Crimson Frost (Mythos Academy 4)

I sat there and thought and thought, but I couldn't figure out a way to sidestep the question. Finally, I sighed. "I used my psychometry on Logan. That's how I was able to beat Preston."

"You used your magic on another student?" Linus's voice dropped to a dangerous rasp. "On my son?"

"It was the only way I could defeat Preston," I said. "Logan knew that as well as I did. He let me use my magic on him, let my use my psychometry to tap in to his memories, his fighting skills. Once I did that, I was able to use his skills like they were my own. That's how I was able to beat Preston, because Logan's memories made me almost as good a fighter as he is."

"Students are not supposed to use their magic on others," Agrona said, toying with her necklace. "Not even in extreme situations like that. It denies the other student's free will, which is what we're all here working so hard to protect."

Metis and Nike had said more or less the same thing to me before, but the words seemed strange coming out of Agrona's mouth, almost like she didn't really believe them. Or perhaps that was just because her voice wasn't as loud as her husband's and she didn't seem quite as eager to convict me.

"Well, it was either that or let Preston take off my head with his sword," I said. "I happen to like my head right where it is, thank you very much."

Ajax let out another laugh. This time, Linus didn't even bother looking at him. Instead, the head of the Protectorate leaned forward and fixed me with a fierce glare.

"Take us through the fight, exactly what happened, Miss Frost. Step by step. And be sure you include everything-especially what you did to my son with your magic."

I sighed again, wondering if the questions and accusations would ever end.

And on and on it went. Somehow, the Protectorate had found out about everything I'd ever done since coming to Mythos. All the times I'd been late for my shifts at the library, all the lost and stolen items I'd found for kids using my psychometry, all the catty comments I'd ever made about other students. It seemed they went out of their way to focus on the bad things, all the rules I'd broken and all the mistakes I'd made, whether on purpose or by accident.

And they seemed to have a grand time doing it, especially Linus. If the others hadn't been around, he probably would have gleefully cackled every time I confessed to something, especially when it came to all the times I'd slipped by the sphinxes on my way to go see Grandma Frost. Apparently, I'd snuck off campus more than fifty times since I'd been at Mythos.

"By far the worst infraction of that particular rule ever recorded in the annals of academy history," Linus said almost in a cheery tone, making another mark on his papers.

I slumped over the table a little more.

"And now we come to the charges that are at the heart of these proceedings," he finally said. "Accusations that Miss Frost willfully conspired with Reapers of Chaos to murder students and staff members at the Crius Coliseum, steal artifacts from the coliseum, recover the Helheim Dagger, and use said dagger to free Loki from the prison realm the other gods placed him in."

I shook my head. "No. That's not what happened at all. None of that is true. Not one word of it."

"We'll see," Linus said.

Nickamedes got to his feet. The librarian had been quiet while I'd been questioned, although he'd been taking tons of notes. I wondered if this was the point when he finally went on the attack and actually, you know, defended me.

"So far," Nickamedes said, "you've offered a vastly different interpretation of events than what actually transpired, given that Metis, Ajax, Raven, and I were there to witness some of the things you've accused Gwendolyn of. But you haven't offered one shred of proof that things happened the way you claim they did-not one single shred. Unless you have that proof, I see no reason for this absurd trial to continue any further."

Linus gave his former brother-in-law a thin smile. "Why, I thought you'd never ask, Nickamedes. We do, in fact, have a different perspective on the situation, especially on what transpired at the Crius Coliseum and everything after that. We have a witness who claims to have been present at all the events in question, the person who made the accusations against Miss Frost in the first place. She's been quite convincing in her testimony so far, which is why the charges were initially brought against Miss Frost."

"What witness?" Nickamedes asked in a guarded tone.

"Why don't we bring her in, and you can see for yourself?"

Linus nodded to Agrona, who got to her feet, stepped off the dais, and went over to the entry. Agrona pulled on the door, which slowly opened with another loud screech.

"You can come in now," Agrona called out.

