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They were probably too busy sticking their tongues down each other's throats to go skiing. The thought didn't make me happy.
I flopped down on the bed and stared out the window.
Since we were on the top floor, we had a great view of the surrounding mountains and the val eys that dipped down in between the jagged peaks. Snow, trees, and sky stretched out al the way to the horizon, blurring together in soft shades of purple, gray, and wintry silver. But the beautiful vista didn't soothe me.
Not now. My thoughts turned back to the Fenrir wolf. I wondered where it was right now, if it was out there in the woods that surrounded the ski resort, if it was patiently waiting for another chance to attack me-
"What's wrong?" Daphne asked, staring at me in the mirror while she brushed out her golden hair. "You've been quiet al afternoon."
"Nothing," I lied. "I'm just tired. Al that skiing wore me out."
"Tired? You can't be tired. We've got a party to go to, remember?"
I groaned and flopped back on the bed. "You can't be serious."
"Of course, I'm serious. Yeah, the skiing's nice and al , but we al real y come here for the parties. They're legendary. Last year, somebody dared Morgan McDougal 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 for weeks." I grimaced. "Wel , 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 wil ing 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 a party, Gwen. You know, a place where you go to have a good time."
I just shrugged. I didn't tel 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, hol ow, empty, and aching-and I knew part of me would always feel that way.
The feelings might dul 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 stil here with me.
"Wel , 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 rol ed her eyes. "Wel , he can't see you if you don't actual y go 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 kil 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 wal 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 real y 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 kil ed 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 kil ed 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 kil me, so I could take the Reaper down myself. Of course, I wouldn't discover anything if I stayed here in the room al 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.
"Al 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!" al 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 for fun."
"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 vil age next to the hotel.
During the day, Solstice was actual y a coffee shop, the kind of place that charged way too much for espressos, mochas, and lattes, not to mention the muffins, scones, and pound cakes that went along with them. Every once in a while, I got a whiff of the sugar and spices that had flavored the air earlier in the day, although now, the smel s of perfume, beer, and smoke overpowered them.
Tonight, al of the tables had been pushed up against the wal s to make room for a dance floor. Somebody had set up some strobe lights, and the music thumped with a low, steady bass beat through the sound system. Daphne had told me that Samson Sorensen's dad owned the whole Powder resort complex and always let the Viking have a party here at the coffee shop during the Winter Carnival-
with absolutely no interference from the Mythos professors .
Hence the insanely loud music and the row of kegs that squatted on the counter in plain view of the front windows.
Not to mention the quick glows of orange-red lights in the crowd as some of the kids sucked down cigarettes or something even stronger and more il egal.
As for Samson, he stood in the middle of the coffee shop, a beer in one hand and his arm around a girl from the New York academy. The Viking accepted backslaps from al the guys for throwing such an awesome party, and the girl by his side looked up at him with adoring eyes. No wonder. With his sandy brown hair, hazel eyes, and dimples, Samson was one of the cutest guys at either school.
It wasn't that late, but more than a few kids were already total y wasted. One guy lay on top of the counter behind the row of kegs, his hand curled around one of them, like it was a stuffed animal he was clutching to his chest. A string of drool oozed out of the side of his open mouth. I could see it, because I was standing at the end of the counter where his head was. I thought he might be snoring, too, but the music was so loud that I couldn't real y tel .
"Come on. Let's dance," Daphne said, grabbing Carson's hand.
He winced. "You should know by now that I don't dance."
She flashed him a confident, smirking smile. "Don't worry, babe.
I'l make you look good. I always do." Laughing, Carson let Daphne pul him out onto the dance floor. A second later, the two of them were grooving to the blaring music, with Daphne going about it much more smoothly than Carson, who was al flailing arms and jerky feet. If he wasn't careful, the band geek was going to stab someone in the eye with his elbow.
Of course, Daphne and Carson dancing left me standing by myself against the wal , with only Drool Guy for company.
I eyed the unconscious kid, who smacked his lips, causing even more spit to trickle out of the side of his mouth.
Disgusting.
I shifted away from the edge of the counter and scanned the crowd, just like I'd been doing ever since we'd gotten here an hour ago, but al I saw were drunk guys, dancing girls, and couples sticking their tongues down each other's throats. Nobody looked like she could be a Reaper in disguise, and nobody seemed like he wanted to kil me.
