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My hand tightened around Vic’s hilt "Believe me when I tell you that this will be the last tietting out of here alive"

Vivian let out a happy laugh "Oh please As if you could ever beat me in hand-to-hand combat Even if by some miracle that happened, you’d still be too late to save your precious boyfriend I told you I was going to take away everything you love, Gwen I think Logan will be a nice start, don’t you?"

Rage erupted inaway the cold fear that had paralyzed ed at Vivian The irl, who backed up a few steps

"Now!" she screamed

More Reapers streamed into the roo outside for her signal, but I didn’t care Right now, I only had eyes for Vivian I threw ht the sword down as hard and fast as I could

CLANG!

Red and purple sparks hissed through the air as Vivian brought Lucretia up, stopping Vic froet through her defense, but I couldn’t do it Not only was Vivian a Gypsy, but she was a Valkyrie too, which er than I was I reer a second later when she snapped up her fist and punched me in the stomach

Stars flashed in front of ic streaertips I couldn’t really tell The force of the blow knocked s, but I was in such a rage that I sucked down another breath and threw ain

I had never wanted to kill Vivian as much as I did in that ht now The Reaper girl had already murdered oing to help turn Logan intointoI couldn’t even begin to i Loki’s soul in his body would do to the Spartan Hoould destroy everything thatto happen, I vowed Because I was going to save Logan, and I was going to stop the Reapers-starting with chopping Vivian’s head off her shoulders

Clash-clash-clang!

Back and forth through the library we fought, turning over tables and chairs, ripping downover books in our fury to kill each other Every once in a while, I got a glian and Alexei out of the corner ofher own She’d used the dagger in her purse to take down one Reaper already Morgan snatched up the sword of the warrior she’d just killed and attacked the Reaper as battling Alexei,the evil warrior ju the Great Transforainst the Reaper’s vicious blows, threw the book down He grabbed the tords out of his backpack and turned to battle another Reaper as creeping up on his other side

I would have liked to help theer, the Valkyrie had been right when she’d said that she was the better fighter The surprise of my initial attack had already worn off, and she went on the offensive, swinging Lucretia a little closer to le pass she made

"Come on, Gwen!" Vic yelled underneath my palm "Cut her to ribbons! Hack the!" I yelled back

I quickenedto surprise Vivian again That didn’t happen, but soood did-she tripped over one of the books that had fallen to the floor and stuh a Reaper’s stoer out of the chest of the last one I looked at theether, weapons up, the three of us advanced on Vivian

"What are you going to do now that all your friends are dead?" I said in ain front of her

Vivian looked left and right, but Alexei and Morgan fanned out, cutting off her escape routes

"And now, I think it’s tiet what you deserve," I snarled "For my mom and Nott and everyone else you’ve ever hurt"

"Sorry, Gwen," Vivian said, grinning once more "Maybe someday you’ll learn that you can’t beat me-and that Chaos will alin"

I rushed forward, but even as I did, I kneas going to be too late-too late again

Vivian let out an ear-piercing whistle, and the glass ceiling above my head shattered

I threwto get out of the way and protect lass as best I could Beside an did the same A shadow blotted out the sun, and a Black roc crashed down, creating a s were a slick, shiny black, although I could see the crih its thick feathers, as well as that Reaper-red spark that burned deep in its inky black eyes The Black roc pecked atout like the point of a sword about to run h I shrieked and rolled under a table away fros, shattering it like athe wooden top to tilt to one side

Vivian hurried over to the roc and threw herself into the leather harness on the bird’s back "Fly! Fly! Fly!" she screas wide and launched itself off the ground It hovered in thetrouble fully taking off, black wings flapping and ripping even more books off the shelves until the heavy voluled out froot to my feet, and rushed forward, but I was too late The bird let out a series of harsh cas, pu

I cranedI could do to stop the bird So for the second time in my life, I watched Vivian and her Black roc soar up into the sky

I stared up at the hole in the ceiling, as if I could make Vivian and her roc come back, as if I could reach up, latch on to the bird, and drag them both back down into the library, if only I wished hard and long enough for it But they were gone, and all the wishing in the world wouldn’t bring thean

If Agrona hadn’t gotten to hian was already gone, that the Reapers had already worked their foul ic on him, that they’d already forced Loki’s soul into his body, but I pushed the horrible thoughts away and forced myself to breathe-just breathe In and out, in and out, in and out, until I felt I was in control ofto totally lose it

Alexei recovered quicker than I did He got to his feet, put his swords down, pulled his cell phone out of his jeans, and called soan

No answer

I tried the Spartan again, but the call went straight to his voice mail And a third time, with the same result I tried Oliver next, then Kenzie, Daphne, and Carson Nobody answered, and I kneas because they couldn’t The Reapers had already put their plan into rona and whoever she had working for her had killed them already

No I couldn’t think like that I just couldn’t There was still tian

"No one’s answering their phone," I told Alexei "What about you?"