She wasn’t the only kid in the station. In fact, I spotted several folks who had to be Mythos students, judging from their pricey clothes and expensive jewelry. Not to mention the colorful sparks of magic that the Valkyries were giving off. But the regular passengers didn’t notice the cracks and hisses around them, despite the fact that one Valkyrie was practically dripping blue sparks all over the newspaper the older guy sitting next to her was reading. Daphne had told me once that unless you were a warrior, you just couldn’t see the sparks. Apparently, something in our ancient warrior DNA let us spot the colorful flashes that regular mortals couldn’t. So that was why Daphne and the other Valkyries didn’t worry about giving off magic in public.
It seemed like all of the other kids were gossiping with each other, and more than a few eyed my friends, wondering who they were and why they were taking the train. Everyone seemed to be friendly enough with each other—except when it came to the girl I’d noticed earlier.
The other kids looked at the girl, but nobody approached her and nobody said anything to her. Nobody gave her so much as a cheerful wave or even a polite nod. The girl pretended that she couldn’t see the other kids deliberately avoiding her, but her jaw was clenched, and her whole body was tense with anger—and pain.
She reminded me of, well,
me
. Back when I’d first come to Mythos, I’d been that exact same girl—the one standing all alone, watching the other kids around me, hoping that someone would at least notice me.
She spotted me watching her and turned her head in my direction. Her eyes were a bright, vivid green. The girl scowled at me, crossed her arms over her chest, and looked away.
She had to be one of the Mythos students going up to Snowline Ridge—I just wondered if she was also a Reaper. That might explain why she seemed to be here by herself. Maybe she’d been the only Reaper sent to the station and was busy watching me and my friends instead of hanging out with her own.
Or maybe I was just being paranoid.
So she was standing by herself. That didn’t mean she was a Reaper. Still, my gaze kept going back to the girl, who kept right on scowling at me.
“What are you looking at?” she finally growled.
I shrugged. “Nothing. Just killing time.”
“Well, go kill it somewhere else. Or I’ll make you wish you had.”
I raised an eyebrow at her. “Really?”
“Yeah. Really.”
A flash of purple caught my eye, and I looked down. Vic was sticking out of the top of my messenger bag. The sword had woken up from his latest nap, but instead of yawning like usual, he was glaring at the girl.
“Put me up against her throat, and I’ll make her take back her snotty words real quick,” Vic muttered.
The girl’s scowl deepened. “What did you say?”
“Nothing. Nothing at all.”
“Nothing!” Vic huffed in an indignant voice. “I’ll show her nothing—”
I reached down and clamped my hand over the sword’s mouth to muffle the sound of his voice. Vic would totally make me pay for this later, but right now, I needed him to be quiet. It was one thing for the Reapers to know we were coming. It was another for the sword to start shouting threats and telling everyone exactly where we were.
The girl’s eyes narrowed, and she looked past me. A second later, Daphne stepped up beside me. The Valkyrie crossed her arms over her chest and gave the other girl a cool once-over.
“Problem, Gwen?”
“No problem,” I said.
“Good,” Daphne replied. “The train’s almost here. Ajax wants us to head on outside.”
“Right behind you.”
Daphne stared at the girl a moment longer before striding back over to Carson and the others. I followed her.
Still, I couldn’t help glancing over my shoulder. The girl was still scowling at me. But for a moment, I almost thought I saw a flicker of sadness in her eyes, and her mouth seemed to turn down that much more. For some reason, the expression made me want to go back over to her and find out what she was so upset about.
“Come on, Gwen!” Daphne called out.
But my friends were waiting, so I put the girl out of my mind and followed them onto the platform.
Chapter 11
Fifteen minutes later, the train pulled out of the station. The engine’s whistle pierced the early morning air, sounding as high and sharp as a Black roc’s screech. Or maybe it only seemed that way because I knew the Reapers would probably be waiting for us up at the academy and then at the Eir Ruins—if we even made it that far.
Like the station, the train itself featured long, padded wooden benches with brass rails running alongside them. There were even a few tables bolted to the floor here and there throughout the car, so folks could face each other. I was sitting by myself. Oliver and Alexei were on the bench across from me, with Daphne and Carson sitting in front of me. Coach Ajax was in front of Oliver and Alexei, leaning his elbows on one of the tables, dwarfing the wood with his large frame and muscled body. The sunlight streaming in through the windows made his skin gleam like polished onyx.
I had my messenger bag next to me on the bench, with Vic propped up so that he could look out the large picture windows. The sword eyed the passing scenery, when he wasn’t busy shooting me dirty looks for clamping my hand over his mouth earlier.
