"Were you?"
The goddess gave me a wry smile. "It is a difficult business, trying to save the world. Some people must make sacrifices so that others can live and prosper."
"But why me? Why do I have to be the one to make sacrifices?"
"Because you're strong enough to make them, Gwendolyn," Nike said. "You're strong enough to keep going no matter how dark and hopeless things get, even if you don't think you are. You could have given up when the Reaper stabbed you. Most people would have. But instead, you figured out a way to save yourself. That makes you very smart and very, very strong. That's why the Reapers fear you-that's why Loki himself fears you."
I seriously doubted that Loki feared anything, especially me, but I didn't argue with the goddess. We sat there in silence for several moments, watching the moon and clouds wisp across the night sky. Finally, Nike spoke again.
"Now, you have a decision to make, Gwendolyn-whether or not you wish to continue on as my Champion."
I eyed the goddess. "You'd actually let me quit? Just like that? Why? You're a goddess. I can feel the power you have. I imagine you could make me do anything you wanted me to."
"I could make you carry on as my Champion, but your heart wouldn't be in it, and you would soon come to hate me for it. You have free will, Gwendolyn, just like every creature, mortal, and god does. Remember that, because it's the most important thing I'll ever tell you. Never forget that, because it's the very thing Loki and his Reapers are trying to take away from you-your right to choose your own fate."
Nike hesitated. "I know you've lost much already, that you've suffered much already, and if you wish to be released as my Champion, then I will do that for you."
I wanted to say yes so badly. To pretend I'd never heard of Nike, Loki, or any of the rest of it, just like my mom had. To go back to just being Gwen Frost, that weird Gypsy girl who touched stuff and saw things. But I couldn't stop myself from asking the inevitable question.
"And what would happen if I quit?" I asked. "To the academy? To my friends?"
Nike shrugged. "The academy will be overrun by the Reapers and eventually destroyed-and so will your friends."
She said it calmly, coldly, as if it were a foregone conclusion, as if there was a giant hourglass somewhere and the sand had already started to trickle out of it to seal the fate of my friends and everyone else at Mythos.
"And if I continue on as your Champion? What do you want me to do now that Loki is free? How can I stop him and the Reapers?"
"There is only one way to finally end the conflict between Loki, the Reapers, and the members of the Pantheon," Nike said in an ominous voice. "Someone must kill Loki, and that someone is you, Gwendolyn."
Vivian had said the same thing to me back in the mansion, but hearing it from Nike made it sound even more impossible than before.
"But-but how am I supposed to do that?" I sputtered. "I couldn't keep the Reapers from freeing Loki in the first place. How am I supposed to kill him? He's a god, in case you haven't noticed."
Nike arched a delicate eyebrow at my harsh tone, but I didn't back down and I didn't look away from her. Kill a god. She actually expected me to kill a freaking god. I'd seen Loki, and I'd felt exactly how powerful he was, even though he'd been trapped in his mythological prison for centuries. I didn't think I could just walk up to him and stab him in the heart with Vic.
"Why can't you do it?" I asked, a pleading note creeping into my voice. "You defeated him once. Surely you can do it again."
Nike shook her head. "After Loki's actions led to the death of Balder, the other gods all banded together and made a pact that no god would be able to kill another. That's why I didn't kill Loki at the end of the Chaos War. That's why he was imprisoned instead."
The goddess looked at me. "But we never said anything about mortals, you see. If a mortal Champion is strong enough, if a mortal Champion is clever enough, then she can kill a god-even one as powerful as Loki. But you must act quickly, Gwendolyn. Right now, he is still weak from his imprisonment, but it won't be long before he starts gaining power-and still more followers."
"But I don't even know where he is, and neither does Metis or the other members of the Pantheon," I said. "How am I even supposed to find him?"
"You won't have to," Nike said. "His spies are everywhere, and he'll come to the academy sooner or later. There are many artifacts here that he wants, many powerful things and people here that he needs in order to finally defeat us."
I wrapped my arms around myself, trying to ward off the chill I felt at her words, but it didn't work. My eyes swept over the quad, with its cluster of old buildings, iron benches, and towering trees. When I'd first come to Mythos, I'd hated the academy, but now, I couldn't imagine myself going to school anywhere else. Somehow, over the past few months, it had become like a second home to me, a place where I was slowly learning to fit in, a place where I was slowly learning to be strong.
And it would all be destroyed if Loki wasn't stopped-if I didn't figure out some way to kill the evil god.
"Now, Gwendolyn, I must have your answer. Will you continue to help me fight against Loki? Will you do what you can, what you must, to save us all?"
I thought of Logan, Daphne, and all my other friends. I thought of the academy grounds being overrun by Reapers, of Reapers killing everyone they could get their hands on. I thought of all the academy's statues and buildings crumbling to dust. I thought of darkness falling over the world the way it had in the clearing in the forest last night. And I knew what my answer would be-what it would always be, as long as I had breath left to fight.
"I'll do it. I'll continue on as your Champion." I looked at the goddess. "Just don't blame me if you end up being disappointed. You know, having the fate of the entire world on my shoulders is a lot of freaking pressure."
"I could never be disappointed in you, Gwendolyn," Nike said in a soft voice. "You're everything that is good about mortals. Your heart is pure, and you do the best you can, no matter how difficult a situation is. You always try, and that's all anyone can ask of a Champion."
I didn't know about the good and pure parts, but I wasn't going to argue with her. Not now.
Nike rose to her feet. "And now, I have a gift for you, Gwendolyn. A visit from an old friend."
Toenails clicked on the balcony above our heads, and I turned around, wondering at the sound. A moment later, Nott stepped into view.