popped up on the table, and Carson slammed his hammer straight down on top of it-and the thumb of his other hand, which had somehow gotten in the way. I winced. And I thought I was uncoordinated.
'Nah,' I said, taking off my gloves and stuffing them into my pockets. 'I know how much you love the carnival. You guys stay here. We'll catch up after lunch.'
'Well, if you're sure…'
Daphne's voice trailed off, and she eyed Carson's hammer, no doubt thinking how much better she could do with it, especially with her Valkyrie strength. If Daphne whacked one of those gargoyles, I doubted it would rise back up. She could break the whole table with one blow if she wanted to.
'I'm sure,' I said, texting Preston back and telling him that I was on my way down the mountain and would meet him in the lobby. 'Go have fun. I'll be fine.'
'And what about the Reaper?' Daphne asked in a low voice. 'You haven't said anything, but I know you're still thinking about him, whoever he is. I would be. But Metis said she would take care of things, right?'
Daphne didn't know that I hadn't talked to Metis about the Reaper. Instead, I'd told my friend that the professor was looking into things. The vague answer had seemed to satisfy the Valkyrie. Plus, I hadn't said anything else to her about the Fenrir wolf that I'd seen in the trees yesterday and how I thought the creature wasn't just a wild wolf hanging around the mountain resort.
I shrugged. 'Nothing's happened since we got here yesterday. Maybe he didn't make the trip to the resort. Or maybe he's having too good a time to want to kill me today.'
I laughed at my lame joke, but Daphne didn't smile. She just looked at me, worry filling her face. She was right, though. I hadn't forgotten about the Reaper. In fact, that was one reason why I'd decided not to play any of the carnival games-so I could spy on the crowd instead.
I'd looked at everyone we'd passed today, all the other kids we'd talked to, all the profs manning the booths, all the hotel staff members making cotton candy and caramel apples. I'd even taken my gloves off and accidentally-onpurpose touched a few of them, just to see what kind of flashes I might get, just to see if I could figure out who the Reaper was. But I hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary. Everyone was focused on the carnival, all the games they wanted to play, and all the prizes they wanted to win.
'I'll take the chair lift and go straight down to the hotel,' I said, crossing my heart with my finger. 'Promise. I'll be fine. You'll see.'
Daphne still hesitated. 'Well, if you're sure…'
I gave her a little push. 'I'm sure. Now, go take that hammer away from Carson before he hurts himself with it.'
'Yeah,' Daphne sighed. 'He's not very good with it, is he? But luckily he more than makes up for it in other ways.'
She gave me a knowing smirk, and I just rolled my eyes.
'So Carson's a great kisser. Whatever,' I said, then grinned. 'Although maybe if I'm lucky, I'll discover Preston has some similar talents after lunch.'
I left Daphne and Carson at the carnival and headed back over to the chair lift. To my surprise, it wasn't operating, and the chairs dangled like wind chimes strung on the thick, black cables. A grizzled guy with a beard that reached down to his waist crouched by one of the steel stations that jutted up out of the snow. A hatch was open on the bottom of the station, and the guy clipped and twisted the wires inside, working on the electric circuits or whatever controlled the lift.
'Uh, excuse me, but why isn't the chair lift working right now?' I asked.
The guy pulled his head back out of the box and stared at me. His bushy white beard made him look like Santa Claus. 'We've been having some electrical problems. Thought I'd take care of it while all you kids were busy playing your carnival games.'
'Okay, so when are you going to be done? In a few minutes, maybe?'
The guy shook his head. 'Nope. I've got at least another half hour's worth of work here. Probably closer to an hour.'
Frustration filled me. I knew it wasn't the guy's fault he was doing his maintenance right now, it was just my bad luck.
'Well, how am I supposed to get back down to the hotel? I'm meeting someone for lunch.'
He shrugged again. 'I guess you'll have to walk down the slopes. That's what the other kids are doing.'
He pointed, and sure enough, I saw a few figures at the very bottom of the mountain, walking through the alpine village and heading for the hotel. Tracks crisscrossed the snow where the other kids had wound their way down the steep slope.
'Thanks,' I said.
The guy nodded, stuck his head back into the box, and started fiddling with all the wires inside again.
I should have headed toward the hotel immediately, but instead, I hesitated, my eyes scanning the snowy landscape, looking for the Fenrir wolf. I hadn't seen the monster since yesterday, but that didn't mean that it wasn't still lurking around the resort somewhere, waiting to pounce on me the second it got the chance.
My phone vibrated again, cutting into my thoughts, and I pulled it out of my pocket and read the message.
I bit my lip and put my phone back into my pocket. I didn't want to stand up Preston, and I didn't want to text him some lame excuse about not wanting to walk down the mountain by myself, because there might be a mythological monster after me. He'd think I was crazy. Besides, there were tons of people on the mountain today making tons of noise. Surely, those things would be enough to make the wolf stay hidden wherever it was.
So I stepped into the tracks the other kids had made and set off down the mountain. Despite the fact the other students had plowed a path, the snow was still deep, coming up to midthigh on me in places. I floundered through it, doggedly going down the slope one slippery step at a time.
I moved as fast as I could, but it was slow going, and I was just debating whether or not I should text
