Babs kept babbling at me to fight, fight, fight, but I didn’t need her to tell me that anymore, so I curled my hand around her hilt, muffling the sound of her voice, although I could still feel her lips moving frantically underneath my palm as she continued to shout her warnings. I clenched the sword as tightly as possible, letting the feel of the cold metal in my hand ground me. I also focused on my charm bracelet sliding along my skin and the heart locket swaying back and forth and kissing the inside of my wrist. The cool, soft touch of the jewelry further centered me.
“Come on, Rory.” Covington clenched his hand into an even tighter fist, which made the ruby in his ring burn an even brighter, bloodier red. “You know you want to join us.”
I plastered a smile on my face and nodded, as though I were actually agreeing with him. Then I shuffled toward him again, as though I were still drifting along in that sickening red Reaper fog and was willing to do whatever he told me to. It was the same trick I’d used on Lance when he’d tried to recruit me, and I was betting that Covington would fall for it too, especially since he thought he was controlling me with his creepy ring.
“Wow,” Drake said in a snide voice. “Given everything I’ve heard about her, I didn’t think that artifact would actually work on her. Lance made her out to be a lot tougher than she really is.”
Covington shrugged. “No one can resist this kind of magic, this kind of power.”
The librarian glanced down at his gold signet ring and the embedded ruby, which was still glowing an eerie, sickening blood-red.
He smiled, then looked up, focusing all of his twisted attention on me again. “That’s it. Come here. All you have to do is say yes, and you’ll be a Reaper for the rest of your life. Don’t you want that, Rory? Don’t you want that more than anything?”
I smiled at him again, as though the thought made me happy. All the while, though, I kept clutching Babs’s hilt, focusing on the feel of her in my hand, along with my charm bracelet around my wrist. That was what was real, not the red Reaper fog that Covington wanted to drown me in forever.
I wasn’t a Reaper, and I never, ever would be—no matter what. Aunt Rachel was right. My parents had made their own choices, their own decisions, their own mistakes. But I was my own person, and I made my own decisions. And I knew exactly what I was going to do next: wipe that smug smirk off Covington’s face.
“You’re right,” I said in a soft, dreamy voice, easing closer and closer to him. “I should become a Reaper. Everyone hates me anyway. I might as well give them a good reason for it. Don’t you think?”
Covington nodded. “Exactly my point.”
I nodded back. “Not to mention all the fun I could have, doing whatever I wanted. Taking whatever I wanted. Hurting whomever I wanted. Hurting all those kids at the academy the way they’ve been hurting me ever since they found out about my parents.”
Covington smiled. “That’s the spirit.”
“Don’t do it, Rory,” Ian said again, despite the chimeras still snarling at him. “Don’t listen to him! He’s just using you the way Reapers use everyone—”
Lance waved the scepter, and the two chimeras stalked toward Ian. But the Viking kept right on talking, despite the fact that the creatures could attack him at any moment.
“Don’t listen to him, Rory!” Ian said. “Don’t—”
I raised my hand, cutting him off before he got himself killed. I appreciated Ian trying to save me, but I had already saved myself—and I was going to save him too.
“It’s all right, Ian,” I said in that same soft, dreamy voice, pretending I was still under the artifact’s spell. “I know what I have to do now.”
I stopped right in front of Covington. Sly satisfaction filled the librarian’s face.
“And what’s that, Rory?” he asked. “What do you have to do now?”
This time, when I smiled at him, it was a genuine expression. “This.”
I tightened my grip on Babs, then snapped up the sword and brought it down on his hand as hard as I could.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Covington’s eyes widened as he realized I wasn’t under his spell anymore. He started to jerk his hand away, but I was quicker.
Besides, I was a Spartan—and I didn’t miss.
The sword slammed into his hand. The second Babs’s blade touched the signet ring, a searing red light filled the entire rotunda, making everyone yell and avert their eyes from the harsh glare, even the chimeras.
Crack!
The blood-red stone shattered under Babs’s blade, and a second later, the intense light snuffed out. I blinked and blinked until my vision cleared. The stone had vanished, although fire had taken its place—a literal ring of fire around Covington’s hand.
The librarian screamed, yanked the burning ring off his finger, and tossed it onto the floor, where the gold started to melt. But the flames continued to scorch Covington’s hand, and he snarled and slapped his fingers up against his red cloak, trying to smother the fire.
“Yeah! Take that, Reaper scum!” Babs called out, proud of the destruction she’d caused.
I grinned. I was proud of her too.
While I dealt with Covington, Ian took care of the chimeras, which were rearing back on their haunches, getting ready to strike. Ian plucked a dagger off his belt, drew his arm back, and threw the weapon at one of the creatures. The blade sank deep into the chimera’s throat, and the monster screamed and vanished in a cloud of smoke at the mortal wound.
The second chimera hissed and sprang at him, but Ian was expecting the attack, and he went down on one knee and sliced his ax all the way across the creature’s chest. That chimera also screamed in pain, and then it too vanished in a cloud of smoke.
With the monsters out of the way, Ian charged forward and ran up beside me.
“Get them!” Covington screamed, finally snuffing out the fire on his hand. “Kill them, you fools!”
Lance and Drake raised their weapons and charged at us, and Ian and I stepped up to meet them.
Clash-clash-clang!
Clash-clash-clang!
The sound of our weapons crashing together rang out through the rotunda. I battled Lance, while Ian took on Drake.
Lance was a good fighter, but he was no match for me, and he knew it. Almost immediately, he started swinging his sword in wider and more reckless arcs, trying to take me by surprise, but I anticipated everything he was going to do, and I easily avoided his clumsy blows. His Roman speed was the only thing that was saving him right now, and he’d get tired and slow down soon enough.
Lance realized it too, and he decided to fight dirty. He snapped up the gold scepter to conjure more chimeras, but I slashed out with my sword, making him drop his hand before he could complete the summoning motion.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ian swing his ax, trying to bury the weapon in his brother’s shoulder, instead of straight into his heart like he should have. Drake dodged the blow, stepped up, and punched Ian in the face. His massive Viking strength made Ian stagger back.