Spartan Promise

by Jennifer Estep

  “I’m sorry. I could tell on the bus this morning how much you liked Ian. He’s a good guy. I’m sure that he didn’t mean to hurt or mislead you.”

  “Why are you sorry?” she snapped. “You won, and I lost. It’s as simple as that. For some reason I don’t understand, he actually likes you. He and Zoe Wayland and Mateo Solis. They’re your new best friends. I tried to talk some sense into Ian. I told him about your parents being Reapers, but he wouldn’t listen to me.”

  “Ian already knew about my parents being Reapers,” I snapped back. “How could he not? You and the other kids never let me forget it. Not for one lousy second.”

  Kylie’s lips pinched together, and something almost like regret flashed in her eyes, but she didn’t say she was sorry, and I knew that she wouldn’t. But I had said I was sorry, and that was all I could do.

  “You should get one of the Protectorate guards to check out your arm,” I said.

  “It’s fine,” she muttered. “Just a few scratches. See? They’re not even bleeding anymore.”

  She wiped away a last bit of blood, showing me that the ugly gashes had faded to thin pink lines. I frowned again. Weird. The injuries had appeared really deep and painful a minute ago. Maybe all the blood had made them seem worse than they actually were.

  I looked at Kylie again. I needed to say one more thing, something that had been on my mind for a long time.

  “I really am sorry that you thought Ian liked you more than he did. I know what it’s like to have a crush on a guy and not have him feel the same way. But my parents being Reapers? That wasn’t my fault. Not at all. Not one little bit. I’m sorry for all the horrible things they did and for all the people they hurt, but that’s on them. It’s not on me. Those were their actions, their mistakes, not mine, and I’m working with the Protectorate to make sure that the Reapers don’t hurt anyone else. I hope you’ll remember that from now on.”

  I stared at Kylie another moment, then turned and walked away, leaving her sitting alone in the corner.

  Chapter Eleven

  I rejoined Zoe and Ian, who were still hovering over Mateo’s shoulder.

  Thanks to his Roman speed, Mateo’s fingers were flying over his keyboard almost too fast for me to follow. I opened my mouth to ask if he had found anything yet, but Zoe shook her head, warning me not to interrupt him when he was in the zone.

  Her hazel gaze dropped to my arm, and her eyebrows drew together in confusion. “Why are you scratching your arm like that?”

  I looked down. I hadn’t realized it, but I was digging my fingernails into my right forearm over and over again. “I don’t know. It’s just really itchy.”

  “Maybe the basilisk feathers gave you a rash.” Zoe snickered at her bad joke.

  I rolled my eyes, but part of me was worried that she might be right, so I pushed up my sleeve. To my relief, my skin looked normal. My healing magic would probably prevent my getting a rash, even if it hadn’t saved me from sneezing at all the feathers. But my arm kept itching, so I kept scratching it until the sensation finally faded away.

  Takeda finished his conversation with the Protectorate guard and walked over to us. “The guards have finished evacuating and searching the mansion, and all of the Mythos students are in the parking lot. The guards have also spoken with Professor Dalaja, and she’s agreed to cancel the rest of the field trip.”

  “Why didn’t you talk to her and tell her what was going on?” I asked.

  “Because as far as all the other professors know, I’m the new gym coach,” Takeda replied. “I have my own cover to maintain, the same as you, and the fewer people who know about the Midgard, the better.”

  “So the guards also didn’t tell Professor Dalaja about Rory, Kylie, and me being in the library when the basilisk attacked,” Ian said.

  “That’s right. The guards told Dalaja that they got an anonymous tip that there might be a robbery attempt, which is why the Protectorate was surveilling the mansion. They didn’t tell her that Serket’s Pen was stolen and that whoever took it unleashed a basilisk.”

  So Takeda and the Protectorate were going to sweep this whole thing under the rug, just like they had done when Lance Fuller had stolen the chimera scepter from the Library of Antiquities and when Covington and Drake had tried to get their hands on that creepy black jewelry box at the Cormac Museum.

