I nodded. "Strong" was kind of an understatement when you could twist a guy's head off with your bare hands.
"Well, Valkyries have other magic, too, another power or ability that's special. Usually, Valkyries don't come into their power, whatever it is, until they're at least sixteen or seventeen. My magic hasn't quickened yet, so I don't know what kind of magic I'll have. But some Valkyries are healers, while others have enhanced senses. Some can do spells and make things happen, while others can control the weather or create fire with their bare hands. Some Valkyries can even create illusions."
Something stirred in the back of my mind. "Illusions? What kind of illusions?"
Daphne shrugged again. "All kinds. Think of it this way: You touch stuff and see things, right? Well, when I touch stuff, sparks of magic fly off the ends of my fingertips. It's just a thing that Valkyries do. The sparks are just little flashes of color, little pulses of light, and they fade away almost immediately, sort of like rainbows do. They can't actually hurt you or anything. Basically, my fingers are kind of like sparklers on the Fourth of July."
Okay, so it was a mythological quirk or something. Like Logan Quinn being a Spartan, picking up any weapon, and automatically knowing how to kill people with it. But there was one more thing I was curious about.
"Why pink?" I asked, thinking of the green sparks that I'd seen Morgan shoot off when she and Samson had had their little afternoon delight in the courtyard yesterday. "Why not blue or silver or some other color? Pink seems kind of odd. Kind of ... girly."
"It has to do with our auras," Daphne replied. "The color of the sparks is tied to our emotions and personalities. And the more emotional or upset that we get, the more sparks you see."
I raised my eyebrows, wondering what kind of person had a princess pink aura. Daphne saw the question in my eyes.
"I like pink," she said in a defensive tone. "I think it's cool."
"Sure, sure it is," I agreed in a hasty voice.
Ugh. Every other thing I said seemed to offend the Valkyrie. It had been so long since I'd had a friend-or even since I'd had a lengthy conversation with anyone besides Grandma Frost-that I wasn't sure how to act anymore. Sure, I'd had friends at my old school, but I'd pushed them all away after my mom's death. I hadn't heard from any of them since I'd started going to Mythos, and none of them had tried to contact me. We'd all just gone on with our lives.
Maybe I felt so awkward because I was worried that you made friends differently at the academy, since everything else seemed to be so twisted and turned upside down. I mean, Daphne wouldn't want me to drink her blood or anything, would she? Because I was so not doing that. Potential friend or no potential friend.
Things got a little better after that, mainly because I asked Daphne about Carson and what the two of them had talked about on the phone last night. The Valkyrie's pretty face took on a soft glow, and more pink sparks flickered around her fingertips. She was a total goner where Carson was concerned, and she didn't seem to be afraid to admit it anymore. Then again, she was eating lunch with me, the Gypsy girl who was the academy's biggest outcast. A date with a band geek like Carson would be a definite social step up from being seen with me.
"Actually, I came over here to ask you something," Daphne said, a shy note creeping into her voice. "I was wondering if, um, you'd like to come over to my dorm room before the homecoming dance tonight. I bought a dress, just in case Carson or someone else asked me, but I haven't shown it to anyone."
Her words made me flash back to the last time that I'd done something like that. Something so ... normal. Something so ... fun.
It had been several weeks before the sophomore prom at my old school-and days before I'd discovered Paige's secret. I'd just broken up with Drew Squires, my boyfriend of all of three weeks, but I was still planning on going to the prom, mainly because my mom, Grace, and I had spent weeks shopping for the perfect dress and shoes. We'd finally found them both in this little out-of-the-way boutique in a run-down strip mall, including a violet dress that Mom claimed was the exact color of my eyes.
We'd brought it home that Saturday, and she'd died that next Friday, six days later. Of course I hadn't gone to the prom after that. But for some reason, I'd decided not to return the dress. In fact, it was hanging in the back of my closet in my dorm room-
"Are you okay?" Daphne asked, cutting into my memories. "You look like you're about to cry or something."
"I'm fine," I said, pushing away the memory.
The Valkyrie stared at me, and I fumbled for an explanation.
"I was thinking about my mom," I said in a quiet voice. "Back in the spring, a few days before she died, she took me shopping for a prom dress."
"Oh. Oh." Daphne picked right up on the dead mom part, and she didn't say anything for a moment. "If you'd rather not, I understand-"
"No," I said quickly. "No, I'm fine. I'd love to help you get ready for your big date with Carson. What time do you want me to come over?"
Daphne and I made plans to meet up later in her room after I worked my shift at the library. The bell rang, signaling the end of the lunch period, and the two of us went our separate ways. And I realized that today was the very first time that I hadn't had to eat lunch or dinner by myself since I'd been at Mythos. It was nice to have someone to sit with, to have someone to talk to. I'd forgotten just how much I'd missed that. Well, maybe I hadn't forgotten. Maybe I just hadn't wanted to remember because it would have made my loneliness that much more painful.
Unfortunately, my good mood wasn't contagious, especially not when it came to my professors, and the rest of the day ground by. Finally, though, the last bell of the day rang at the end of my sixth-period myth-history class. I packed up my things as quickly as I could. I wanted to sneak off campus and go see Grandma Frost before I had to report to Nickamedes at the library. Despite the fact that absolutely no one would be doing something as boring as homework tonight, he was still making me work my usual Friday shift before the library closed early because of the dance.
"Are you going to the homecoming dance, Gwen?" Carson asked me as he stuffed his own books into his bag.
"Nah," I said. "But I am helping Daphne get ready. So you know she's going to look fabulous for you."
Carson smiled, and I found myself grinning back at the band geek. Maybe this making friends thing wasn't so hard after all.
I left the English-history building and walked across the quad. Today, instead of standing around talking and texting, just about everyone was hurrying on their way, off to make sure that they had everything they needed for tonight-dresses, tuxes, kegs, condoms, and all.