Kiss of Frost

by Jennifer Estep

Page 16

 

  Then, there were the prizes. Carson hadn't been kidding when he said he could win Daphne a dagger. Most of the booths were crammed with stuffed animals and other oversize toys, but weapons gleamed on the shelves right alongside them-swords, staffs, crossbows, throwing stars, even a shield or two. And lots of kids chose the sharp, shiny weapons over the toys. But even when the students opted for the toys, they were stil al wrong. Instead of fluffy pink bunnies and plush black bears, the stuffed animals were shaped like grinning gryphons or stoic sphinxes.

  Once I started noticing al the stuff like that, I couldn't quit looking at it-and it seriously creeped me out. Who wanted to go to a carnival where the prizes could be used to murder you?

  Especial y since I knew there was a real Reaper of Chaos lurking somewhere out here in the winter sunshine-one who wanted to kil me.

  "Uh, what's with al the games?" I asked Carson at one point, while Daphne was busy shooting arrows through a metal ring that was barely bigger around than my wrist.

  "What do you mean?" he mumbled, stuffing a wad of lime cotton candy into his mouth.

  "I mean, why is everything decorated with Nemean prowlers and scary, twisted Reaper masks?" Carson frowned. "What are you talking about, Gwen?

  The booths and games are decorated the same way they always are. I think they look great. "

  I opened my mouth to ask him another question, but I realized it was kind of pointless. To Carson, Nemean prowlers, Reaper masks, and bul 's-eyes of Loki were completely normal.

  He'd never been to any other kind of carnival, out there in the regular mortal world, where kids had no idea that mythological monsters even existed or that there was an ancient struggle stil being fought today in modern times. Then again, mortal carnivals usual y had a clown or two. I supposed images of an evil god who wanted to break free of his mythological prison and enslave the whole world weren't any scarier than a guy wearing big red shoes, yel ow plaid pants, and white face paint. Clowns had always creeped me out. They were so not funny.

  Daphne put al her arrows through the ring and won a stuffed gryphon for Carson before we headed off to the next game.

  I looked for Preston in the crowd, hoping that maybe we could hook up before lunch and I could introduce him to my friends, but I didn't see him anywhere. No surprise. So many people were crammed into the carnival space that it was hard enough to keep track of Daphne and Carson right beside me. I had my cel phone in my pocket though, waiting for him to text me. Or maybe I'd be brave and text him first. I hadn't decided yet.

  One person I had no trouble spotting was Logan. The Spartan stood over at the strong man test, swinging a sledgehammer down onto a platform and making a weight shoot up a tal scale and ring a bel at the top. Big, burly Coach Ajax manned that game, his onyx skin glistening in the sunlight. With his arms crossed over his chest, the coach looked like a granite slab someone had planted on the mountainside, along with al the other statues.

  Kenzie and Oliver were hanging out with Logan, al three of them taking turns with the sledgehammer. I glanced at the crowd of girls standing around giggling and watching them, but I didn't see Savannah anywhere. Maybe the Spartans were having a guys'

  day out or something.

  Whatever. I did not care what Logan was doing or who he was doing it with. I did not care. I did not care. Maybe if I told myself that enough times, it would actual y be true.

  Yeah, right. Even I didn't believe that, and I was the one who was trying to lie to myself.

  My cel phone buzzed in my jacket pocket, distracting me from my thoughts of Logan. I pul ed it out and read the message.

  Ready 4 lunch? Meet me @ hotel in 15 min. P.

  "Is that your mystery man?" Daphne asked, looking over my shoulder and squinting down at the screen.

  I grinned at her. "Yes, it is. He wants to meet for lunch back at the hotel. "

  "Oh, okay, wel , we'l go with you," Daphne said. "Just let Carson finish his game. "

  Carson was playing a whacked-out version of Whac-A-Mole, except he was trying to hit gargoyle heads as they popped up out of a metal table instead of, you know, moles.

  But he wasn't having much luck at it. A gargoyle popped up on the table, and Carson slammed his hammer straight down on top of it-and the thumb of his other hand, which had somehow gotten in the way. I winced. And I thought I was uncoordinated.

