Crimson Frost (Mythos Academy #4)(42)
Author: Jennifer Estep

Vivian stopped her story, and I saw the fear in her eyes that the snake would bite her a second time and trigger the poison. But she quickly masked the expression and continued talking. She wasn’t just omitting facts or sidestepping questions like I had about Jasmine’s death. The Reaper girl was outright lying, but the asp didn’t seem to notice.

She must have found some way to beat the snake’s magic, I realized. Some way to tell huge, whopping, horrible lies without it biting her like it was supposed to. Another bloody loophole, as Vic would say.

So I ignored her words and focused on Vivian herself. If I could figure out how she was fooling the snake, maybe I could stop it. I studied the other girl, but Vivian looked the same as I remembered, and there was nothing special about the black cashmere sweater and designer jeans she had on. The only jewelry she wore was a gold ring on her right hand.

I eyed the band. It was actually quite plain, compared to some of the oversized bling the other kids had. Instead of diamonds, the ring sported two small faces, one turned left and crying, the other turned right and laughing. Vivian had once told me that it was a Janus ring, in honor of the Roman god of beginnings and endings who had two faces, one looking back into the past and the other peering ahead into the future. The two faces also symbolized Vivian’s secret loyalty to Loki.

The longer I looked at the ring, the more the faces seemed to move and change, until they were both turned and grinning hideously at me, the ruby chips of their eyes gleaming Reaper red-

Wait a second. Ruby chips? I didn’t remember there being any gems on the ring before. I pulled up all the memories I had of the ring. Creepy faces, yes. Rubies, no. No diamonds, no emeralds, no jewels of any sort. I frowned. So why would there be gems on it now?

Maybe it was the rubies’ red flash, but I thought of the box that the Reaper had stolen from the library-the one that had belonged to Apate. The Reaper had lifted the box up, and the jewels on the surface had sparkled, along with smaller bits of gemstones-just like the chips on Vivian’s ring.

My eyes narrowed. So that’s why the Reaper had wanted the box. Apate was the Greek goddess of deception, so it only made sense that her box and all the jewels on it would have some sort of magic, some sort of power that was letting Vivian lie to the Maat asp without being bitten.

I opened my mouth to shout out my theory when another thought occurred to me. According to what Linus had said, Vivian had been in Protectorate custody for weeks now. Even if they really believed that she was Nike’s Champion, there was no way they would have let her out of their sight, not even for a minute, which meant that she couldn’t have been in the library last night with the other Reapers. No, someone else must have stolen the box and given the ruby chips to Vivian, so she could pull off all her elaborate lies today. Vivian had to be working with someone, most likely a member of the Protectorate-someone who was probably in this very room.

Linus, Inari, Sergei, Agrona. My gaze went from one face to another, but they were all looking at Vivian, listening to her story, and scribbling down notes. Nothing out of the ordinary there, and none of them did anything remotely incriminating, like give the Reaper girl a sly wink. The same thing went for Alexei and the other guards. They were just doing their jobs and standing watch.

Frustration and anger surged through me once again, but there was nothing I could do but sit still and keep my mouth shut. I doubted the Protectorate would believe that one of their own was working with Vivian, and my accusation would only tip off the Reaper that I was on to him or her. So how was I going to get out of this situation? Because, Reaper or not, if enough members of the jury believed Vivian, it was going to be lights out for me-permanently.

"And I’ve been on the run ever since Loki was freed," Vivian said, finishing her ridiculous story. "Wrongly accused of being his Champion when I’ve been serving Nike this whole time. I was just lucky that I was able to get a message to the Protectorate, to all of you, so I could come here today and finally clear my name."

"You couldn’t clear your name with a bucket of bleach," I snapped.

Vivian just gave me a sad, wounded look, like she couldn’t believe I would say something so hurtful. Her poor, pitiful me act only made me that much more disgusted.

The asp tightened its grip around my wrist, almost as if it agreed with my anger. I looked at the small, jewel-toned snake. It was really the only impartial creature here. At least, it would have been if Vivian hadn’t found a way to fool it. Stupid magic loopholes-

Magic loopholes . . . magic loopholes . . .

The words bounced around in my mind. Sure, Vivian had used the jewels’ magic to fool the asp, but she wasn’t the only one here with power. Maybe there was a way I could prove my innocence-and Vivian’s guilt once and for all.

Linus stared at Vivian, then me. "You both tell a convincing story. But what I find most interesting is that the asp hasn’t attacked either one of you, yet obviously one of you must be lying. At the very least, you can’t both be Nike’s Champion."

Everyone’s eyes focused on the asp on the table. The creature flicked out its tongue, almost like it realized we were all staring at it, but it made no move to bite either one of us.

"You should go ahead and confess, Gwen," Vivian said. "Make things easier on yourself."

She smirked at me. I glared back at her.

"And that concludes the interrogation," Linus said. "Rest assured that we will carefully review everything you’ve both said today . . ."

He started talking about exactly how the Protectorate would make its decision. It was all very blah, blah, blah, so I ignored him. It was obvious that the Protectorate didn’t want to believe me, but I didn’t think they’d wholeheartedly swallowed Vivian’s story either. I could see the doubt in even Linus’s face about what she’d told them. But I was determined to show everyone just what a liar Vivian really was.

Professor Metis had once told me that there was more to my psychometry than just touching objects and seeing things. That was the mental aspect of my power, but Metis had said that there was a physical component to my magic as well. That I could touch people and actually influence them, get them to see what I wanted them to see, feel what I wanted them to feel. I’d done it once before with Nott, when I’d showed her memories of my Grandma Frost. Those memories and my love for my grandma had convinced the wolf to go protect her when Vivian and Preston had been on their way to kill her.

Now, I was wondering if I could do the same thing with the snake.

My gaze dropped to the Maat asp, which was still wound around my wrist. I wondered what the creature would do if I showed it what had really happened-if I showed it the truth about Vivian.