The car we were in wasn’t all that crowded. A few other kids were sprawled over the benches in the front, while two adults—a man and a woman—were at a table behind them. Everyone was engrossed in their phones or the laptops they’d opened up the second the train had left the station. I eyed the other passengers, but no one seemed to be paying me or my friends any attention. In fact, none of the other folks in the car even glanced in our direction. Normally, I would have thought that was a good thing, but something about the complete lack of attention struck me as being strange. Or perhaps that was just my paranoia showing through again.
To my surprise, the girl I’d seen inside the station was also in our car, although she made sure to sit in the back, five rows away from anyone else. She had her back to the window, and her legs stretched out on the bench in front of her. She noticed me looking at her again, scowled, and pointedly turned her head and stared out the window.
“Who’s that?” Oliver asked, leaning across the aisle so he could talk to me. “She doesn’t seem like she’s a member of the Gwen Frost fan club.”
I shrugged. “Don’t know. Don’t care.”
Alexei touched his arm, and Oliver leaned back to see what he wanted.
We rode in silence for about thirty minutes. The trip was pleasant enough. The train rocked from side to side in a soothing way, although every once in a while, the gears would grind together, making the car shudder and the windows rattle as the engine struggled up the mountain. According to Ajax, it was a ninety-minute ride up to Snowline Ridge, and the others soon took off their jackets, wadded them up to use as pillows, got comfortable, and drifted off to sleep.
The day had barely started, and I was already tired, but try as I might, I couldn’t go to sleep, not without worrying that I might have another nightmare. So I stared out at the passing scenery instead.
In some ways, the Rockies were a lot like the Appalachian Mountains back home. Lots of trees, lots of stone outcroppings, lots of rocky ridges. But everything here seemed bigger, more jagged and rugged, the mountain peaks so tall and sharp that they resembled needles you might prick your finger on if only you could reach out and touch the tops of them. There was more snow here too, a couple of inches on the ground, and fresh flakes swirled all around and through the dense, towering pines like bits of hard, white confetti. But it wasn’t just the snow and scenery that were different. I felt . . . a wildness in the landscape that I didn’t back at the North Carolina academy. Or perhaps it was because Mythos was home and this wasn’t—
A hand touched my shoulder.
My head snapped to the side, even as my fingers fumbled across the seat, straining to reach Vic’s hilt—but it was only Coach Ajax looming over me. I let out a breath.
“I’m going to the snack car to get some coffee,” Ajax said. “Want anything?”
I shook my head. “Thanks, but I’m good.”
“Well, I’m starving,” Daphne piped up.
“Me too,” Carson said.
The two of them got up and followed Ajax. The coach walked to the front of the car, swaying from side to side with the motion of the train. He reached the door and hit the button so he could step forward into the next car; then he, Daphne, and Carson disappeared from sight. Oliver and Alexei slept on, their heads close together as they leaned on each other. The two guys made a cute couple. They’d met over winter break and had been totally into each other, although they hadn’t officially started dating until a few weeks ago.
The minutes ticked by, and I started to wonder what was taking Ajax, Daphne, and Carson so long. I leaned over into the aisle. Through the glass in the doors at the front, I could see folks standing in the middle of the aisle in the next car up. That must be the line for the snack car. Looked like my friends weren’t the only ones who’d wanted some breakfast. I sighed, leaned back, and stared out the windows again.
Another five minutes passed. Then, one of the girls in the front of the car got up and headed toward the back. At first, I wondered why, until I remembered that was where the bathrooms were. Still, I tensed up as the other girl approached me. Something about her seemed a little . . . off.
She glanced down and realized I was staring at her. The girl hesitated, then gave me a small smile. I nodded at her. But instead of nodding back, her eyes slid past me and fixed on Vic. For a moment, something sparked in her gaze. I couldn’t tell exactly what it was, but it almost seemed like . . . satisfaction.
Her smile widened, and she stared at Vic a second longer before she noticed I was watching her watch my sword. Her features twisted into a grimace, and her gaze snapped straight ahead, as though I’d caught her doing something she shouldn’t. Yeah, it was weird that she’d noticed Vic. Then again, it was weird for me to have a sword on a train, even this train that catered to Mythos students. And I still couldn’t put my finger on what was bugging me about her so much, other than her curious interest in Vic.
It was only when she took a step past me that I realized she had one of her hands down by her side, instead of putting both of them on top of the brass rails for balance as she made her way to the back. I frowned, wondering why she would walk like that when the train was shuddering so much right now. The car rocked again, and the girl lurched to her right—letting me see the glint of silver underneath her long, black coat.
