Read Online Dark Frost by Jennifer Estep - Free Book Online Page A

and cruel anymore, and she’d even helped me during the Winter Carnival when I’d decided to sneak into another kid’s room. Now, the Valkyrie was almost someone I thought I could be friends with because she’d gone through some of the same terrible things that I had.
    “I don’t think you’re the school slut, Morgan,” I said in a quiet voice. “I think you kept it together today when the Reapers attacked. You knew you couldn’t fight so many of them, so you hid instead. I think that makes you really brave and really smart.”
    The Valkyrie stared at me in surprise. After a second, her eyes narrowed, but there was a hint of a smile on her face. “You know what? You’re actually okay, Gwen.”
    Morgan headed off to the other side of the coliseum. A soft snort caught my attention, and I realized that Savannah was still glaring at me. She must have heard Morgan’s comment about Logan’s being crazy about me, because anger once again twisted the Amazon’s face.
    But the weirdest thing was that Savannah’s eyes were glowing red.
    Okay, okay, so they weren’t really glowing, but it seemed to me like a bit of fire flickered in her eyes for the briefest second, the kind of eerie crimson color I’d come to associate with Reapers.
    I blinked. As suddenly as it had appeared, the red spark was gone, and Savannah’s face was normal once more, making me wonder if I’d only imagined the whole thing. I rubbed my head, which was suddenly aching—
    “Gwen!” a familiar voice called out. “Gwen!”
    I stood on my tiptoes. An older woman threaded her way through the crowd of people in the coliseum. She looked out of place with her lavender silk shirt, black pants, and black shoes with toes that curled up, like a genie that had somehow escaped from her bottle. Silk scarves covered her body, flowing around her in waves of purple, gray, and green. Silver coins jingled together like musical fringe on the ends of the scarves, the noise echoing to the ceiling and back down again. A coat hung off her shoulders. It matched the iron-gray color of her thick hair, although her eyes were a bright violet in her wrinkled face—the same violet that mine were.
    Yeah, my grandma, Geraldine Frost, might have looked out of place in the bloody chaos of the museum, but the sight of her couldn’t have made me happier.
    Grandma spotted me and hurried in my direction.
    I broke away from Logan and threw myself into her open arms. “Grandma!”
    She hugged me tight. “It’s okay, pumpkin. I’m here now. Everything’s going to be all right.”
    I didn’t know if anything would ever be all right again, but I closed my eyes and hugged her even tighter, pretending it was just for this one moment.
     
    Grandma hugged me for several minutes before finally letting me go. Then, she looked over at Logan, who was standing behind me.
    “I take it this is the Spartan boy you’ve been telling me so much about?” She smiled. “Why, he’s even more handsome than you said. You’ve been holding out on me, pumpkin.”
    A fierce blush flooded my cheeks. “Grandma!”
    She gave me an amused look. “He was going to meet me sooner or later, pumpkin. Trust me on that. I just didn’t think it would be today—or in this awful way.”
    She was right, and there was nothing I could do now but make the introductions. “Logan Quinn this is my grandma, Geraldine Frost. Grandma, this is Logan. My, uh, friend.”
    I winced as I said the last word. I didn’t know that we were just friends, but Logan hadn’t exactly declared me to be his true love either. Or even just his girlfriend. We hadn’t even been out on a date yet.
    The two of them shook hands. Logan started to let go, but Grandma Frost clasped both of her hands around his. After a second, her violet eyes took on an empty, glassy look, like she was staring at something very far away, and I felt this presence stir in the air around her—something old, watchful, and knowing.
    Grandma Frost was a Gypsy