The lack of simple, identifiable, normal food was one of the things I hated about the dining hal -and one of the many things I hated about Mythos Academy in general.

"Gwen? Are you even listening to me?" Daphne snapped her fingers in front of my face, causing pink sparks of magic to flutter around us like tiny fireflies.

"I don't have to listen," I said, putting my fork down in the bowl and pushing it, and the mystery fruit, away. "Al you've been talking about for the last two weeks is this weekend getaway al the students are invited to."

"Not just any getaway," Daphne said. "Winter Carnival.

Trust me. It's one of the best events of the year."

"Why?" I groused. "Because everyone gets to go to some fancy ski resort for the weekend, where they can drink, smoke, and have sex with limited interference from the professors?"

Daphne grinned, her black eyes bright with excitement.

"Exactly."

I didn't see how the carnival would be any different from what went on at the academy on a daily basis, but I didn't say anything. The kids might al be at Mythos to supposedly learn how to fight and use their magic to help protect the world, but they liked to party hard while they did it. Given the fact that everyone's parents were filthy, filthy rich, they could easily afford to.

Apparently, back in the day, al the various gods and goddesses had rewarded their warriors with gold, silver, and diamonds the size of my fist. The wealth had trickled down and multiplied through the generations, which is why the Mythos students had the very best of everything, from designer clothes to expensive cars to custom-made jewelry and weapons.

Back at my old high school, a party had been a sixpack of wine coolers that somebody's col ege-age sister had bought on the sly. Here at Mythos, the kids whose parents owned Dionysian wineries sent them cases of the stuff.

"Come on," Daphne wheedled. "I'l need somebody to hold my hair back while I puke my guts out. Some of the parties can get pretty wild."

I raised an eyebrow. "Too wild for a mighty Valkyrie such as yourself to handle?"

Daphne grinned again. I snorted.

Like the other kids at Mythos, Daphne Cruz was the great-great-whatever descendant of an ancient warrior. Oh, she looked like just another rich, spoiled princess, with her smooth, golden hair; perfect amber skin; expensive pink cashmere sweater; and even more expensive matching pink purse. Daphne was definitely a girly-girl, but she also happened to be a Valkyrie as wel , which meant she was incredibly strong. Seriously. Like Hulk strong.

Daphne could have torn apart the table we were sitting at with her bare hands and not even break a nail doing it.

Valkyries also had magic, hence al the sparks flickering around us and in other spots in the dining hal where the girls were sitting. Every time Daphne's French-manicured nails scraped against something or she got particularly emotional, little princess pink sparks would shoot off her fingertips and fil the air. Daphne had once told me that her fingers were like sparklers on the Fourth of July. I didn't mind the cracks and flashes of color, though.

Sitting next to her was like being close to a rainbow. Wel , if rainbows were solid pink. And volatile. Sometimes Daphne's temper flared up almost as much as the sparks did.

Daphne's magic hadn't quickened, or manifested, yet, but once it did, she'd have even more power. Valkyries had al sorts of magical abilities, like being able to heal people, control the weather, and even create il usions.

I shivered. I'd learned that last one the hard way a few weeks ago, when Jasmine Ashton, another one of the rich Valkyrie princesses at Mythos, had summoned up an il usion of a Nemean prowler to try to kil me. If you believed in an il usion, it could hurt you-even kil you-like the real thing. The prowler-a big, black, pantherlike monster-

would have ripped me to shreds if Logan hadn't stabbed it to death, causing the il usion to vanish.

Maybe I had my own twisted kind of power today, because as soon as I thought about Logan, he stepped through the door of the dining hal -with Savannah right beside him. No doubt Logan had come here to grab some breakfast before classes started, just like I had. The Spartan had showered and changed since I'd last seen him in the gym, and his black hair was stil damp. He'd traded in his T-shirt and sweatpants for acid-washed jeans, a blue sweater, and a black leather jacket that outlined his muscled shoulders. He looked total y sexy.

