Kiss of Frost

legendary. Last year, somebody dared Morgan McDougall to go skinny-dipping in the hotel's indoor pool with a bunch of guys. And of course she did it-sober, no less. Everybody talked about it forweeks.'

I grimaced. 'Well, I'm not Morgan, and I'm definitely not the skinny-dipping type. I'm not sure I want to go.'

Daphne put her hands on her hips and stalked over to me. Since I was lying with my head by the foot of the bed, she looked upside down to me. Pink sparks snapped and crackled around her fingertips like lightning. I sighed. Daphne always gave off more magic when she was upset, angry, or just plain annoyed. I was willing to bet she was feeling the last one right now, and I knew it was my fault. I hadn't exactly been a bucket of fun so far, and the Valkyrie was probably tired of having to coax me to do every little thing.

'Of course, you want to go,' Daphne scoffed. 'It's aparty, Gwen. You know, a place where you go to have a good time.'

I just shrugged. I didn't tell her I could have a perfectly good time in the room by myself with my comic books and sugar stash. That's pretty much how I'd spent every night when I'd first come to Mythos, since I hadn't had any friends at the academy.

Being alone didn't bother me. Part of me had been alone ever since my mom had died-alone, hollow, empty, and aching-and I knew part of me would always feel that way. The feelings might dull and dim with time, but they'd always be there. I'd always remember losing my mom-and always feel the gnawing pain of wishing she was still here with me.

'Well, what about that cute guy you talked to in the lobby? He said he was going to the Solstice party, didn't he?' Daphne said.

'Yeah.'

'And he said maybe he'd see you there?'

'Yeah.'

Daphne rolled her eyes. 'Well, he can'tseeyou if you don't actuallygo to the party.'

I opened my mouth, but I couldn't argue with her logic. Her point made, Daphne sniffed and stalked back over to the mirror. The Valkyrie put down her brush, plucked her raspberry-scented lip gloss out of the depths of her enormous Dooney & Bourke purse, and started working on her makeup.

I lay there on the bed, brooding. Yeah, I'd like to go to the party, see Preston, and have a good time, but I also couldn't forget that a Reaper was trying to kill me. First the SUV, then the arrow in the library, and now a Fenrir wolf in the snow. Whoever he was, he was definitely serious about wanting me dead, enough to try again here at the ski resort.

This trip was just for Mythos students and staff, both the ones here in North Carolina and those who'd come down from New York, and Daphne had told me the resort was always closed to other guests during the Winter Carnival weekend. That meant the Reaper had been at the academy to start with and not just some random bad guy who'd somehow gotten past the sphinxes on the wall and snuck onto campus. My Reaper stalker was either a student, a professor, or a staff member-maybe even someone that I saw every single day. Helena Paxton, that snotty Amazon girl from the library; Mr. Llew, the calculus prof who bored me to tears with his lectures; Coach Lir, who ran the swim teams and helped out with the weapons training and other sports programs. The Reaper could be anyone.

Whoever he was, he was really starting to piss me off. Yeah, Jasmine Ashton was dead because of me. I had plenty of guilt over her death and the part I'd played in it. But the Valkyrie had been two seconds away from murdering me when Logan had put a spear through her heart.

My mom had killed more than one bad guy while she'd been a police detective. She'd told me once that it wasn't right taking someone else's life, but sometimes it was necessary to protect other people and yourself. Logan had killed Jasmine to save me, even if Jasmine's family didn't see it that way, even if the other Reapers didn't see it that way.

The truth was, I wanted to know who was trying to kill me, so I could take the Reaper down myself. Of course, I wouldn't discover anything if I stayed here in the room all night, even if it was definitely the safer option. No, the Reaper and his wolf were out there somewhere, and it was time for me to find them. Or at least have enough fun to make me forget about them for the night. Right now, I wasn't too picky about which way things went.

I sat up and met Daphne's eyes in the mirror.

'All right,' I said. 'Let's party.'

Chapter 10

'Parteeeee!' a Roman guy standing on top of a table screamed and raised his plastic cup of beer.

'Parteeeee!' all the other kids screamed, lifting up their own cups in response.

Then, with one thought, everyone chugged down whatever was in their cups. In my case, it was some kind of light-colored ale that tasted like sour grass as it slid down my throat. But I drank it anyway, if only to blend in. Nobody here was drinking soda tonight.

I wrinkled my nose. 'Yucko. I can't believe people drink this stuff forfun.'

'Not for fun,' Carson said above the shouts, giving me a crooked grin and pushing his glasses up his nose. 'Just to get drunk.'

'And how do you know when you're drunk?'

His grin widened. 'When it starts tasting good.'

It was just after nine, and Carson, Daphne, and I were at one of the many student parties being held tonight as part of the Winter Carnival. This one was at Solstice, which was one of the coffeehouses in the alpine village next to the hotel.