Killer Frost (Mythos Academy #6)(4)
“There’s a pool that the Reapers will do something at the Valentine’s Day dance,” Logan said. “Kids are betting on what they’ll do and how bad the damage will be this time around.”
The Valentine’s Day dance was Friday night. According to Daphne, it was one of the biggest social events of the year at the academy, as big as prom at other schools.
So big, in fact, that she’d made me go shopping in Ashland last weekend too, so she could find the perfect dress to wear, and she’d made me buy something new as well. Logan had already asked me to the dance, but I hadn’t thought too much about it. The way things had been going lately, I was just trying to get through one day at a time without being attacked by another Reaper. “They’re betting about Reapers ruining the dance? You’ve got to be kidding me,” I said. “Why would they
want to bet on something like that?” Logan shrugged.
My good mood vanished. Because the three guys were right. The Reapers probably would crash and ruin the dance like they did everything else at the academy. Maybe the dance was exactly what they were waiting for, and that’s why we hadn’t heard anything about Vivian and Agrona since the battle at the Eir Ruins out in Colorado.
I stood up. “C’mon,” I snapped. “Let’s get out of here.”
Logan got to his feet and threaded his fingers through mine. I squeezed his hand back, trying to calm my sudden anger—and worry.
We left Kaldi Coffee, with Daphne and Carson trailing along behind us. The four of us didn’t talk much as we walked back toward campus. For once, it wasn’t snowing, and the sun was shining brightly overhead, although it was still bitterly cold, even for February. Or maybe that was the fear seeping through my body at the thought of what the Reapers might do at the Valentine’s Day dance—and how many people they might kill this time.
I was so busy brooding that I didn’t notice Logan’s steps slow and then stop. I looked up, thinking he was waiting at the crosswalk. Then I realized that three black SUVs were parked outside the main gate to Mythos Academy.
I tensed, pulling my hand out of Logan’s and dropping it down onto Vic’s hilt, ready to grab the sword in case Vivian, Agrona, or any other Reapers decided to storm out of the vehicles and attack us.
But it wasn’t a Reaper who opened the driver’s door of the lead SUV—it was a tall, thin man with blond hair and blue eyes. His winter clothes were covered by a gray robe, embroidered with the logo of a hand holding a set of balanced scales. I recognized him at once.
Linus Quinn. Logan’s dad. And, more important, the head of the Protectorate, the police force for the mythological world.
That dread I’d been feeling all day intensified, my stomach clenching tight once more. Because I doubted that Linus was here simply to visit his son. No, something was up, and I had a feeling that the quiet of the last two weeks had come to an end.
Still, I couldn’t help looking at Daphne in morbid satisfaction. “What did I tell you? Our first double date? Officially ruined.”
Chapter 2
Linus wasn’t the only one who got out of the first SUV. The doors opened, and two more men appeared, both wearing gray robes.
One of the men was short and stocky, with brown hair, hazel eyes, tan skin, and a face that always seemed to be smiling, while the other man was tall and slender, with black hair, dark eyes, and a far more serious expression. Sergei Sokolov and Inari Sato, Linus’s friends and two more important members of the Protectorate. My unease increased. If all three of them were here, that meant something major was going down.
Had there been another Reaper attack? Maybe at another academy? I thought about pulling out my phone and texting my cousin, Rory Forseti, who went to the Colorado branch of Mythos Academy, but I decided not to. Not yet, anyway.
Linus shut the driver’s side door and stood by the SUV, waiting, so the four of us crossed the street to meet him, Sergei, and Inari. Other Protectorate members, also wearing gray robes, waited in the other two vehicles, but they stayed inside their cars.
“Dad!” Logan called out, breaking into a jog and pulling away from me, Daphne, and Carson.
Linus smiled and held out his arms, and Logan stepped into his embrace and hugged his dad tight. After a moment, the two of them broke apart, dropped their eyes, and shifted on their feet, as if they were embarrassed by their PDA. Logan and his dad hadn’t had the best relationship over the years, since Logan’s mom and sister had been murdered by Reapers when he was five, but the two of them were slowly working things out. I was glad that they were growing closer, especially since Agrona, Linus’s former wife and Logan’s stepmom, had hurt them both so much by secretly heading up the Reapers the whole time she’d been in their lives.
Logan stepped aside, and Linus approached me. “Miss Frost,” Linus said, holding out his hand. “It’s
good to see you again.”
A month ago, he would have been lying through his teeth. For a while, Linus had thought that I was a Reaper, that I was Loki’s Champion, that I was responsible for all the horrible things Vivian Holler had done. Needless to say, he hadn’t wanted me to have anything to do with his son back then, and he’d even gone so far as to put me on trial for my life. But the truth about Vivian and Agrona had come out, and Linus had apologized for his behavior toward me. He’d never be my favorite person in the world, but I would be nice to him—for Logan’s sake.