Touch of Frost (Mythos Academy #1)(44)
Author: Jennifer Estep

Two other girls-Morgan’s usual entourage-surrounded her, looking just as glitzy as she did, although not quite as slutty. The three of them had stopped a couple of steps up from the bottom, and their conversation drifted down to me.

"Of course I’m going to be the homecoming queen of the second-year class," Morgan said in a loud, proud voice. "Professor Metis told me as much during myth-history when she said that the other profs had decided to crown an alternate winner instead of Jasmine. They didn’t want to bring everyone down by mentioning her tonight. And, of course, Samson’s going to be homecoming king. It’s only fitting, since he’s my date. Tonight is going to be perfect and just the way it was always meant to be."

The two Valkyries nodded their heads, agreeing with everything she said. Even though Jasmine, their previous fearless leader, had only been dead a few days.

Morgan tossed her hair back over her shoulder, struck a model pose, and then slinked down the last few steps, ready to go claim her homecoming crown, her new boyfriend, and her rightful place as the new queen of Mythos Academy. The Valkyrie walked past me like she didn’t even notice me standing on the first step. Maybe she didn’t. I imagined it was hard for Morgan to see anything but her own perfection.

"Aren’t you even sorry that she’s dead?" I called out.

I’d never spoken to Morgan before, and I certainly had no real reason to talk to her now. But the image of Jasmine lying on the library floor, sprawled across the sticky puddles of her own blood, flashed through my mind, and the words came out before I could stop them.

Morgan turned around to stare at me, along with her two Valkyrie followers. "Are you talking to me?"

"Of course I’m talking to you, Morgan. You were Jasmine’s best friend. Aren’t you sorry that she’s dead? Even just a little bit?"

Morgan frowned at me, her red lips turning down into a perfect pout. "Well, of course I’m sorry. I mean, she was my best friend and all, and I’d known her for, like, ever. But just because she’s dead doesn’t mean that we all have to act like we are, too. If you had known Jasmine, you’d realize that’s what she would have wanted. She would have wanted us to pull together, to go to the dance and have fun without her."

It sounded like some little speech that Morgan had rehearsed in front of the mirror while she was putting on her lipstick. Some pat little answer that she could just pull out and use like an emotional stun gun if anyone else asked her the same question that I had. Of course, it was also more or less the same thing that my Grandma Frost had told me, but at least I knew she meant it. Morgan? Probably not.

I rolled my eyes. I was willing to bet that I knew Jasmine a lot better than Morgan ever had. Morgan hadn’t even realized that Jasmine knew that she was sleeping with Samson behind Jasmine’s back. But I did, thanks to the flashes that I’d gotten off the picture that I’d dug out of Jasmine’s trash. With best friends like Morgan, who needed enemies?

But I didn’t say anything. There was no use trying to tell Morgan any of that. Girls like her never listened to freaks like me.

Morgan gave me a haughty, superior look, as though she’d just won some kind of war of words with her quick answer. Then, she turned and strutted out of the dorm on her black stilettos, with her two new BFFs trailing along behind her.

I shook my head and went up the stairs to the second floor, where Daphne’s room was. I knocked once on the door, and, a moment later, the Valkyrie threw it open.

Daphne had already put on her dress-a pink princess ball gown with tiny spaghetti straps, a sweetheart neckline, and a poofy skirt dusted with glittering pink sequins. She’d twisted her blond hair up into a sleek bun on top of her head, and her pink lip gloss matched her dress perfectly. The Valkyrie looked like she’d just stepped out of a Disney movie. I half expected singing birds and animated mice to come scurrying out of her room, pleased by their work for the night.

"Um, so what do you need me to do?" I asked. "Because you look pretty perfect to me already."

Daphne’s face creased into a smile. "Do you really think so? Do you really like the dress?"

I came inside and shut the door behind me. "I really do. And I think that Carson will, too."

Daphne beamed at me, then turned and went over to stare at herself in the mirror over her vanity table once more.

I used the opportunity to study the Valkyrie’s room. She had the same dorm room furniture that we all did, more or less. A bed, a vanity table, a desk, a TV, some bookcases. But Daphne had meant it before at lunch when she’d said that she liked pink, because it was everywhere. The comforter on her bed, the pillows, the curtains. All some shade of pink. Even the walls and ceiling were painted a pale, pearly pink.

But the strange thing was that there were also tons of computers in the room. I counted three monitors, a couple of laptops, and some plastic boxes that looked like servers-and that was just on her oversize desk stuck in the back corner. Wow. I’d thought her being in the Tech Club was just a fluke or something, but it looked like Daphne was really into the computer stuff. A Valkyrie princess computer geek-who would have thought? I would have had a hard time believing all the equipment was hers-if the computers, monitors, and servers hadn’t all been covered with pink cases and Hello Kitty stickers.

Daphne smoothed down her dress and turned to look at me. I stood there in the middle of the room, feeling awkward and underdressed once again.

"So … what do you need me to do, exactly? Because you’re already dressed and stuff."

Daphne shrugged. "Nothing, I guess. I just wanted … somebody to talk to before Carson comes and picks me up."

"He’s a nice guy, Carson," I said, sitting down on the bed. "You two make a cute couple."

"Do you really think so?"

"I do."

We fell silent, each one of us trying to figure out what we could talk to the other person about. This friend thing was harder than I remembered it being. A lot harder.

"So … ," Daphne said, still standing so her dress wouldn’t get wrinkled. "I take it that you’re not going to the dance. At least, please tell me you’re not going in that awful hoodie."

My eyes narrowed. Catty I could do. Being nice was what was so difficult. "I like my hoodie just fine, thank you very much. But don’t worry. I’m not wearing it to the dance because I’m not going. No one asked me, as if you hadn’t guessed. Like you pointed out at lunch today, I don’t have any friends at Mythos, much less a boyfriend."

It might have been my imagination, but I thought Daphne winced a little at my harsh words.

The Valkyrie hesitated. "You know, you could come along with Carson and me… ."