I grinned. That had worked out even better than I’d hoped—
“Gwen!” Vic screamed. “Watch out!”
I ducked down, and a blade whistled through the air where my head had been a second before. On instinct, I spun around, raised Vic high, and surged to my feet.
CLASH!
I managed to get my sword in position just in time to keep Vivian from cleaving my head in two with her own weapon. We stood there, seesawing back and forth, our two swords scrape-scrape-scraping against each other, and spitting out red and purple sparks in every direction, even as Lucretia and Vic shouted insults at each other.
“Tarnished tadpole!” Lucretia yelled.
“Mouthy matchstick!” Vic yelled back.
I shut the sound of the swords’ bickering out of my mind and focused on Vivian, whose pretty face was twisted into a hate-filled grimace, just like mine was.
“You just had to show up, didn’t you, Gwen?” Vivian hissed. “You’re ruining everything! Again!”
“Ah, come on, now, Viv,” I snarled back. “You know it’s not a party unless I’m invited.”
She screamed and swung her fist at me, trying to use her Valkyrie strength to shatter my jaw, but I sidestepped the blow and raised my sword for another attack.
Clash-clash-clang! Clash-clash-clang! Clash-clash-clang!
Vivian and I fought and fought, moving back and forth along the edge of the road, our boots kicking up thick wads of snow and then the hard, frozen dirt underneath.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a bit of gray swirling around, and I realized that Linus and Inari had finally gotten out of the front of the van and were helping Oliver and Alexei battle the Reapers. The two men had helped turned the tide in my friends’ favor, and it wouldn’t be long before the four of them cut down the rest of the Reapers. Behind me, Aiko and the other Protectorate guards were steadily working their way through the Reapers there.
“You should go ahead and surrender now, Viv,” I sneered into her face. “And maybe, just maybe, the Protectorate will let you and Agrona live for a few days before they execute you.”
“Never!” Vivian hissed back. “I’ll die before I give up—”
“Vivian!” Agrona screamed, running toward us. “We’re leaving! Now!”
“No, you’re not!” another voice chimed in.
I whipped around. Grandma Frost had managed to get out of the SUV. She wobbled on her feet, but she hurried toward Agrona as fast as she could, a sword clutched in her wrinkled hand.
Vivian’s golden gaze flicked from me to Grandma Frost and back again, and her eyes narrowed. “This isn’t over, Gwen!” she hissed.
Vivian raised her fingers to her lips and let out a loud whistle. A shadow fell over the two of us, and a Black roc dropped down from the sky. I thought I’d scared all of the birds away, but Vivian’s must have been better trained than the others because it landed right beside her, looking completely calm and unconcerned by the battle raging all around it. I charged at her, determined not to let her get away again—
Vivian let out another loud, sharp whistle, and the roc lashed out with one of its wings, knocking me off my feet. I hit the ground hard, and white spots winked on and off in front of my eyes.
Still, I raised my sword, expecting Vivian to try to end me while my defenses were down, but she was too busy climbing onto the roc’s back and pulling Agrona up behind her to attack me.
Vivian grabbed the black leather reins attached to the harness on the creature’s back and slapped them down hard.
Even as I scrambled to my feet, I knew I was going to be too late to stop her from getting away—again.
“Fly!” This time, it was Vivian screaming the word instead of me. “Fly! Fly! Fly!”
The Black roc let out a loud screech, pumped its wings once, and zoomed up into the sky, taking Vivian and Agrona with it.
Chapter 5
All I could do was stand there and watch the Black roc grow smaller and smaller as it flew away. I let out a vicious curse, but that wouldn’t bring back Vivian, Agrona, and the roc. Nothing would—
A hand touched my shoulder. I whipped around and raised Vic, thinking that one of the Reapers was getting ready to punch me in the face or ram his sword into my chest. But it was only Grandma Frost standing behind me. I let out a breath, lowered Vic, then reached forward with my free arm and hugged her tight.
Her arms wrapped around me, hugging me back even tighter, and I felt a wave of love and concern wash over me. I drew back.
“Are you okay?” I asked, scanning her face.
She nodded. “Fine. Just a little shaken up from the crash. How about you, pumpkin?”
“I have a few bumps and bruises from the wreck, Reapers, and rocs, but that’s all. Let’s go check on the others.”
By this point, the battle was over, and Aiko was helping the other members of the Protectorate round up the few Reapers who hadn’t been killed. I hurried over to Oliver, who was sitting on the back bumper of the artifacts van. Like me, he was covered with cuts, blood, and bruises from the fight. In front of him, Linus and Inari were crouching over the dead Reapers and murmuring softly to each other. They too had taken a few licks during the crash and subsequent battle, but all three of them seemed to be more or less in one piece.
“Are you guys all right?” I called out.
Oliver nodded and waved his hand at me, so I ran over to the smashed SUV, the one that I’d been riding in. By this point, Sergei and Logan had both gotten out of the vehicle and were sitting on the pavement a few feet away. Blood and bruises covered their faces from where the windows had shattered and the flying glass had sliced into their skin, and they both sat stiffly, each with one hand braced on the ground for support, as if it hurt to be fully upright. Alexei was kneeling by Sergei’s side, speaking softly to his dad in Russian.
I dropped down in front of Logan. “Are you okay?” He smiled at me, despite the blood on his face. “I’ll
live, Gypsy girl. Don’t worry. It’s only a few cuts. Besides, it was worth it to see the look on Vivian and Agrona’s faces when you made those rocs run right into the middle of all those Reapers.”
“You saw that?”
He nodded. “Through the windshield. My seat belt was stuck, or I would have come and helped you fight Vivian and Agrona.”
He started to push himself up and onto his feet, but the motion caused more blood to well up out of the deep, jagged cut on his forehead and dribble down into his eyes. I unzipped my coat and used Vic to cut off the bottom part of my sweater. I held the fabric up to Logan’s forehead.