He gulped and nodded.
I grinned. "Yeah, we're cool."
Oliver hesitated. "And about Kenzie and how I feel about him-"
This time, I cut him off. "It's your secret. You keep it as long as you need to, and I'l do the same. But if you ever need somebody to talk to, I'm here. I'm pretty good at listening." My grin widened. "Since, you know, I'm All kick-ass and stuff."
Oliver snorted and rol ed his eyes, like he wished he'd never told me that. Yeah, I was totally going to get some mileage out of Logan's comment. After a moment, Oliver stretched out his closed fist toward me.
"Friends?" he asked in a quiet voice.
It occurred to me then that something unexpected and good had come out of this whole mess. I wouldn't want to face down another Reaper anytime soon. Okay, okay, I wouldn't want to battle another Reaper ever, but this time, I thought the battle had been worth the reward.
I leaned forward and bumped my fist against Oliver's.
"Definitely friends."
Chapter 24
Oliver and I left the infirmary and went out to face the others.
Professor Metis, Coach Ajax, and Nickamedes wanted to question both of us, along with Logan, about what had happened in the construction site, so we All trooped into an office next to the infirmary. The gril ing went on for about an hour. I told the whole story three times, from beginning to end, with a few smAll changes.
Namely, that Preston had confessed to trying to run me over and shooting the arrow at me in the Library of Antiquities.
Under the table, out of sight of the profs, Oliver held out his fist to me again. I bumped it with mine once more, letting him know we were good. Logan stared at us, wondering what we were doing, but neither one of us looked at him. I'd promised Oliver I'd keep his secret, and I planned to make good on my vow. And I was okay with blaming Preston for everything, since, you know, the Reaper had tried to kil All three of us.
FinAll y, the professors wound down with their questions, and I asked the one-the only one-that I thought reAll y mattered.
"What's going to happen to Preston?" I asked.
After Ajax had taken Oliver to the infirmary, the coach had come back down to the construction site and helped Nickamedes slap a set of magicAll y reinforced handcuffs on Preston, who'd been cursing All the while. I'd watched the two profs haul away the Reaper. I didn't know where they'd taken Preston, and I didn't reAll y care. All I wanted was to make sure he'd never see the light of day again-or get a chance to make good on his horrible threat.
You'd better finish me now, Gypsy. Or I'll get free one day, and I'll go kill that doddering old grandmother you love so much.
Preston's cold, sneering voice rang in my love so much. Preston's cold, sneering voice rang in my head.
I shivered and wrapped my arms around myself. That wasn't going to happen, I vowed. Nobody was hurting my Grandma Frost. No matter what I had to do to stop it.
Metis, Ajax, and Nickamedes exchanged a look.
"He'l be locked up at Mythos until we can question him,"
Metis said. "We want to find out as much as we can about the other Reapers he's been working with and what their plans are."
My mouth dropped open. "There's a prison? At the freaking academy? "
Nickamedes winced. "Please, Gwendolyn. Keep the shrieking to a minimum. Of course, there's a prison on the academy grounds. This isn't the first time that Reapers, Fenrir wolves, and the like have tried to kil students. We have to have some place to put them until they can be shipped elsewhere to a more permanent facility." Not too long ago, Jasmine's death had
clued me in to the fact that there was a morgue at the academy to store student bodies, just in case kids got kil ed by Reapers.
Now, I'd learned there was also a prison hidden somewhere amid the gray stone buildings, manicured lawns, and lifelike statues. I wondered what other nasty little secrets there were at Mythos. A cemetery? A crematorium? Or something even worse?
EventuAll y, the professors ran out of questions and sent Logan, Oliver, and me off to our rooms to get cleaned up.
We'd just entered the hotel lobby when the front doors opened, and Daphne and Carson stepped inside. They were laughing, their cheeks flushed from the cold. Daphne spotted me and dragged Carson over to the three of us.
"Gwen! You won't believe what an awesome time we had today. It's too bad you were locked up here in the hotel... ." The Valkyrie's voice trailed off, and her eyes widened as she took in my ripped, bloody clothes; dirty face; and rumpled, flyaway hair.
Her gaze flicked to Oliver and Logan,
who were just as filthy as I was.
"What happened to you?" She jerked her head at Oliver and Logan. "And them?"
"It's a long story," I said, linking my arm through hers. "But you didn't reAll y think I was just going to sit around the hotel All day long and do nothing, did you?"
After I showered and changed into some clean clothes, I fil ed Daphne and Carson in on everything that had happened while they'd been off skiing.
"Great," the Valkyrie muttered, her black gaze accusing.
"You go off chasing Reapers and forget to invite us. What kind of best friend are you, Gwen?"
I tried to convince Daphne that facing down Preston in the dark had been anything but fun, but she wouldn't believe me. And she thought I was a freak sometimes. Please.
I also cAll ed my Grandma Frost. Professor Metis had ordered me to, but I would have done it anyway, just to hear my grandma's voice. Just so I could make sure she was okay and that Preston or one of his Reaper friends hadn't found a way to hurt her like Preston had promised me he would. I didn't know what I would do if I lost my Grandma the way I had my mom.
This time, I couldn't convince Grandma Frost not to come to the resort. She showed up at Powder late that afternoon and drove me back across the mountains to her house in Ashevil e. Metis said that I could spend the night there in my old room before going back to the academy in the morning.
Despite the fact that I'd almost died, the Powers That Were at Mythos stil expected me to get up bright and early Monday morning for weapons training, classes, and homework. Life was so not fair sometimes.
Grandma fussed over me the rest of the evening, and I let her.
It was nice to be taken care of after everything that had happened.
Grandma Frost cooked one of my favorite meals for dinner: thick, juicy, mesquite steaks; mashed potatoes with loads of cheese and sour cream; honey-coated carrots; and rich, chewy, sourdough rol s slathered with cinnamon butter. She even made my favorite pineapple-lime cheesecake for dessert. By the time we got done with the tropicAll treat, there was only a sliver left in the pan.