Dark Frost by Jennifer Estep Read Free Book Online Page A

after the attack, I stood in an office in the back of the coliseum, watching Metis examine Carson. The professor had made the band geek sit on a desk and take off his shirt. She’d spent several minutes peering at his chest, even though not a mark remained where the Reaper had stabbed him. After that, Metis had run her hands through Carson’s dusky brown hair, looking for any head injuries. Now, she was shining a small flashlight into his brown eyes, watching them react to the glare.
    “Is he going to be okay?” I asked.
    I leaned against the wall next to Logan. Nickamedes was on the other side of the Spartan, while Coach Ajax stood in the doorway, filling the open space with his massive frame.
    Metis clicked off the flashlight. “He’s going to be fine. They both are.”
    The professor’s green eyes drifted over to Daphne, who was slumped in a chair. The Valkyrie had woken up by the time I’d taken Nickamedes to the weapons room, but she still looked exhausted. Every once in a while, a pink spark would weakly flicker on one of her fingertips, like she’d used up her energy for the day and that was all the magic she could summon up. I supposed that she had, healing Carson the way she did.
    Metis nodded at Daphne. She’d finished examining the Valkyrie a few minutes ago. “You saved Carson’s life today with your magic.”
    “I suppose this means I’ll have to get you something extra special for Valentine’s Day,” Carson joked.
    Daphne tried to smile, but pain filled her black eyes. She’d come so close to losing Carson—she couldn’t just forget that, even if the band geek was alive and sitting right in front of her. I knew the feeling because I’d gone through it with Logan a few weeks back. Logan stared at me, and I could tell he was thinking the same thing—about how close Preston Ashton had come to killing us both, along with our Spartan friend, Oliver Hector.
    Once Metis finished with Carson, the band geek put his shirt back on, even though it was as ripped and bloody as the rest of our clothes were.
    “What do you suppose they were after? What did the Reapers want?” Coach Ajax asked, crossing his arms over his broad, muscled chest. The overhead lights made his onyx skin gleam like polished jet.
    Nickamedes’s mouth twisted. “You mean other than killing six students, five of the museum staff members, and injuring a dozen more? You don’t think that was enough for them?”
    Ajax shrugged his broad shoulders. For the first time, I noticed a weary look on his face. Normally, big, burly Coach Ajax reminded me of a granite statue more than anything else, something solid and unbreakable, but today he seemed small and deflated, despite his tall frame.
    “The Helheim Dagger,” I said in a quiet voice. “That’s what they were after, that’s what the Reaper girl told the others to search for. It was her, Loki’s Champion. She came into the weapons room looking for the dagger. She’s the one I fought.”
    Metis stared at me. “Are you sure it was her? And that she was after the dagger?”
    I nodded. Metis knew all about the dagger and the fact that my mom had hidden it from the Reapers. She and my mom had been best friends years ago when they’d gone to Mythos Academy.
    “Well, that would certainly explain the full-frontal assault,” Nickamedes said in a dark tone. “The Reapers will do anything to get their hands on that dagger.”
    Nobody said anything. We all knew the dagger was the last remaining seal on Loki’s mythological prison. If the Reapers ever found the dagger, they could use it to free the god and set him loose in the mortal realm once more. I was kind of fuzzy on exactly how they were supposed to use the dagger to do that, but I knew people would die if Loki ever got free—so many people.
    So many people had died already today.
    “I wonder why they thought the dagger was here?” Metis asked. “The Crius Coliseum isn’t known for its artifacts collection. Its pottery and