Reapers and Protectorate members lay crumpled next to each other on the ground. Their torn black and gray cloaks were draped over their bodies like makeshift shrouds, while their swords, staffs, and spears were stuck point-first in the grass like crude crosses marking where they had fallen. But they weren’t the only ones who had died. So had kids, professors, and other people who worked at the academy, and their bodies littered the quad like broken dolls, along with those of the Eir gryphons and other creatures that had taken part in the battle.
The photos took me right back there to that awful day. In an instant, the briefing room vanished, and I was in the midst of the fight. Yells and screams echoed from one side of the quad to the other and back again, along with the violent, continued clash-clash-clash of weapons crashing into each other. I was yelling too, swinging my sword at Reaper after Reaper, cutting down as many of them as I could, even though they just kept coming and coming and coming…
Aunt Rachel reached over and grabbed my hand, pulling me out of my memories. No doubt the same ones darkened her own thoughts. I squeezed her hand back, grateful that she was here. We might be Spartans, but that had been a battle unlike any other, and I would never, ever forget it—and all the people and creatures who had died so that we all might finally be free of Loki.
Linus hit some more buttons, and the battle scenes faded away, replaced by shots of people moving around the quad, cleaning up the destruction. Gwen appeared in several of the photos, hauling away debris with the help of Logan Quinn, her boyfriend and Linus’s son. Gwen’s other friends, including Daphne Cruz and Carson Callahan, also showed up on the screens, along with Professor Aurora Metis, Gwen’s mentor, and Nickamedes, the head librarian at the North Carolina academy.
Seeing them all again made my heart squeeze tight with longing. They were my friends too—my only friends—and I missed them all terribly. More than once, I had thought about transferring to the North Carolina academy, but Aunt Rachel’s job was here, and I didn’t want to leave her. Besides, I had foolishly thought that things would be better, that the other kids might give me a chance—a real chance—after I had fought alongside Gwen and the others. But of course things hadn’t worked out that way, not at all.
“As you all know, the North Carolina academy was decimated by the final battle with Loki and his Reapers of Chaos,” Linus said. “A lot of progress was made over the summer, and the school year started as usual, but the cleanup still continues at the academy.”
“So what?” Aunt Rachel asked. “Rory and I know how damaged the academy was. We were there, remember?”
“Yes, I remember,” Linus said. “And your bravery was one of the reasons we were able to win, along with the help of the Eir gryphons that you brought to the academy.”
Aunt Rachel sat up a little straighter, and so did I. It was always nice to be recognized. Everyone else at the table nodded at us, acknowledging our contributions as well, except for Ian, who rolled his eyes. What was his problem? I didn’t even know the guy, and he already hated me. Well, the feeling was quickly becoming mutual.
“Unfortunately,” Linus continued, “what we didn’t realize at the time was that not all of the Reapers were killed or captured.”
He hit some more buttons, and several security-camera images appeared on the monitors. Each one showed Reapers sprinting across the grounds, climbing over the wall that ringed the academy, and running away.
I frowned. “I had heard that some of the Reapers had escaped, but I thought the Protectorate was working to round them up and put them in prison.”
Linus nodded. “That’s true. After Loki was defeated, the Protectorate knew there was still work to do, still Reapers to apprehend. But we wanted everyone to get on with their lives as best they could, so we’ve downplayed the danger as much as possible. Ever since the battle, we’ve been quietly hunting down the rest of the Reapers. But I’m afraid we’ve had our work cut out for us.”
“What do you mean?” Aunt Rachel asked.
“The Reapers all obeyed Agrona and her lieutenants, but now that she’s dead and the others are in prison, there’s no one left to keep the remaining Reapers in check.” Linus rubbed his head, as though it were suddenly aching. “Many of the Reapers have become bolder and more violent than ever before. Slaughtering mythological creatures to sell their fur, teeth, and talons on the black market. Kidnapping wealthy mythological citizens and holding them for ransom. Murdering Protectorate guards. Some Reapers have even been stealing from regular mortals, robbing banks, jewelry stores, and the like.” He sniffed, indicating how low-class he thought that was.
What he was saying made sense, but it certainly didn’t make me feel any better. Then again, I imagined that Linus felt worse and had more guilt about the Reapers than anyone else, since Agrona, his former wife, had only married him so she could spy on the Protectorate. Linus had finally discovered the horrible truth about Agrona but not before she had almost turned Logan, his son, into her Reaper puppet.
“But I thought that things would be better once Loki was gone,” I said. “That the Reapers would collapse without him. That we would all finally be safe.”
Linus shook his head. “I had hoped that as well, but it hasn’t turned out that way. In fact, things have gotten far worse than we ever imagined they would.”
“Worse how?” I asked.
“From what we’ve learned over the past few months, a secret group has existed within the Reapers for years, people who were never really interested in freeing Loki but just used the other Reapers as a way to hide their own evil actions,” Linus said. “These Reapers didn’t participate in the final battle against the god, even though they were at the North Carolina academy.”
“So what did they do?” Aunt Rachel asked.
“Their goal was something far more sinister: stealing as many artifacts from the Library of Antiquities as they could while everyone else was busy fighting.”
Linus hit some more buttons, and yet more security-camera photos popped up, this time showing Reapers smashing into glass display cases in the library, grabbing the weapons, armor, and other objects inside, and leaving with them.
“Given the overall destruction at the academy, we didn’t uncover the thefts for several days,” he continued. “By that point, this secret group of Reapers had completely vanished and had gone back underground to resume their normal lives in the mythological world the way they would after any battle. Only this time with the bonus of powerful magical artifacts.”
Images of weapons, armor, and more appeared on the screens, flashing by one after another. The Reapers hadn’t just stolen a few trinkets—they’d swiped dozens of artifacts from the library. A shiver slid down my spine. A single artifact could cause plenty of damage in the wrong hands. I didn’t even want to think about all the people and creatures the Reapers could hurt and kill with this many artifacts.