As soon as we'd stepped through the door, I knew that I wouldn't be able to do anything tonight to figure out who was after me. Not that I'd had a real plan to start with, other than to roam around, touch people and their stuff, and see if I got any psycho-kil er vibes off anything. There were way too many kids packed into the coffee shop for me to touch every single one of them. Besides, I doubted that I'd see anything tonight through the beer-soaked haze.
I was stil scanning the crowd when Logan walked through the door.
He looked as gorgeous as ever. His ink black hair glinted under the flashing lights, and his dark blue sweater brought out the exquisite, icy paleness of his eyes, while his leather jacket highlighted exactly how broad and strong his shoulders were. My breath caught in my throat, and my heart thrummed with painful awareness.
But of course he wasn't alone. Logan turned around and stretched out his hand. A second later, Savannah stepped through the door after him, her red hair gleaming like ribbons of copper streaming down her back. Logan bent down, and Savannah laughed at whatever he whispered into her ear.
They real y did make a cute couple, both of them rich, powerful, and beautiful. I didn't know much about Savannah, besides the fact that she was an Amazon gifted with supernatural speed, but she real y did seem to like Logan. I could tel by the way she smiled at him.
It was the same way I always smiled at him-with my heart in my eyes for everyone to see.
Logan must have sensed me staring at him, because he looked in my direction. He hesitated a second, then lifted his hand.
I gritted my teeth, made myself smile, and waved back. Savannah peered around him, wondering who he was waving at. When she saw that it was me, her glossy lips flattened out. She grabbed the Spartan's arm and pul ed him over to the other side of the coffee shop-as far away from me as she could get him and stil be in the same room. Logan looked back at me a second, his eyes dark, then fol owed her.
My stomach twisted, and I suddenly wanted another beer, another ale, another something to get the bitter taste out of my mouth-and take away the sharp, hol ow ache in my heart.
My plastic cup stil in hand, I leaned over past Drool Guy and twisted the knob on the keg he was protecting. Nothing came out.
Empty. Of course it was. Drool Guy had probably guzzled it al down hours ago. Since there wasn't another keg within arm's reach, I moved away from the wal and skirted through the crowd, careful to keep from touching anyone. I felt shitty enough already without flashing on someone and feeling his bender.
I tried a couple more kegs before I final y found one that stil had something in it. I turned the knob, and a dark brown liquid fil ed my cup. I sniffed it suspiciously. It was darker than the ale I'd had before and smel ed twice as sour, like someone had pissed in it. Maybe they had. Anything was possible at a Mythos party. I sighed and put the cup on the counter. I just couldn't chug down the mystery booze, no matter how much I might have liked to get drunk right now.
I turned around, looking for Daphne and Carson, but I didn't see them in the mass of thrashing bodies. Logan and Savannah stood about twenty feet off to my left, deep in conversation.
My stomach twisted again, and anger, frustration, and longing burned through my veins like acid. I had to get out of the coffee shop before I did something stupid-like start screaming about how unfair it was that Logan was here with another girl.
That a Reaper had tried to kil me twice now, and I'd almost been turned into puppy chow on the slopes by a Fenrir wolf. That I had a smartass magical sword that I didn't real y know how to use and a goddess who'd chosen me to be her Champion, even though I was completely wrong for the job. That I wasn't a warrior like the other kids and never would be, no matter how hard I tried or how much I wanted to be like them. Not to mention the fact that my mom had been kil ed by a drunk driver the cops had never been able to find and that I stil missed her so much, I sometimes cried myself to sleep. Yeah, I had a lot to scream about.
I turned and headed for the door, not real y caring who I bumped out of my way to get there. The coffeehouse suddenly felt as hot, smal , and cramped as a cage.
Along the way, I passed Kenzie and Oliver. The Spartans guys were joined at the hip like always, although tonight, they were tag-teaming their prey. Kenzie was turned one way, chatting to Talia Pizarro, a tal , pretty Amazon with ebony skin, while Oliver was at his back, talking to a girl that I didn't recognize, some chick from the New York academy.
