Midnight Frost (Mythos Academy #5)(22)
Author: Jennifer Estep

The carvings, the statues, the paintings, the suits of armor. In a way, it was eerily familiar – and strangely comforting. When I’d first gone to Mythos, I hadn’t thought I belonged at the academy, but now I couldn’t imagine not being part of the mythological world. The carvings and statues told me I was in my element – so to speak.

We had thirty minutes to wait until the train arrived. The others pulled out their cell phones and started checking their messages, but I wandered over and plucked a brochure out of a rack next to one of the ticket counters. I got a vague flash of other people flipping through the pages, but that was all. The sort of small vibe I would expect, since dozens of folks had grabbed the same slip of paper before putting it back into its slot on the rack.

I scanned through the photos and realized that Snowline Ridge seemed very similar to Cypress Mountain. Both suburbs housed a variety of expensive designer shops, coffeehouses, and bookstores. The only difference was that Snowline Ridge also featured a high-end ski resort that catered to tourists. There was no mention of the academy in the brochure.

I was almost finished reading the information when I got the sense that someone was watching me. It felt as if I could see someone hovering at the edge of my vision, staring right at me. But when I snapped my head in that direction, all I saw was the usual ebb and flow of folks moving through the station. No one seemed to be paying any attention to me at all.

I sighed and slid the brochure back into the rack. I started to head over to my friends when I noticed a girl leaning against the wall a few feet away. She was about my age, seventeen or maybe even a year younger, and her glossy black hair was pulled back into a sleek, short ponytail. She wore black boots and designer jeans topped by a white turtleneck sweater and a forest-green leather jacket that made her look both tough and pretty at the same time. A dark green messenger bag lay on the floor at her feet.

She wasn’t the only kid in the station. In fact, I spotted several folks who had to be Mythos students, judging from their pricey clothes and expensive jewelry. Not to mention the colorful sparks of magic that the Valkyries were giving off. But the regular passengers didn’t notice the cracks and hisses around them, despite the fact that one Valkyrie was practically dripping blue sparks all over the newspaper the older guy sitting next to her was reading. Daphne had told me once that unless you were a warrior, you just couldn’t see the sparks. Apparently, something in our ancient warrior DNA let us spot the colorful flashes that regular mortals couldn’t. So that was why Daphne and the other Valkyries didn’t worry about giving off magic in public.

It seemed like all of the other kids were gossiping with each other, and more than a few eyed my friends, wondering who they were and why they were taking the train. Everyone seemed to be friendly enough with each other – except when it came to the girl I’d noticed earlier.

The other kids looked at the girl, but nobody approached her and nobody said anything to her. Nobody gave her so much as a cheerful wave or even a polite nod. The girl pretended that she couldn’t see the other kids deliberately avoiding her, but her jaw was clenched, and her whole body was tense with anger – and pain.

She reminded me of, well, me. Back when I’d first come to Mythos, I’d been that exact same girl – the one standing all alone, watching the other kids around me, hoping that someone would at least notice me.

She spotted me watching her and turned her head in my direction. Her eyes were a bright, vivid green. The girl scowled at me, crossed her arms over her chest, and looked away.

She had to be one of the Mythos students going up to Snowline Ridge – I just wondered if she was also a Reaper. That might explain why she seemed to be here by herself. Maybe she’d been the only Reaper sent to the station and was busy watching me and my friends instead of hanging out with her own.

Or maybe I was just being paranoid.

So she was standing by herself. That didn’t mean she was a Reaper. Still, my gaze kept going back to the girl, who kept right on scowling at me.

"What are you looking at?" she finally growled.

I shrugged. "Nothing. Just killing time."

"Well, go kill it somewhere else. Or I’ll make you wish you had."

I raised an eyebrow at her. "Really?"

"Yeah. Really."

A flash of purple caught my eye, and I looked down. Vic was sticking out of the top of my messenger bag. The sword had woken up from his latest nap, but instead of yawning like usual, he was glaring at the girl.

"Put me up against her throat, and I’ll make her take back her snotty words real quick," Vic muttered.

The girl’s scowl deepened. "What did you say?"

"Nothing. Nothing at all."

"Nothing!" Vic huffed in an indignant voice. "I’ll show her nothing – "

I reached down and clamped my hand over the sword’s mouth to muffle the sound of his voice. Vic would totally make me pay for this later, but right now, I needed him to be quiet. It was one thing for the Reapers to know we were coming. It was another for the sword to start shouting threats and telling everyone exactly where we were.

The girl’s eyes narrowed, and she looked past me. A second later, Daphne stepped up beside me. The Valkyrie crossed her arms over her chest and gave the other girl a cool once-over.

"Problem, Gwen?"

"No problem," I said.

"Good," Daphne replied. "The train’s almost here. Ajax wants us to head on outside."

"Right behind you."

Daphne stared at the girl a moment longer before striding back over to Carson and the others. I followed her.

Still, I couldn’t help glancing over my shoulder. The girl was still scowling at me. But for a moment, I almost thought I saw a flicker of sadness in her eyes, and her mouth seemed to turn down that much more. For some reason, the expression made me want to go back over to her and find out what she was so upset about.

"Come on, Gwen!" Daphne called out.

But my friends were waiting, so I put the girl out of my mind and followed them onto the platform.

Chapter 11

Fifteen minutes later, the train pulled out of the station. The engine’s whistle pierced the early morning air, sounding as high and sharp as a Black roc’s screech. Or maybe it only seemed that way because I knew the Reapers would probably be waiting for us up at the academy and then at the Eir Ruins – if we even made it that far.

Like the station, the train itself featured long, padded wooden benches with brass rails running alongside them. There were even a few tables bolted to the floor here and there throughout the car, so folks could face each other. I was sitting by myself. Oliver and Alexei were on the bench across from me, with Daphne and Carson sitting in front of me. Coach Ajax was in front of Oliver and Alexei, leaning his elbows on one of the tables, dwarfing the wood with his large frame and muscled body. The sunlight streaming in through the windows made his skin gleam like polished onyx.