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Authors: Jennifer Estep
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across the quad.
“I know this must be difficult for you, Gwen. Finding Jasmine the way that you did,” Professor Metis said. “But this isn’t the first time something like this has happened at Mythos.”
My eyes widened. “You mean students have been murdered before? Here at the academy?”
She nodded. “A few.”
“How? Why?”
“By Reapers mostly. The students had something that they wanted or got in their way, just like Jasmine did tonight. Or the students were working for the Reapers and did something wrong, something that got them killed. In a few cases, students have actually been Reapers themselves.”
Kids my age? Working for the bad guys? Being Reapers themselves? I didn’t know what to make of that.
Metis stared at me. “I know that the academy, this world, is new to you, that you don’t really believe in any of this. In the gods, the warriors, the myths, the Chaos War, any of it. I can tell by the way you’re always staring out the window during my class. You recite the facts to me, but your mind’s not really there.”
Her voice was gentle, but I still winced. I thought that I’d hid my disbelief a little better than that. Since my mom had died, I’d gotten pretty good at faking things. Like telling Grandma Frost that everything was fine at my new school. Or convincing myself that I didn’t really care that I didn’t have any friends. That it didn’t bother me that no one would talk to me. That I was as tough and strong and brave as my mom had been, when all I really wanted to do was curl up on my bed and cry myself to sleep every night. I might be able to see other people’s secrets, but I had some of my own, too—ones that I desperately wanted to keep hidden.
“But it’s real, Gwen. All of it. Whether you believe it or not,” Metis continued. “Reapers of Chaos are everywhere, even here at Mythos. They can be anyone—parents, teachers, your fellow students. And they will do whatever it takes to get what they want.”
“What is it that they want, exactly?” I asked. “Why are they the bad guys?”
Metis sighed. “You really haven’t been paying attention in class, have you?”
I winced again.
“The Reapers want one thing—to free Loki from the prison realm that the other gods have placed him in. And we, the students and teachers here, the members of the Pantheon, are at war with them, trying to prevent that from happening. That’s what all the students here are being trained for. To learn how to fight with whatever skills and magic that they have to keep Loki from escaping from his prison. That’s why losing the Bowl of Tears is such a big blow. It’s an old artifact with a lot of magic, with a lot of power, and it can help the Reapers get closer to freeing Loki.”
I frowned. “So what happens if Loki gets free? What would be so bad about that?”
“Because the last time Loki was free, he raised an army to try to kill the other gods, to enslave mortals, and to bend everyone to his will. Hundreds of thousands of people died, Gwen. And hundreds of thousands more will die if Loki is freed once more. The world as we know it will be utterly destroyed.”
So the Chaos was death, destruction, and blah, blah, blah, just like I’d thought. Another war, just like the one that had been fought before. Except when Professor Metis talked about it this time, a shiver swept up my spine. Like it was actually real. Like it could actually happen.
We left the main quad behind and stepped onto one of the walkways that led out to the dorms. The student dorms were smaller versions of the main academy buildings—lots of gray stone, lots of thick, green ivy, lots of creepy statues everywhere.
Somehow, Metis knew that I roomed in Styx Hall, without me even telling her. She walked me all the way up to the front door. Since the student curfew was ten o’clock on weeknights and the dorms automatically locked down after that, Metis had to swipe her professor ID badge through the
“I know this must be difficult for you, Gwen. Finding Jasmine the way that you did,” Professor Metis said. “But this isn’t the first time something like this has happened at Mythos.”
My eyes widened. “You mean students have been murdered before? Here at the academy?”
She nodded. “A few.”
“How? Why?”
“By Reapers mostly. The students had something that they wanted or got in their way, just like Jasmine did tonight. Or the students were working for the Reapers and did something wrong, something that got them killed. In a few cases, students have actually been Reapers themselves.”
Kids my age? Working for the bad guys? Being Reapers themselves? I didn’t know what to make of that.
Metis stared at me. “I know that the academy, this world, is new to you, that you don’t really believe in any of this. In the gods, the warriors, the myths, the Chaos War, any of it. I can tell by the way you’re always staring out the window during my class. You recite the facts to me, but your mind’s not really there.”
Her voice was gentle, but I still winced. I thought that I’d hid my disbelief a little better than that. Since my mom had died, I’d gotten pretty good at faking things. Like telling Grandma Frost that everything was fine at my new school. Or convincing myself that I didn’t really care that I didn’t have any friends. That it didn’t bother me that no one would talk to me. That I was as tough and strong and brave as my mom had been, when all I really wanted to do was curl up on my bed and cry myself to sleep every night. I might be able to see other people’s secrets, but I had some of my own, too—ones that I desperately wanted to keep hidden.
“But it’s real, Gwen. All of it. Whether you believe it or not,” Metis continued. “Reapers of Chaos are everywhere, even here at Mythos. They can be anyone—parents, teachers, your fellow students. And they will do whatever it takes to get what they want.”
“What is it that they want, exactly?” I asked. “Why are they the bad guys?”
Metis sighed. “You really haven’t been paying attention in class, have you?”
I winced again.
“The Reapers want one thing—to free Loki from the prison realm that the other gods have placed him in. And we, the students and teachers here, the members of the Pantheon, are at war with them, trying to prevent that from happening. That’s what all the students here are being trained for. To learn how to fight with whatever skills and magic that they have to keep Loki from escaping from his prison. That’s why losing the Bowl of Tears is such a big blow. It’s an old artifact with a lot of magic, with a lot of power, and it can help the Reapers get closer to freeing Loki.”
I frowned. “So what happens if Loki gets free? What would be so bad about that?”
“Because the last time Loki was free, he raised an army to try to kill the other gods, to enslave mortals, and to bend everyone to his will. Hundreds of thousands of people died, Gwen. And hundreds of thousands more will die if Loki is freed once more. The world as we know it will be utterly destroyed.”
So the Chaos was death, destruction, and blah, blah, blah, just like I’d thought. Another war, just like the one that had been fought before. Except when Professor Metis talked about it this time, a shiver swept up my spine. Like it was actually real. Like it could actually happen.
We left the main quad behind and stepped onto one of the walkways that led out to the dorms. The student dorms were smaller versions of the main academy buildings—lots of gray stone, lots of thick, green ivy, lots of creepy statues everywhere.
Somehow, Metis knew that I roomed in Styx Hall, without me even telling her. She walked me all the way up to the front door. Since the student curfew was ten o’clock on weeknights and the dorms automatically locked down after that, Metis had to swipe her professor ID badge through the
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