The two swords continued to snipe at each other, each insult and boast more outrageous and outlandish than the last.
I grinned at Gwen. “Sounds like a plan to me.”
Ian and I waited until their plane took off, then left the airport and returned to campus. But our work for the day wasn’t finished. It was just beginning.
We grabbed some supplies, then met Zoe, Mateo, Aunt Rachel, Takeda, and Professor Dalaja. Together we hiked up the mountain to the Eir Ruins. Even though it was the last thing I wanted to do, I forced myself to step into the main courtyard.
It was a gray, barren wasteland.
All the flowers had died, shriveled up, and turned to ash, just like I had seen when I was talking to Sigyn in the dreamscape ruins. The sight had been bad enough then, but now, seeing it in broad daylight made it that much more real—and that much more heartbreaking.
I bent down and touched a shriveled pansy, but it crumbled to purple ash at my touch. Tears welled up in my eyes, streaked down my cheeks, and dropped to the dusty ground.
Aunt Rachel rested a hand on my shoulder. “It’s not your fault, Rory. Sigyn told you that it was the flowers’ choice. They gave up their lives for you of their own free will.”
“I know,” I whispered. “But that doesn’t make it any easier to bear.”
We weren’t the only ones visiting the ruins. A few minutes later, a series of familiar screeches rang out, and Balder and Brono spiraled down from the sky and landed in the courtyard. The two gryphons and the others who had fought in the library had been nursing their injuries, just like the rest of us, so I hadn’t seen much of any of them over the past few days.
I ran over and hugged their necks. The gryphons head-butted me the way they always did. I laughed and petted them.
Balder and Brono looked out over the courtyard with the same sad expression I’d had. This was their home, and they were mourning and missing it just as much as I was.
But maybe, just maybe, I could fix that.
I walked over to the broken stone fountain, slung my messenger bag down onto the rim, and pulled out some of the supplies I had brought along: the white Chloris box and the potted winterbloom.
I placed the potted winterbloom on the fountain rim so that it could soak up some of the sun. Then I sat down next to it and placed the box on my lap. My friends gathered around me.
“Are you sure the box just contains seeds?” Zoe asked. “Covington could have lied about that. Or worse, put something in the box that will kill us.”
I shrugged. “He thought he was going to win, so he had no reason to lie to me at that point. Besides, I want to see what’s in the box. Don’t you guys?”
Everyone nodded, including the gryphons. So I slid Babs out of her scabbard and sliced her blade across my hand. I winced at the sting and allowed my blood to drip onto the white Chloris box.
“Trying to open the box with your blood didn’t work before,” Professor Dalaja pointed out.
“That’s because I didn’t know what to do with the box, and I didn’t have a connection to the flowers back then. But I do now. It will work this time. Trust me.”
And it did.
My blood dissolved into the white stone, which began to glow with a pure, bright light. Several soft click-click-clicks rang out, as the silver vines rearranged themselves. A moment later, the top of the box popped open. I drew in a breath and slowly cracked the lid the rest of the way open to reveal…
Seeds.
For once in his miserable life, Covington hadn’t been lying. The box was full of seeds—all kinds of seeds. Some of them were bigger than my index finger, while others were no larger than slivers. They were different shapes and sizes, but they had one thing in common: they all glittered like jewels.
Sapphire-blue, emerald-green, ruby-red, opal-white, amethyst-purple. All those colors and more shimmered inside the box. I picked up one of the seeds, a small emerald-green heart that was the same color and shape as the center of the winterbloom charm on my bracelet.
Still holding that seed, I set the box aside, got to my feet, and walked out into the courtyard. I found the spot where I had woken up, and I stuck the seed into the ground, right where the first winterbloom that had died had been.
I went back over to the open Chloris box and grabbed a whole handful of seeds. My friends joined in, and we spent the rest of the afternoon planting the seeds.
We quickly worked out a process. Balder led the way, using his sharp talons to scratch long rows into the dirt. Then my friends and I went along behind him, dropping the seeds into the ground and giving them a splash of water. And finally, Brono followed along behind us, using his tail to sweep dirt over the seeds to cover them up.
It was a lot of hard work, but it was also the most fun I’d had in a long, long time. I just hoped that the seeds would sprout and restore the courtyard to its former glory.
