Touch of Frost (Mythos Academy #1)(33)
Author: Jennifer Estep

Not when he’d just saved me from it.

The panther was yowling at this point, and each sound it made felt like a dagger punching into my brain. I clapped my hands over my ears, wondering how Logan could stand being so close to that awful noise. Then I whirled around, looking for something that I could use to help Logan fight off the creature. My eyes landed on a metal chair sitting next to one of the tables on the balcony, and I grabbed it and hoisted it up over my shoulder.

By this point, the panther had Logan pinned beneath him and was snapping its jaws right in his face. I ran over, brought the metal chair up, and hit the creature as hard as I could with it.

I didn’t do any real damage to it, but I definitely got the panther’s attention. The monster lashed out, swiping its paw at me, but I held out the chair like it was a shield, keeping it between us. The panther’s claws scraped down the chair with a horrifying screech, completely shredding the metal and sending up sprays of red sparks.

While I distracted the creature, Logan got his feet in between him and the panther and did some kind of fancy move to throw the animal off him. The panther sailed through the air and slammed into the side of the balcony wall. Then Logan flipped up onto his feet like he was a freaking Ninja.

Despite the fact that I’d almost been turned into catnip, it was seriously the coolest thing that I’d ever seen.

The panther got back up onto its feet, but it was too late. Logan dove on top of the creature and stabbed it with the stone horn.

The panther screamed in pain. It was the most horrible sound that I’d ever heard, a high keening, wailing cry that seemed to shred my eardrums from the inside out. It was almost like … the panther was calling out to something or someone, begging that person to help it, to stop its pain.

The noise didn’t seem to bother Logan. With a grim face, he pulled the horn out of the creature’s side and stabbed it again. The panther screamed once more and threw itself back on top of Logan. Then, they both started moving too fast for me to follow, just a wild tangle of arms, limbs, and claws lashing out, each one trying to kill the other.

I stood there with my shredded metal chair. I would have used it to hit the panther again, if I hadn’t been afraid of accidentally braining Logan in the process. But I didn’t get a chance to do anything.

The panther let out one more scream, and then it and Logan were both still.

Dumbfounded, I stared down at the huge pile of black fur in front of me, Logan trapped somewhere underneath.

The Spartan was dead. He had to be. Nobody could survive something like that. That was the thought that slammed into my brain. No, no, no! He was dead. He’d been trying to help me, trying to save me, and now he was dead. Sure, maybe he was a man-whore who slept around and seemed to enjoy annoying me for no good reason, but Logan hadn’t been all bad. He had just saved my life.

Something let out a grunt, and I stepped back, wondering if maybe the panther wasn’t dead after all. Anger filled me, and I raised my chair again, ready to pound the animal to death if I had to just for killing Logan-

"You think maybe you could put that chair down and heave this thing off me?" a strained voice muttered.

The chair slipped from my numb fingers and clattered to the patio floor. I fell to my knees beside the panther. "Logan! You’re still alive!"

An arm trapped underneath the animal’s heavy weight waved in my direction, although I couldn’t see his face. "Of course I’m still alive. I’m a Spartan. Now, are you going to help me or not, Gypsy girl?"

"Help. Definitely help."

I got up on my knees, pushed up my hoodie sleeves, and held out my hands. I didn’t want to touch the monster, didn’t want to flash on the rage and pain that it had been feeling before Logan had killed it, but I didn’t have a choice. So I gritted my teeth, put my hands on the animal’s fur, and pushed as hard as I could.

Nothing happened.

The panther was far too heavy for me to move on my own. It weighed several hundred pounds, at least.

But the really weird thing was that I didn’t get any kind of vibe off it. No flashes of images, no feelings, nothing. I frowned. Was something wrong with my Gypsy gift, my psychometry? This was the third time this had happened this week. First, I hadn’t gotten any vibes off Jasmine’s body in the library. Second, I hadn’t flashed on her blood either, even though it had been all over my hands and clothes. And now I didn’t feel anything when I was touching this dead creature either-

"What are you waiting for?" Logan muttered. "This thing is crushing my ribs and face, in case you haven’t noticed."

There was no way that I could move the panther off him. I just wasn’t strong enough-My eyes narrowed. But I knew someone who was-and she owed me.

"Stay here," I said, scrambling to my feet. "I’m going to go get some help. I’ll be right back."

"What? Wait-"

Logan started to say something, but I’d already sprinted off the patio. I raced back across the upper quad in the direction that I’d come, then down the hill to the lower quad and the bonfire. While I’d been gone, someone had plugged a radio into the sound system, and the loud rock music added to the noise in the amphitheater.

It took me the better part of a minute to find Daphne in the crowd. She stood near the bonfire, standing in the shadows cast out by the flames and talking to Carson. Both of them were smiling, laughing, and shooting flirty little glances at each other when each thought the other person wasn’t looking. I rolled my eyes. They really should just get on with things.

I reached them just as Carson put his drink down on the table, drew in a breath, and looked at Daphne.

"Daphne, I was wondering, I mean, I know it’s kind of last-minute, but if you don’t have a date for the homecoming dance-"

I popped up next to Daphne, and Carson stifled a scream of surprise. Daphne jumped as well, as shocked by my sudden appearance as the band geek was.

"Hi there, Carson. Daphne. Sorry to cut this short, but you’re coming with me." I grabbed one of the sleeves on Daphne’s pink corduroy jacket.

"But-but-" That was all that Carson could get out, so I decided to make things easy for him.

"Yes," I said in a cheery tone. "Daphne would love to go to the homecoming dance with you tomorrow night. She thinks you’re totally awesome. She’s had a crush on you for ages. But right now, she has to come with me. She’ll call you later, and the two of you can work out all the details. Color schemes, corsages, and whatnot. Bye now."

I dragged Daphne away from the band geek and started up the hill in the direction of the library. For the first few feet Daphne seemed just as stunned as Carson. But then she got with the program and stared back over her shoulder. Behind us, Carson was grinning like a fool-or a guy who’d just scored a date with his dream girl. Daphne’s face alternated between absolute happiness and humiliated rage. After a few seconds, the rage won out.