Dark Frost (Mythos Academy #3)(37)
Author: Jennifer Estep

"But I don’t want to be a healer," someone muttered. "I never wanted to be a healer."

I frowned. That sounded like Daphne. I eased to one side so I could look in through the crack and realized that it was Daphne. The Valkyrie stood in front of Metis’s desk, her hands on her hips, princess pink sparks of magic snapping in the air around her.

"I’m afraid you don’t have a choice, Daphne," Metis said in a gentle voice. "Your magic has quickened. There’s no reversing it. We’ve met after classes two days in a row now, and nothing’s changed."

Well, that explained where Metis had rushed off to after myth-history.

Daphne threw her hands up, causing the sparks to cascade over her like raindrops falling from the sky. "But it only quickened because I was so upset about Carson. Because the Reaper stabbed him, and he was going to die."

"And your magic’s quickening then, emerging then, was what let you save him," Metis said.

Daphne didn’t say anything, but she slumped down in the chair in front of the professor’s desk. "You don’t understand. None of the other Valkyries in my family are healers. My mom has fire magic, and so did my grandma before she died. I thought that’s what kind of power I would have, too. Something strong, something powerful. Not this-this useless thing."

Daphne held up her fingers and concentrated. After a moment, the pink sparks bled together, forming a rosy, healing glow that coated her entire hand. Once again, I had the strangest sensation that I could reach out and grab hold of her magic, that I would be able to feel it pouring into me, if only I were to touch the Valkyrie. It was the same feeling I’d had at the coliseum, when I’d grabbed Daphne’s hand and had seen that brilliant pink light burning in her heart-that beautiful, beautiful spark.

"And then, there’s this," Daphne muttered.

The Valkyrie leaned down. When she straightened back up, I realized she was clutching two things in her hands-the onyx bow and the quiver with its single golden arrow. The weapons she’d used to fight the Reapers. I blinked. I’d thought Daphne had left those behind at the Crius Coliseum after the attack.

"What am I supposed to do with these?" Daphne snapped. "I’ve given them back to you twice now, but every time I go to my room, there they are, lying on my bed. And the same thing’s happened with Carson and that stupid horn he picked up at the coliseum."

She laid the weapons on the desk and shoved them at Metis. After a moment, the professor reached over and picked up first the bow, then the quiver. She examined them both for several seconds before putting them down.

"Daphne, do you … see anything on the bow or quiver? Any words or symbols?" Metis asked in a soft voice.

My breath caught in my throat. I knew what Metis was really asking my friend-if Daphne could read some sort of saying on the weapons. Every Champion was given a weapon by the god or goddess she served, and only a Champion could read the words on her specific weapon. Back in the coliseum, I remembered Daphne’s saying the bow and quiver had once belonged to Sigyn, the Norse goddess of devotion. Could-could the goddess have picked Daphne to be her Champion? Was that why the weapons kept showing up in the Valkyrie’s room? Was that why Carson still had that strange horn, too?

Daphne sighed and picked up the bow and quiver, looking them over. "I don’t see anything."

"Well, maybe you will someday soon," Metis said. "Until then, it appears there is some magic binding the weapons to you, so you might as well keep them-and use them, should the need arise."

"Whatever," Daphne muttered. "Are we done? Because I’ve got an essay to write for English lit."

Metis nodded, and Daphne got to her feet and grabbed her things, including the onyx bow and quiver. I barely had time to back up before the Valkyrie yanked open the door and saw me standing in the hallway. Surprise filled her face, but it was quickly replaced by anger.

Daphne glared at me. "Geez, Gwen. Can’t you keep your nose out of anyone’s business for five minutes?"

I stiffened at her harsh tone. "I wasn’t here because of you. I’m supposed to go see Preston today. To find out if he knew anything about the Reaper attack or knows where the dagger is hidden."

The Valkyrie snorted. "Great. So you’re going to dig through a Reaper’s head instead of spying on the rest of us. Well, that’s a change, I suppose, from eavesdropping on your friends. Have fun with that, Gypsy."

Daphne shoved past me and stormed off down the hall without another word.

Chapter 15

I stood there, mouth open, and watched her go. Yeah, the Valkyrie could be volatile sometimes, but that was the second time today she’d been nasty to me. Okay, okay, so maybe I had been eavesdropping on Daphne and Metis, but that was just because I was concerned about Daphne. Sue me for caring about my best friend.

Metis stepped out of her office, her green eyes soft and kind.

I sighed. "I take it you heard that?"

The professor nodded. "Daphne’s just upset. She thought her magic would be one thing, and it’s turned out to be another instead."

"Yeah, but why is she taking it out on me?"

Metis tilted her head to one side. "Because your magic is exactly what it’s supposed to be. You fully embrace your power, Gwen, and you try to do good with it. That’s one of the things that makes you so strong. Don’t worry about Daphne. She’ll be all right. It’ll take her a little time to adjust, but she’ll come to understand that everything happens for a reason. That the gods give us the gifts we need when we need them the most."

The professor stared off into the distance. "I was the same way when I was her age. I hoped that my magic would be physical instead of mental."

"What do you mean?"

Metis sighed. "Magic is basically divided into two categories-physical and mental. Physical magic involves things like the fire magic Daphne said her mother has. Usually, physical magic can be used to hurt someone else, while mental magic is often more of a protective magic, like my healing power."

"So what you’re saying is that physical magic has some kind of actual form or shape, right? Like rain from a storm?"

Metis nodded back. "Right. Rain from a storm would be a physical form of magic, something you can actually see and feel and touch, whereas telekinesis or telepathy would be a mental form, something you can’t necessarily see or touch."

For some reason, the word telepathy seemed to resonate in my head, like a bell softly chiming, although I had no idea why. As far as I knew, I’d never met anyone with telepathic magic. Lots of kids at Mythos had the physical magic Metis had described, like the ability to shoot lightning out of their fingertips or summon up gusts of wind with just a wave of their hands. I supposed the enhanced senses so many of the students had would be considered a form of mental magic.