Kiss of Frost

'Great. Way to make me feel better.'

Daphne rolled her black eyes. 'Oh, suck it up, Gwen. It's not the end of the world. We're all here learning how to fight Reapers. You're just getting a crash course in it, that's all. Some of the kids would actually be jealous of you. The Spartans certainly would. Sometimes I think Logan and his friends would go off hunting Reapers if Coach Ajax and the other profs would let them.'

In addition to being the best fighters at Mythos, the Spartans also had a reputation for being the most bloodthirsty. They actually liked to be in the thick of battle and killing things-it was part of their DNA or something. I guess that's just what happened when you could pick up normal, everyday objects-the cookies Daphne was noshing on, the stapler on my desk, the small replica of Nike next to it-and automatically know how to kill people with them. Logan, Kenzie, and Oliver could grab any one of those things, kill me with it, and not think twice doing it. Seriously. That's the kind of freaky stuff they instinctively knew how to do.

'Well, it's a course I'm going to flunk,' I groused. 'Maybe I'll just hide up here in my room until Christmas break. Sooner or later, the Reaper will have to lose interest in me.'

'Reapersneverlose interest. Once you're on their hit list, they won't stop coming until you're dead-or they are.' Daphne shook her head again. 'And you can't stay here, especially not this weekend. Everyone's going to the Winter Carnival, even the professors and the academy staff. You'd be on campus all by yourself. If thereisa Reaper out there gunning for you, you'd just give him an early Christmas present. You know what a total joke the dorm security is.'

I sighed. 'So what do you think I should do?'

'Talk to Metis,' Daphne said. 'Tell her what's going on and ask her if she's heard anything about Jasmine's family. If they're still in hiding or if the Pantheon has caught up to them yet and has thrown them in prison where they belong.'

I nodded my head, and we were silent for a few moments.

'You know, it's just too bad that I didn't have a bow and arrow tonight,' I finally groused. 'I could have thought of you and defended myself against the Reaper.'

'What do you mean?'

I told the Valkyrie how I'd done better during archery practice this morning just by thinking of her, by calling up the memories I had of her at the tournaments she'd won.

'Really? That's cool.' Daphne tapped her fingers against her lips, deep in thought. 'I wonder if you could do that with other things, too.'

'What do you mean?'

She gestured at her bulging book bag on the floor. 'I've been reading up on various magical theories and powers while I wait for my own magic to quicken. There are lots of stories about folks tapping into other people's powers. Most of them have some kind of mental magic, like you do. Telepathy or something that lets them see into other people's minds. So if you can call up the memories of my archery tournaments, who's to say you couldn't do that with other things? Or even with other people?'

I shrugged. 'I don't know. I never thought of my magic like that before. Usually I just get flashes off objects. I don't actually do anything with the memories I see.'

'Well, maybe you should try to, to see if it works,' Daphne said. 'Either way you might as well start packing your bags for the carnival. Because I'm not leaving you here by yourself, not with a Reaper lurking around. You're going to the carnival, even if I have to drag you kicking and screaming onto the bus myself.'

Daphne's pretty features took on a determined, stubborn look, and more pink sparks of magic flickered in the air around her. We might have only been friends for a few weeks now, but I knew she meant what she said. And with her Valkyrie strength, she'd have no problem twisting my arm-literally-to get me to do exactly what she wanted.

'All right, all right,' I groused again. 'I'll talk to Metis tomorrow, and I'll go to the stupid Winter Carnival with you. Just don't expect me to like it.'

Daphne grinned, and then stuffed another cookie into her mouth.

I stuck to my regular schedule the next day, Thursday; weapons training, bright and early, with Logan, Kenzie, and Oliver; breakfast in the dining hall with Daphne; then a full day of classes. I eyed all the other students, wondering which one of them might really be a Reaper, but no one paid me any more attention than usual. Which is to say, nobody noticed me at all. I wasn't exactly one of the popular kids, and I certainly wasn't pretty enough for the guys to check me out that way. Most people-like Helena Paxton and her snotty friends in the library last night- just thought of me as Gwen Frost, that weird Gypsy girl.