Something whispered out in the hallway, and a second later, the very last person in the world that I expected to see walked into the prison-Vivian Holler.

A Gypsy, just like me. Loki's Champion. And the Reaper girl who'd killed my mom.

Chapter 18

I was just-stunned.

Absolutely stunned that Vivian was back at the academy after all the things she'd done. Tricking me into finding the Helheim Dagger, kidnapping me, slicing my palm open with the dagger, using the weapon and my blood to free Loki.

Anger exploded in me, blocking out everything else. The trial, the Protectorate, the endless questions. All I was aware of was the rage pulsing through my veins-the same red-hot rage I felt whenever I thought of Vivian and how the other girl had murdered my mom-and laughed about it.

Vivian stepped into the prison, flanked by two men and a woman wearing black coveralls. I leaped up out of my chair and started to charge at the other girl, but I'd forgotten about the handcuffs and chain. I lunged for her and almost pulled my shoulders out of their sockets when the chain stopped me short. I looked down at my shackles. This was how Preston had felt, I thought bitterly. The Reaper had wanted to kill me more than anything else, which was exactly what I wanted to do to Vivian right now.

The Reaper girl stepped closer and gave me a sly, satisfied smile, and I knew that I'd reacted exactly how she'd wanted me to.

"Temper, temper," Vivian said in a mocking tone. "See? I told you she was violent."

"When it comes to you, violent doesn't even begin to cover it," I snarled.

Everyone stared at me, and I had to struggle to get my rage under control. Here I was shackled, and Vivian had strolled right into the academy prison as if she had every right to still be at Mythos.

"Long time no see, Gwen," she said.

"Shut up, you Reaper bitch," I snarled again.

Linus pounded his gavel on the table. "Enough! That's enough, from both of you."

I looked at him. "What is she doing here? Why haven't you arrested her and put her on trial for everything that she's done?"

"That's the problem," he said in a thoughtful voice. "Vivian came to us a few weeks ago, right after Loki escaped, and she's been in Protectorate custody ever since . She told us a very interesting story about what happened that night, and your part in it. Quite simply, Miss Holler claims that she is really Nike's Champion-and that you are the one who serves Loki, Miss Frost."

For a moment, the world went black. Completely, utterly black. There was just-nothing. No prison, no Protectorate, no trial. Just darkness. All the air left my lungs, my heart stopped, and all the blood froze in my body. Then, a second passed, and another one, until I finally snapped back to reality.

"She says that she's Nike Champion?" I whispered. "Why would she say that?"

Vivian smirked at me again. "Because it's true, Gwen. You know it's true. I'm Nike's Champion, and you're Loki's Champion, not the other way around, like you've been claiming all this time. Did you really think you would get away with it? The truth always comes out, you know. Good always triumphs over evil."

Once more, rage filled my body that she would come in here and say something so absurd. Was I the only one who could hear the sarcasm in her voice? The acid dripping from her words? Was I the only one who could see the calculation and lies in her eyes? Surely, the Protectorate wouldn't be dumb enough to actually believe her-

My gaze zoomed from one face to another, but to my surprise and horror, they all seemed to be buying her story. Agrona, Inari, Sergei, and Linus all nodded at her words, as though they made perfect sense, as though it was perfectly logical that she was Nike's Champion instead of me.

But there was one person who was as outraged as I was.

"She's your witness?" Nickamedes asked in a harsh voice. "You knowingly let a Reaper of Chaos, let Loki's Champion, back onto the academy grounds? Why would you do something so foolish? So reckless? So stupid?"

Linus looked down his nose at the librarian. "As I said before, Miss Holler tells a very convincing story. Of all of us here, only she and Miss Frost were actually at the Garm gate when Loki was freed. They are the only ones who know what really happened that night."

"Then strap her down here with the snake, and we'll see how long she lasts," I snapped. "Because every word out of her mouth is a lie."

