Jennifer Estep Bundle (56 page)

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Authors: Jennifer Estep

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I shook my head. “Well, you did a good job. I thought there was a Reaper trying to kill me because of what happened to Jasmine.”
Oliver's gaze sharpened. “What did you have to do with Jasmine?”
I sat there and told him all about Jasmine faking her own murder, trying to sacrifice Morgan to Loki, and how I'd gotten caught up in the middle of it all. The Spartan had just told me his secret. I figured it was only fair to tell one of mine. Besides, Oliver had helped save me by texting Logan and telling him we were in trouble. Then, after Preston had stormed off after me and Logan, Oliver had texted Nickamedes and the other professors and told them what was going on. Maybe he hadn't used his Spartan fighting skills, but Oliver was still a hero.
Oliver looked at me with new interest after I finished my story. “Logan always said you were kick-ass, but I didn't really believe him—until now.”
“Why? Because most of the time I don't know the end of a sword from the back of my hand?”
“Something like that.”
We grinned at each other.
After a moment, my smile faded. This time, I was the one who looked down and picked at the bed sheet. “So ... Logan thinks that I'm kick-ass?”
Oliver winced. “I'm, uh, really not supposed to say anything about that.”
I stared at him with narrowed eyes. “Spill it, Spartan.”
For a second I thought he wasn't going to answer me, but then he sighed. “Yeah, Logan thinks that you're kick-ass. He talks about you all the time. The boy is totally obsessed with you, Gwen.”
“So why is he with Savannah instead of me?” The jagged edges of my heart scraped together in my chest as I asked the question, but I wanted to know why—I
needed
to know why.
“Logan has a problem with letting girls get close to him. I mean, really, really close to him and not just for—” Oliver bit off his words.
“Sex?” I asked in a wry tone.
He blushed a little. “Yeah, sex. I think you scare Logan, because he already cares so much about you. If he let you get closer to him, he'd be a total goner.”
I didn't ask Oliver why Logan wouldn't let a girl get close to him. I knew the answer had something to do with that horrible memory I'd seen—the one of a young Logan standing over the dead, bloody bodies of his mother and sister.
“So ... are we cool?” Oliver said, interrupting my thoughts.
“About you scaring the shit out of me?”
He gulped and nodded.
I grinned. “Yeah, we're cool.”
Oliver hesitated. “And about Kenzie and how I feel about him—”
This time, I cut him off. “It's your secret. You keep it as long as you need to, and I'll do the same. But if you ever need somebody to talk to, I'm here. I'm pretty good at listening.” My grin widened. “Since, you know, I'm all kick-ass and stuff.”
Oliver snorted and rolled his eyes, like he wished he'd never told me that. Yeah, I was
totally
going to get some mileage out of Logan's comment. After a moment, Oliver stretched out his closed fist toward me.
“Friends?” he asked in a quiet voice.
It occurred to me then that something unexpected and good had come out of this whole mess. I wouldn't want to face down another Reaper anytime soon. Okay, okay, I wouldn't want to battle another Reaper
ever,
but this time, I thought the battle had been worth the reward.
I leaned forward and bumped my fist against Oliver's. “Definitely friends.”
Chapter 24
Oliver and I left the infirmary and went out to face the others.
Professor Metis, Coach Ajax, and Nickamedes wanted to question both of us, along with Logan, about what had happened in the construction site, so we all trooped into an office next to the infirmary. The grilling went on for about an hour. I told the whole story three times, from beginning to end, with a few small changes. Namely, that Preston had confessed to trying to run me over and shooting the arrow at me in the Library of Antiquities.
Under the table, out of sight of the profs, Oliver held out his fist to me again. I bumped it with mine once more, letting him know we were good. Logan stared at us, wondering what we were doing, but neither one of us looked at him. I'd promised Oliver I'd keep his secret, and I planned to make good on my vow. And I was okay with blaming Preston for everything, since, you know, the Reaper had tried to kill all three of us.
Finally, the professors wound down with their questions, and I asked the one—the
only
one—that I thought really mattered.
“What's going to happen to Preston?” I asked.
