Kiss of Frost

ring toss, so I can win you a stuffed animal. Or a dagger, whichever you prefer.'

Daphne arched her eyebrows and gave him an amused smile. 'Even though I can totally beat you whenever we play any kind of game in gym class?'

Carson blushed a little. 'Yeah, well, I can try. Look how many tickets I bought. Surely, I can win something with them.'

He pulled a wad of red tickets out of the pocket of his black ski pants. You had to buy tickets to play the various carnival games, and the proceeds went to help fund the whole weekend trip. Daphne and Carson had both whipped out their credit cards to get tickets for all the games as soon as we'd stepped off the chair lift. They'd dropped close to five hundred bucks each without batting an eye.

I hadn't bothered buying any tickets, though. I wasn't coordinated enough to play one of the games and actually win anything. Well, I might be able to win if there was some kind of archery game, and I channeled my memories of Daphne at her tournaments, just like I did during weapons training. But the Powers That Were at the academy would probably consider that to be cheating.

'Come on,' Daphne said, grabbing my hand. 'Enough standing around. Let's play some games!'

We wandered around the Winter Carnival for the next two hours, moving from one booth to another. It looked like everyone in the entire Powder complex had turned out for the event, and the whole mountain was crawling with kids, professors, and the resort staff.

I spotted Professor Metis running one of the ring toss games and cheerfully talking to all the students. Nickamedes stood next to her in the booth, handing out prizes to the winners, a pinched, sour expression on his face. No doubt the librarian was allergic to fresh air and sunshine. Sometimes I wondered if Nickamedes was actually a vampire, as pale and pasty as he was. I'd have to ask Daphne about the librarian, and if, you know, vampires actually existed in the first place. Despite all the things I'd learned in mythhistory class, I was still a little unclear on all the different types of monsters out there. Okay, okay, on a lot of things, really.

Metis and Nickamedes weren't the only professors I saw. Mr. Llew, my calculus teacher; Mrs. Banba, the economics prof; Coach Lir, the lean, lanky swimming instructor-they were all helping out with the booths and games. Even Mrs. Raven, the library coffee cart lady was here, manning one of the cotton candy machines.

I had fun watching Daphne and Carson play all the carnival games, but it wasn't long before I noticed there was something a little… off about the contests. Like at the ring toss, where the kids threw spiked metal chains over the heads of Nemean prowlers instead of using simple rings and metal poles. Or over at the milk bottle toss, where the glass bottles all had grinning black masks painted on them to represent Reaper faces. And especially at the dunk tank, where the bulls'-eye reminded me of a drawing of Loki that I'd seen in my mythhistory book, the one where the evil god's face was all twisted and melted from the snake venom that had dripped onto his handsome features for centuries. The venom continually spattering onto Loki had been part of his punishment the first time the other gods had locked him away, before he escaped and plunged the world into the Chaos War.

Then, there were the prizes. Carson hadn't been kidding when he said he could win Daphne a dagger. Most of the booths were crammed with stuffed animals and other oversize toys, but weapons gleamed on the shelves right alongside them-swords, staffs, crossbows, throwing stars, even a shield or two. And lots of kids chose the sharp, shiny weapons over the toys. But even when the students opted for the toys, they were still all wrong. Instead of fluffy pink bunnies and plush black bears, the stuffed animals were shaped like grinning gryphons or stoic sphinxes.

Once I started noticing all the stuff like that, I couldn't quit looking at it-and it seriously creeped me out. Who wanted to go to a carnival where the prizes could be used to murder you? Especially since I knew there was a real Reaper of Chaos lurking somewhere out here in the winter sunshine-one who wanted to kill me.

'Uh, what's with all the games?' I asked Carson at one point, while Daphne was busy shooting arrows through a metal ring that was barely bigger around than my wrist.

'What do you mean?' he mumbled, stuffing a wad of lime cotton candy into his mouth.

'I mean, why is everything decorated with Nemean prowlers and scary, twisted Reaper masks?'

Carson frowned. 'What are you talking about, Gwen? The booths and games are decorated the same way they always are. I think they look great.'

I opened my mouth to ask him another question, but I realized it was kind of pointless. To Carson, Nemean prowlers, Reaper masks, and bull's-eyes of Loki were completely normal. He'd never been to any other kind of carnival, out there in the regular mortal world, where kids had no idea that mythological monsters even existed or that there was an ancient struggle still being fought today in modern times. Then again, mortal carnivals usually had a clown or two. I supposed images of an evil god who wanted to break free of his mythological prison and enslave the whole world weren't any scarier than a guy wearing big red shoes, yellow plaid pants, and white face paint. Clowns had always creeped me out. They weresonot funny.

Daphne put all her arrows through the ring and won a stuffed gryphon for Carson before we headed off to the next game.

I looked for Preston in the crowd, hoping that maybe we could hook up before lunch and I could introduce him to my friends, but I didn't see him anywhere. No surprise. So many people were crammed into the carnival space that it was hard enough to keep track of Daphne and Carson right beside me. I had my cell phone in my pocket though, waiting for him to text me. Or maybe I'd be brave and text him first. I hadn't decided yet.

One person I had no trouble spotting was Logan. The Spartan stood over at the strong man test, swinging a sledgehammer down onto a platform and making a weight shoot up a tall scale and ring a bell at the top. Big, burly Coach Ajax manned that game, his onyx skin glistening in the sunlight. With his arms crossed over his chest, the coach looked like a granite slab someone had planted on the mountainside, along with all the other statues.

Kenzie and Oliver were hanging out with Logan, all three of them taking turns with the sledgehammer. I glanced at the crowd of girls standing around giggling and watching them, but I didn't see Savannah anywhere. Maybe the Spartans were having a guys' day out or something. Whatever. I did not care what Logan was doing or who he was doing it with. I did not care.I did not care. Maybe if I told myself that enough times, it would actually be true. Yeah, right. Even I didn't believe that, and I was the one who was trying to lie to myself.

My cell phone buzzed in my jacket pocket, distracting me from my thoughts of Logan. I pulled it out and read the message.Ready 4 lunch? Meet me @ hotel in 15 min. P.

'Is that your mystery man?' Daphne asked, looking over my shoulder and squinting down at the screen.

I grinned at her. 'Yes, it is. He wants to meet for lunch back at the hotel.'

'Oh, okay, well, we'll go with you,' Daphne said. 'Just let Carson finish his game.'

Carson was playing a whacked-out version of Whac-AMole, except he was trying to hit gargoyle heads as they popped up out of a metal table instead of, you know, moles. But he wasn't having much luck at it. A gargoyle