could see old, faded scars on her skin there, along with dark brown liver spots. She noticed me staring at her, and our eyes met. For a moment, her image wavered, like there was another, younger, prettier face beneath her wrinkles. But the really weird thing was that I felt something when I looked into her eyes-an aching wave of pain and sadness so intense that it made tears start to trickle down my own cheeks. Like somehow the attack today was all her fault... .
I blinked, and she was just Raven once more, the old woman who sold snacks in the library. The pain and sadness were gone and so were the tears I'd thought had been sliding down my face. I reached up, but my skin was completely dry. Weird. Really weird.
I looked at Raven, but she ignored me, walked over, and started speaking to the woman who was loading Samson's body onto a metal cart. Raven moved through the crowd, talking to the adults who were here to clear away the blood and debris. Overseeing them must be another one of her academy odd jobs. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised, since she was on the security council with Metis and the others.
After another minute, I pushed Raven out of my mind. Her flickering face wasn't the most awful thing I'd seen today. My eyes lingered on a smear of blood on the white marble floor.
Not even close.
An hour after the attack, I stood in an office in the back of the coliseum, watching Metis examine Carson. The professor had made the band geek sit on a desk and take off his shirt. She'd spent several minutes peering at his chest, even though not a mark remained where the Reaper had stabbed him. After that, Metis had run her hands through Carson's dusky brown hair, looking for any head injuries. Now, she was shining a small flashlight into his brown eyes, watching them react to the glare.
"Is he going to be okay?" I asked.
I leaned against the wall next to Logan. Nickamedes was on the other side of the Spartan, while Coach Ajax stood in the doorway, filling the open space with his massive frame.
Metis clicked off the flashlight. "He's going to be fine. They both are."
The professor's green eyes drifted over to Daphne, who was slumped in a chair. The Valkyrie had woken up by the time I'd taken Nickamedes to the weapons room, but she still looked exhausted. Every once in a while, a pink spark would weakly flicker on one of her fingertips, like she'd used up her energy for the day and that was all the magic she could summon up. I supposed that she had, healing Carson the way she did.
Metis nodded at Daphne. She'd finished examining the Valkyrie a few minutes ago. "You saved Carson's life today with your magic."
"I suppose this means I'll have to get you something extra special for Valentine's Day," Carson joked.
Daphne tried to smile, but pain filled her black eyes. She'd come so close to losing Carson-she couldn't just forget that, even if the band geek was alive and sitting right in front of her. I knew the feeling because I'd gone through it with Logan a few weeks back. Logan stared at me, and I could tell he was thinking the same thing-about how close Preston Ashton had come to killing us both, along with our Spartan friend, Oliver Hector.
Once Metis finished with Carson, the band geek put his shirt back on, even though it was as ripped and bloody as the rest of our clothes were.
"What do you suppose they were after? What did the Reapers want?" Coach Ajax asked, crossing his arms over his broad, muscled chest. The overhead lights made his onyx skin gleam like polished jet.
Nickamedes's mouth twisted. "You mean other than killing six students, five of the museum staff members, and injuring a dozen more? You don't think that was enough for them?"
Ajax shrugged his broad shoulders. For the first time, I noticed a weary look on his face. Normally, big, burly Coach Ajax reminded me of a granite statue more than anything else, something solid and unbreakable, but today he seemed small and deflated, despite his tall frame.