The asp raised its head again at the sound of my voice, peering at me with its bright blue eyes. For a moment, I thought I saw a flicker of understanding in its gaze, but the snake put its head back down before I could be sure. From taking care of Nott and Nyx, I knew that mythological creatures were quite intelligent. I wondered if the asp was as well, if it would be able to see through Vivian's lies when the Protectorate seemed so determined not to.

Linus nodded. "That's precisely what we intend to do, Miss Frost."

The guards flanking Vivian ushered her forward and arranged themselves around the table, with one of them standing at each corner, and Alexei stepping up to occupy the fourth spot. Soon, she was sitting across from me, chained down just like I was, the snake bite on her wrist oozing blood. I looked at the other Gypsy. Frizzy auburn hair; golden eyes; pretty face; lean, strong body. So similar to me, and yet so very different. Since, you know, I wasn't the right-hand girl of the ultimate evil.

Vivian smirked at me again, and I saw that spark of Reaper red in the depths of her eyes. How could the others not see it? Were they blind? Or just so convinced I was guilty that they were ready to believe whatever lies Vivian had told them?

But the worst thing was that the Reaper girl had outsmarted me again, and I hadn't even seen it coming. As soon as the Protectorate had arrested me, I should have known she was involved. Now, here I was, venom in my veins and one wrong word away from being poisoned to death, while she waltzed in like she hadn't done anything wrong. Like she hadn't tricked me into finding the Helheim Dagger, used it to free Loki, and killed Nott while she was at it.

Nott. My heart quivered with pain at the thought of the Fenrir wolf and how she'd fought so fiercely to protect me at the Garm gate, how she'd tried to save me, even though she'd been slowly dying from the Reapers' poison all the while.

Vivian wasn't going to get away with it, I vowed. She wasn't going to get away with murdering Nott and my mom. Somehow, some way, I was going to make her pay for those things-more than she'd ever dreamed.

So I forced myself to put aside my anger and think. The Reaper girl had to have some sort of plan, other than getting me kicked out of the academy or executed by the Protectorate. Sure, she'd be delighted with either one of those, especially the second option, but I knew Vivian well enough to realize that she was always thinking ahead, always plotting her next move. But try as I might, I couldn't figure out what my trial would really get her-or how it tied in with the Reaper attack at the library and the artifacts that had been stolen. The two had to be connected, but I just couldn't figure out how.

Once Vivian was chained, Linus resumed the trial. At least he had the same chilly expression on his face when he looked at her that he'd always shown me.

"Now, Miss Holler, since you were so eager to come here today and tell your side of the story, why don't you have at it?"

"Of course," Vivian said in a soft voice, as though she was the victim in all of this. "It all started at the Crius Coliseum. I was there, finishing up my myth-history assignment when the Reapers attacked . . ."

I sat there and listened while Vivian told the most ridiculous story I'd ever heard. She twisted everything around, blaming me for all the things she'd done. She even claimed that Lucretia was the weapon that Nike had gifted her with and said that Vic had been given to me by Loki himself.

"I knew that Gwen was telling people she was Nike's Champion, but I just thought she was doing it because she was new at Mythos and wanted to impress the other kids," Vivian said in a soft, sweet, innocent voice that made me grind my teeth together. "I didn't realize it was all part of her plan to discredit me until she used the Helheim Dagger to free Loki."

I wanted to throw myself across the table and strangle the other girl, but I couldn't reach her because of the handcuffs and chain. So I eyed the Maat asp, waiting for it to strike out and bite the Reaper girl again and again for all the lies she was telling-but it didn't.

No matter what Vivian said, no matter how outrageous a lie she told, the venom in her veins didn't slowly heat up and roast her from the inside out like it was supposed to, and the snake didn't lash out at her. Instead, the asp slithered out of the groove on the table and twined its tail around Vivian's right wrist, and its head around mine until it was stretched between us like a jeweled rope binding us together. Creepy. I tensed, waiting for the snake's memories to flood my mind, but the only vibe I got off the creature was one of curiosity, as though it really were listening to and weighing her words.