Morgan puking her guts out seemed like a clear signal that it was time to leave. I turned around and glanced through the window. It took me a minute to spot Daphne and Carson, who were stil dancing. Wel , Daphne was dancing. I wasn't quite sure what Carson was doing.
I thought about going inside and tel ing them that I was al partied out for the night. But I knew if I did that, Daphne would insist on leaving the party, so she and Carson could walk me back over to the hotel. She was just that good a friend, and so was Carson. The two of them had basical y been babysitting me al day
-they deserved to have a little time to themselves tonight.
Besides, there were plenty of other Mythos kids wandering around outside, laughing and talking and stumbling from one shop, or one party, to the next. I'd be safe enough walking back to the hotel by myself. I could see the entrance from here, lit up with strands of Christmas icicle lights. I doubted that even a Reaper would be stupid or brave enough to try to kil me in the middle of the alpine vil age, especial y since it was ful of drunk students.
My decision made, I pushed away from the building, heading back toward the hotel-and ran right into Preston.
One second, I was alone. The next, Preston appeared in front of me.
"Oof!"
I hit Preston square on and bounced back off his chest.
And, of course, my boots skidded on a patch of black ice on the sidewalk. I would have fal en on my ass right in front of him if he hadn't leaned over and caught me, clutching me to his chest.
"Nice reflexes," I said, staring into his blue eyes.
He grinned. "Good to know al those long hours in the gym have final y paid off."
We stood there like that for another moment, the two of us frozen in this strange, intimate embrace. I cleared my throat and looked away. Preston got the message and pul ed me back up onto my feet.
"Are you okay?" he asked in a concerned voice.
"I am now," I said, smiling at him.
Preston grinned at me again. "Good. You know, I was hoping I'd see you here tonight, Gwen."
Gwen. Even the way he said my name was sexy, as if his good looks and muscled body didn't make him cute enough already. Okay, okay, so maybe part of my heart stubbornly insisted that Preston's voice didn't have quite the same husky ring to it that Logan's did whenever the Spartan cal ed me "Gypsy girl." But Logan was inside with another girl, and I was out here with Preston. Maybe Daphne was right. Maybe it was time to find someone to take my mind off Logan-and I thought Preston would do quite nicely.
"I was hoping that I'd see you, too," I said.
We stood there staring at each other. The glow from the coffee shop and the Christmas lights highlighted Preston's smooth skin and perfect features, making him look older, more handsome, and slightly dangerous. He just kept staring at me, as if he thought I was just as gorgeous as he was. I wasn't, of course, but I stil liked the attention, even if a hot, furious blush worked its way into my cheeks as a result.
A few feet away, a couple who'd been making out on an iron bench next to the coffeehouse final y got up. Their lips never broke contact as they walked toward the hotel.
Preston jerked his head in that direction. "Shal we?" I nodded. We walked over and sat down on the bench.
Preston leaned back and stretched his arm out across the top of the bench, almost like he was putting it around my shoulders.
We both had on jackets, and he was wearing gloves, so there was no danger of me getting any kind of vibe off him. Stil , I liked being close to him.
For a moment I wondered what would happen if I leaned over and brushed my fingers against Preston's face. What I would see and feel if I used my Gypsy gift to flash on him.
Guys were so hard to read, especial y supercute ones like Preston, and my magic was basical y my own personal, built-in lie and bul shit detector. My psychometry would let me know what he real y thought of me. If he thought I was pretty or funny or a total freak. If he real y liked me or was thinking about someone else or was just sitting here with me because he thought he might get laid.
The temptation to find out the answers was so strong that it made my fingers twitch with anticipation, but I forced myself to stick my hands into my jacket pockets. I wasn't going to do that, I wasn't going to use my magic that way. I wasn't going to pul secrets out of people just because I had the power to do so, just because I wanted to know what they were up to. It was a decision I'd made a few weeks back, when I'd realized Logan had a secret he was hiding from me-one that was keeping us apart.
Besides, tonight I wanted something-something simple, easy, uncomplicated, and yeah, total y romantic, too. I thought that sitting on a bench with a cute guy and watching the flakes of snow gather in his white blond hair de finitely qualified as romantic.
"So you go to Mythos down here in the South," Preston said.
"What year are you?"
"Second-year. You?"
"Fourth," he said.
That would make him nineteen then, two years older than me.
Not too old at al .
"So what are you?" I asked. "Spartan? Roman? Some other kind of warrior whiz kid?"
Preston shook his head, and his face seemed to darken for a moment before he answered me. "Nope, I'm just a Viking. I have a younger sister, too, but, of course, she's a Valkyrie."
I nodded. Siblings shared the same blood and heritage in warrior families, just like they did in normal mortal families, but the kids weren't always labeled as the same kind of warriors.
Usual y, the boys were Vikings, while the girls were Valkyries. Or if the boys were Romans, then the girls were Amazons. Then there were some warrior families where it was al the same, where both the boys and the girls were considered to be Spartans, Samurais, Ninjas, or whatever. Daphne had tried to explain it to me one day, but I hadn't real y understood.
"And I'm definitely not a whiz kid," Preston continued. "At least not according to my parents whenever the academy e-mails them my grades. I'm currently flunking myth-history, just like I did last semester and the one before that."
"Aw, don't feel too bad," I said in a teasing tone. "I'm even worse off. I'm pretty much failing gym right now.
Seriously, failing gym. How lame is that?" We looked at each other, and we both started laughing.
His deep, sexy voice, my lighter one. I liked the way they sounded together.
"So you're failing gym-why?" Preston asked. "Do they do something different down here at the Southern academy that they don't do up in New York?"
I shrugged. "Probably not. I'm just not al that coordinated.