“Myth-history?” I asked. “What kind of class is that?”

Metis just smiled. “You’ll see, Gwen. You’ll see. But right now, I’m afraid I have to get back to the academy. I’ve got some papers to grade, among other things. I just wanted to come by and introduce myself.”

The professor rose to her feet. “Geraldine, it was lovely to see you again. I just wish the circumstances could have been different.”

“Me too, Professor. Me too,” my grandma murmured.

The two of them shared a sad, almost wistful look before Grandma Frost stood up and shook the professor’s hand. Then my grandma turned to me.

“Pumpkin, why don’t you show Professor Metis out? I’ve got to get ready for my next client.”

“Sure,” I muttered, wondering what was going on between them and why they’d decided to exclude me from it. “This way, Professor.”

Metis followed me down the hallway and back to the front door. I opened it, and she stepped outside. Sometime while we’d been talking, the sun had come out and burned away the silvery frost, until only a trace of it remained in the shadows on the porch.

I started to shut the door behind her, but Metis turned to face me, a kind look in her green eyes.

“I was very sorry to hear about your mother,” she said in a soft voice.

Dozens of people had said the same thing to me over the past few weeks, everyone from my friends at school to the other cops who had worked with my mom. But for some reason, I felt that Metis really meant what she said—that she really was sad to hear about my mom. Almost like . . . she’d known my mom or something. But that just wasn’t possible. I’d known all of my mom’s friends, and Metis wasn’t one of them.

“I hope you’ll give Mythos Academy a chance, Gwen,” Metis continued. “I really do think it’s the best place for you right now. For you to learn how to fully master your magic . . . and other things.”

There were those pesky other things again—the ones she still hadn’t explained. I opened my mouth to ask her about them, but Metis smiled, headed down the porch stairs, and stepped out onto the sidewalk. She got into a Range Rover that was parked in front of the house and drove away.

I stepped onto the porch as well and watched her turn the corner and disappear from sight. Somehow, I knew that my whole life had just changed. It wasn’t just the fact that I was getting shipped off to some new school in the fall. There was more to this than that. I could feel it.

Just the way I knew there was nothing I could do about it but go to Mythos and see what was in store for me there. Rich kids with magic, from the sound of it. Warriors maybe, since Metis had mentioned Valkyries and Amazons. But who or what could they possibly be fighting against?