For my part, I could barely pay attention to Nancy, even if she was cooking up a scheme against me. My almost-cold had gotten worse and I felt so tired and chilly all the time I barely had energy enough to get my schoolwork done, let alone worry about the nasty bitch-witch and her crew.
I kept telling myself I would get over it—that if I could just get a good night’s sleep, I would feel better. But my dreams were filled with half-remembered nightmares—visions of huge, sail-like wings casting a black shadow over my body as I cowered helpless on the ground… and every day I woke feeling more tired than when I had gone to bed.
It didn’t help that I had little to no appetite. My Coven-mates noticed and worried about me and Avery even cooked another rare roast beef for me on Wednesday night—which did help a little. Though this time I found myself much more attracted to the bloody juices that came from the roast than the meat itself, I forced myself to eat it all. And, for a little while, I felt much better.
Other than my persistent cold, only one strange thing happened the whole rest of the week, and it mainly affected poor Emma.
We were at dinner Thursday night and for once it seemed like they were serving us something halfway decent.
“Well, will you look at that,” Avery remarked when Emma and Megan sat down at our table and put down their trays. “Less than a week on kitchen duty and it seems that Nancy and her nasty crew are doing us a favor—the slop on your trays almost smells edible tonight. It doesn’t look like much, though,” he added pessimistically.
“Yes, but it really does smell great, don’t you think?” Emma leaned over and took a big whiff of the weird-looking mixture. It seemed to be a mishmash of barbequed ribs, mashed potatoes, corn and green beans all covered in the melted orange-crayon cheese. Sprinkled on top of it was a reddish spice I assumed was paprika.
As Norm meals went, it really wasn’t half bad—at least the Cafeteria ladies hadn’t mixed yesterday’s fruit salad or some other weird thing like they usually did. I might even have eaten it—if I had any appetite at all. Since I didn’t, I pushed my tray away.
“Looks kind of like a BBQ shepherds pie,” Megan remarked, bending down to smell her own portion. She drew back, frowning. “Oh—I think there’s garlic in there. Along with…I’m not sure what this spice is on top.” She poked delicately at the reddish sprinkling of spice with the tines of her fork.
“It tastes amazing,” Emma gushed and I saw that she was already half through with her portion. “Oh my God—the Cafeteria has never done anything half as delicious as this!” she raved.
“Well, you can have mine then,” Megan said, pushing her green plastic tray across the table. “I can’t eat it if there’s garlic in there—it’ll make Griffin ill if he bites me.”
Emma frowned. “I thought all that stuff about garlic and crosses and sunlight hurting vampires—I mean Nocturnes—was just BS,” she said, after swallowing a huge bite.
“Unfortunately, most myths have a basis in reality,” Griffin said, taking a sip of his blood. “For instance, though bright sunlight won’t cause me to burst into flames, my eyes are very sensitive to it. And though garlic will not kill me, it would cause me to break out in hives if I ingested it—much like a human might have an allergic reaction to nuts or shellfish.” He looked at Megan. “But don’t let me stop you from eating something you want, sweetheart. The garlic will be out of your system in twenty-four to forty-eight hours at the most.”
“That’s too long to go without you biting me,” Megan objected. “Nothing the Dining Hall serves is worth giving up that.”
Griffin smiled at her.
“You are too kind, my Witch Queen.”
“Thank you, my Blood Knight,” Megan purred.
“Oh Goddess, here they go,” Avery groaned.
“Sorry,” Megan sighed. “You know, we’re not trying to flaunt our love, Avery. I think it’s just that Griffin and I are so newly bonded. Maybe things will, uh, slow down after we’ve been with each other a while.”
“Maybe it will—after the first hundred years or so together,” Griffin murmured and the two of them looked deep into each others’ eyes while Avery groaned again.
“Emma, can you believe them? Wait—did you really eat all of yours and Megan’s too?” he said, eyeing the two empty trays in front of her.
