Spartan Heart (Mythos Academy: Colorado #1)(5)

The guy glared at me, breaking the spell. I blinked and forced myself to ignore how cute he was. Instead, I studied him again, and I realized I’d never seen him before. Last year, after all that mess with my parents had happened, I had made it a point to know every single student at the academy, especially the ones I should avoid. But this guy? He was new.

Oh, I was sure there was a perfectly logical explanation. Lots of students transferred from one academy to another, especially at the start of the school year and especially at the start of this school year, since the North Carolina academy was still undergoing repairs from the earlier battle.

Still, I kept studying the guy, this time trying to figure out what kind of warrior he was. He couldn’t be a Roman, since his magic would have made him fast enough to avoid running into me. My gaze dropped to the black duffel bag dangling from his hand. The bag’s long, distinctive shape was meant to hold a battle ax, and a couple of smaller axes were hooked to the outside of the bag as well. So he was a Viking. They were the only warriors who used axes like that. No wonder he’d almost knocked me down. His Viking strength would have let him knock me into next week if he’d wanted. Maybe he hadn’t slammed into me on purpose after all.

The guy’s eyes narrowed. “What are you staring at?”

Embarrassment spurted through me that he had caught me gaping at him. But I ignored the fresh, hot blush stinging my cheeks, crossed my arms over my chest, and glared back at him.

“What are you staring at?” I snapped. “I was walking along, minding my own business, when bam! You plowed right into me. And now you’re not even apologizing for almost knocking me down.”

Anger sparked in his eyes, turning them a darker storm-cloud gray, which, of course, only made him look that much more handsome. “I didn’t plow into you. You weren’t watching where you were going. If anyone should be apologizing, it’s you, cupcake.”

My arms dropped to my sides, and my hands clenched into fists. “You did not just call me cupcake.”

He arched an eyebrow. “What? You don’t like that nickname? Well, it’s true. Look at you, with your designer clothes and expensive bag and perky little ponytail. You’re a cute little cupcake of a warrior, just like the rest of the girls here.”

More anger surged through my body, and I stepped up so that I was standing inches away from him. “I am a Spartan,” I hissed. “One who is perfectly capable of kicking your ass, right here, right now, Viking.”

He arched his eyebrow at me again. “A threat? Aw, that’s so cute. Maybe some other time. Right now, I’ve got to get to class, and so do you. Unless you want to be late on the first day of school.”

“I—”

I started to snap back at him, but a series of bells rang out across the quad, cutting me off and signaling that we had five minutes to get to class.

“And that’s my cue to leave. Later, cupcake.” The Viking snapped his hand up to his forehead in a mock salute. He hefted his bag onto his shoulder, making all the small battle axes hooked to the outside clank-clank-clank together, and moved past me.

“But—”

I whirled around, but he was moving fast, heading for the gym on the opposite side of the quad. He was already out of earshot, unless I wanted to scream insults at him. I was still so angry that I opened my mouth to let loose, but then I realized that everyone was staring at me again, including the Valkyries who’d been mocking me earlier. The girls all rolled their eyes and snickered, adding to my humiliation. Everyone had seen my confrontation with the Viking, and they were already gossiping about it.

Great. Just great. I had wanted things to be different this year, but I was right back where I’d started, with everyone talking about me, the supposed Reaper girl in their midst. And it was all his fault.

I glared at the Viking’s back, but there was nothing I could do about him now. So I sighed, turned around, and trudged across the quad toward the English-history building.

As I walked along, one thought kept running through my mind. I had been absolutely right before.

The first day of school is always the worst.

Especially at Mythos Academy.





Chapter Two





The rest of my day didn’t get any better.

I suffered through all my morning classes, painfully aware that everyone was talking and texting about my confrontation with the Viking. I slumped down in my seat, keeping my gaze on my books, but I could still hear the other kids whispering about me. Well, at least they weren’t talking about my parents being Reapers anymore. I didn’t know if that was better or worse, but at least my misery was new and different—for today, anyway. The other students would remember my Reaper parents soon enough.

Lunchtime rolled around, and I trooped over to the dining hall with the other kids, all of whom kept a healthy distance from yours truly. Apparently, talking about me behind my back was just fine, but actually walking beside me on the cobblestone path was not. I gritted my teeth and plodded on toward the dining hall. I wasn’t hungry—not in the slightest—but I had to show up for lunch, or Aunt Rachel would start worrying.

I stepped into the dining hall, which looked exactly the same as it had last school year, right down to the open-air garden in the center of the room. Instead of pretty flowers, this garden featured evergreen trees that grew between dense boulder formations and perfumed the air with their sharp, tangy sap. A narrow creek curled through the garden and over to a tower of boulders, where it dropped down and created a small waterfall and a pool at the base of the rocks. Gray stone statues of bears, rabbits, ducks, and other animals ringed the pool, along with one of Coyote Trickster, the Native American god. Two more statues, both of them Eir gryphons, perched on the rocks at the top of the waterfall, as though they were keeping watch and protecting the animals below.