Killer Frost (Mythos Academy #6)(19)
A faint smile pulled up her lips again, but her expression was even sadder than if she’d been openly crying. “Sometimes, it seems like forever. I was in the library one day, trying to find a book that I needed to finish a homework assignment. This was long ago, during my very first semester at Mythos. Nickamedes was sitting at one of the study tables near me. Even back then, he was always so serious, always such a stickler for the rules. I think that my muttering about not being able to find the right book annoyed him more than anything else, since he was trying to study. Anyway, he saw that I was in trouble, and he helped me find the book I needed. We became friends. And slowly, I realized that I felt much more than friendship for him.”
“So what happened?”
She drew in a breath. “A few weeks later, I introduced him to Grace. He took one look at your mom, and she at him, and the two of them fell head over heels for each other. They were inseparable after that.”
I could see it all as clearly as if it was a movie that was playing right in front of my eyes. Metis secretly crushing on Nickamedes, even though he was totally into my mom. The two of them not realizing that Metis always felt like the odd person out. Her keeping quiet, not wanting to ruin her best friend’s happiness with her boyfriend. In that moment, my heart broke for Metis.
“But you never said anything to him?” I asked. “Not even when my mom left him and the academy for good?” Metis shrugged. “After Grace left, Nickamedes was
so angry for such a long time. He threw himself into his job here at the library, and I did the same thing by getting my teaching degree and then working at some of the other academies. Several years later, I came back here to teach. We had kept in touch while I’d been gone, but seeing him again . . . all of my old feelings came rushing back. But there just never seemed to be a good time to tell him how I felt.”
She paused. “No, that’s not right. There were times that I could have told him. I just . . . didn’t. I suppose I didn’t want to ruin our friendship, in case he didn’t feel the same way. Or couldn’t, because of Grace.”
I could understand that too. Before we’d gotten together, I’d told Logan how I felt about him, and he’d told me that we couldn’t be together and then went off with another girl. That had been painful enough. I couldn’t imagine how much harder it would have been for Metis if Nickamedes had rejected her, since they’d been friends for so long. Even if he’d let her down easy, which he would have, she was right. It would have made things awkward between them for a long time, if not forever.
“And then you came to the academy last fall . . .” Metis’s voice trailed off.
“And I reminded him of my mom all over again and how much he’d loved her,” I finished. “How much you both loved her.”
She nodded. “And I felt it would be . . . disloyal to
Grace to say anything to Nickamedes.”
We sat there in silence, both thinking about my mom and everything she’d meant to us. Finally, I let out a breath. My mom was gone, but Metis and Nickamedes were still here, and I wanted them to be happy together, if they could. And I knew that’s what my mom would have wanted too. In fact, I was willing to bet that nothing would have made her happier than knowing her two best friends were finally together.
“You should tell him how you feel,” I said. “Before it’s too late.”
Metis cocked her head to the side and looked at me. “Why do you say it like that?”
“Because I still don’t know how to kill Loki,” I said in a flat voice. “I still don’t know how to use the silver laurel leaves that Eir gave me. I don’t even know which artifact the Reapers were after today, and I doubt that looking at them again will give me the answer. Some Champion I am, huh?”
Metis leaned over and put her hand on top of mine, and I felt a wave of understanding surge through me— along with rock-solid faith.
“I believe in you, Gwen,” she said. “You’ll figure it out, and I’ll be here to help you. Along with Nickamedes, Geraldine, and all your other friends too.”
“I haven’t told them. I haven’t told Logan or Daphne or any of the others about the bracelet or the fact that I’m supposed to kill Loki. I don’t know how to tell them.”
“Why not?”
I looked at her. “Because what if I fail? What if Vivian or Agrona or one of the other Reapers kills me before I figure things out? I don’t want them to give up. I don’t want them to think that I’m their only hope, even though Nike made it sound like I pretty much was. I . . . I just don’t know what to do. About anything.”
Metis squeezed my hand, and I felt another wave of understanding and faith surge through her and into me. “Being a Champion is never easy, Gwen. But Nike believes in you, and so do I. She wouldn’t have made you her Champion if she didn’t think you could somehow defeat Loki.”
“But all she ever talks about when she appears to me is free will and things happening because they’re supposed to and other stupid riddles,” I muttered. “I’m sick of it. I’m sick of all of it. Sometimes, I just wish that it was over—one way or the other.”
“I know,” she said. “Your mom said the same thing to me so many times.”
“And what did you tell her?”