Midnight Frost (Mythos Academy #5)(26)
Author: Jennifer Estep

We took turns using the bathrooms, cleaning the Reapers’ blood off our hands, clothes, and weapons as best we could. Once that was done, Alexei and Oliver moved from body to body, pulling out the Reapers’ wallets and looking at their driver’s licenses, credit cards, and more. But they were just names that went with dead faces. None of the information told us anything important about the Reapers, like why they’d decided to attack us now – or what they might have planned next. I even leaned down and touched a few of the dead Reapers’ hands, but the only flashes I got off them were of the battle – nothing useful. Ajax also went through the other cars on the train, in case Vivian or Agrona might be on board, hiding in the midst of the other passengers, but they were nowhere to be found.

"What do you think they wanted?" Carson asked, leaning down to peer at a guy who wore the same sort of black glasses he did.

"Other than killing us?" Daphne said. "I think that’s enough for them. Don’t you?"

Carson’s words made me think back to the way the first Reaper girl’s eyes had fixed on Vic. Sure, maybe she hadn’t expected me to have the sword propped up in the seat beside me, but it seemed like there had been something more to her sharp gaze than just curiosity. I couldn’t imagine what it could be, though, or what her interest in Vic could have to do with the attack.

Daphne turned to the mystery girl, who was leaning against the back wall of the car, her arms crossed over her chest once again. "And then there’s you. Gwen says you’re a Spartan. Female Spartans are rare. I’ve never met one before."

The girl shrugged. "Not so rare to me, since my mom and dad were both Spartans. Lucky for you, you get to meet me first, Valkyrie."

Pink sparks of magic crackled around Daphne’s fingers, and she narrowed her eyes at the other girl. I stepped in between them, trying to diffuse the situation before things got any crazier.

"Well, thank you," I said. "For saving me. For fighting with us against the Reapers. You didn’t have to do that."

The girl laughed, although it was a harsh, bitter sound. "Oh, you know us Spartans. We can’t resist a good fight."

"What’s your name?"

The girl glared at me, as though I’d asked her to reveal her deepest, darkest secret. Finally, when she realized that I was serious and expected her to, you know, actually answer me, she let out a long, deep sigh, as if giving me the information was some sort of cruel torture I’d devised specifically for her.

"Rory Forseti."

My mouth dropped open in surprise. I didn’t know what name I’d expected her to give, but it hadn’t been that one – because Forseti had been my dad, Tyr’s, last name. Tyr Forseti. My parents had been married, but I had my mom’s last name of Frost since that was the tradition for the women in our family.

It took me a moment to close my gaping jaw and gather my thoughts. "Forseti?" I asked, wondering if I’d heard her right. "F-o-r-s-e-t-i?"

The girl’s eyes narrowed, and her hands balled into fists like she was thinking about stepping forward and attacking me the same way she had the Reapers. "Well, give you a gold star, for being able to spell. You got a problem with that name?"

Alexei stepped forward, shielding me from her. "You’re the one who’s going to have a problem if you take another step toward Gwen."

She let out another angry, bitter laugh. "In case you didn’t notice, dude, I’m the one who saved your precious little princess from getting an arrow through her skull."

"Princess?" I asked.

Rory gave a loud, derisive snort. "Yeah. You. Princess. You and your little entourage. I saw them hovering around you at the station. You’d think that you were some sort of princess or something the way they were hanging all over you."

My eyes widened, my lips twitched, and my shoulders started to shake. I tried to contain it – really, I did – but I couldn’t help it. I started laughing. And once I started, I couldn’t stop. I knew it was crazy, that my laughter was crazy, that I should try to bottle it up the way I had all of my other emotions lately, but I just couldn’t do it.

My friends looked at me, then each other. Daphne shrugged. She didn’t know why I was laughing, and neither did any of the guys.

"What’s so funny?" Rory muttered.

"Princess!" I managed to get out the word between fits of laughter. "You think I’m a bloody princess!"

The laughter kept coming and coming until tears streamed out of the corners of my eyes, and my stomach ached from the force of it.

Rory glared at me again. "If I’d known you were crazy, I would have let the Reapers put you out of your misery – and mine too."

I wiped the tears away and finally managed to get my giggles under control. "You don’t understand. If there’s one thing I’m not, it’s definitely a princess. That’s more Daphne’s thing than mine."

"Hey!" Daphne snapped.

I looked at her. "C’mon. You know it’s true. How many bags did you bring for this trip?"

She sniffed. "Just because you want to spend the rest of your life wearing hoodies, sneakers, and ratty T-shirts doesn’t mean the rest of us should suffer."

I rolled my eyes. "Oh no."

Rory looked at the Valkyrie. "Your name’s Daphne?"

She straightened up. "Daphne Cruz. From the North Carolina academy."

One by one, Daphne introduced everyone, including Coach Ajax, who’d finished his phone call.

Rory glanced at my friends before her green eyes fixed on me once more. "And what’s the princess’s name?"

"Gwen," I said. "Gwen Frost."

Rory froze, just as I had a moment ago. A shadow passed over her pretty face, and for a moment, her whole body tensed up, like she was debating whether or not to throw herself forward and attack me. Something that looked a lot like hate blazed in her eyes, and I felt a wave of anger surge off her, as hot as a furnace blasting heat in my face.

"Maybe you’ve heard of her," Carson said in a helpful voice.

"Yeah," Rory muttered. "I’ve heard of her all right."

And from the sound of her voice, it hadn’t been anything good. It was bad enough that all the kids back home watched my every move now, but I’d never considered that word of who I was would make its way through the rest of the mythological world. I should have known it would, though. Sometimes, I thought Mythos kids gossiped even better than they wielded weapons. I wondered what this meant for our welcome at the academy. Ajax had wanted to pass our group off as some kids taking a field trip, but that wasn’t going to happen now – if it had ever even been possible to start with.

Rory gave me another dark look, then plopped down on her bench, crossed her arms over her chest, and turned her head toward the windows, pointedly ignoring me and my friends. The others and I sat down, as well, making sure we were as far away from the blood and Reapers’ bodies as we could get. I tried to catch Rory’s gaze, but she stared out the windows with the same sort of intense, single-minded determination she’d shown during the fight. She might have saved my life, but it was obvious she wasn’t happy about it. I wondered why. I’d never seen or met her before today, so I had no idea why she’d have such an obvious grudge against me. Usually, I had to be around people for at least a few minutes before I pissed them off.