She nodded. “I guess I’m just really hungry tonight. In fact, I might go back for seconds.”
“Well, that’s a first.” Avery frowned. “But it’s pretty heavy food—are you sure you want more?”
“Yes, I really do.” Emma started to get up but I stopped her by pushing my own tray over.
“Here—you can have mine. I’m not hungry,” I told her.
I shouldn’t have done it, though, because all eyes at the table suddenly turned towards me and Avery frowned.
“Kaitlyn, are you still not eating? You didn’t touch a thing at breakfast or lunch either!”
“I’m just not hungry,” I repeated, frowning. “It’s no big deal, Avery. My body is just fighting off a cold—I’m never hungry when I’m sick.”
“Well, you have to eat something,” Megan objected. “Honestly, Kaitlyn, you’re getting so thin I’m afraid a stiff wind might blow you away.” She leaned forward and took my hand in hers. “Oh—you’re so cold!” she exclaimed. “If you were sick, I would think you’d be warm.”
“I always have cold hands,” I said, pulling mine away.
“Let me feel your forehead then.” Avery proceeded to do just that, placing one burning-hot hand on my forehead without asking for further permission.
“Hey!” I jerked away from him. “Your hand is so hot!”
“And your skin is ice cold.” He frowned at me, looking concerned. “Katydid, you’ve been feeling out of it all week. I think you should go see the Healer.”
The Healer is Nocturne Academy’s version of a school nurse. I had seen her once before when Sanchez had hit me in the face with a football but though she had been nice enough, I wasn’t anxious to repeat the experience.
“I’m fine,” I said, frowning at my friends. “Will you all please stop staring at me like I have the plague? It’s just a little cold and it’s perfectly normal for some people to have a lower body temperature than others.” Of course I had never been one of those people before, but I didn’t feel the need to admit that now. “Also,” I continued with more energy than I had shown all week, “I’m not hungry because I drank so much water today. For some reason I’ve just been really thirsty.”
“You’re thirsty all the time?” Megan frowned. “That can be a sign of diabetes, you know.” She looked at Griffin. “Do you think Kaitlyn could be diabetic?”
Griffin looked at me, his pale eyes assessing and worried.
“I do not know,” he said at last. “But I do feel that something must be wrong.”
“You guys, I’m right here,” I protested. “Could you please not talk about me right to my face? At least go behind my back like…” I cast a glance in the direction of the Drake table and finished in a lower voice. “Like other people I could mention.”
“We’re just worried about you, that’s all,” Emma protested. She had finished my portion of the BBQ shepherds pie and was looking longingly at the three empty plastic trays in front of her, as though wishing for even more of it. “You know, I think I’m going to get another serving,” she said, standing up and grabbing one of the trays.
“Don’t worry about me—worry about yourself,” I told her. “Are you sure it’s a good idea to be eating that much of anything made in this cafeteria?”
“Kaitlyn’s right, Emma,” Avery said. “You’re going to make yourself sick. Aren’t you full yet?”
Emma frowned. “Well…kind of. But I just…” She waved one hand in the air expressively. “I just want more, you know? I don’t know why but I do.”
She left us all staring after her as she went back to the Cafeteria line for more of the BBQ mixture.
“Do you thi
nk she’ll be okay, eating so much of that stuff?” Megan said worriedly. “You don’t think Nancy and the Weird Sisters put something in it that might hurt her, do you?” she asked Avery.
“Well, she’s not laughing hysterically or anything like that,” I pointed out, glad to have the focus off of me.
“I know she’s not but I still don’t like it,” Megan said. “That stuff better not make her sick or give her a stomachache or anything like that or I’m going straight to Headmistress Nightworthy!”
“I don’t see how she can avoid getting a stomachache if she’s going to eat all that—look at her tray!” Avery exclaimed as Emma came back. It looked like whoever had served her had given her a triple helping—her green plastic tray was piled high with the BBQ-mashed potato-green beans-corn-and cheese mixture and there was a generous sprinkling of the bright red paprika on top.