  "Nah," I said, taking off my gloves and stuffing them into my pockets. "I know how much you love the carnival. You guys stay here. We'l catch up after lunch. "

  "Wel , if you're sure . . . "

  Daphne's voice trailed off, and she eyed Carson's hammer, no doubt thinking how much better she could do with it, especial y with her Valkyrie strength. If Daphne whacked one of those gargoyles, I doubted it would rise back up. She could break the whole table with one blow if she wanted to.

  "I'm sure," I said, texting Preston back and tel ing him that I was on my way down the mountain and would meet him in the lobby. "Go have fun. I'l be fine. "

  "And what about the Reaper?" Daphne asked in a low voice.

  "You haven't said anything, but I know you're stil thinking about him, whoever he is. I would be. But Metis said she would take care of things, right?" Daphne didn't know that I hadn't talked to Metis about the Reaper. Instead, I'd told my friend that the professor was looking into things. The vague answer had seemed to satisfy the Valkyrie. Plus, I hadn't said anything else to her about the Fenrir wolf that I'd seen in the trees yesterday and how I thought the creature wasn't just a wild wolf hanging around the mountain resort.

  I shrugged. "Nothing's happened since we got here yesterday. Maybe he didn't make the trip to the resort. Or maybe he's having too good a time to want to kil me today. "

  I laughed at my lame joke, but Daphne didn't smile. She just looked at me, worry fil ing her face. She was right, though. I hadn't forgotten about the Reaper. In fact, that was one reason why I'd decided not to play any of the carnival games-so I could spy on the crowd instead.

  I'd looked at everyone we'd passed today, al the other kids we'd talked to, al the profs manning the booths, al the hotel staff members making cotton candy and caramel apples. I'd even taken my gloves off and accidental y-on-purpose touched a few of them, just to see what kind of flashes I might get, just to see if I could figure out who the Reaper was. But I hadn't seen anything out of the ordinary.

  Everyone was focused on the carnival, al the games they wanted to play, and al the prizes they wanted to win.

  "I'l take the chair lift and go straight down to the hotel," I said, crossing my heart with my finger. "Promise. I'l be fine.

  You'l see. "

  Daphne stil hesitated. "Wel , if you're sure . . . " I gave her a little push. "I'm sure. Now, go take that hammer away from Carson before he hurts himself with it. "

  "Yeah," Daphne sighed. "He's not very good with it, is he?

  But luckily he more than makes up for it in other ways. " She gave me a knowing smirk, and I just rol ed my eyes.

  "So Carson's a great kisser. Whatever," I said, then grinned.

  "Although maybe if I'm lucky, I'l discover Preston has some similar talents after lunch. "

  I left Daphne and Carson at the carnival and headed back over to the chair lift. To my surprise, it wasn't operating, and the chairs dangled like wind chimes strung on the thick, black cables.

  A grizzled guy with a beard that reached down to his waist crouched by one of the steel stations that jutted up out of the snow.

  A hatch was open on the bottom of the station, and the guy clipped and twisted the wires inside, working on the electric circuits or whatever control ed the lift.

  "Uh, excuse me, but why isn't the chair lift working right now?" I asked.

  The guy pul ed his head back out of the box and stared at me.

  His bushy white beard made him look like Santa Claus. "We've been having some electrical problems.
>
  Thought I'd take care of it while al you kids were busy playing your carnival games. "

  "Okay, so when are you going to be done? In a few minutes, maybe?"

  The guy shook his head. "Nope. I've got at least another half hour's worth of work here. Probably closer to an hour. "

  Frustration fil ed me. I knew it wasn't the guy's fault he was doing his maintenance right now, it was just my bad luck.

  "Wel , how am I supposed to get back down to the hotel?

  I'm meeting someone for lunch. "

  He shrugged again. "I guess you'l have to walk down the slopes. That's what the other kids are doing. " He pointed, and sure enough, I saw a few figures at the very bottom of the mountain, walking through the alpine vil age and heading for the hotel.

  Tracks crisscrossed the snow where the other kids had wound their way down the steep slope.

  "Thanks," I said.

  The guy nodded, stuck his head back into the box, and started fiddling with al the wires inside again.

