Kiss of Frost

'Well, if they can be trained to kill, then they can be trained to do other things, right?' I insisted in a stubborn tone. 'I mean, they're notbornbad, are they? Metis said they weren't necessarily evil, that they have free will, just like we do.'

Daphne looked at me like I was spouting nonsense. Maybe I was. 'Yeah, maybe Fenrir wolves have free will, but the Reapers have tortured all the goodness out of them, just like they have the Nemean prowlers, Black rocs, and all the other creatures they use. Face it, Gwen. That wolf was trained by a Reaper, which makes it just as twisted and evil as the Reaper is.'

'Yep,' Vic chimed in. 'Twisted, evil, and deserving of death. If you'd had me with you, then I could have taken care of the oversized puppy all by myself.'

I rolled my eyes, but the sword didn't notice. Neither did the Valkyrie. Instead, Daphne and Vic stared arguing about who was more evil, the Reapers or the mythological creatures they trained, and the best ways to kill them all. I tuned them out. They hadn't been there, and they hadn't seen how much pain the wolf had been in. They hadn't felt its emotions the way I had. No matter what they claimed, the creature wasn't all evil. Somewhere underneath all those teeth and claws was a heart that beat just like mine. No, the wolf wasn't a complete monster, even if its Reaper master had trained it to be that way.

Once Daphne and Vic quit arguing, the three of us spent the next hour lounging around and talking. Well, the Valkyrie did most of the talking, telling me about how she and the other kids at the Winter Carnival had heard the explosion and then seen the avalanche rush down the mountain toward me. Since the carnival had been set up back on the plateau, everyone there had been well out of the path of the roaring snow.

'Everyone was seriously freaked out,' Daphne said. 'Including Logan.'

My heart skipped a beat, even though I kept my face calm. 'Really? I find that hard to believe.'

'Oh yeah,' the Valkyrie said. 'He totally wanted to go with Ajax and start looking for you. Carson and I did too, but Metis and the other profs wouldn't let us. They kept everyone at the carnival until the snow had settled. But Logan, man, I thought he was actually going to punch Nickamedes at one point. The two of them were screaming at each other, and Kenzie and Oliver had to grab hold of Logan to keep him from going after the librarian.'

I laughed. 'Now that I would have liked to have seen. Yeah, maybe Logan was worried about me. I mean, we are friends, in a weird sort of way. But it doesn't matter, because I saw him hanging out with Savannah down in the lobby a few minutes ago, just like always. So nothing's changed. Besides, I ran into Preston downstairs. We're going to have lunch tomorrow, and I'm going to forget all about Logan-at least for the rest of the weekend.'

Daphne opened her mouth, but her phone started vibrating on the nightstand. She bent over to see who was texting her. She hit a few buttons, and a guilty look filled her pretty face.

'So, that was Carson and… there's this party tonight,' Daphne said, not quite looking at me.

'And let me guess. I can't go because it's out in the alpine village somewhere and I'm not supposed to leave the hotel, right?'

Daphne winced and nodded.

'Go,' I said. 'Have fun with your boyfriend. I'm going to stay right here with Vic, read my comic books, and eat junk food for the rest of the night.'

'Are you sure?' Daphne asked, biting her glossy lip. 'I don't mind staying here with you and just hanging out… '

'Go,' I repeated in a firm voice. 'Go to the party, get drunk, and totally make out with Carson. I'll be fine. I promise. Believe me, after what happened today, I have zero desire to party tonight.'

It took some more prodding on my part, but eventually, Daphne brushed out her hair, put on some more lip gloss, and left to go hook up with Carson. As soon as the door locked behind her, I walked over to my gray duffel bag and pulled out a pen and notebook. Then I settled myself on the bed, with Vic propped up on a pillow beside me.

'What are you doing?' the sword asked. 'Because that doesn't look like a comic book to me.'

'Nothing much,' I said. 'Just trying to figure out who wants me dead.'

Chapter 17

For a moment, Vic peered at me with his one eye, then his slash of a mouth curved back into a full-on smile. I almost thought he would have nodded in approval if he could actually, you know, move his half of a head.

'Finally,Gypsy,' he chirped in his English accent. 'I was wondering how long you were going to let something like that slide. It's a major breach of etiquette you know, not striking back at your enemies in a timely fashion.'

Etiquette? What kind of etiquette was there in someone trying to murder me? Sometimes I just didn't understand Vic at all. I shook my head.

'It's not that I've been letting it slide exactly,' I said. 'It's just that I don't have much to go on. I couldn't see who was driving the car that tried to hit me, and I didn't get the license plate. The same thing happened in the library. I didn't see who fired the arrow, and I didn't get much of a vibe on the hole it left behind in the bookshelf. And yeah, I touched the Fenrir wolf, but not long enough to really get a major whammy off it or see who its master is. Mostly, the wolf was still thinking about the avalanche, just like I was.'

'So what are you going to do?' Vic asked.

I shrugged. 'I thought I'd make a list of everyone who might have a grudge against me and go from there. It always works on TV.'

Vic rolled his eye. 'Why are you playing bloody detective again instead of just going out there and using me to get some answers? Put me up against someone's throat, and I'll make him start talking real quick.'

I arched an eyebrow and gave the sword a look. 'What?' he growled. 'It'd be much more fun than listening to you and the Valkyrie natter on about what some other bloody girl waswearing.'

'Shut up, Vic,' I said. 'I need to think.'

The sword let out a loud harrumph and snapped his eye shut, his mouth turning down into a pout. And people thought teenagers were moody. Please. We had nothing on ancient, bloodthirsty, talking swords.

Vic kept his eye shut, enjoying his snit, so I sat there on the bed and started making my list. It took me about five seconds. What can I say? It was a short list with only one name on it: Jasmine Ashton's family. Okay, okay, so