“Emma, you’re not actually going to eat all that, are you?” Megan asked anxiously as our Coven-mate sat down with us again.
“I mean, think of the carbs!” Avery protested.
Emma shrugged, looking a bit uncomfortable.
“I’m just going to have a few bites,” she said unconvincingly and then dug in.
We watched in silence as she demolished two thirds of the heaping mound of food and then Avery stepped in.
“Look, you have to stop, Emma—you’re going to be sick,” he said, pulling the tray firmly away from her. “And far be it from me to body-shame anyone but your uniform skirt is going to pop if you eat another bite!”
Emma looked at the tray longingly.
“I know you’re right but it’s just so good, you know? It’s like I can’t stop.”
She reached for the tray again but Avery pulled it out of reach.
“I don’t think so,” he said firmly. “Friends don’t let friends carbo-load. You’re eating like you’re a Sumo wrestler trying to make the next weight class!”
Emma opened her mouth to protest and belched instead.
“Oh, excuse me!” She put a hand to her mouth, her cheeks crimson with embarrassment. “Maybe you’re right, Avery,” she admitted. “But could you please take it away? If I keep looking at it I’m going to want to eat some more.” She frowned. “In fact, even though I’m really full, I wish I could have a whole ‘nother tray of it!”
“You’re like Edmund with the Turkish delight in The Chronicles of Narnia!” Megan exclaimed. “Now I know Nancy and her crew must have done something to the Norm food—they made it so you’re never satisfied and always want more for some reason.”
“Do you really think so?” Emma turned pale. “But…I don’t feel any different. Well, other than being really, really full,” she added, and politely smothered another burp in her napkin.
“We’ll have to watch and see, I guess,” Megan said, frowning. “Let us know if you start feeling funny in any way. Okay?”
“Okay.” Megan looked worried. “Oh God, I’m so full.” She put a hand to her stomach. “Ugh, why did I eat all of that?”
“That’s what we’d all like to know,” Avery said, coming back from dumping the trays in the dirty dish chute. “I think we’d better keep a close eye on you tonight, Emmers.”
Which suited me fine. Of course, I didn’t want Emma to be sick but at least if all our Coven-mates were watching her, they wouldn’t be scrutinizing me—at least I hoped not. I didn’t like the idea that something other than a cold might be wrong with me—didn’t like it so much that I wanted to completely ignore it.
But as it turned out, I couldn’t ignore it forever.
21
Ari
I watched my little human as covertly as I could from across the Dining Hall. I hadn’t tried to approach her again, though my Drake was growing restless within me. I sensed that she still wasn’t ready to give me a chance—though I wondered, with despair, when she ever would be.
Mierda! This was such a mess, I couldn’t help thinking as I watched her talk to her friends. Why hadn’t that stupid Nancy Rattcliff just kept her big mouth shut?
But I had other things to worry about besides Kaitlyn’s apparent aversion to me. As I watched her, I saw that she looked unwell—tired, maybe even to the point of exhaustion. Her shoulders were drooping and there was a dark circle under the one eye I could see.
Her condition hadn’t escaped the notice of her friends, though. I watched as her Coven-mate, Avery Connor, put a hand to her forehead, as though to test for fever and then shook his head.
Though I knew perfectly well that Avery was not interested in females in any way, I felt a zing of bitter jealousy. How I longed to go to my little human and touch her that way—to hold her and protect her and make certain she was well and safe. Within me, my Drake roared mournfully, adding his longing to my own. Would we ever get our wish and be able to claim Kaitlyn?
It didn’t seem likely.
Something miraculous would have to happen for her to give me another chance, I thought sadly. Something truly out of the ordinary…
But what that might be, I couldn’t guess.
Dinner ended and, as I left, I noticed Nancy and her two followers were speaking to Felix Gomez and Lupe Romero, the two green Drakes who used to hang around with Sanchez all the time before he was expelled. Nancy was standing on tiptoe and Gomez was leaning down so she could whisper in his ear. They giggled together and he nodded at her, as though they had just made some kind of agreement.