Finally, sixth period rolled around, and I slid into my seat in Professor Metis's myth-history class. Carson's desk was right in front of mine, and he turned around to talk to me. Carson was Daphne's boyfriend, but he was my friend, too, since I'd helped hook them up in the first place. He was just an all-around nice, sweet guy with a tall, lanky, six-foot frame and dusky brown hair and skin. He also happened to be a total band geek, and was the drum major for the Mythos Academy Marching Band, even though he was only seventeen and a second-year student, like me. Carson was a Celt, and had a magical talent for music, like some kind of warrior bard, although I'd never really asked him about it, what kind of power he had, or what he could do with it.

'Are you excited about the Winter Carnival?' Carson asked, pushing his black glasses up his nose and peering at me with his dark brown eyes. 'This will be your first one, right, Gwen?'

'Yeah,' I muttered. 'And I'm just thrilled to death about it.' Carson frowned, picking up on my sour mood, but before he could say anything else, the bell rang, signaling the start of class. A few seconds later Professor Metis stepped into the room and closed the door behind her. Metis was of Greek descent, like so many of the kids and profs at Mythos. She was a short woman with a stocky body, bronze skin, and black hair that was always pulled back into a high, tight bun. Today she wore a heavy fisherman's sweater that was the same color green as her eyes behind her silver glasses.

'Good afternoon, everyone. Please open your books to page 251,' Metis said. 'Today we're going to focus on some of the creatures that aided Loki during the Chaos War, and some species that the Reapers still use today.'

I winced. Monster talk, in other words. Definitely notmy favorite subject. Reapers were bad enough, but they were just people in the end. Okay, okay, people with magic, weapons, and seriously bad attitudes, but still, just people. It was the monsters-the mythological nightmares the Reapers trained to do their evil biddings-that really creeped me out. I'd been face-to-face with a Nemean prowler, and I'd seen exactly how big, long, and sharp the killer kitty-cat's teeth and claws were. It was like a black panther on steroids. Prowler super-, superdangerous. Gwen not so much. That was all I really needed to know.

But there was no getting out of class, so I cracked open my myth-history book to the appropriate page.

'Now,' Professor Metis began, 'you all know about the Reapers of Chaos, those who serve the evil god Loki, and how they and Loki tried to enslave everyone centuries ago. Their actions resulted in the long, bloody Chaos War, which had almost destroyed the entire world. Eventually, the members of Pantheon banded together to battle Loki and his Reapers. Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, defeated Loki in single combat, and she and the other gods trapped him in a magical, mythological prison far removed from the mortal realm.'

Metis looked at first one student, then another, making sure we were all paying attention. 'We've also talked about how the Reapers are trying to free Loki, so the god can plunge the world into a second Chaos War… '

As the professor started her lecture, I once again thought about Jasmine Ashton and how she'd been a Reaper, along with the rest of her family. Before she'd died, Jasmine had told me there were other Reapers at the academy-something that made my stomach quiver with dread even now. It was bad enough to know Reapers existed in the first place. It was another scarier thing to realize you went to class with them and had no idea who they were-or when they might decide to try and kill you.

Reapers were the reason why all the kids were at Mythos to start with. The students were the descendants of all the ancient warriors who'd helped defeat Loki the first time around, and they were here in case the god ever got free again. All of the Mythos students had been training since birth to learn how to use whatever skills or magic they had, so they could fight Reapers. Of course, I wasn't a warrior like the other kids-not exactly-but I had my own magic: my psychometry, given to me by Nike herself.

I'd recently learned that all my ancestors had served Nike in some way, including my Grandma Frost and my mom, Grace. As a result, the goddess had gifted us with magic, which is what makes us Gypsies. My grandma had told me there were other Gypsies out there, other people with magic from the gods, but I'd never met any of them.