Kiss of Frost (Mythos Academy #2)(41)
Author: Jennifer Estep

Daphne looked at me like I was spouting nonsense.

Maybe I was. "Yeah, maybe Fenrir wolves have free wil , but the Reapers have tortured All the goodness out of them, just like they have the Nemean prowlers, Black rocs, and All the other creatures they use. Face it, Gwen. That wolf was trained by a Reaper, which makes it just as twisted and evil as the Reaper is."

"Yep," Vic chimed in. "Twisted, evil, and deserving of death.

If you’d had me with you, then I could have taken care of the oversized puppy All by myself." I rol ed my eyes, but the sword didn’t notice. Neither did the Valkyrie. Instead, Daphne and Vic stared arguing about who was more evil, the Reapers or the mythologicAll creatures they trained, and the best ways to kil them All . I tuned them out. They hadn’t been there, and they hadn’t seen how much pain the wolf had been in. They hadn’t felt its emotions the way I had. No matter what they claimed, the creature wasn’t All evil. Somewhere underneath All those teeth and claws was a heart that beat just like mine.

No, the wolf wasn’t a complete monster, even if its Reaper master had trained it to be that way.

Once Daphne and Vic quit arguing, the three of us spent the next hour lounging around and talking. Wel , the Valkyrie did most of the talking, tel ing me about how she and the other kids at the Winter CarnivAll had heard the explosion and then seen the avalanche rush down the mountain toward me. Since the carnivAll had been set up back on the plateau, everyone there had been wel out of the path of the roaring snow.

"Everyone was seriously freaked out," Daphne said.

"Including Logan."

My heart skipped a beat, even though I kept my face calm.

"ReAll y? I find that hard to believe."

"Oh yeah," the Valkyrie said. "He totAll y wanted to go with Ajax and start looking for you. Carson and I did too, but Metis and the other profs wouldn’t let us. They kept everyone at the carnivAll until the snow had settled. But Logan, man, I thought he was actuAll y going to punch Nickamedes at one point. The two of them were screaming at each other, and Kenzie and Oliver had to grab hold of Logan to keep him from going after the librarian." I laughed. "Now that I would have liked to have seen.

Yeah, maybe Logan was worried about me. I mean, we are friends, in a weird sort of way. But it doesn’t matter, because I saw him hanging out with Savannah down in the lobby a few minutes ago, just like always. So nothing’s changed. Besides, I ran into Preston downstairs. We’re going to have lunch tomorrow, and I’m going to forget All about Logan-at least for the rest of the weekend." Daphne opened her mouth, but her phone started vibrating on the nightstand. She bent over to see who was texting her. She hit a few buttons, and a guilty look fil ed her pretty face.

"So, that was Carson and … there’s this party tonight,"

Daphne said, not quite looking at me.

"And let me guess. I can’t go because it’s out in the alpine vil age somewhere and I’m not supposed to leave the hotel, right?"

Daphne winced and nodded.

"Go," I said. "Have fun with your boyfriend. I’m going to stay right here with Vic, read my comic books, and eat junk food for the rest of the night."

"Are you sure?" Daphne asked, biting her glossy lip. "I don’t mind staying here with you and just hanging out… ."

"Go," I repeated in a firm voice. "Go to the party, get drunk, and totAll y make out with Carson. I’l be fine. I promise. Believe me, after what happened today, I have zero desire to party tonight."

It took some more prodding on my part, but eventuAll y, Daphne brushed out her hair, put on some more lip gloss, and left to go hook up with Carson. As soon as the door locked behind her, I walked over to my gray duffel bag and pul ed out a pen and notebook. Then I settled myself on the bed, with Vic propped up on a pil ow beside me.

"What are you doing?" the sword asked. "Because that doesn’t look like a comic book to me."

"Nothing much," I said. "Just trying to figure out who wants me dead."

Chapter 17

For a moment, Vic peered at me with his one eye, then his slash of a mouth curved back into a ful -on smile. I almost thought he would have nodded in approvAll if he could actuAll y, you know, move his half of a head.

"Finally, Gypsy," he chirped in his English accent. "I was wondering how long you were going to let something like that slide. It’s a major breach of etiquette you know, not striking back at your enemies in a timely fashion." Etiquette? What kind of etiquette was there in someone trying to murder me? Sometimes I just didn’t understand Vic at All . I shook my head.

"It’s not that I’ve been letting it slide exactly," I said. "It’s just that I don’t have much to go on. I couldn’t see who was driving the car that tried to hit me, and I didn’t get the license plate. The same thing happened in the library. I didn’t see who fired the arrow, and I didn’t get much of a vibe on the hole it left behind in the bookshelf. And yeah, I touched the Fenrir wolf, but not long enough to reAll y get a major whammy off it or see who its master is. Mostly, the wolf was stil thinking about the avalanche, just like I was."

"So what are you going to do?" Vic asked.

I shrugged. "I thought I’d make a list of everyone who might have a grudge against me and go from there. It always works on TV."

Vic rol ed his eye. "Why are you playing bloody detective again instead of just going out there and using me to get some answers? Put me up against someone’s throat, and I’l make him start talking reAll quick."

I arched an eyebrow and gave the sword a look.

"What?" he growled. "It’d be much more fun than listening to you and the Valkyrie natter on about what some other bloody girl was wearing."

"Shut up, Vic," I said. "I need to think." The sword let out a loud harrumph and snapped his eye shut, his mouth turning down into a pout. And people thought teenagers were moody. Please.

We had nothing on ancient, bloodthirsty, talking swords.

Vic kept his eye shut, enjoying his snit, so I sat there on the bed and started making my list. It took me about five seconds.

What can I say? It was a short list with only one name on it: Jasmine Ashton’s family. Okay, okay, so it wasn’t reAll y a name, but the Ashtons were the only ones with any reason to kil me. At least, that I knew of.

Since my list idea wasn’t working, I decided to go back to the beginning and see if I could remember anything strange or weird, anything out of place, anything out of the ordinary. But reAll y, there was nothing. It had just been a regular week at Mythos Academy until someone had tried to kil me.