  “Dalaja doesn’t want to upset the students any more than necessary, and she has agreed to tell everyone that a power surge knocked out the lights.” Takeda nodded at Ian and me. “So you two need to go to the parking lot and ride the bus back to the academy with everyone else. I’ve already got someone escorting Kylie outside.”

  Footsteps scuffed on the floor, and Kylie walked past us, along with a Protectorate guard. She kept her eyes straight ahead and didn’t look at Ian, me, or anyone else as she left the library.

  “Why do we need to get back on the bus?” Ian asked. “Shouldn’t we stay here and help you guys figure out how Covington and Drake stole the artifact?”

  “We can figure that out when we get back to the Bunker,” Takeda said. “Right now, the most important thing is safely returning the students to the academy. So you and Rory need to get on the bus and pretend everything is okay.”

  Things were definitely not okay, but Takeda didn’t want to worry the other students. I could understand that. Now we had to hope that Kylie would keep quiet about everything she’d seen and heard.

  Takeda told Ian and me to go straight to the Bunker when we got back to the academy and said that he, Zoe, and Mateo would be there as soon as they finished here. Then Ian and I left the library.

  The two of us headed back to the dining room, which was a disaster area. In their panic, the Mythos students had overturned most of the tables and chairs, many of which had also been smashed to pieces in the chaos. All the food had ended up on the floor and had been trampled into a thick, soupy mess, including the cookies. My stomach grumbled in disappointment.

  A few of the estate staff members stood along one wall, their eyes wide and mouths hanging open, as if they were so shocked by the enormous mess that they simply didn’t know where or how to start cleaning it up.

  I tiptoed through the squishy carpet of smooshed sandwiches and flattened fruit and found my messenger bag, which had ended up under one of the overturned buffet tables. Ian fished his duffel bag out of the debris as well. Then we slipped out a side door, walked around the mansion, and stepped into the parking lot, where the other students were milling around the bus.

  “A power surge? Really?”

  “That didn’t seem like a power surge.”

  “I still say it was some sort of Reaper attack.”

  The students threw out all those theories and a dozen more about what had happened. They were all so busy talking and texting on their phones that no one noticed Ian and me creeping up to the edges of the crowd.

  Except for Professor Dalaja.

  She was standing at the end of the parking lot with one of the Protectorate guards. The professor’s black gaze locked onto Ian and me. Uh-oh.

  But I couldn’t change the fact that she had seen us, so I nodded at her as if everything was fine and it was perfectly normal for Ian and me to be slipping out of the mansion thirty minutes after everyone else had left.

  She eyed us for a few seconds longer, then started talking to the guard again.

  One crisis averted. Now to check on another potential one.

  I spotted Kylie standing with Gretchen about twenty feet away. Unlike everyone else, the two of them weren’t talking or texting. Kylie had her head down and was chewing on her fingernail, while Gretchen kept tapping her foot and checking her tablet, clearly ready to get on the bus and leave.

  Professor Dalaja finished her conversation with the Protectorate guard, then waved her hand to get everyone’s attention. “All right, guys. Listen up.”

  Everyone fell silent. Dalaja stared at first one student, then another. Her gaze lingered on me for a moment
before moving on.

  “Okay, it’s been confirmed. A power surge knocked out the lights and locked the doors. Apparently, there have been a lot of…electrical issues at the mansion lately, which is why the Protectorate guards were here, checking on things.” Her lips puckered, as though the lies left a sour taste in her mouth. “Anyway, everything is fine now, but I’ve decided that we should head back to the academy.”

  A collective groan arose from the students. Now that everything was supposedly okay, no one wanted to go back to school. It was much more fun to stand around and gossip about what had happened.

  “I know, I know. You’re all very disappointed that you won’t get to learn anything else today,” Dalaja continued. “But don’t worry. I still plan on quizzing you about everything we saw on the tour this morning.”

  Another groan, a little louder this time.

  The professor smiled. “And I also plan to give everyone a little extra credit for being such good sports about this.”

  This time, instead of groans, a few woo-hoos! of appreciation rippled through the crowd.

