Daphne frowned, a puzzled expression on her pretty face.
"The Reaper. The one who's trying to kil Gwen. The one who almost ran her over with a car and then took a shot at her in the Library of Antiquities the other night ..." The Valkyrie's voice drifted off as she realized just how intently Nickamedes and Metis were staring at her. She looked at them a second before turning her gaze to me.
"You didn't tel them about the Reaper? You told me you were going to talk to Metis!"
"And I changed my mind," I muttered. "I have the right to do that, you know. Free wil and al . We talked about it just the other day in myth-history class."
Daphne put her hands on her hips and glared at me. The pink sparks flashing around her fingertips crackled and coalesced into tiny streaks of lightning, showing me just how pissed she was at me right now.
"And I told you that you don't mess around when it comes to Reapers, especial y when one of them is trying to kil you," the Valkyrie snapped.
Metis stepped around the hospital bed and put a hand on Daphne's arm. "I think the two of you need to tel us what's going on. Right now."
Yep, there was no way out of this-not with the professor staring at me, her green eyes sharp and narrow behind her silver glasses. And especial y not with Nickamedes glaring at me, his own gaze as blue and cold as the snow on the mountain.
I sighed and told them the whole story, from almost being run over outside Grandma Frost's house to the arrow in the library to the Fenrir wolf that had been lurking around the ski resort and final y, to the avalanche. When I was finished, Metis cal ed Coach Ajax into the room and made me repeat the whole thing over again to him.
"Why didn't you tel anyone about this before?" Ajax asked when I was finished.
I shifted in the bed, feeling the weight of the professors' accusing stares on my chest, as hard and heavy as the wolf's paws had been earlier. "Because I didn't have any proof. Nobody saw the car, the arrow, or even the Fenrir wolf but me. I didn't want you al to think I was being hysterical or paranoid or something."
Nickamedes crossed his arms over his chest. "Do you know how much danger you've put everyone in, Gwendolyn? If you even suspected that a Reaper of Chaos was running around the academy, you should have told one of your professors immediately. Not stupidly thought that you could handle it by yourself."
I real y, real y wanted to point out the smal fact that the mystery Reaper hadn't actual y, you know, killed me yet.
That in my own way, I had handled it. At least, enough to stay alive these past few days. But then I looked at Metis. I didn't have to touch her or use my Gypsy gift to see the disappointment and reproach in her face. She was upset I hadn't trusted her enough to tel her about the Reaper.
Somehow that made me feel worse than anything else, even almost getting buried by the avalanche.
"I'm going to cal your grandmother and tel her what's happened," Metis said in a low voice. "I'm sure she'l want to talk to you."
I was sure she would too. Grandma Frost didn't get angry at me often, but when she did, watch out. My grandma was probably going to be majorly pissed I hadn't told her what was going on.
Though, in my defense, nothing had actual y happened until after I'd left her house.
"Most important, you are not to leave the hotel until either we get this whole thing sorted out or head back to the academy tomorrow night," Nickamedes said. "I mean it, Gwendolyn. You are not to set one foot outside this building. Do you understand me?"
I gave him a sul en look.
"Do you understand me?" The librarian's harsh tone had so much acid in it that it actual y made me flinch.
"Yes, sir," I muttered.
Nickamedes gave me another stern glare, but he didn't say anything else. He wanted to, though. Anger made his face even pastier than normal. Instead of yel ing at me some more, Nickamedes turned to Ajax, and the two of them, along with Metis, moved to the other side of the infirmary and started talking in low voices. Probably trying to figure out who the Reaper might be and how they could track down him and the Fenrir wolf.
Daphne stayed by my side at the bed.
"Sorry," she whispered. "I real y didn't mean to rat you out."
I sighed. "I know. And you were right. I should have told Metis what was going on after class the other day, and I should have told you and Carson that I didn't think it was just a wild Fenrir wolf I'd seen. I hate to admit it, but Nickamedes and the other profs have a right to be pissed. I put myself in danger, and everyone else here, too."
