I'd finished eating my usual grilled chicken salad five minutes ago, and now I was looking for the person who was going to help me break into Jasmine's laptop, even if she didn't know it yet.
It took me another two minutes of scanning the crowd before I spotted her sitting on the far side of the dining hall, a book on the table in front of her, even though her black eyes were fixed on the band geek next to her. I wound my way through the tables, heading toward them.
"... and so you see, there's lots of symbolism in The Iliad," Carson Callahan lectured in a patient voice. "All you have to do is pick out your favorite god or hero and I'm sure I can help you come up with something to write your English lit paper on."
Daphne Cruz gave the object of her affection a dazzling smile that turned her from merely pretty into downright gorgeous. "You're so smart, Carson. It's all just gibberish to me."
Daphne eased a little closer to the band geek and put her hand on his arm. Carson's brown eyes widened behind his black glasses, and he blinked several times. The two of them were lost in their own little world.
I cleared my throat. "So sorry to interrupt."
At the sound of my voice, they started and jumped back from each other, as though they'd been doing something they shouldn't have. Daphne's head snapped up to me, even though Carson kept staring at her.
"Then why are you?" Daphne asked in a low, ugly voice.
She tapped a nail on her book, and pink sparks flickered in the air. The Valkyrie was annoyed with me for interrupting her pseudodate with her crush.
I smiled at her. "Because I need to talk to you, Daphne. About that special project that we've been assigned for myth-history class."
She frowned. "What project? You're not even in my myth-history class-"
"You know. The one we talked about in the girls' bathroom the other day. It was right after I told you about that charm bracelet that I found for Carson." I looked at the band geek. "How did that work out for you, Carson? You and Leta?"
Despite his dusky skin, the band geek still flushed an interesting shade of purple-red. "Um, well, I haven't actually, ah, done anything about that yet, Gwen."
"Well, you'd better hurry," I said. "The homecoming dance is Friday night. You wouldn't want to go without a date, now would you?"
Daphne's eyes narrowed, and her glossy pink lips pressed into a line that was so hard and thin that I couldn't even see them in her face anymore.
"Carson," Daphne said in a deceptively sweet voice. "I really do have to talk to Gwen. Maybe we can catch up later? Before last period and talk about my paper some more?"
"Sure," Carson said.
Daphne and I kept staring at each other. Carson's head swiveled back and forth between the two of us, not sure what was going on. Finally, though, after about thirty seconds of absolute silence, he got the idea that he should leave.
"Okay, then, I'll just ... go," he said.
Carson stood up and started stuffing books and papers into his bag, before he looped the strap over his shoulder. He gave me another look before staring down at Daphne. The Valkyrie was too busy glaring at me to notice, but a sad, quiet longing crept into the band geek's gaze as he looked at her. Sweet, but I didn't have time for the Romeo and Juliet drama right now.
"Bye, Carson," I said in a firm voice, prodding him on his way.
Carson snapped out of his silent Valkyrie worship. "Um, bye, Gwen."
Carson gave Daphne one more longing look, then threaded his way through the tables and headed out of the dining hall.
I waited until Carson was out of sight before I sat down in his spot. Next to me, Daphne packed up her own books and papers as fast as she could, probably intending to leave me sitting here by myself since I'd driven off her crush.
"That was a cozy little scene," I said in a mild voice. "I didn't know you were such a flirt, Daphne."
The Valkyrie gave me a look that would have cut glass. "I wasn't flirting with Carson."
"Oh, sure you were. You were practically batting your lashes at him. And that hand-on-the-arm move? A classic flirting technique. Executed very well, by the way. Did Morgan McDougall give you some tips? I hear that she's quite popular with the guys."
Daphne glowered at me, but she didn't deny any of it. She knew that there was no use, not after the confession she'd given me in the girls' bathroom the other day. She sighed, leaned back in her chair, and crossed her arms over her chest.
"What do you want, Gwen Frost?" she snapped. "I've got an English lit paper to write, in case you didn't hear."
"I want you to help me with something."
She let out an angry snort. "And what would that be?"
I looked around to make sure that no one was paying attention to us, then leaned forward. "I want you to help me break the password on Jasmine Ashton's laptop."
Daphne frowned, as though she didn't understand what I'd just said. "Jasmine's laptop? How would you even-"
Her black eyes widened. "You have it! You have her laptop! You dirty little thief!"
"Sshh!" I hissed, glancing around to make sure no one had heard her. "Not so loud. I'm trying to keep this on the down-low. But yeah, I have her laptop. And some other stuff, too."
"What are you doing with Jasmine's laptop?" Daphne snapped. "You going to hock it and buy some more of those stupid hoodies you're always wearing?"
"No," I said in the calmest voice I could manage. "I want to see what's on it so I can figure out who killed Jasmine."
Daphne frowned again, but she didn't say anything. Instead, the Valkyrie sat there and stared at me, as though she couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Everybody knows that a Reaper killed Jasmine so he could steal the Bowl of Tears. Whoever he is, the guy is long gone by now."
I shrugged. "Maybe. But I see things, remember? And I've got a weird feeling about all of this."
Daphne's frown deepened. "But why do you even care what happened to Jasmine? She wasn't a friend of yours. You didn't even know her."
"No," I replied in a soft voice. "But I was there that night in the library when she was killed. And it could have just as easily been me as her who was lying underneath that glass case with my throat cut and blood everywhere."
I drew in a breath and told Daphne what had really happened that night. How I'd been in the library, heard a noise, and found Jasmine's body. A shiver slithered up my spine as I finished my story. It was a thought that I hadn't even let myself think too much about until now, but it was true. Whoever had stolen the Bowl of Tears was the same person who'd killed Jasmine and knocked me out. So why hadn't he stopped long enough to cut my throat as well? Why hadn't he killed me, too? That way, there wouldn't have been any witnesses at all.