  “Come on, guys. Let’s go.”

  Dalaja waved her hand again, and kids started lining up to get on the bus. She stood by the door and checked her roll sheet, making sure everyone was here. Once again, Ian and I were the last two students in line. The professor’s eyes narrowed as we approached her, and she looked us over, almost as if she were checking to see if we had any visible injuries.

  “Rory, Ian,” she said. “I’m so glad that the two of you are okay and weren’t hurt during the…incident.”

  Incident? The way she said that made me think she knew exactly what had happened. But how could she possibly know? Maybe the Protectorate guards hadn’t been as convincing as Takeda had hoped. Maybe the professor had overheard one of the guards talking about the stolen artifact and the destruction the basilisk had left behind. Then another, far more chilling thought occurred to me.

  Maybe Professor Dalaja was a Reaper.

  No. That couldn’t be right. She had been in the dining hall when the lights went out, and I had heard her trying to calm everyone down. She definitely wasn’t the one who had stolen Serket’s Pen and summoned the basilisk.

  But that didn’t mean that she couldn’t have helped the Reapers do those things.

  No one knew more about the Idun Estate than Professor Dalaja. If anyone could have helped Covington and Drake slip into the mansion unnoticed, steal Serket’s Pen, and vanish without a trace, it would be her.

  “Rory?” she asked, concern creasing her face. “Are you okay? You look pale.”

  “Oh, I’m fine. I guess I’m just a little overwhelmed by all the excitement.”

  I forced myself to smile at her, as though my heart wasn’t aching and my stomach wasn’t churning at the thought that she might be a Reaper. Dalaja was my favorite professor, and she had gone out of her way to be kind and fair to me. I didn’t want to think she was a Reaper, but I couldn’t ignore the possibility either. Not after my parents had so thoroughly fooled me.

  I started to get on the bus, but she held out her hand, stopping me. I tensed. So did Ian, who was standing behind me.

  Dalaja reached out, and I dropped my hand to Babs’s hilt, ready to yank the sword free. I didn’t want to hurt the professor, but I would if she attacked me—

  She plucked something off my shoulder and held it up. A small black feather tinged with red gleamed in her fingertips. “Curious. Where did this come from?”

  I grimaced. So did Ian. Zoe and I must have missed that feather when she was helping me get rid of them earlier.

  I forced myself to smile at Dalaja again. “I sat down on one of those big, fat cushions in the library. It probably came out of that. You know how many feathers are in those things.”

  Yeah, it was a totally weak excuse, and I could tell she didn’t believe me. I wouldn’t have believed me either, given how high and shrill my voice sounded.

  Professor Dalaja’s gaze flicked from me to the feather and back again. After a few seconds, she dropped her hand to her side, with the basilisk feather still clutched in her fingers. “Well, you two had better get on board.”

  “Yeah. Sure. Thanks, Professor.”

  I ducked my head again and stepped onto the bus. Ian got on behind me. We had to wait for the kids in front of us to take their seats, and Ian leaned forward.

  “What was that about?” he whispered. “Do you think she knows we were in the library fighting the basilisk?”

  “I don’t know,” I whispered back. “But she saw us sneak into the parking lot, and that feather on my jacket certainly didn’t help. If we’re lucky, maybe she’ll think we were making out somewhere.”

  He tilted his head to the side. “Making out, huh?”

  Too late, I realized what I had said, and a hot blush flooded my cheeks. “Um, yeah.” I should have stopped talking then, but for some reason, I kept right on going, like Babs always did. “Not that I ever think about making out with you or anything.”

  Ian’s mouth quirked up into a sly, knowing smile.

  For the second time, I should have stopped talking, but I had definitely been hanging around Babs too long, and the words kept pouring out of my mouth, each one more cringe-worthy and embarrassing than the last. “I mean, making out is as good an excuse as any, right? It’s totally believable. All the Mythos kids do it, especially in the library.”

  Heat sparked in his eyes, making them gleam like silver stars. He leaned down even closer to me. “Then maybe we should try it out for ourselves sometime.”