“Now what?” Mateo asked when we had finished.
I looked out over the barren, ashy ruins. “Now we wait.”
* * *
By the time we had pitched our tents and made camp for the evening, the sun had set, and the night steadily grew colder and colder. A hard frost crept over the ruins, bathing everything in a silvery sheen, including the barren courtyard.
We built a fire close to the broken fountain, and Aunt Rachel cooked us a hearty dinner of chili, along with some sourdough bread that she had baked fresh this morning. For dessert, there were lots and lots of s’mores. We talked and laughed and just enjoyed one another’s company. This was the first time we had all been together without the threat of Covington, Drake, and the Reapers hanging over our heads, and we enjoyed every single second of it.
Every so often, people would get up and move away from the fire for a while. Like Zoe and Mateo, who snuck off to make out. Aunt Rachel and Takeda left as well, and when they came back, they were both smiling. Aunt Rachel whispered to me that Takeda had finally asked her out on a real date. I told her how happy I was for them.
One by one, the others crawled into their tents and sleeping bags, but I stayed by the fire. Ian sat up with me for a long time, and we made out a little ourselves, but eventually, he too went to bed. Balder and Brono were still here, and I wrapped myself up in a sleeping bag, then leaned back against Balder, even as I scratched Brono’s head.
I must have fallen asleep sometime during the night, because the sunrise woke me early the next morning. Balder and Brono were both asleep, as was everyone else. The fire had died down overnight, and the morning was quite chilly. I tossed a couple of logs onto the fire and stirred it up, then lay back down next to the gryphons and dozed off again.
I wasn’t sure how long I’d slept, but sometime later, I was aware of another aroma overpowering the woodsmoke.
Fresh flowers mixed with cold, crisp, clean snow.
I drew in a breath, drawing that lovely aroma deep down into my lungs. The scent was one of the things I loved most about the Eir Ruins, and I never thought I would smell it again, after all the flowers had sacrificed themselves to save me—
My eyes snapped open. All the blossoms were dead and gone. I shouldn’t be smelling that aroma at all. Unless…
I scrambled to my feet. Everyone else was still sleeping, and I whirled around, looking over the main courtyard.
Flowers, flowers everywhere.
All the seeds we had planted yesterday had taken root, grown, and blossomed overnight. Sapphire-blue, emerald-green, ruby-red, opal-white, amethyst-purple. All those colors and more spread throughout the courtyard in a fresh, vibrant carpet.
“It worked,” I whispered. “It worked!”
Suddenly, I was laughing and clapping and yelling and crying all at once. The flowers turned their heads and bobbed their petals, as if they were thanking me for bringing the courtyard back to life.
“What’s with all the noise?” Zoe grumbled from over at the campsite.
“Get up and see for yourself,” I said, grinning ear to ear.
My friends started wandering around, oohing and aahing over the flowers, but I walked over to where I had woken up in the courtyard the night the flowers had sacrificed themselves to save me. I had planted several winterblooms in this area, and the flowers had grown together to form a white heart in the sea of colors.
I bent down and stroked the petals of first one winterbloom, then another.
Footsteps sounded, and Ian crouched down beside me. He too reached out and stroked some of the petals.
“Do you remember what you told me the very first night you brought me to the ruins?” he asked.
I shook my head, not sure what he was talking about.
“You said that the winterblooms were the prettiest flowers up here and that you admired them because they only bloomed in the coldest frost, when the conditions were the harshest and toughest.”
“So?” I asked.
Ian grinned. “So I could say the same thing about you, Rory Forseti. You’re the prettiest thing up here, and you’ve blossomed, despite all the horrible things you’ve been through.”
I grinned back at him. “I would say that we have both blossomed, as cheesy and cliché as that might sound.”
I held out my hand. Ian took it, and we both rose to our feet. I looked out over the courtyard.
Zoe and Mateo were kissing again, while Aunt Rachel, Takeda, and Professor Dalaja were walking back and forth, examining the blossoms. Balder and Brono were wandering through the courtyard as well, bending down and sniffing the flowers.
Well, Balder was sniffing the flowers. Brono had grabbed Babs from her spot at the campsite and was running around with her clutched in his beak, but the sword was laughing and encouraging him to run faster.
