Touch of Frost (Mythos Academy #1)(25)
Author: Jennifer Estep

I got to my feet and had started to head to the door with the others when Metis waved at me.

"Gwen," she said. "Stay a minute, please."

I did as she asked, sinking back down into my seat. A few of the other kids, including Carson, looked at me, thinking that I was in some kind of trouble. I wondered if Metis knew that I’d broken into Jasmine’s dorm room and swiped her laptop. That was the only thing I’d done that could get me into major trouble. But how could Metis know about that? There was just no way she could, unless Daphne Cruz had ratted me out to her.

Professor Metis straightened a few papers on her wooden podium, then walked over and perched on a desk in front of me. "We didn’t get a chance to talk yesterday, but I wanted to ask how you were doing, Gwen. I know that what happened in the library … that finding Jasmine’s body was a great shock to you."

So she didn’t know that I’d broken into the Valkyrie’s room after all. I tried not to let my relief show. "I’m okay, I guess. Just trying to … deal with it, in my own way."

I didn’t tell her that my own way involved breaking, entering, and blackmail. So far. The day wasn’t over yet.

Professor Metis stared at me, her green eyes soft and kind. "Well, if you want to talk about it, or anything else, anything at all, please know that I’m always here for you, Gwen."

For a moment, I wondered why she was so concerned about me. Yeah, I had sort of witnessed a murder, and I supposed that Metis was just a nice person that way. But I’d never seen the professor until the day that she’d shown up at my grandma’s house and announced that I was going to Mythos. Now, it seemed like she was taking a special interest in everything I said and did-in and outside of class.

"Um, okay. So can I go now?" I asked, shifting in my seat. "I have an, um, appointment."

Metis smiled. "Of course. I just wanted to make sure that you were okay. I know coming to Mythos this year has been a bit of an adjustment for you, Gwen."

I let out a soft snort. She had no idea. None at all.

Metis went back up to the podium. I got to my feet, picked up my bag, and started to leave. But then I thought about something that Metis had said during her lecture. Something that had been bothering me ever since I’d come to the academy two months ago.

"Professor?"

"Yes, Gwen?" she said, turning to look at me.

"So if everything you said was true about all the kids at Mythos being the descendants of all these great warriors, then why am I here? I’m not a Valkyrie or an Amazon or a Spartan or a Viking. I’m not anything like that at all. I’m just a Gypsy. There are no great warriors in my family, at least not that I know of."

Some emotion flashed in Metis’s eyes, but I couldn’t quite see what it was through her thick glasses. The professor stared at me for several seconds before she spoke again.

"Not everyone at Mythos will turn out to be a great warrior," Metis finally said. "Some will be healers, scholars, or teachers. There are many ways to fight Reapers, and not all of them involve using a sword. You have your own gifts, Gwen. You’re special in your own way. You’re here at Mythos so we can teach you how to take full advantage of your powers, of your psychometry. It’s quite a rare gift, you know, touch magic."

Touch magic? I wondered what Metis meant by that, since I’d never heard my psychometry called that before. And no, I didn’t know how rare it was because no one had ever told me. It was just something that I could do, something that made me a Gypsy, whatever that really was. Everyone seemed to know but me.

Metis turned back to the papers on her podium, and I realized that she wasn’t going to give me any more of an answer than that. At least, not today.

So I slung my messenger bag over my shoulder and left the classroom, once again with far more questions than answers about who I was, what I could do, and why I was stuck here at Mythos Academy-a place where I so obviously didn’t belong.

Chapter 10

After class, I walked over to Styx Hall to wait for Daphne Cruz to show up and help me crack Jasmine Ashton’s password like she’d promised. To my surprise, the blond Valkyrie was already sitting on the front steps of the dorm when I got there.

"You actually came," I said, walking up to where she was sitting.

She shrugged. "You didn’t exactly give me a choice, did you, Gwen? So let’s get this over with."

I swiped my ID card through the scanner, opened the door, and gestured for Daphne to follow me inside. "Come on in. My room’s on the third floor."

I led Daphne up the stairs to my room in the turret. I went inside, threw my bag on the bed, and sat down on my desk chair, right underneath my framed Wonder Woman poster.

Daphne stood in the doorway, her black eyes scanning over everything just the way that I’d done in Jasmine’s room last night. For a moment, I looked at my things, seeing them with a new eye. My bed with its purple and gray comforter and plump pillows. The crystal snowflake ornaments in the windows throwing out tiny rainbows of color. The bookcases crammed full of fantasy titles. The stacks and stacks of comic books and graphic novels on my desk. The superhero posters plastered on the walls. The half-eaten pack of gummi bears on my nightstand that I’d noshed on last night before going to bed.

I cringed. Shit. I’d forgotten what a total geek nest my room was. Daphne was the only other person who’d been in here besides me and Grandma Frost, when she’d helped me move in two months ago. The Valkyrie was going to think that I was even more of a loser than she did already. Great.

After a minute of staring, Daphne stepped into the room and closed the door behind her.

"Where’s Jasmine’s computer?" she asked.

I showed her where I’d set it up on my desk. "Right here."

I got up so Daphne could sit in my chair and have easier access to the laptop. I perched on the bed while she opened up the computer and turned it on. When the system had booted up, the Valkyrie looked at the password screen for a few seconds before starting to type.

"All right, baby," Daphne crooned. "Talk to Mama and tell me all your secrets… ."

Okay, that was a little weird. I didn’t want to break her concentration, so I didn’t point out the fact that the Valkyrie was talking to a machine. Instead, I leaned back on the bed, grabbed the bag of gummi bears, and prepared myself for a long wait.

Three minutes later, Daphne hit a final key and pumped her fist. "Hah! Gotcha!"

I sat up. "You cracked it already?"

"Of course I cracked it already," she said in a smug voice. "It was just a simple password protection screen. It wasn’t like Jasmine had any kind of real security on her computer."