Agrona held up her hand when I was about fifteen feet away from her. "That's close enough, Gypsy."
I stopped where I was, glaring at her. "I'm here. You got what you wanted. So let Nickamedes go. Right now."
I thought she wouldn't do it, but Agrona dropped her sword from the librarian's neck and stepped away from him. Vivian crossed her arms over her chest and smirked at me.
"You're such an idiot, Gwen," the Reaper girl said. "Because now, we're going to kill you and your friends."
"I know that," I replied. "I just thought it would be fun to watch Agrona slap you around some more from up close this time. You know, a couple of weeks ago, I thought you were the one in charge of everything. But you're just another little Reaper underling, aren't you, Viv? You don't give the orders. You take them."
Fury reddened the Reaper girl's cheeks, and her knuckles went white around Lucretia's hilt. Vivian started forward, but Agrona held out her sword, stopping Vivian.
"Let me kill her now," Vivian snarled. "So we can finally be done with this."
Agrona shook her head. "You've had your chance twice now, and you've failed miserably both times. Besides, we need a blood sacrifice for the next part of the ritual, and I think Gwen will do quite nicely. You know how much power a Champion's blood has, especially Nike's Champion. It will make transferring Loki's soul that much easier."
I tensed, ready to counter any attack she made against me. But instead of raising her sword and trying to kill me, Agrona strolled toward Logan. I still couldn't see the Spartan's face, but surely he knew that I was here-that I was trying to save him.
A flicker of movement caught my eye. I turned my head and realized that Daphne was giving off more and more pink sparks of magic. The Valkryie had a stricken look on her pretty face.
"Run!" she mouthed to me.
But I couldn't run. I had to save Logan. I had to save them all, and that meant buying Morgan, Alexei, and Grandma Frost as much time as possible. Surely, they were almost in position now. All I had to do was hold out another minute or two-
"Logan," Agrona said in a sweet voice. "Do me a favor. Take this sword, and kill Gwen with it, please."
My head snapped around at her words. Logan? Kill me? He would never, ever do that. I didn't care what kind of creepy ritual Agrona and the other Reapers had performed on him. I didn't care what kind of mind-controlled zombie they'd turned him into. I knew the Spartan. I loved him, and he loved me. He would never hurt me-never.
Logan's hand jerked forward, and he took the weapon from Agrona. Worry surged through me, but I stood my ground.
"Come on, now," Agrona cooed. "That's a good boy."
The Spartan slowly got to his feet, his back still to me. Agrona stepped away from him, and I noticed that the jewels she wore were burning even brighter now. I could feel a force emanating from the gems-the same malevolent force I'd felt when Loki had stared at me with his burning red eye. My dread increased that much more, especially when Logan started twirling the sword in his hand, getting a feel for the weapon the way I'd seen him do so many times before in gym class.
After a few seconds, he lowered the sword to his side, adjusting his grip on it.
"Go on," Agrona commanded. "She's right there behind you. Kill her. Now."
The Spartan paused, then slowly turned to face me. I drew in a horrified gasp.
Logan's eyes were completely, utterly Reaper red.
Chapter 27
"Logan?" I whispered. "Logan?"
Agrona let out a pleased laugh. "He can't hear you, Gypsy. He can't hear anything but what I tell him, thanks to these lovely jewels we're both wearing."
"What are you talking about-"
For the first time, I noticed that Logan was wearing a necklace, just like Agrona was. Actually, it was more like a collar. Rubies, emeralds, and topaz gleamed around a wide gold band that circled the Spartan's neck.
Once again, I thought of the ID card I'd found in the library, the one that described the magic attached to Apate's jewels. I'd wondered what the Reapers were going to do with the other gems-now, I knew. They'd needed them for the transformation ritual, along with the book.
"No," I whispered again. "No."
I looked at Logan, who stared back at me with his crimson eyes. For a moment, I flashed back to that night in the forest when Loki had been freed. It was almost like I was looking into the evil god's face again. That's how horrible it was, that's how wrong it was, for Logan's eyes to be Reaper red instead of their normal, icy blue. It was like I was staring into a stranger's face.
The Spartan took a step forward, then another one, and another, once again twirling the sword Agrona had given him.
"Logan, it's me," I said, pleading with him. "You don't want to hurt me. I know you don't, deep down inside. Please, please don't do this. You're a Spartan. You can fight anyone, you can beat anything. I know you can fight back against whatever it is they've done to you. Please, please try. For me. For us."
The Spartan paused. He frowned, and for a moment his eyes were clear and blue once again.
"Kill her!" Agrona ordered, the jewels she wore burning even brighter than before. "Kill the Gypsy! Now!"
The blue in Logan's eyes vanished, drowned by that Reaper red again, and I knew I'd lost him. Logan let out a roar, raised his sword over his head, and charged at me.
CLANG!
Logan tried to kill me with that first strike, and it took all the strength I had to keep him from cutting through my defense and chopping my head off my shoulders.
"Logan," I said again. "Stop! It's me! Your Gypsy girl!"
He backed away and raised his sword for another strike. I had no choice but to defend myself, although I ended up pulling my counterattack, not wanting to hurt the Spartan.
Logan had other ideas, though. Our swords locked together, and we seesawed back and forth for a moment. Then, the Spartan smiled and punched me in the face.
Pain exploded in my jaw. I stumbled away, but Logan came after me. He slammed his sword into mine, knocking Vic out of my grasp. I elbowed the Spartan in the stomach as hard as I could, forcing him back. Then, I dove after the sword, just managing to snag Vic before he went sailing off the stage.
"Get into the fight, Gwen," Vic snapped at me as I lurched to my feet. "He's going to kill you if you don't fight back."
"No," I insisted in a stubborn tone. "It's Logan. He won't hurt me. He would never hurt me."
"That's not Logan right now," Vic said, sadness filling his purplish eye. "And he won't stop until one of you is dead. Do the Spartan a favor, Gwen. Put him out of his misery. You know Logan. You know he'd rather be dead than to have this happen to him, than to be twisted into some new version of Loki. Champions have to make sacrifices, Gwen. And this one is yours."