Touch of Frost (Mythos Academy #1)(41)
Author: Jennifer Estep

No one paid any attention to me, and I was able to stroll down to the main gate undetected. I stopped just inside the black iron bars and stared up at the two sphinxes on either side of the opening. Professor Metis had told me that Nickamedes was going to put extra magic, extra wards or whatever, on the closed gate to keep another Reaper from sneaking onto campus. Maybe it was my imagination, but it seemed like the sphinxes’ features were even sharper and fiercer now than they had been the last time I’d been at the gate. Their eyes were narrowed to slits, and the edges of their claws glinted in the afternoon sun, like they were half a second away from erupting out of the stone and pouncing on whoever tried to slip past them.

For a moment I thought about turning back, but it had been a couple of days since I’d seen Grandma Frost. She’d be expecting me to come by, and I missed her. She was all I had left now, and I wanted to see her. It was worth the risk of tripping whatever magical alarm Nickamedes had put on the entrance. Besides, the sphinxes probably wouldn’t kill me-right?

I tiptoed up to the gate, sucked in my breath, turned sideways, and slipped through the black iron bars.

Nothing happened.

No alarms sounded, and the sphinxes didn’t leap down and rip me to shreds, if they could even do that in the first place. Apparently, Nickamedes had only strengthened the spells to keep Reapers out of the academy-not created a new one to keep students inside. Like everyone else, the librarian thought that the threat was outside the academy walls-not inside. Still, I was happy for his oversight, and I hurried across the street and hopped on the bus. Twenty minutes later, I was walking up the steps to Grandma Frost’s house. I used my key to let myself in.

But for once, Grandma Frost wasn’t busy giving a psychic reading in the other room. Instead, I found her in the kitchen, with its bright, cheery sky blue walls and white tile.

"Mmm. What smells so good?" I asked, throwing my messenger bag onto the table.

Grandma grabbed a dishcloth off the counter, reached into the oven, and pulled out a baking sheet full of homemade almond sugar cookies. I breathed in, the warm smells of melted butter, sticky dough, and crystallized sugar making my mouth water and my stomach rumble. Nobody baked as good as Grandma Frost did. The dessert chefs at Mythos could definitely learn a thing or two from her.

Grandma slid three cookies onto a plate and handed them to me, along with a glass of cold milk. Her usual colorful scarves fluttered around her body, the silver coins on the ends of them chiming together.

My eyes narrowed. "You knew that I was coming over today."

Grandma smiled her mysterious Gypsy smile, the one that she used on all her clients. "I am psychic, pumpkin. It comes in handy sometimes. Especially when I want to bake my granddaughter some cookies."

Grandma Frost grabbed a couple of the warm cookies for herself, along with another glass of milk, and the two of us sat down at the kitchen table to eat. We didn’t talk much at first, both of us too busy stuffing our mouths with the sweet treats to bother with conversation. But eventually the cookies and milk disappeared and Grandma stared at me.

"Isn’t there a big dance at the academy tonight?" she asked. "Something fancy and formal?"

I blinked. "How do you know that? Did you have a vision of me in a dress or something?"

"Of course not. I read about it in that electronic newsletter that your Professor Metis sends out every week." Grandma gave me a sidelong look. "Actually, I got two newsletters this week. The regular one about the dance and the cafeteria menu and all that. The other one was a little more serious-it was all about that poor girl’s murder."

Uh-oh. I hadn’t planned on telling Grandma Frost about Jasmine Ashton because I didn’t want her to worry, but Grandma was too smart for me. She always was. I’d never been able to figure out if it was because she was psychic or just knew me that well. There was no use lying to her, so I drew in a breath and told her all about that night in the library and everything that I’d discovered about Jasmine since then.

"I know all the professors think that it was just some Reaper bad guy after the Bowl of Tears," I said, finishing up my story. "But I have this weird feeling there’s something else going on. Something we’re all missing. Something obvious. Mom always told me to trust my feelings, my instincts, but I’m starting to wonder if she was wrong about that."

Grandma stared at me, a strange light flashing in her violet eyes. It wasn’t the look that she always got when she was seeing a vision of the future. No, this was something else. Like I’d said something to upset her. I supposed that she was just freaked out about Jasmine’s murder. I mean, who would want her only granddaughter to go to school where a student had gotten her throat cut?

"Are you okay, Grandma?"

She shook her head, and the light in her eyes vanished. "I’m fine. Just worried about you is all. I hate that you have to go to that school in the first place."

I hesitated. "Why do I have to go to Mythos? I’ve asked you before, but you’ve never really explained it to me."

Grandma sighed. "Because it’s finally time for you to learn how to use your Gypsy gift, Gwen. Something that you’ll do by going to Mythos."

"But I know how to use my psychometry magic already. I always have. I don’t see how going to Mythos changes anything."

She shook her head. "It may not make sense now, but it will someday. Trust me, pumpkin, okay?"

I did trust her, more than anything, but I also wanted answers-answers about why my life had had to change so much. Why everyone at Mythos believed in things that I didn’t. And most especially, why Professor Metis and Grandma Frost thought that I belonged there in the first place.

I thought about pressing my grandma for answers, but she looked so old in that moment, so sad and tired, like she’d used up all the life that was inside her and was nothing more than a hollow shell. And I just couldn’t do it-not now. Or maybe it was because part of me was scared of what the answers might be. Knowing other people’s secrets made me feel smart. Realizing there might be secrets that involved me made me nervous. Yeah, I could be a total hypocrite sometimes.

I didn’t know why Grandma was keeping secrets from me, but she loved me and I loved her. It had always just been me, my mom, and Grandma Frost. My dad had died before I could even start to remember him, and we didn’t have any other family that I knew of. With my mom gone, Grandma was all that I had. I didn’t want to fight with Grandma-ever. Especially not over something as stupid as Mythos Academy.

"Anyway, I don’t think you should be worried," I said, changing the subject and trying to reassure her at the same time. "Professor Metis and the others increased the magical security on campus. Besides, whoever killed Jasmine is probably long gone, despite what I think. Nobody else has gotten hurt, as far as I know, and nothing else has been stolen from the library."