After Ajax had taken Oliver to the infirmary, the coach had come back down to the construction site and helped Nickamedes slap a set of magically reinforced handcuffs on Preston, who'd been cursing all the while. I'd watched the two profs haul away the Reaper. I didn't know where they'd taken Preston, and I didn't really care. All I wanted was to make sure he'd never see the light of day again—or get a chance to make good on his horrible threat.
You'd better finish me now, Gypsy. Or I'll get free one day, and I'll go kill that doddering old grandmother you love so much.
Preston's cold, sneering voice rang in my head.
I shivered and wrapped my arms around myself. That wasn't going to happen, I vowed. Nobody was hurting my Grandma Frost. No matter what I had to do to stop it.
Metis, Ajax, and Nickamedes exchanged a look.
“He'll be locked up at Mythos until we can question him,” Metis said. “We want to find out as much as we can about the other Reapers he's been working with and what their plans are.”
My mouth dropped open. “There's a prison? At the freaking
academy?
”
Nickamedes winced. “Please, Gwendolyn. Keep the shrieking to a minimum. Of course, there's a prison on the academy grounds. This isn't the first time that Reapers, Fenrir wolves, and the like have tried to kill students. We have to have some place to put them until they can be shipped elsewhere to a more permanent facility.”
Not too long ago, Jasmine's death had clued me in to the fact that there was a morgue at the academy to store student bodies, just in case kids got killed by Reapers. Now, I'd learned there was also a prison hidden somewhere amid the gray stone buildings, manicured lawns, and lifelike statues. I wondered what other nasty little secrets there were at Mythos. A cemetery? A crematorium? Or something even worse?
Eventually, the professors ran out of questions and sent Logan, Oliver, and me off to our rooms to get cleaned up. We'd just entered the hotel lobby when the front doors opened, and Daphne and Carson stepped inside. They were laughing, their cheeks flushed from the cold. Daphne spotted me and dragged Carson over to the three of us.
“Gwen! You won't believe what an awesome time we had today. It's too bad you were locked up here in the hotel... .”
The Valkyrie's voice trailed off, and her eyes widened as she took in my ripped, bloody clothes; dirty face; and rumpled, flyaway hair. Her gaze flicked to Oliver and Logan, who were just as filthy as I was.
“What happened to you?” She jerked her head at Oliver and Logan. “And them?”
“It's a long story,” I said, linking my arm through hers. “But you didn't really think I was just going to sit around the hotel all day long and do nothing, did you?”
After I showered and changed into some clean clothes, I filled Daphne and Carson in on everything that had happened while they'd been off skiing.
“Great,” the Valkyrie muttered, her black gaze accusing. “You go off chasing Reapers and forget to invite us. What kind of best friend are you, Gwen?”
I tried to convince Daphne that facing down Preston in the dark had been anything but fun, but she wouldn't believe me. And she thought I was a freak sometimes. Please.
I also called my Grandma Frost. Professor Metis had ordered me to, but I would have done it anyway, just to hear my grandma's voice. Just so I could make sure she was okay and that Preston or one of his Reaper friends hadn't found a way to hurt her like Preston had promised me he would. I didn't know what I would do if I lost my Grandma the way I had my mom.
This time, I couldn't convince Grandma Frost not to come to the resort. She showed up at Powder late that afternoon and drove me back across the mountains to her house in Asheville. Metis said that I could spend the night there in my old room before going back to the academy in the morning. Despite the fact that I'd almost died, the Powers That Were at Mythos still expected me to get up bright and early Monday morning for weapons training, classes, and homework. Life was
so
not fair sometimes.
Grandma fussed over me the rest of the evening, and I let her. It was nice to be taken care of after everything that had happened. Grandma Frost cooked one of my favorite meals for dinner: thick, juicy, mesquite steaks; mashed potatoes with loads of cheese and sour cream; honey-coated carrots; and rich, chewy, sourdough rolls slathered with cinnamon butter. She even made my favorite pineapple-lime cheesecake for dessert. By the time we got done with the tropical treat, there was only a sliver left in the pan.
Grandma Frost came into my room late that night and sat on the edge of the bed. Concern filled her violet eyes, and her face seemed to have a few more wrinkles grooved into it than I remembered her having the last time I saw her.