  I should have headed toward the hotel immediately, but instead, I hesitated, my eyes scanning the snowy landscape, looking for the Fenrir wolf. I hadn't seen the monster since yesterday, but that didn't mean that it wasn't stil lurking around the resort somewhere, waiting to pounce on me the second it got the chance.

  My phone vibrated again, cutting into my thoughts, and I pul ed it out of my pocket and read the message. Here already.

  Waiting 4 U. P.

  I bit my lip and put my phone back into my pocket. I didn't want to stand up Preston, and I didn't want to text him some lame excuse about not wanting to walk down the mountain by myself, because there might be a mythological monster after me. He'd think I was crazy. Besides, there were tons of people on the mountain today making tons of noise.

  Surely, those things would be enough to make the wolf stay hidden wherever it was.

  So I stepped into the tracks the other kids had made and set off down the mountain. Despite the fact the other students had plowed a path, the snow was stil deep, coming up to midthigh on me in places. I floundered through it, doggedly going down the slope one slippery step at a time.

  I moved as fast as I could, but it was slow going, and I was just debating whether or not I should text Preston to let him know I'd be late when I heard the sound I'd been dreading-the low, throaty growl of the Fenrir wolf.

  The ominous sound slithered across the snow to me, and I froze, wondering where it had come from. I'd trudged about halfway down the mountain by this point, and the chair lift and the Winter Carnival were up and off to my left.

  Happy shrieks of laughter mixed with the loud cal iope music on that side of the slope.

  Okay, the wolf definitely wasn't over there. That only left one other option.

  I slowly turned my head to the right, and there the creature was-crouched down in the snow just inside the tree line, like it had been yesterday when I'd first spotted it next to the bunny slope. I'd been so focused on meeting Preston and getting down the slope as fast as I could that I hadn't been paying attention to where I was going, just blindly fol owing the tracks, and I'd drifted over toward the thicket of pine trees that covered this side of the mountain

  -and the Fenrir wolf.

  It looked the same as I remembered-a big, powerful body covered with shaggy, ash-colored fur and burning crimson eyes that seemed to glow with a particular hatred for me. The wolf's lips drew back, exposing its many, many teeth, and it licked its lips with its long, red tongue before its chops drew back in something that looked like a supremely satisfied smile-just like the smile the drawing in my myth-history book had given me back at the academy.

  Stupid, stupid, stupid, Gwen!

  I cursed myself. How could I have been so freaking stupid? I knew I had to stay away from the trees, but I'd been so distracted by the thought of having lunch with a cute guy that I'd practical y wandered over and given the wolf a pat on the head. Here you go, puppy dog. Here's a tasty treat just for you.

  Before I could worry too much about the wolf and whether or not it was going to leap out of the trees and tear me into bite-size pieces, a tremendous roar ripped through the air, and the ground shook, like the mountain was the epicenter of a violent earthquake.

  I fel on my ass in the snow and just sat there, stunned, while the ground bucked and heaved beneath me. Above my head, the chairs on the lift swung back and forth at sharp, crazy angles, creak-creak-creak ing with every tremor until I thought they might snap off the cables and come crashing down right on top of my head.

  As suddenly as it had started, the intense shaking stopped, and I shook off my shock and scrambled to my feet. I shielded my eyes against the dazzling glare and looked up. Something must have exploded on top of the mountain, because I could see bright orange flames up there, licking at the sky like they wanted to burn al of the blue out of it.

  I let out a tense breath. Whatever was going on, it was happening at the top of the mountain and not down here where I was at. . . .

  That's when the rumbling started. This deep, violent, intense rumbling that rippled through the whole mountain, the roar of it drowning out everything else. I half expected the snow to split open under my feet and for me to start fal ing down, down, down into the middle of the earth.

  And there was . . . there was . . . there was something coming down the mountain now. I squinted, trying to see exactly what it was. . . .

  My breath caught in my throat, and I realized what the rumbling was.

  The explosion that rocked the mountaintop hadn't just started a fire-it had also dislodged the snow. Thousands and thousands of tons of it, al barreling toward me, until the towering, white, shadowy wave of it blotted out the sun.

  An avalanche was tearing down the mountain-and I was right in the middle of its path.