Midnight Frost

Chapter 1
    I was trapped.
    I paced from one side of the room to the other, pivoted on my sneaker heel, and hurried back the other way. A few steps later, I reached the opposite wall, so I turned and repeated the process. Back and forth, and back and forth, I stalked, my mind drifting from one thing to the next.
    My friends at Mythos Academy. My search for artifacts. What Agrona, Vivian, and the rest of the Reapers of Chaos were plotting next. Where Logan was.
    My heart twinged at the thought of Logan, and my foot caught in the bottom part of a net that was draped over the back of my desk chair. I stumbled forward, barely managing to catch myself before I slammed face-first onto my bed.
    I staggered back up onto my feet and glared at the net. Oh sure, it looked all innocent hanging there, like a patch of light gray seaweed had sprouted out of the back of my chair. Supposedly, it had belonged to Ran, the Norse goddess of storms. Truth be told, it wasn’t all that impressive, as far as artifacts went. The seaweed was gnarled, knotted, and seemed so thin, threadbare, and brittle that it would probably crumble to dust if you so much as breathed on it. But I’d learned the hard way that looks were often deceiving, especially in the mythological world. Still, I supposed I should be grateful I hadn’t crushed the net by tromping all over it.
    I’d had the net for a couple of days now, ever since I’d found it at the Crius Coliseum, and I still didn’t know what was so special about it. I hadn’t even gotten any big vibes off the net with my psychometry magic, which let me know, see, and feel an object’s history.
    But finding powerful mythological artifacts and keeping them safe from Reapers was the latest mission that Nike, the Greek goddess of victory, had given to me. Most folks knew me as Gwen Frost, that weird Gypsy girl who touched stuff and saw things, but I was also Nike’s Champion, the girl picked by the goddess to help carry out her wishes here in the mortal realm.
    Me, a Champion. I still couldn’t believe it sometimes. But Nike was very, very real, just like the rest of the mythological world, with all its gods, goddesses, magic, creatures, artifacts, and warrior whiz kids.
    More and more thoughts crowded into my mind, but I pushed them aside. Instead, I slid the chair even closer to the desk so I wouldn’t trip over the net again and resumed my pacing. Back and forth, and back and forth, from one side of my prison to the other . . .
    “Will you stop all that bloody stomping around?” a voice with a cool English accent growled a few minutes later. “You are making it impossible for me to get in my mid-afternoon, pre-killing-Reaper nap.”
    I looked at the wall, where a sword in a black leather scabbard was hanging next to my posters of Wonder Woman, Karma Girl, and The Killers. A purplish eye on the hilt was open wide and glaring at me, while the rest of the sword’s features—a nose, an ear, and a mouth—were turned down into a petulant pout.
    “Really, Gwen,” Vic, my talking sword, chastised me again. “Some of us are trying to sleep. Isn’t that right, fuzzball?”
    An agreeing bark sounded from a basket in the corner. Nyx, the Fenrir wolf pup I was taking care of, was as cute as she could be with her dark gray fur and purplish eyes, but she had an annoying habit of going along with just about whatever Vic said.
    “Fine,” I grumbled and plopped down on my bed. “I’ll stop pacing.”
    Okay, okay, so I wasn’t really trapped. But my dorm room sure felt like a prison these days, especially since there was almost always a Protectorate guard stationed outside. I pushed aside a curtain and stared out one of the picture windows. Aiko, a thin, petite, twentysomething Ninja, was leaning against a tree on the lawn below, just like she had been ever since I’d come back to my room an hour ago. Aiko shifted on her feet, causing the folds of her gray robe to billow out around her slender figure and giving me a brief glimpse of the short sword and silver throwing stars hooked to her belt.
    I sighed and let the curtain fall back into place. Aiko was outside to protect me from any Reapers who might try to kill me, something that had happened more than once within the walled confines of Mythos Academy.
    Still, I didn’t like being watched all the time, even if it was for my own good. It made me feel weak and helpless and just . . . trapped.
    Suddenly, the room felt unbearably hot and stuffy, and