"Of course," Covington said. "Of course."
I carefully slid the ambrosia flower into a long, slender, plastic tube that Ajax had bought when we'd gone shopping for supplies yesterday. Hopefully, the tube would protect the flower so we could get it back to the academy in one piece.
"Now what?" Rory asked.
"We get some sleep," Ajax rumbled. "It's been a long day, and we still have to hike back down the mountain in the morning."
We all headed back over to our camp. Ajax added enough wood to the fire so that it would burn through the rest of the night, while everyone else slipped into their tents and sleeping bags.
Half an hour later, I was in a tent with Daphne. Rachel and Rory would also sleep in here with us later, after they took their turns standing watch. I scooted closer to Daphne for warmth, despite the fact that she was already snoring. Every once in a while, a pink spark of magic would escape from her sleeping bag and flicker up into the air like a firefly before winking out.
I zipped up my sleeping bag, making sure I had one hand on Vic and the other on the tube with the ambrosia flower. The sword's eye opened, and he regarded me with a serious expression. Vic had been quiet today, and we hadn't talked much, but I knew he'd been resting up for the battle that was sure to come. The sword realized the most dangerous part of the journey was still ahead - getting down the mountain and surviving whatever trap the Reapers were planning.
"Don't worry, Gwen," Vic said. "You go to sleep. I'll keep an eye out. No Reapers will creep up on you tonight. I promise."
"Okay, Vic," I mumbled. "I'll leave it to you."
I closed my eyes and let the blackness of sleep take me away.
Chapter 25
The cold woke me.
Sometime during the night, I'd wormed my way up out of my sleeping bag, and the chill in the air had crept down the back of my neck like a ticklish finger. I shivered and snuggled back down into my sleeping bag, until the warmth of my body, combined with the silky material, drove away the worst of the cold. It was early, and Daphne, Rory, and Rachel were all still asleep in the tent with me, but I could tell it was getting lighter outside. It must be close to dawn. With any luck, we'd be back at the academy by noon, then back in North Carolina sometime late this evening.
I lay in my sleeping bag, but it wasn't too long before the others started stirring. Thirty minutes later, we were all gathered around the fire, which had dwindled down to embers overnight. We were all still half-asleep, so nobody felt much like talking. Instead, everyone cracked open some bottled water and dug through their backpacks to find some breakfast. Once again, I tore into a packet of granola. The dried fruit, dark chocolate, oats, and nuts weren't quite as flavorful as they had been yesterday, but they kept my stomach from grumbling too much.
Once we were all more or less awake and fed, we made sure that the fire was completely cold, took down the tents, and packed up our things. Rachel adjusted her pack on her back, then stared up at the sky. The early morning sun had already disappeared, replaced by a heavy veil of dark gray clouds.
"That storm's finally blowing in," she said. "We need to be off the mountain before the worst of the snow starts."
We nodded. None of us had any desire to be trapped up here. It was already cold and blustery enough. I couldn't even imagine how much worse a foot or two of snow would make things. Despite the cold, I didn't put my gloves on. I wanted to be able to pull Vic out of his scabbard without any problems in case of a Reaper attack.
As we shouldered our packs and got ready to head out, I couldn't help the feeling of unease that swept over me. It all seemed too . . . easy. Except for the attack on the train, the Reapers hadn't made a move against us while we'd been at the ruins. I wondered why - and what they were really up to.
We were about to leave the courtyard when I saw that mysterious shadow out of the corner of my eye.
One second, I was thinking about how long it would take us to hike down the mountain and when and where the Reapers might attack. The next, I realized there was a figure hovering on the edge of my vision - one that seemed to be staring straight at me.
I snapped my head to the left - but no one was there. All I saw were crumbled walls and overturned rocks, with the flowers spread out like a colorful blanket in the middle of the courtyard.
"What's the matter, Princess?" Rory asked, noticing me looking around.
I shook my head. I wasn't sure what to tell her. Sorry, I seem to be seeing things that aren't really there didn't exactly seem like the right thing to say -
Caw-caw-caw.
I froze, really, really hoping I was just imagining those sounds.
Caw-caw-caw.
But the high, eerie shrieks came again, echoing from one side of the courtyard to the other and back again, and I knew that I wasn't hallucinating - and that we were in serious trouble.
A second later, a shadow fell over me, blotting out what little sun there was, and a bird swooped down out of the sky. It was an enormous creature, easily twice as big as I was tall, with glossy black feathers shot through with streaks of red; long, curved black talons; and black eyes that contained a hot, burning spark of Reaper red.
A Black roc - and it wasn't alone.
A girl was strapped in a leather harness that was attached to the creature's broad back. A black robe fluttered around her body over her matching black snowsuit. Frizzy auburn hair, bright golden eyes, sneering smile. She looked exactly the same as she did in my nightmares. And just like the roc, her gaze shimmered with that spark of Reaper red. The girl looked at me and grinned.
"Hello, Gwen," Vivian Holler said. "I thought I might find you here."
I immediately threw my backpack down and drew Vic out of the scabbard on my waist. I started to charge forward, but Alexei held his hand out, stopping me. He shook his head in warning, then drew his twin swords out of the scabbard on his back and stepped in front of me. The others dropped their bags and pulled out their weapons, as well, ready to fight the Reaper girl.
When she realized that we weren't going to immediately swarm all over her, Vivian pouted, as though she was disappointed by our restraint. That told me that she'd wanted us to charge her. I wondered why, since it seemed that she was alone. My gaze scanned over the ruins, but I didn't see any other Reapers lurking behind the piles of rubble. They were here somewhere, though. They had to be. Vivian would never try to fight us all by herself. She wasn't that stupid - or brave.
Vivian stared at Alexei, her eyes lingering on the twin swords in his hands. "A bodyguard, Gypsy? Really? Even I don't have one of those. Kind of sad that you feel the need for one, though." She clucked her tongue in mock sympathy. "Then again, I can take care of myself, and we just can't say the same for you, now can we?"