I watched Logan wind his way through the dining hal , past the oil paintings of various mythological feasts that covered the wal s, and the polished suits of armor that stood guard beneath them. He led Savannah to a table not too far away from where Daphne and I were sitting. Like al the others, the table was covered with creamy white linens, dainty china, and a heavy crystal vase ful of fresh poppies, hyacinths, and narcissus flowers.

The table also had the advantage of being right next to the open-air indoor garden that stood in the middle of the dining hal .

Grape vines twisted through the area, winding their way over, around, and sometimes through the thick branches of the olive, orange, and almond trees planted in the black soil there. Marble statues of Demeter, Dionysus, and other gods and goddesses could be seen in various spots in the garden, their heads facing out and their eyes open, as though they were watching the students eat the bounty of the harvests they represented.

Logan and Savannah might as wel have been eating in a romantic restaurant. The ambience was pretty much the same-

especial y given the dreamy way the two of them stared into each other's eyes.

Daphne realized that I wasn't paying attention to her anymore and turned around to see what I was looking at.

Her pretty face softened with knowing sympathy, which made me feel even worse.

"Did I mention that it's not just Mythos students who wil be at the carnival?" Daphne asked. "Lots of kids from the New York academy wil be there too."

I blinked. "There are more academies out there? I thought this was the only school for warriors."

"Oh, no. There's a school up in New York and one out in Denver. Paris, London, Athens-there are lots of Mythos branches around the world, although the one here at Cypress Mountain is the biggest and the best."

"Real y? Why's that?"

Daphne rol ed her eyes. "Because it's the one we go to, sil y.

Plus, we've got the Library of Antiquities. None of the other branches has a library like ours, especial y not one with as many artifacts."

At the academy, students learned about gods, goddesses, warriors, myths, magic, and monsters from every culture in the world-Greek, Norse, Roman, Japanese, Chinese, Native American, Egyptian, Indian, Russian, Irish, African, and al the others out there. I supposed it made sense there would be other branches, other schools, located throughout the world.

"Anyway," Daphne said. "My point is that there wil be some new blood there. Some of the guys from the New York academy are supercute. I flirted with a couple of them myself during last year's carnival. Plus, most of their parents have mansions in the Hamptons, which is a great place to go for spring and summer breaks."

"Cute guys, huh?" I asked, stil staring at Logan.

"Tons of them," Daphne promised. "I'm sure we can find you somebody to hook up with for the weekend. Somebody to take your mind off other ... things."

I sighed. It had been weeks since I'd asked out Logan and he'd rejected me, but my feelings for him hadn't changed one bit.

I didn't know what would take my mind off the sexy Spartan, except for maybe a total lobotomy.

"So what do you say, Gwen?" Daphne asked. "Are you ready to have some fun?"

Savannah threw back her head and laughed at something Logan said. The soft, happy sound zipped across the room like a spear, burying itself in my skul .

"I'l think about it," I promised my best friend.

Then I grabbed my stuff, got up, and left the dining hal , so I wouldn't have to see the happy couple eat breakfast together.

Chapter 3

Despite my sour mood, the day passed by with its usual mix of classes, lectures, and boring homework assignments. The last bel rang after sixth period, and I headed outside, along with the other students.

It was early December, and I pul ed my purple plaid coat a little tighter around my body, trying to keep warm. Even though it was midafternoon, the sun's rays did little to penetrate the thick, heavy, gray clouds that cloaked the sky, and my breath frosted in the air, like a stream of icicles before flowing away to the ground.

Winter had already spread its chil y blanket over North Carolina for the season.

That's where the academy was located, in Cypress Mountain, a suburb tucked up in the mountains above the artsy town of Ashevil e.

You could tel Mythos was a place for rich kids just by walking around campus. Al of the buildings were made out of old, dark, gray stone covered with curling coils of ivy, and every single one of the perfectly manicured lawns sported a thick layer of grass, despite the cold. Plus, the open quad that lay in the middle of campus looked like something you'd see in a brochure for an expensive col ege-lots of curving, cobblestone walkways; lots of iron benches; lots of shade trees.

