Kiss of Frost

pull the sword and defend myself with it-or at least try to.

Oliver held out his hands and stepped toward me. 'Gwen, it's okay. I didn't mean to scare you. I just want to talk to you.'

'Talk?' I snapped, keeping my back to the wall, one hand on Vic's hilt as I edged away from him. 'Talk about what? How you tried to mow me down with your SUV earlier this week? Or maybe you'd like to talk about how you took a shot at me with your bow and arrow in the Library of Antiquities?'

Guilt filled his face. 'Look, I can explain all that.' 'Really? Like you can explain the avalanche you caused yesterday? The one that almost buried me on this damn mountain forever? Because I'd really, really like to hear you explain that one.'

Oliver frowned. 'Avalanche? I didn't cause the avalanche, Gwen.'

'I don't believe you. I don't believe a word that's coming out of your mouth. You're a Reaper of Chaos, and you're trying to kill me. That's all I need to know.'

Oliver stared at me, worry etching deep lines into his forehead. 'I'm not a Reaper! Why would you even think that?'

'Oh, I don't know,' I said in a sarcastic tone. 'Maybe it has something to do with the fact that you've tried to kill me four times now.'

'I wasn't trying to kill you,' Oliver said. 'Not with my car and not in the library. I was just trying to scare you a little.' My eyebrows shot up in my face. 'Scare me? Why?' 'Because of Kenzie,' Oliver growled in a frustrated tone.

'And what you saw when you touched my notebook. Logan told us about your psychometry magic and how you can learn people's secrets just by touching stuff that belongs to them. You said something about my crush, and I knew that you knew about Kenzie. I didn't want you telling anyone, so I did all that other stuff to distract you. I wasn't really trying to hurt you, Gwen. I swear.'

His mouth twisted a little. 'Logan would kill me if I ever hurt you on purpose. Hell, he'd kill me now if he realized what I've done so far.'

Oliver looked and sounded sincere, but I didn't know if I believed him or not. A few weeks ago, I'd thought Jasmine had been brutally murdered, but it had all just been an illusion the crazy Valkyrie had created. Who was to say Oliver wasn't playing me the same way Jasmine had? I tiptoed along the wall, creeping closer to the door, until I was forced to step around another wheelbarrow. I put it between me and the Spartan. Now, my back was to the door, and I kept my gaze fixed on Oliver, just in case he tried to rush after me. I still had my hand on Vic's hilt, although I doubted I would pull the sword now. I could run faster if I wasn't carrying him in my hand.

'I'm going to walk out that door and find Professor Metis,' I told Oliver. 'You can explain it all to her.'

I took one step back toward the door, then another, then another. More frustration filled the Spartan's face, and his hands curled into fists, but he didn't make a move to follow me. Maybe he was telling the truth, maybe he wasn't a Reaper, but I couldn't take a chance he wasn't. Besides, he'd already copped to the fact that he'd come after me with his SUV and fired that arrow at my head. What kind of guy did stuff like that? Okay, okay, so maybe all the Mythos kids were a little twisted and violent that way, and maybe I was, too, since I'd just broken into the Spartan's room on a hunch. But I certainly didn't want to be trapped alone with him in the dark, with no one around to hear me scream. Oliver opened his mouth, like he was going to say something. Then his eyes widened. 'Look out-' A crossbow bolt zipped by my ear and sank into the Spartan's left shoulder. Blood sprayed through the air.

Oliver screamed with pain and collapsed onto the concrete floor, clawing at the bolt. I whirled around.

A figure stood behind me. He must have slipped in through the door while I'd been talking to Oliver. Shadows cloaked his face, but I could clearly see the crossbow in his hand-the one that he'd just loaded with a fresh bolt. He gestured with the weapon, and I put my hands up and slowly backed around the wheelbarrow until I stood next to Oliver, who was writhing on the floor in pain.

'Stop,' the shadowy figure commanded.

I gasped. I recognized that voice, knew exactly who it belonged to. But why would he be here? And why would he shoot Oliver?

Preston stepped into a slice of sunlight and leveled his crossbow at me. 'You're not going anywhere, Gypsy.'

This time, my eyes were the ones that widened. 'Preston?' I asked. 'What's going on? What are you doing?'

'I think it's rather obvious. I'm here to kill you.' His handsome face twisted into a sneer. 'Just like you killed my little sister. And my name's not Preston. Well, not exactly. Preston's my middle name, you see. Julian Preston Ashton.'

'Your sister?' I whispered, ice filling up my stomach. 'Jasmine was your sister?'

Professor Metis had warned me that Jasmine's family blamed me for her death, that they might come after me. Jasmine herself had told me that she and the rest of her family were Reapers. Now one of them had come to collect.

'Don't you say her name!' Preston screamed. 'Don't you dare say her name, you Gypsy bitch!'

Preston leveled the crossbow at my face, and for a second I thought he was going to pull the trigger. But then he calmed down and lowered the weapon a few inches- aiming it at my heart instead. Not much of an improvement.

'Did you really think you could kill my sister-kill an Ashton, kill a Reaper-and get away with it?' Preston snarled.

I swallowed, but a hard lump of fear filled my throat. 'Jasmine-Jasmine tried to kill me first. I just defended myself.'

I didn't say anything about the fact that Logan was really the one who'd killed Jasmine, that the Spartan had been the one to put a spear through her chest. I didn't want to put him in danger, too. Besides, Preston wouldn't believe me anyway.

Preston laughed, and the harsh, mocking sound fluttered against the walls, somehow darkening the shadows all around us. 'I don't care what you did. You killed my sister, and now you're going to pay for it.'

He cocked his head to one side, studying me. 'All that's left is to decide how much I want to make you suffer in the meantime.'

His words chilled me to the bone, because I knew he meant them. He was just as determined to kill me as Jasmine had been to sacrifice Morgan to Loki. I wondered if Preston would do the same thing to me. If he would stake me out down here in the sawdust and concrete, chant some magic mumbo jumbo, and dedicate my death to the evil god he served before he put a crossbow bolt through my skull.

The sick, horrid thought made me want to vomit, but I forced myself to just breathe-in and out, in and out, like my mom had taught me. I couldn't give in to the panic. If I did that, I was already dead. Calm, I had to stay calm, and I had tothink. That was the only way I was going to get out of this alive.

My eyes flicked down, but Oliver had quit screaming. Now, the Spartan lay quiet and still at my feet. A wide pool of blood had formed under his left shoulder, mixing with the sawdust on the floor. I didn't know if the Spartan was dead or not, and I didn't dare bend down to check. Not with Preston still aiming his crossbow at me.

'Don't worry about him,' Preston sneered. 'Like I told you before, archery's not really my thing, but that's a pretty nasty wound. If he's not dead by the time I'm done with you, I'll put another bolt through his skull and finish