"So why didn't you tel them about the Reaper? Or at least get me and Carson to believe you about the wolf?" I threw my hands up. "Because I go to a school for warrior whiz kids. Everyone else at Mythos can take care of themselves, including you and Carson.
I just wanted to be able to do the same. I bet if there was a Reaper after Logan or one of the other Spartans, the profs wouldn't make such a big deal about it. They certainly wouldn't make Logan hide in the hotel like he was a kid. Ajax would probably give him a weapon and let Logan hunt down the Reaper by himself."
Red-hot shame and miserable embarrassment tangled up together in tight knots in my stomach, overcoming the uneasy guilt I felt at keeping quiet. That was one reason why I'd hated the academy so much when I'd started going there-because everyone was so much better at everything than I was. So much braver, tougher, smarter, stronger. I was a weak little freak in comparison to everyone else at Mythos Academy, with only my Gypsy gift to rely on.
"But you haven't had the training the rest of us have,"
Daphne pointed out. "Your mom and your grandma sheltered you from al that stuff. I started using a bow when I was three years old.
It took me a long time to learn how to use it and al the other weapons we train with-and even longer to think I could actual y hurt someone with them."
"Do you think you could do it?" I asked. "Do you think you could kil a Reaper if you had to?"
The Valkyrie thought about it. "I think so, after everything I've seen-al the other kids, parents, and professors who have been murdered by them over the years. I hope so, because I know that if I didn't kil the Reaper, then he would kil me-without hesitating."
Even though I was stil lying under the thermal blankets, Daphne's words made me shiver, because I knew they were true.
Anybody who'd gone to al the trouble to start an avalanche wouldn't hesitate to run me through with a sword if he got the chance.
"Just do what the profs want and stay in the hotel until we head back to the academy, okay, Gwen?" Daphne said, her black eyes ful of concern. "I don't want you to get hurt, and I know Metis and the others don't either. Not even Nickamedes, even if he doesn't act like it." I could have argued with her about the librarian, but I just blew out a breath and nodded. "Yeah, I'l be a good girl from now on."
Daphne smiled and took my hand again. "Good." I smiled back, even though the fingers on my other hand were firmly crossed. Yeah, maybe it was sil y, but crossing my fingers made me feel a little better about lying to my best friend. But in this case, it was necessary. Because not only was I freaked out about what had happened today, but I was seriously pissed off about it, too.
Maybe I hadn't had the warrior training the other kids had.
Maybe I wasn't as good with a sword as Daphne, Logan, and the other students were. Maybe I wasn't as strong or quick or tough or brave. But I had my psychometry magic, and I was Nike's freaking Champion. Those things had to count for something.
Otherwise, what was the point of me being at Mythos Academy in the first place?
But the most important thing was the fact that the Reaper was after me. He wanted to kil me. Not anyone else, just me.
I might not be able to put an arrow through his heart, but I was Gwen Frost, that weird Gypsy girl who touched stuff and saw things. I used my magic to find things that were lost and to learn people's secrets. Wel , the Reaper's real identity was just something else to uncover, just another puzzle to solve, just another secret waiting to be revealed.
No matter what I'd promised Metis, Nickamedes, and even Daphne, I was going to do everything in my power to find out who the Reaper was and take him down-before he tried to kil me again.
Chapter 16
Professor Metis, Nickamedes, and Coach Ajax finished up their hushed talk and left the infirmary, probably to start tracking down the Reaper. Daphne went out with them, so she could let Carson know that I was fine. I didn't ask the Valkyrie if she was going to talk to Logan-or if the Spartan had even asked her whether I was okay or not. I didn't want to know if he hadn't.
Half an hour later, Metis came back into the infirmary and handed me a cel phone, since my own had been swept away by the snow. "Your grandmother, as promised."
"Thank you," I said. "And I'm sorry for, wel , everything.
But mainly for not tel ing you about the Reaper in the first place. You told me a while back you'd always look out for me, because of your friendship with my mom. I should have trusted you the way she would have."
