Crimson Frost Read Online Free PDF Page B

have found out what was going down and had somehow managed to keep me here at the academy instead of being taken away and thrown in some Protectorate prison.
    I could have told her not to bother. Everyone hated me now because of what they thought I’d done—and maybe they weren’t wrong to do so. After all, I was the one who’d found the Helheim Dagger, the last remaining seal on Loki’s prison. But instead of keeping the dagger safe, I’d practically handed it over to Vivian Holler, the Reaper girl who was Loki’s Champion, and she’d been all too happy to use the weapon and my blood to finally free the evil god. Sure, Vivian had tricked me, but the cold hard fact was that because of my actions Loki was out there somewhere, plotting with his Reapers about how to topple the Pantheon, about how to finally defeat Nike and plunge the world into eternal darkness.
    Maybe everyone had a right to blame me.
    Maybe everyone had a right to hate me.
    Finally, after several minutes, the crowd quieted down again.
    “Miss Frost has not been found guilty of anything yet, but in order for you to feel safe, I’ve arranged for her to be under close supervision while she is awaiting trial,” Linus said. “Rest assured that a member of the Protectorate will accompany Miss Frost wherever she goes. In order to keep things as unobtrusive as possible, we’ve assigned a third-year student from the London academy to help watch over Miss Frost as she goes about her daily schedule.”
    Linus glanced at Alexei, who was standing at the bottom of the steps that led up to the stage, but he didn’t point him out. So that’s why Alexei was here—to watch me.
    “This matter will be resolved in a few days,” Linus continued. “Until then, know that members of the Protectorate are here on campus keeping you safe. That is all.”
    A few polite claps sounded at his words, but everyone kept glaring at me, shock, pain, fear, and hate in their eyes—so much hate. Once more, their collective rage slammed into me, and I couldn’t keep quiet any longer.
    “I didn’t do anything wrong!” I screamed. “It was Vivian! It was Vivian Holler! She’s Loki’s Champion! She freed him, not me! You have to believe me!”
    “Get her out of here,” Linus hissed. “Now!”
    Inari and Sergei easily lifted me off my feet and carried me toward the edge of the stage, but I kept yelling the whole time.
    “I didn’t do anything wrong! I didn’t do anything wrong!”
    My screams echoed through the amphitheater and then rattled up into the sky and the heavens themselves, but no one cared, and no one came to my defense or rescue—not even the goddess who’d chosen me to be her Champion in the first place.
     
    Inari and Sergei hustled me off stage, out of the amphitheater, and up the hill to the main quad. Students scrambled after us, everyone talking, yelling, and snapping photos with their phones. Eventually, my screams died down, and all I could do was just squint against the flashing lights. Inari and Sergei were still carrying me, so my feet weren’t even touching the ground. I knew better than to try to struggle. I didn’t know what kind of warriors the two men were, but they were easily stronger than I was.
    Five buildings made up the main quad at Mythos—the Library of Antiquities, the gym, the dining hall, English-history, and math-science. Inari and Sergei headed for the math-science building. So they were taking me to the academy prison after all. The two men hurried inside the structure and then down, down, down we went, going through a series of locked doors and other security measures until we reached the bottom floor, deep underground.
    The men finally put me back down on my feet, and I jerked away from them, rubbing my upper arms where they’d held them so tightly. We stood in a shadow-filled hallway in front of a door that was made out of the same dark gray stone as the rest of the building. Iron bars crisscrossed over the door, and two