In a way, Mythos Academy was a kind of col ege, since the students ranged from the first-years, who were sixteen, al the way up to the sixth-year kids, who were twenty-one.

Since I was seventeen, I was a second-year student, which meant I had roughly four and a half more years to go before I'd graduate. Oh, goody.

The main quad spread out like a picnic blanket that had been thrown across the top of a grassy hil overlooking the rest of the lush academy grounds. I stepped onto one of the ash gray cobblestone paths that led down to the lower quads, where the student dorms and other smal er outbuildings dotted the landscape.

Al around me the other students headed down to their dorms or back up the hil to attend whatever after-school clubs, sports, or activities they were involved in. Not me, though. I hadn't joined any clubs, and I wasn't coordinated enough to play any sports, especial y not at Mythos. Everyone was so much faster, stronger, and tougher than I was, thanks to their ancient warrior genes and the magic that went along with them.

I made a quick stop at my dorm-Styx Hal -to drop off Vic and some of my schoolbooks before heading out again. Instead of going back up to the main quad, I went the opposite direction toward the edge of campus, and I didn't stop walking until I reached the twelve-foot-high stone wal separating the academy from the outside world. A closed gate stretched across the entrance, with two sphinxes perched on the wal on either side, staring down at the black iron bars between them.

My steps slowed, then stopped altogether as I stared up at the statues. The sphinxes were reportedly imbued with some kind of magic mumbo jumbo, and only folks who were supposed to be at the academy-students, professors, and staff-could pass through the gate and get by the sphinxes' watchful eyes. I didn't know exactly what would happen if someone tried to force his way in past the statues, but I felt like there was something underneath the smooth stone facades-something old and violent that could erupt at any moment and gobble me up if I so much as breathed wrong.

But it always seemed like there was a loophole when it came to magic, and with the sphinxes, it was the fact that they were designed to keep Reapers out-but not students in. That's what Professor Metis had told me, and I believed her, since the creatures hadn't come to life and clawed me to death yet. Stil , it always took me a moment to suck up enough courage to dare to slip past them.

I glanced around, but no one else was within sight here at the edge of campus, which was just the way I wanted it. I drew in a breath, then darted forward, turned sideways, sucked in my stomach, and slipped through a gap between the iron bars. Maybe it was just my imagination, but I could feel the sphinxes' lidless eyes on me, tracking my every awkward movement and shal ow breath. It only took a second for me to slide out to the other side of the gate, but it felt much longer than that. I didn't look back at the statues.

It was one thing to suspect there was something inside the stone watching me-it was another to see it for myself.

Students weren't supposed to leave the academy grounds during the week, since, you know, we were al supposed to be studying, training, and stuff. That's probably why I felt like the sphinxes were glaring at me, but I didn't care. Sneaking off campus was a pretty minor infraction compared to some of the other things that went on there.

Besides, if I didn't sneak out, I wouldn't be able to see my Grandma Frost.

I wasn't crazy about the fact that I'd started attending Mythos Academy back at the beginning of the school year, but even I had to admit that Cypress Mountain was a pretty suburb. Upscale shops lay on the other side of the road that curved past the academy, sel ing everything from books and coffee to designer clothing and custom-made jewelry and weapons. There was even a car dealership ful of Aston Martins and Cadil acs, and another lot where the Mythos kids parked their expensive rides, since students'

cars weren't al owed on campus during the week. But the most popular stores with the academy kids were the ones that sold wine, liquor, cigarettes, and condoms-and that wouldn't look too closely at your ID as long as you paid in cash, preferably hundreds.

I caught one of the afternoon buses that shuttled tourists down from Cypress Mountain to the city and back up again.

Twenty minutes later, I got off in a residential neighborhood ful of old, spacious homes, just a few streets over from downtown Ashevil e. I walked to the opposite end of the block, then hurried up the gray, concrete steps of a three-story house painted a light shade of lavender. A sign beside the front door read PSYCHIC

READINGS HERE. The brass plate looked a little dul , so I polished it up a bit with the edge of my jacket sleeve before I used my key to let myself inside.