Metis looked at me a second, then gave me a curt nod.
Her face was stil tight with worry, but her green gaze was a little softer than it had been before. She might not like it, but I think Metis understood why I hadn't told her about the Reaper. I hoped so anyway. I also hoped she could forgive me for keeping my mouth shut-and the other things I planned on doing to discover the Reaper's reAll identity, just as soon as she and the Powers That Were let me out of this hospitAll bed.
The professor stepped back outside and shut the infirmary door behind her, giving me some privacy.
I raised the phone to my ear. "Hi, Grandma."
"Hi, pumpkin," Grandma Frost's voice flooded the line, as warm, soft, and comforting as a hug. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. ReAll y, I am."
"Tel me what happened."
I drew in a breath and told Grandma everything that had happened since I'd left her house on Wednesday afternoon.
When I finished, she stayed quiet for a few seconds.
"Do you want me to come get you, pumpkin? Bring you home with me?" she asked, worry making her voice sound low and strained.
Part of me reAll y, reAll y wanted to say yes. To let Grandma Frost come get me and take me back to her house, just like she had when I was a little girl and I'd woken up scared and crying in the middle of the night the first time I slept over at a friend's house when my mom was out of town.
But the other part of me wondered how much danger I would be putting my grandma in if I let her do that. Word would get out if I'd left the hotel before the other kids, and it wouldn't be too hard for the Reaper to track me back to my grandma's house. He already knew where it was since that was where he'd tried to kil me in the first place.
Besides, I wasn't a little girl, and I didn't want to act or be treated like one. Yeah, I was only seventeen, but I'd grown up a lot since coming to Mythos. Like it or not, Reapers, mythologicAll monsters, and the evil god Loki were part of my life now. I couldn't just pretend they didn't exist anymore.
If I didn't stand up for myself against them now, if I didn't try to fight back against the Reaper who was trying to kil me, I didn't know if I'd ever be able to-and Nike would have placed her trust in me for nothing.
I wanted to be worthy of the faith the goddess of victory had in me-and All the other Frost women who had been Nike's Champions over the years. I wanted to fight against the bad guys and the darkness in them that I'd seen.
"I want to stay here at the resort," I finAll y said. "But I'm not going to lie to you. I want to stay, so I can figure out what's going on and who the Reaper reAll y is before he hurts someone else."
Grandma Frost let out a long, weary sigh, like she'd known that's what I was going to say All along. Maybe she had, given her Gypsy gift of seeing the future. "I don't like it, but I understand, Gwen."
I blinked. Grandma hardly ever cAll ed me Gwen. I was always "pumpkin" to her.
She let out a sharp, rueful laugh. "You're growing up, just the same way your mom did: wanting to help people, just like she did.
Wanting to be worthy of the Gypsy magic that Nike has entrusted our family with."
"Yeah," I said. "I do. How did you know?"
"Because I felt the same when I was your age, and I'm not going to stand in your way now. Just be careful, Gwen.
More careful than you've ever been before because I-I don't want to lose you." Her voice cracked on the last two words.
"I don't think I could bear to lose you like I did your mom."
"I'l be careful," I whispered back. "More careful than you can imagine."
"I love you, pumpkin," Grandma said. "You cAll me whenever you need me. Any time, day or night, and I'l come running."
All the emotions I was feeling clogged up my throat, making it hard to talk, but I forced out the words. "I know you wil , and I love you, too."
"Bye, pumpkin."
"Bye, Grandma."
She hung up. I ended the cal and curled up into a smAll bAll on the hospitAll bed. Despite the fact that I knew I was doing the right thing by staying at the resort, I couldn't keep the tears from leaking out of the corners of my eyes-and wishing that I could go back to just being Grandma's little girl again.
Late that afternoon, the professors finAll y let me leave the infirmary and go back to my room with Daphne on the thirteenth floor of the resort. Coach Ajax put his heavy hand on my shoulder and walked me through the hotel lobby, like I was some kind of invalid-or criminal. I couldn't decide which one was more embarrassing.