“How are you holding up, pumpkin?” she asked.
“Okay, I guess,” I said. “Just trying to process everything, you know?”
On the ride home, I'd told Grandma everything that had happened—from picking up Oliver's notebook to the Spartan trying to scare me with his car and the arrow to the avalanche and everything that had gone down with Preston in the construction site.
“What do you think happened to the Fenrir wolf?” I asked. “Do you think it's okay?”
The profs might have rounded up Preston, but they hadn't been able to find the wolf anywhere. Oliver had said the wolf had rammed open the door and bolted through it as soon as Preston had gone after me and Logan. The professors had lost the creature's trail in the snowy woods outside the resort. Maybe it was silly, but part of me hoped the professors didn't find it, that the wolf had gone deep into the mountains where it could finally be free of the Reapers.
“I'm sure it will be fine,” Grandma said, trying to reassure me. “It's a wild animal, one that was never meant to be tortured or twisted by the Reapers. I'm sure it will be much happier in the forest than it ever has been before. There are other wolves that roam the mountains, and it might find a pack of them to join. Who knows? You might just see it again someday.”
Her eyes took on an empty, glassy look for a second, and I wondered if she was seeing the wolf, if she was getting a glimpse of its future—or maybe even mine, too. But then the moment passed, and her eyes cleared once more.
I hesitated. “And what about my Gypsy gift? And what I can do with it now? Why do you think I have this new power?”
“You're seventeen, Gwen,” Grandma Frost said. “You're not quite full grown yet, and neither is your magic. It's evolving and changing, just like you are. It will only continue to get stronger, just like you will. When I was your age, I was lucky if I could tell what time it was, much less see the future. But my magic got more and more powerful over the years, just like your mom's did—and just like yours will, too.”
She drew in a breath. “And your psychometry isn't the end of your powers—it's just the beginning. You have what the old timers call touch magic. It's very rare and powerful. You always say that you touch stuff and see things, and that's true. But touch magic works both ways.”
I frowned. “What does that mean?”
“It means that when you touch something, the object influences you—you see the memories and emotions attached to it. But the flip side of that is you should be able to influence the object or person you're touching as well. You should be able to feed that person your memories and emotions—and maybe more. At least, that's the theory. There's no telling what you'll be able to do with it someday. All you have to remember is to use your Gypsy gift wisely—help others, and yourself if you need it, and you'll be fine.”
Somehow Grandma always knew just what to say to keep me from feeling like a freak, although I made a mental note to look up
touch magic
the next time I was in the Library of Antiquities. If there was more to my psychometry than just flashing on objects and people or using those memories, then I wanted to know what it was, so I could learn how to do it to protect myself—and Grandma Frost, too.
She reached out and clasped my hand, rubbing it in her spotted, wrinkled one, and I felt the warmth of her love wash over me, driving away everything that was cold, dark, and scary. At least for tonight.
“I just want to let you know how proud I am of you, pumpkin—and how proud your mom would be, too.”
“Why?” I asked. “All I really did was almost get myself killed, along with Oliver and Logan.”
My heart pounded again at the memory of Preston's burning red eyes and the evil sneer that had twisted his face. We'd all come so close to dying—
so close
. No matter what the others said, I knew it was my fault. Yeah, we'd all come through it okay, but that didn't ease my guilt about putting Oliver and Logan in danger and the horrible wounds they'd suffered because of me.
Grandma shook her head. “You stood by Oliver when it really counted and Logan, too. You figured out how to use your magic to save yourself and your friends. That makes you strong and smart, Gwen, and I couldn't be prouder of you. Now, get some rest. You've had a long day. We'll talk more in the morning before you go back to the academy.”
She drew the quilt up to my neck, kissed my cheek, and left the room, shutting the door behind her.
You'd better finish me now, Gypsy. Or I'll get free one day, and I'll go kill that doddering old grandmother you love so much.
Preston's words rippled through my head again, a black echo that wouldn't fade away. I shivered and turned off the light by the bed, trying to put the Reaper's awful promise out of my mind. Preston was locked up where he couldn't hurt me anymore, and he was never, ever getting out.
I told myself that over and over again, but it was still a long, long time before I went to sleep.

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