Jennifer Estep - Kiss of Frost

"I understand why you did it," I said in a quiet voice. "But you can't keep lying and not tell me things because they might hurt me. The Reapers are going to come for me no matter what you do. Keeping secrets from me is only going to make it that much harder for me to fight them."

"I know, pumpkin," Grandma said. "I just wanted you to feel safe for as long as I could. No more secrets, I promise."

Once again, I felt the truthfulness of her words move through me, and I knew we were going to be okay. We would get through everything that was to come just like we had my mom's death-together. As a family.

Despite the pain I felt over learning what had really happened to my mom, I squeezed Grandma's hand and smiled at her. "You know, that cake you made looks awfully good."

Grandma grinned back at me. "Well, let's dish us up some pieces and see just how tasty it really is. What do you say?"

This time, my smile was a little brighter. "Sounds like a plan to me."

I ate a piece of cake with Grandma, who wrapped up the rest of the treat for me to share with Daphne, and rode the afternoon bus back to the academy. Half an hour later, I found myself back in the creepy prison in the math-science building. I stood there staring at the stone-and-iron door, trying to stay cold and calm.

"Are you sure that you want to do this, Gwen?" Professor Metis asked, putting her hand on my shoulder. "You don't have to. After what you saw yesterday, I wouldn't blame you. Neither will Ajax or Nickamedes."

She'd tried to hide it, but I'd seen how worried the professor was about the possibility of the Reapers finding the Helheim Dagger and freeing Loki-and I knew what I had to do. If there was even a chance that Preston knew something that would help me find where my mom had hidden the dagger, then I had to take it. That meant I had to touch him again, had to dig into his memories once more- no matter how many ugly things I might see.

"I'm sure," I said. "I want to do this. I feel like I'm supposed to do this. Besides, self-sacrifice is what being a Champion is all about, right?"

Metis gave me a sad smile. In that moment, I got the feeling she knew a lot more about self-sacrifice than I did.

"Before we go in, there's one thing that I need you to do," I said. "Don't keep any more secrets from me, okay?"

The professor raised her eyebrows. "That works both ways, Gwen. Don't go chasing off after any more Reapers by yourself. Agreed?"

I sighed and nodded at her. "Agreed."

I jerked my head at the door and the two sphinxes who were staring at me once more, listening to every word we said. "Now, can we get this over with before I lose my nerve?"

Metis unlocked the door with her skeleton key, and we stepped inside the prison. Preston sat chained to the table in the center of the dome, right under the carving of the hand holding the set of scales. Coach Ajax and Nickamedes flanked him just as before, and Raven sat at her desk, her combat boots propped up on top of it, flipping through another gossip magazine.

Once again, the Reaper looked up at the sound of my footsteps on the floor.

"Back for more, Gypsy?" Preston sneered and held out his hands to me, palms up. "Go ahead. Use your magic on me. I'll be happy to watch you run crying from the room again."

I kept my face cold and impassive, although my stomach twisted and vomit rose in my throat at his mocking words. I could do this. I would do this-for Nike, for my mom, and for me, too.

I sat down across from Preston and stared him straight in the eyes. That burn of red still flickered in his gaze, but this time, I knew there was fire in my eyes as well-cold, purple fire.

"Listen up, you arrogant punk," I snapped. "The only one who's going to be crying is you, when I dig through your memories and use them to round up all your little Reaper friends, including the girl who killed my mom. I'll be coming down here and doing that again and again, every single day if I have to, until I get every last one of them. Until I've seen every last evil thing you've ever done in your miserable life."

The sneer slid off Preston's handsome face. His mouth tightened with worry, and for a moment, panic sparked in his gaze instead of hatred. Yeah, I'll admit that flash of fear made me happy. In my own way, I supposed I was just as dark and twisted as Preston was, except I was going to use that part of me to help other people, not hurt them like he and the other Reapers had.

"And you know what the worst part is, Preston? The very worst part?"

"What?" he asked, his voice cracking on that single word.

I leaned forward, keeping my gaze on his. "There's absolutely nothing you can do to stop me."

I don't know what Preston saw in my face then, what coldness might have filled my eyes, but whatever it was, it penetrated the Reaper's sullen demeanor. His mouth dropped open, and then, he started screaming.

"No," he said, trying to twist away from me. "No, no, no!"

I ignored his screams, grabbed his hands, and reached for his memories.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay over the holidays?" Daphne asked.

It was the last day of the fall semester. Classes had ended a couple of hours ago, and now, I was in Daphne's room, lounging on her bed and watching her pack up her stuff to go home for the winter break. I didn't really know why my best friend was bothering to sort through her closet, since three-quarters of the stuff inside was pink, just like the rest of her room. She could just close her eyes, grab some sweaters and pants, and they would all match. But, of course, the Valkyrie wouldn't agree with me on that point.

"I'll be fine," I said for the tenth time in as many minutes. "Are you sure?" she persisted. "You're not going to snap and go all Reaper, are you? Now that you're plowing through Preston's memories?"

I'd been going to the prison for a few days now, using my Gypsy gift to find out everything Preston knew about the Reapers, what they were up to, and where they were hiding. It hadn't been fun. Most of Preston's memories involved hurting other people-killing them and sacrificing them to Loki.

But try as I might, I hadn't been able to discover the most important secret of all: who Loki's Champion was. The Reaper who'd been in the back of the SUV with Preston the night they'd plowed into my mom's car, the one even he was afraid of. The girl who'd killed my mom. It seemed like they'd always met at night the few times that they'd been face-to-face, and in all of Preston's memories, she was always in the shadows with her face hidden. He didn't seem to know who she really was. The fact that I couldn't figure out her real identity was beyond frustrating. It was driving me crazy.

Professor Metis, Coach Ajax, and Nickamedes knew about the Reaper girl and what she'd done to my mom, but I hadn't exactly told them that I was peering into every corner of Preston's brain, trying to find out who she really was. I knew what they'd say-that tracking down Loki's Champion just so I could kill her the same way she'd murdered my mom was wrong and would make me no better than she was. Whatever. The Reaper girl had killed my mom, and she was going to pay for that. There was nothing else to talk about as far as I was concerned.

Daphne and Vic certainly agreed with me on this point. In fact, Vic had spent an hour enthusiastically describing all the various ways he could be used to torture the Reaper girl. I didn't know about all that, but I'd be just fine with her dying-and me being the cause of it.

Still, despite the fact that I hadn't discovered the Reaper girl's identity yet, I felt like I was doing something good with my magic, that I was making a difference. Metis told me that members of the Pantheon had used some of the information I'd gotten from Preston to capture several Reapers, and were hot on the trail of even more. So I thought Nike would have approved of what I was doing- and my mom, too.