I frowned at the sight. What were they saying to each other? Were they actually making some kind of plan against Kaitlyn? Or had Nancy simply decided if she couldn’t get one Drake, she’d just have another one. Maybe she didn’t care that Gomez wasn’t royalty and never would be, since his Drake didn’t even have fire.
That was what I tried to tell myself, but I was worried enough to linger in the shadows and listen for a moment after my fellow Drakes left, though I had to stay far away to keep Nancy and her friends from seeing me. They appeared to be more on their guard than they had been the last time I spied on them, looking around as they spoke and keeping their voices low, so that I could only catch a few snatches of their conversation.
“…didn’t eat a bite of it,” Missy was saying to Nancy. “I was watching her—not a bite.”
“Damn it!” Nancy looked displeased. “…can’t work if she doesn’t eat it,” I heard her say.
“…don’t know what we can do about it if she won’t eat it!” Jasmine protested.
Nancy shook her head and dropped her voice.
“Don’t know,” I barely heard her say. “…have to figure something out.”
Then the three of them finished with their Dining Hall chores and moved into the kitchen.
After they left, I stood there thinking for some time. Had they actually tried something on Kaitlyn—put something in her food to make her sick? If so, their plot appeared to have failed because she wouldn’t eat anything. In fact, now that I thought about it, I hadn’t seen her put a single bite of food in her mouth all during dinner.
Though I hated to admit it, maybe Kaitlyn’s illness had saved her from an extremely nasty episode of food poisoning, or whatever Nancy and her crew had planned.
I wondered if I ought to report their attempted malfeasance to the Headmistress, but what could I say? What proof could I offer since no harm had been done?
My second impulse was to try and warn Kaitlyn again—but I ran up against the same problem. Why would she believe me when Nancy’s nasty actions hadn’t had any result? More likely she would just think I was stalking her and inventing excuses to come talk with her again.
And that would only make her hate me more.
No, I decided reluctantly at last, there was nothing I could do but keep watching for the time being. Watching over my little human from afar and hoping I could keep her safe and that someday she would let me in…
22
Kaitlyn
Emma was up all night with a stomachache.
She woke Megan and me up, groani
ng around three o’clock in the morning. Megan hopped out of her bed and I dragged myself out of mine, still wrapped in my robe to try and keep warm. Even so, the dungeon chill seemed to penetrate my bones and I shivered as I came over to check on Emma.
“Hey, hon—are you all right?” Megan asked anxiously, leaning over her.
“No.” Emma shook her head. “Not…feeling good at all.”
Megan ran and got a trash can in case our Coven-mate had to puke, But Emma didn’t appear to have nausea or any intestinal difficulties for that matter. She had simply eaten too much, as far as Megan or I could tell, and the heavy, greasy food wasn’t sitting well in her stomach.
“Why did I eat so much of that stuff?” she moaned, putting a hand to her swollen belly. “Ugh—I never want to eat again!”
“I’ll bet it was that magical MSG spell again,” Megan said angrily. “I’d bet anything that Nancy and the Weird Sisters cast that spell over the cafeteria food last night and tripled the strength—just like they did with the three squared cheer up charm on our chocolate cake,” she told me. “They did it just so the Norms who got the food would overeat and be miserable!”
“Should we tell the Headmistress?” I asked.
“No, don’t,” Emma begged before Megan could answer. “How could you ever prove it? Avery told us that spell was undetectable once it was baked into the food. All we could prove was that I made a pig of myself the one night the Cafeteria ladies served us something half-decent to eat.” She groaned again. “Besides, I don’t want to mess with Headmistress Nightworthy—she’s scary.”
I had to agree with her there. The Headmistress was a formidable woman—I wouldn’t want to bother her with anything unless I had rock-solid proof. And unfortunately, we didn’t.
Fang and Claw: Nocturne Academy, Book 2 Page 11