  His low, deep voice made my toes curl, and the warmth in my cheeks spread to other parts of my body. Was he…flirting with me?

  Happiness filled me, but it was quickly replaced by panic. I didn’t know how to flirt. What was I supposed to say? What could I say without sounding like a complete lovesick idiot?

  The kids in front of me finally moved. I had already embarrassed myself enough, so I hurried down the aisle. Just like on the ride over here, only two seats were left in the very back—right across the aisle from Kylie.

  Unlike this morning, the Valkyrie hadn’t saved Ian a seat. Instead, she was sitting by the window, with Gretchen in the aisle seat next to her. For once, Gretchen wasn’t messing with her tablet. Instead, she tapped her fingers on her leg in a quick, staccato rhythm, as if she couldn’t wait to leave. Yeah, me too.

  Kylie looked at me, then her gaze flicked to Ian. Hurt shimmered in her eyes, and a few gold sparks streamed out of her fingertips. She quickly curled her hands into fists, as if she wanted to hide the sparks and the telltale sign of emotion, then stared out the window.

  Seeing how upset she was snuffed out my own confusing mix of happiness and panic at flirting with Ian. The hot blush slowly left my cheeks, although more than a little acidic guilt bubbled up in my chest to take its place.

  We might have saved Kylie from the basilisk, but in some ways, without even meaning to, Ian and I had hurt her far worse than the monster’s talons had.

  Chapter Twelve

  Nothing happened on the ride back to the academy, and thirty minutes later, the bus pulled into the gym parking lot. Home, sweet home.

  To my surprise, Gretchen was on her feet and striding down the aisle before the bus had even come to a complete stop. Weird. Why was she in such a hurry to get off? Maybe she had gotten bus sick like Zoe always did and didn’t want to puke her guts out in front of everyone.

  Kylie also seemed surprised that her friend had left her behind. She surged to her feet and hurried down the aisle too, although she wasn’t able to catch up to Gretchen before the other kids got up and stepped out into the aisle, blocking her path.

  Since Ian and I were in the back of the bus, we were the last two people to get off. By the time we stepped into the parking lot, most of the other kids had already drifted away. Gretchen was long gone, but Kylie was standing with some of her other Valkyrie friends.

  Ian and I walked by them, and Kylie del
iberately turned her back to us. I gritted my teeth, expecting her to make some snarky comment about my parents being Reapers, but she stayed quiet and let the other girls do the talking. Weird. I would have thought that Kylie would be meaner than usual, but maybe she’d decided to give me a break since I’d saved her from the basilisk.

  By this point, it was after three o’clock, and classes were finished for the day. Throngs of students crisscrossed the quad, heading to the dining hall to get some food, over to the library to start on their homework, or down the hill to their dorms to relax. And of course, everyone had their phones in hand, getting caught up on the day’s news.

  “Did you hear what happened on that field trip?”

  “Yeah! The lights went out and scared everyone to death.”

  “No, man. I heard it was Reapers. And they attacked everyone.”

  Naturally, most of the gossip had to do with our trip, and each excited rumor was more ridiculous than the last. I grimaced and picked up my pace, with Ian walking beside me.

  The two of us skirted around the other kids, crossed the quad, and headed into the Library of Antiquities. We went up to the second floor, snuck into the secret elevator, and rode it down to the Bunker.

  We stepped into the briefing room, but the area was empty. It must have taken Takeda, Zoe, and Mateo longer than expected to finish up at the Idun Estate.

  I went over to my desk, removed my earbud, and put it down, along with my bag. I also unhooked Babs’s scabbard from my belt. The sword had been taking a nap, and she cracked her eye open and blinked at me a few times, still half-asleep. I propped her up in a chair at the briefing table. Babs yawned, then snapped her eye shut and went back to sleep.

  Ian pulled out his own earbud, then grabbed his ax from his duffel bag. I peered down the hallway, but the elevator was still here, and it didn’t look like Takeda, Zoe, and Mateo were going to show up for a few more minutes. Good. That gave me time to ask Ian about something that had been bothering me ever since I had talked to Kylie in the mansion.