"You didn't tel them about the Reaper? You told me you were going to talk to Metis!"
"And I changed my mind," I muttered. "I have the right to do that, you know. Free wil and al . We talked about it just the other day in myth-history class."
Daphne put her hands on her hips and glared at me. The pink sparks flashing around her fingertips crackled and coalesced into tiny streaks of lightning, showing me just how pissed she was at me right now.
"And I told you that you don't mess around when it comes to Reapers, especial y when one of them is trying to kil you," the Valkyrie snapped.
Metis stepped around the hospital bed and put a hand on Daphne's arm. "I think the two of you need to tel us what's going on. Right now."
Yep, there was no way out of this-not with the professor staring at me, her green eyes sharp and narrow behind her silver glasses. And especial y not with Nickamedes glaring at me, his own gaze as blue and cold as the snow on the mountain.
I sighed and told them the whole story, from almost being run over outside Grandma Frost's house to the arrow in the library to the Fenrir wolf that had been lurking around the ski resort and final y, to the avalanche. When I was finished, Metis cal ed Coach Ajax into the room and made me repeat the whole thing over again to him.
"Why didn't you tel anyone about this before?" Ajax asked when I was finished.
I shifted in the bed, feeling the weight of the professors' accusing stares on my chest, as hard and heavy as the wolf's paws had been earlier. "Because I didn't have any proof. Nobody saw the car, the arrow, or even the Fenrir wolf but me. I didn't want you al to think I was being hysterical or paranoid or something."
Nickamedes crossed his arms over his chest. "Do you know how much danger you've put everyone in, Gwendolyn? If you even suspected that a Reaper of Chaos was running around the academy, you should have told one of your professors immediately. Not stupidly thought that you could handle it by yourself."
I real y, real y wanted to point out the smal fact that the mystery Reaper hadn't actual y, you know, killed me yet.
That in my own way, I had handled it. At least, enough to stay alive these past few days. But then I looked at Metis. I didn't have to touch her or use my Gypsy gift to see the disappointment and reproach in her face. She was upset I hadn't trusted her enough to tel her about the Reaper.
Somehow that made me feel worse than anything else, even almost getting buried by the avalanche.
"I'm going to cal your grandmother and tel her what's happened," Metis said in a low voice. "I'm sure she'l want to talk to you."
I was sure she would too. Grandma Frost didn't get angry at me often, but when she did, watch out. My grandma was probably going to be majorly pissed I hadn't told her what was going on.
Though, in my defense, nothing had actual y happened until after I'd left her house.
"Most important, you are not to leave the hotel until either we get this whole thing sorted out or head back to the academy tomorrow night," Nickamedes said. "I mean it, Gwendolyn. You are not to set one foot outside this building. Do you understand me?"
I gave him a sul en look.
"Do you understand me?" The librarian's harsh tone had so much acid in it that it actual y made me flinch.
"Yes, sir," I muttered.
Nickamedes gave me another stern glare, but he didn't say anything else. He wanted to, though. Anger made his face even pastier than normal. Instead of yel ing at me some more, Nickamedes turned to Ajax, and the two of them, along with Metis, moved to the other side of the infirmary and started talking in low voices. Probably trying to figure out who the Reaper might be and how they could track down him and the Fenrir wolf.
Daphne stayed by my side at the bed.
"Sorry," she whispered. "I real y didn't mean to rat you out."
I sighed. "I know. And you were right. I should have told Metis what was going on after class the other day, and I should have told you and Carson that I didn't think it was just a wild Fenrir wolf I'd seen. I hate to admit it, but Nickamedes and the other profs have a right to be pissed. I put myself in danger, and everyone else here, too."
"So why didn't you tel them about the Reaper? Or at least get me and Carson to believe you about the wolf?" I threw my hands up. "Because I go to a school for warrior whiz kids. Everyone else at Mythos can take care of themselves, including you and Carson.
I just wanted to be able to do the same. I bet if there was a Reaper after Logan or one of the other Spartans, the profs wouldn't make such a big deal about it. They certainly wouldn't make Logan hide in the hotel like he was a kid. Ajax would probably give him a weapon and let Logan hunt down the Reaper by himself."
Red-hot shame and miserable embarrassment tangled up together in tight knots in my stomach, overcoming the uneasy guilt I felt at keeping quiet. That was one reason why I'd hated the academy so much when I'd started going there-because everyone was so much better at everything than I was. So much braver, tougher, smarter, stronger. I was a weak little freak in comparison to everyone else at Mythos Academy, with only my Gypsy gift to rely on.
"But you haven't had the training the rest of us have,"
Daphne pointed out. "Your mom and your grandma sheltered you from al that stuff. I started using a bow when I was three years old.
It took me a long time to learn how to use it and al the other weapons we train with-and even longer to think I could actual y hurt someone with them."
"Do you think you could do it?" I asked. "Do you think you could kil a Reaper if you had to?"
The Valkyrie thought about it. "I think so, after everything I've seen-al the other kids, parents, and professors who have been murdered by them over the years. I hope so, because I know that if I didn't kil the Reaper, then he would kil me-without hesitating."
Even though I was stil lying under the thermal blankets, Daphne's words made me shiver, because I knew they were true.
Anybody who'd gone to al the trouble to start an avalanche wouldn't hesitate to run me through with a sword if he got the chance.
"Just do what the profs want and stay in the hotel until we head back to the academy, okay, Gwen?" Daphne said, her black eyes ful of concern. "I don't want you to get hurt, and I know Metis and the others don't either. Not even Nickamedes, even if he doesn't act like it." I could have argued with her about the librarian, but I just blew out a breath and nodded. "Yeah, I'l be a good girl from now on."
Daphne smiled and took my hand again. "Good." I smiled back, even though the fingers on my other hand were firmly crossed. Yeah, maybe it was sil y, but crossing my fingers made me feel a little better about lying to my best friend. But in this case, it was necessary. Because not only was I freaked out about what had happened today, but I was seriously pissed off about it, too.