Page 3 (1/2)

His body tensed, his hands clenched into fists, and he eyed Inari like he was thinking about tackling the other an," I said, not wanting hi about this is okay"

Linus opened his mouth, probably to order Inari to slap the handcuffs on an’s face made him reconsider He stared at his son, then back at me

"Fine," he snapped "No handcuffs I assume you won’t be so stupid as to try to escape"

I shook my head No, I wasn’t that stupid I knew there was no way I could get away froth or an Aht have had a chance, but not with just o," Linus said

And with those words, the three members of the Protectorate made me step away from the fireplace and forced an walked ahead of ei, Inari, and Alexei Together, the six of us left Kaldi’s

As soon as the door shut behind Inari, I could hear the sharp screech-screech-screech of chairs being pushed back, along with the thump-thump-thump of footsteps I looked over my shoulder Everyone inside the shop had their faces and phones pressed up against the s, trying to see as going to happen next I could have told theain, but not entirely from dread this time It was mid-January, and the air was bitterly cold Hard pellets of snow gusted on the fierce winter wind, battering against our bodies, and the sky above was dark and gray, as though all the blue had bled out of it, even though it wasn’t even four o’clock yet

"Ah," Sergei said in a fond voice, turning his face to the howling wind "It reminds me of Russia in the winter"

We set off down the sidewalk Kaldi Coffee was located on the h Cypress Mountain, and more and more people stuck their heads outside to stare at us as we passed The ritzy suburb and all its high-end shops were here to see to the needs of everyone at Mythos Academy, so all the business owners and workers knew the score when it caical world Most of them were former Mythos students themselves, who’d decided to settle down near the acade on were the few tourists who’d braved the cold to colanced out the s at

"You’re an repeated "Gwen didn’t free Loki-she tried to stop it fro We all did"

"All? By that, I assuroup of friends," Linus said "Soht you were finally calhter, but it seeotten yourself into even irl"

I didn’t care if he was Logan’s dad and apparently soirl like I was the worst of the worst grated on my last nerve

"I have a name," I snapped "It’s Gwen, Gwen Frost Obviously, you know it since you announced it to the whole coffee shop"

Linus looked over his shoulder at irl"

My hands clenched into fists, but there was nothing I could do about his cold words-or the fact that he seeht Not exactly how I’d pictured things going if I everto push past s

"Well, can you at least tell ?" I asked

"You’ll see," Linus said in a cryptic tone "It’s not far"

We reached the last shop at the end of the street I’d thought the Protectorate ht shove s always seeo in the movies, but instead Linus crossed the street, and the other members of the Protectorate forcedme back to the academy Good At least I had friends there, folks like Professor Metis She’d knoas going on and figure out how toThat I hadn’t freed Loki on purpose, that I’d done everything I could to keep the evil god locked away, even if I’d coate to the acadeiven the afternoon off No one looked up as we passed the two stone sphinxes perched on the twelve-foot-high walls on either side of the gate-except me

Like all the statues at the acadeforstupid so they could come to life, break free of their stone shells, leap down, and rip me to pieces I wasn’t quite as creeped out by the statues as I used to be, but their fierce expressions still h the gates

But today, the sphinxes’ heads were bowed, and their eyes were fixed on their feet, almost as if they were afraid to look up as the members of the Protectorate marchedI could always count on, it was for the statues to be watching me Now that they weren’t, it al their backs to ," Inari said

I dropped aze froan kept arguing with his dad, while Sergei and Inari re at ain, I wondered what kind of warrior he was I didn’t get the sauan, but I could tell that he was dangerous just like the Spartan was

We wound our way along the ash-gray cobblestone paths that crisscrossed ca by my dorm, Styx Hall I looked up at the turret where my room was I wondered if the Protectorate knew about Nyx, the Fenrir wolf pup that I was taking care of Worry tightened my stomach If they knew about Nyx, they would probably take her away from me Most members of the Pantheon didn’t trust creatures like Fenrir wolves because the Reapers enslaved, poisoned, and trained so many of them to kill warriors