Ian was right. We had all made it through the fight with the Reapers, and we had all grown stronger as a result. He wrapped his arm around my waist, and I rested my head on his shoulder, just drinking in this moment. And then I decided to make it even better.
I looked up at Ian. “I love you.”
He blinked. “What?”
“Wasn’t that what you were going to say to me in the library the other night? Right before Gwen and the others showed up?”
He smiled, and a blush bloomed in his cheeks. “Yeah.”
I nodded. “Good. Because I love you too.”
Ian’s gray eyes gleamed. “Good? I think you mean great. Because I love you too.”
We kissed and kissed and kissed, until I was dizzy with emotion. Ian drew back, and I tucked my hand into his. He grinned and threaded his fingers through mine, and I knew that he would never let me go, just as I would never let go of him.
The colorful carpet of flowers spread out at my feet. The scent of them tickling my nose. My friends’ smiling faces and soft laughter. The sun glinting off the gryphons’ bronze fur and wings. And Ian standing beside me, our hands locked together as tightly as our hearts were.
I grinned. It didn’t get any better than this.
Especially at Mythos Academy.
About the Author
Jennifer Estep is a New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling author, prowling the streets of her imagination in search of her next fantasy idea. She is the author of the following series:
The Mythos Academy spinoff series: The books focus on Rory Forseti, a 17-year-old Spartan girl who attends the Colorado branch of Mythos Academy. Rory’s parents were Reapers, which makes her the most hated girl at school. But with a new group of Reapers and mythological monsters on the rise, Rory is the only one who can save her academy.
The Mythos Academy original series: The books focus on Gwen Frost, a 17-year-old Gypsy girl who has the gift of psychometry, or the ability to know an object’s history just by touching it. After a serious freak-out with her magic, Gwen is shipped off to Mythos Academy, a school for the descendants of ancient warriors like Spartans, Valkyries, Amazons, and more.
The Crown of Shards series: The books focus on Everleigh Blair, who is 17th in line for the throne of Bellona, a kingdom steeped in gladiator tradition. But when the unthinkable happens, Evie finds herself fighting for her life—both inside and outside the gladiator arena.
The Elemental Assassin series: The books focus on Gin Blanco, an assassin codenamed the Spider who can control the elements of Ice and Stone. When she’s not busy battling bad guys and righting wrongs, Gin runs a barbecue restaurant called the Pork Pit in the fictional Southern metropolis of Ashland. The city is also home to giants, dwarves, vampires, and elementals—Air, Fire, Ice, and Stone.
The Black Blade series: The books focus on Lila Merriweather, a 17-year-old thief who lives in Cloudburst Falls, West Virginia, a town dubbed “the most magical place in America.” Lila does her best to stay off the grid and avoid the Families—or mobs—who control much of the town. But when she saves a member of the Sinclair Family during an attack, Lila finds herself caught in the middle of a brewing war between the Sinclairs and the Draconis, the two most powerful Families in town.
The Bigtime series: The books take place in Bigtime, New York, a city that’s full of heroic superheroes, evil ubervillains, and other fun, zany, larger-than-life characters. Each book focuses on a different heroine as she navigates through the city’s heroes and villains and their various battles.
For more information on Jennifer and her books, visit her website at www.JenniferEstep.com. You can also follow her on Facebook, Goodreads, BookBub, and Twitter, and sign up for her newsletter.
Happy reading, everyone!
Other Books
by Jennifer Estep
The Crown of Shards series
Kill the Queen
Protect the Prince
Crush the King
The Elemental Assassin series
featuring Gin Blanco
Books
Spider’s Bite
Web of Lies
Venom
Tangled Threads
Spider’s Revenge
By a Thread
Widow’s Web
Deadly Sting
Heart of Venom
The Spider
Poison Promise
Black Widow
Spider’s Trap
Bitter Bite
Unraveled
Snared
Venom in the Veins
Sharpest Sting
E-novellas
Thread of Death
Parlor Tricks (from the Carniepunk anthology)
Kiss of Venom
Unwanted
Nice Guys Bite
Winter’s Web
The Black Blade series
Cold Burn of Magic
Dark Heart of Magic
Bright Blaze of Magic
The Bigtime series
Karma Girl
Hot Mama
Jinx
A Karma Girl Christmas (holiday story)
Nightingale
Fandemic
Spartan Destiny Page 30