The girl froze for a moment, realizing that I’d noticed something. Then, she gave a small shrug, as though it were no big deal. She took another step forward, then another. I turned my head, following her movements.
She’d almost gone all the way past me when she abruptly whirled back in my direction. The girl whipped out a sword from underneath her coat, raised it high, and brought it down—aiming for my head.
Instinct took over, and I immediately ducked down and to my right.
Clang!
The girl’s sword hit the top of the brass rail in front of me instead of driving deep into my skull. I scrambled to my feet, bumping my knees against the back of the bench in front of me.
But the girl was quick—Amazon quick. She stepped back, twirled the sword around in her hands, and raised it again for another strike. Since there was no way I could reach out, grab Vic, and use him to block her blow, I put my hands on the brass railing behind me, hefted myself up off the ground, and kicked out with my feet, catching her in the stomach.
The Reaper girl let out a loud
oof!
as the air hissed out of her lungs, but she didn’t go down. I braced myself on the seats, pushed up, and kicked her again. This time, she staggered to the side—and landed right on top of Oliver and Alexei.
“Hey!” Oliver snapped. “I’m sleeping here!”
“What the—” Alexei muttered.
I didn’t bother yelling about how I was getting attacked by yet another Reaper. The guys would figure that out soon enough. Looked like Ajax’s plan to travel on the down low hadn’t worked quite as well as he and Metis had thought it would.
While the girl scrambled up off Oliver’s lap, I reached over and grabbed Vic.
“Look,” I said, slipping out from behind the bench so that I was standing in the middle of the aisle. “A Reaper. Do you forgive me now?”
The sword eyed the girl, who was once again raising her sword and charging at me. “I’ll let you know after we kill her.”
I didn’t have time to respond before the Reaper was on me.
Clash-clash-clang!
Up and down the aisle we fought, each one of us trying to drive her sword into the other. I ducked under the Reaper girl’s swing and shoved past her, putting myself between her and my friends. I glanced over my shoulder. Behind me, I could see Oliver trying to crawl over the benches in order to get behind the Reaper girl, while Alexei was struggling to pull his two swords out of his black backpack. I knew my friends wanted to help me, but there wasn’t time. Besides, I wanted to fight the Reaper, wanted to take my pain, anger, worry, and fear out on her. So I stepped up and focused on my enemy.
The girl was unbelievably quick, like all Amazons are, but the constant lurching of the train was messing with her balance more than it was mine. It made all of her attacks miss the mark by just that much. Through the windows, I could see a large curve coming up ahead, and I knew the train would lurch to the left. So I parried the girl’s blows and waited for the right moment.
A minute later, the train screeched around the curve just as the girl raised her sword over her head. Her vicious strike, along with the train’s rocking, put her even that much more off balance, and she almost fell onto one of the benches before she managed to right herself.
I leaned into the curve and let the train’s momentum carry me forward into the girl—and help me bury Vic’s sharp point in her stomach.
She sucked in a breath that was equal parts pain and surprise. The train swayed the other way, and I pulled the blade free.
The girl’s sword fell to the floor, and she pressed her hands to her stomach, her breath coming in short, painful gasps. She looked down in disbelief at all the blood gushing out of her wound, then back up at me. For a moment, a spark of Reaper red fire shimmered in her eyes. Then, it was abruptly snuffed out, like a light that had been turned off. The girl pitched forward onto one of the tables, her head cracking against the window, even as her legs went out from under her. She didn’t move after that.
Breathing hard, I stared down at the dead Reaper. I didn’t know her, had never seen her before, but the thing that struck me the most was that she appeared to be about the same age as Jason Anderson. Just a kid. Just like me. And now she was dead like he was—all because of me.
“Gwen?” Oliver slid free of the bench he’d been trying to crawl over, stepped forward, and put a hand on my shoulder.
“I’m okay,” I said. “She didn’t hurt me.”
Not on the outside anyway, even though killing her had caused another little painful crack to zigzag across my heart. I wondered how many more cracks it could take before it crumbled completely.
Naturally, the fight had attracted the attention of the other passengers, and they scrambled to their feet and turned around to see what had caused all the commotion.
I let out a breath and raised Vic. “So do you forgive me now?”
“I might,” the sword said. “If you live through the rest of the fight.”
I frowned. “Rest of the fight? What are you talking about?”
Vic rolled his eye forward.
I looked in that direction and got my answer a second later. Because the folks in the front of the car weren’t getting up because they were concerned about the battle. Oh no. They were getting to their feet because they were all wearing long, black coats, just like the Reaper girl.
And because they all held sharp, curved swords, just like hers—and because every single person’s eyes were glowing that bright, eerie Reaper red.