I crept forward another step. “Then why?”
“Because Sisyphus is right. For centuries, Reapers hid in the shadows, sneaking around and waiting for Loki to return. Well, Loki is gone for good now, but we’re still here. And you know what? I’m tired of playing by the Protectorate’s rules. I’m tired of being a good little warrior and pretending to blend in with the regular humans when I’m so much better than they are.” That bright, fanatical light burned in his eyes again. “We’re warriors. We’re the ones with magic and artifacts and fighting skills. We’re the ones with the real power, and we should act like it. We should be in charge, not these weak, inferior mortals who wouldn’t know the sharp end of a sword if you stabbed them in the gut with it.”
I shook my head. “Wow, this Sisyphus guy really did a number on you. He’s totally brainwashed you.”
Lance barked out another laugh. “Sisyphus didn’t do anything but show me the truth about how the world should work. How the world will work, once we’re through with it.”
I took another step forward, adjusting my grip on Babs’s hilt and getting ready to pull the sword free of her scabbard. I would only have one shot to get that scepter away from Lance, and I had to make it count.
“Well, here’s a news flash for you. I don’t care what your evil master plan is, because it’s never going to happen,” I snapped. “The Protectorate will stop you and Sisyphus and all the other Reapers.”
“No, they won’t. The Protectorate won’t be able to stand against us—not with you on our side, Rory.”
“Me? Join the Reapers?” I let out a harsh, mocking laugh. “Now I know you’re crazy.”
Lance tilted his head to the side and gave me a knowing look. “We’ll see about that.”
My heart squeezed with worry. What was he talking about? Why did he think that I would join the Reapers? I would never do that—never. But Lance was talking about it like it was a foregone conclusion. What did he know that I didn’t?
I stepped forward to demand some answers, but the office doors burst open, and Ian and Zoe staggered into the room. My heart lifted, thinking that they were here to help me, but they weren’t the only ones who came into the office.
Half a dozen Reapers stormed in behind them.
*
I drew my sword and whirled around, ready to battle the Reapers, but Lance pointed the gold scepter at me again.
“Stop,” he commanded. “Unless you want to fight some more chimeras.”
Six Reapers was bad enough, but add chimeras to the mix, and they could easily kill us, along with all the other kids partying downstairs. So I bit back a curse and held my position, with Babs still clutched in my hand.
The Reapers brandished their swords at Ian and Zoe and shoved them to the middle of the office, several feet away from where I was standing. I had been so focused on Lance that I hadn’t paid attention to the noises echoing through my earbud, but the fight had not gone Ian and Zoe’s way.
Blood dripped out of Ian’s broken nose, and his knuckles were red and swollen from where he’d hit the Reapers. Zoe had a nasty bruise on her right cheek, and a long bloody gash sliced along her right arm from where a Reaper had cut her with a sword.
Ian stood absolutely still, his hands clenched into fists, the muscles in his neck and shoulders stiff with anger and tension. Zoe winced and cradled her injured arm up against her chest, along with her purse, as if the enormous bag would shield her from further harm. Pain glimmered in her hazel eyes, and blue sparks of magic oozed out of her fingertips and spattered like raindrops onto the thick rugs underfoot.
The two of them were battered but still breathing, so I turned my attention to the Reapers. Like every other Reaper I had ever seen, all six of them were wearing long black cloaks with the hoods pulled up. But to my surprise, they weren’t wearing the usual rubber masks of Loki’s melted face. Instead, these Reapers sported black harlequin masks with large blood-red diamond shapes over their eyes. New masks for a new group of evil. Terrific. Just terrific.
“Good,” Lance drawled. “I’m so glad that Ian and Zoe could join our party.”
Ian drew back his fist and surged forward like he was going to hit Lance, but one of the Reapers grabbed Ian’s shoulder and pressed a dagger up against his throat, making him stop short. The Reaper dug the blade into Ian’s neck, breaking the skin and causing blood to trickle down his throat. The message was clear: quit fighting or get your throat cut. Ian didn’t have a choice, so he quit fighting. For now.
“Good,” Lance repeated. “Now that the Viking has decided to be reasonable, we can continue our conversation.”
“I don’t have anything to say to you,” Ian snarled.
Lance smirked. “Oh, I think you’ll be very interested in what I have to say. Especially since it involves your beloved big brother.”
Ian jerked back, as though he’d been punched in the gut. “What do you mean? What do you know about Drake?”
Lance smirked at him again and started pacing back and forth from one side of the office to the other. He was still clutching the chimera scepter, and he slashed it through the air in time to his movements. I held my breath, wondering if he might accidentally summon a chimera, but nothing happened.
“Guys,” Takeda whispered in an urgent voice through my earbud. “The Protectorate reinforcements will be here in five minutes. Mateo and I are calling in the guards around the mansion and leaving the van right now. Just stay alive until we can get there and help you.”
I kept my face blank, not giving any indication that I’d heard him, but Zoe shifted on her feet, and more blue sparks of magic dripped out of her fingertips. She gave me a worried look. She had heard Takeda too, but she knew as well as I did that it would take him, Mateo, and the guards several minutes to shove their way through all the kids in the mansion and make it up to the office. We could be dead long before they reached us.
Ian didn’t show any sign that he had heard Takeda. Instead, he glared at Lance, still focused on what the other boy had said.
“What do you know about Drake?” Ian demanded again.
Lance stopped pacing, leaned back against the desk, and crossed his arms over his chest. The gold chimera scepter glimmered in his left hand—the hand that was closest to me. Once again, I thought about lunging forward and snatching the scepter away from Lance, but I couldn’t do that. Not while that Reaper still had a dagger at Ian’s throat.