The crackling flames gave everything a soft, cheery glow, but I couldn't help but feel that the statues were al staring at me, just like the ones at the academy always did. I looked at Skadi. Maybe it was just my imagination in overdrive again, but the snowflakes twisted around her body seemed to wink at me one by one, like cold, cold eyes. I shivered and looked away.
"Isn't this place incredible?" Daphne asked from beside me.
"Yeah," I muttered. "Incredible."
Daphne smirked, not noticing my less-than-enthusiastic tone.
"Told you. And just wait until you see the rooms.
They're just as posh, and they even have a spa, too, where you can get al kinds of facials and other treatments. Watch my stuff, and I'l go get our room assignment and key cards so we can start exploring. Come on, Carson." The two of them headed over and got in the line that had already formed by the front desk.
Daphne and I would be sharing a room on one of the floors that had been designated girls only, while Carson would be bunking with one of his band buddies on one of the guys' floors.
The kids from the New York academy must have already arrived, because I only recognized about half of the students mil ing around the lobby. But real y, they were al the same-warrior whiz kids dressed in the most expensive clothes their parents could buy. Sparks of magic cracked and flashed in the air as the students from the two schools mingled together, talking, laughing, and saying hel o to old friends.
I dragged our bags over to one of the wal s and stood there, just staring at everything and trying hard not to gawk.
Despite the creepy statues, the hotel real y was gorgeous.
Back when my mom had been alive, we'd taken plenty of vacations, but we'd never stayed anywhere as nice as this.
Powder was the kind of place where everything was designer this and designer that, right down to the chocolate mints they put on your pil ows at night.
"Pretty impressive, isn't it?" a low voice murmured beside me.
I turned my head and found myself staring at one of the cutest guys I'd ever seen. Seriously. He was just ... perfect.
White blond hair, intense blue eyes, fantastic cheekbones.
And if al that wasn't enough, he had a great body, too. I could see his muscles, even underneath the black turtleneck sweater he wore. He looked to be about my age or maybe a year or two older. At first, I didn't think he was talking to me-I mean, why would he?-but then, when he kept staring at me, I realized that he was.
"Yeah," I said, breathless. "It's amazing."
"So is the view from where I'm standing," the guy said.
And then he smiled at me.
It was like someone flipped a switch and suddenly turned on al the lights in the lobby-okay, okay, al the lights everywhere-
because the guy went from cute to downright gorgeous, helped along by the two tiny dimples in his cheeks. Seriously, al that and dimples, too. He looked like a model who'd just stepped out of the page of some artsy fashion magazine. He was just that good-looking-the kind of guy you just couldn't help but stare at.
"You here for the Winter Carnival?" he asked.
I nodded. "Yeah. You?"
He nodded back. "The same. What's your name?" It actual y took me a second to remember it. "Gwen," I said. "Gwen Frost."
He smiled again. "Wel , Gwen Frost, I'm Preston, from the New York academy. I take it you go to the one down here in the Carolinas? I know you don't go to my school, because I'm sure I would have noticed you before." Al I could do was just nod and try to keep my mouth from fal ing open. Was he-was he flirting with me? It sounded like it, but I wasn't completely sure. I hadn't had a lot of experience with this sort of thing. Before coming to Mythos, I'd had exactly one boyfriend for a grand total of three weeks. And now that I was at the academy, guys stil weren't tripping over themselves to talk to me.
"I just started going to Mythos this year," I said. "This is my first Winter Carnival."
He nodded, like I'd just said something cool and interesting, instead of reciting stupid boring facts. We stood there in silence for a minute, while kids moved in the lobby around us, laughing, talking, and texting on their phones. I kept sneaking looks at Preston out of the corner of my eye, waiting for his girlfriend to show up. A guy that cute? He had to be with someone already.
But no one came over to us-no girls, no guys, no professors.
And I started to wonder what it would be like to flirt back. Just a little bit.
Before I could open my mouth to try, I spotted Daphne waving at me. The Valkyrie had a couple of plastic key cards in her hands, and she started threading her way through the crowd in my direction. I waved back at her.
Preston glanced down and checked his watch. "Wel , I gotta go. I'm sure my roommate's got our key cards by now."
I nodded, even though disappointment fil ed me. So he hadn't been flirting with me after al -he'd just been kil ing time until he could go up to his room. Of course he had. I should have known it was something like that from the start.
Guys like him just didn't flirt with girls like me. I winced, thinking I'd probably come off like a total loser.
Preston stared at me, his blue eyes bright and warm in his handsome face. "I've got to hang out with some friends this afternoon, but I hear there's going to be an awesome party tonight over at the Solstice coffeehouse. Maybe I'l see you there?"
My heart stopped, sputtered, and then thump-thump-thump ed in my chest. Okay, okay, so he wasn't exactly asking me out, but it sounded like he wouldn't mind if he ran into me later either.
And given my stupid, unrequited, disastrous crush on Logan, I'd take what I could get.
"Maybe," I said, trying to play it cool.
Preston smiled at me a final time, then headed across the lobby.
A few seconds later, Daphne broke free of the crowd and stepped over to me. When I didn't immediately turn toward her, the Valkyrie snapped her fingers in front of my face, making pink sparks flash everywhere and fal to the ground like raindrops.
"Earth to Gwen. What are you looking at?"
"Oh, just this guy I was talking to."
Daphne's black eyes narrowed. "What guy?" I tried to point out Preston to her, but there were too many people between us and him, and he was walking away too fast for her to real y see him.
"He looks cute," she said, standing on her tiptoes to try to get a better look. "At least from the back."
"Believe me," I murmured. "He is."
Daphne elbowed me in the side. "See? I told you there would be guys here from the New York academy, and you've met one already. And you didn't want to come." I rol ed my eyes. "Yeah, yeah. You're my genius best friend, always looking out for me."