There was one part of my wardrobe I wouldn’t be changing when we got to the mysterious Academy, though. The black key necklace with its dark red Bloodstones was still firmly around my neck, the key hanging like a lump of ice between my breasts. It seemed to feel extra heavy this morning. I thought. Extra solid. Almost as though it was anticipating my new destination.
I thought again of Frodo taking the ring to Mount Doom and shivered.
Trying to take my mind off my sense of foreboding, I opened the acceptance letter and looked at it again.
“I still don’t understand,” I said to Aunt Dellie. “What does it mean, ‘your Null status’?”
She frowned as she turned the car down a long dusty road with rows and rows of bright green orange trees on either side.
“Oh, that’s nonsense, Meggie. Don’t you pay it any attention. It isn’t your fault you haven’t manifested yet. I’m sure you will soon.”
“Manifested? What are you talking about?” I demanded. “Manifested what?”
“Oh—here we are!” Aunt Dellie exclaimed, as she took a final hairpin turn in the dusty road and came to a small parking area. And there, in the distance, I caught my first glimpse of Nocturne Academy.
It was in the middle of a lake that shouldn’t have been there.
I knew this because of my time spent on Google Earth and Wikipedia before moving to Frostproof in the first place. There were only supposed to be two major bodies of water in the area—Lake Clinch and Reedy Lake. But what I was seeing wasn’t listed or shown in anything I had looked at beforehand.
The lake situated in the middle of the orange grove was huge—as in, it had to take up most of the orchard it was occupying. Its waters were flat, opaque black—as black as the key around my neck—and it somehow managed not to reflect any sunlight back at all, though a bright Florida sun shone overhead.
But it wasn’t so much the lake which caught my eye. Nocturne Academy, sitting in the middle of it, looked just like the wax seal stamped on my envelope.
“It’s a castle,” I gasped, staring at its high battlements and stone turrets. It was made of immaculate, velvety gray stone with four tall towers, one on each corner of the square structure and looked like something straight out of a Medieval fantasy. “A freaking castle!”
“Yes indeed, imported stone by stone from Wales and set up here in central Florida at great expense,” Aunt Dellie said with satisfaction. “Of course, that was the Nocturnes’ idea. They’re never ones to pinch pennies and since they were footing most of the bill for the construction, the rest of the Others had no objection. The Sisters would never have done such a thing—we’re much too frugal. And though the Drakes are almost as rich as the Nocturnes, they don’t have quite the same flair for style. The Faes on the other hand—well they wouldn’t even be seen someplace third rate when they’re visiting from the Realm so in the end, the Nocturnes had to make everything nice—not just their own little corner. And that’s why they brought the entire castle,” she finished in a rush.
I shook my head, bewildered. Faes? Drakes? Nocturnes? Sisters?
“I don’t know any of these people you’re talking about. And I don’t understand how such a huge lake and castle could have been hidden from view when I was looking up Frostproof online,” I said blankly.
“Never mind about that. Here we are—be sure you bring your acceptance letter.” Aunt Dellie patted my knee comfortingly and parked the car next to a few others scattered around the small parking area on this end of the lake.
We got out and I saw that there was a kind of bridge—almost like an extended pier—stretching from the land to the castle, which sat in the very middle of the black waters. It looked like kind of a long walk but Aunt Dellie started down the bridge briskly, her sensible low heels tap-tap-tapping on the smooth planks.
I followed her, my sneakers squeaking on the polished gray wood which matched the stones of the castle. I wondered how they kept everything in such pristine order here. There wasn’t a single scuff-mark on the bridge as far as the eye could see and the green hedges which surrounded the perimeter of the castle were perfectly trimmed too.
The bright sunshine meant it was already hot, even though it wasn’t quite nine in the morning yet, but there was a brisk breeze blowing across the lake which seemed to cool things down some. I clutched the acceptance envelope tightly in one hand, not wanting it to get blown away.
One thing that made me nervous was the fact that there were no guardrails on either side of the bridge and that the bridge itself, which was about five feet wide, was only about a foot above the impenetrable black water. I could hear it lapping beneath the wooden planks, a quiet, somehow ominous sound.
“Aunt Dellie?” I asked her as we walked. “Isn’t it dangerous to have a bridge over a lake so close to the water and with no guardrails too? I mean, this is Florida—there could be gators, couldn’t there?”
“Gators?” She spoke without even looking around. “Don’t be silly, Meggie—the Guardian would never allow that.”
“Guardian?” I asked but as the word left my lips, I saw something from the corner of my eye that made me catch my breath.
A broad, scaly head breached the water far out in the lake to the left and vast nostrils flared as though catching our scent. Then a huge golden eye the size of a dinner plate winked open and stared at us with a slitted cat’s pupil for a long moment before the immense head disappeared once more below the surface of the lake with scarcely a ripple.
“Aunt Dellie!” I gasped, snatching at the back of her jacket. “Did you see that?”
“See what, dear?” She was completely focused on getting to the other end of the long bridge where a rounded stone arch framed a truly massive set of double wooden doors bound in black metal.
“That…that thing in the lake!” I exclaimed. “It was huge. I mean, if that was an alligator, it was the size of twenty regular-sized ones.”
“I told you, Meggie, there aren’t any alligators in the Nocturne Academy Moat. Ah—here we are.”
We had reached the double doors at last. Without a trace of uncertainty, Aunt Dellie lifted the heavy iron knocker, which was shaped like the head of some strange animal with horns and teeth straight out of a nightmare, and let it fall. The knocker boomed sonorously against the wood and the door swung silently open at once, almost as though someone had been expecting us.
But when we stepped through the vast doorway, no one was there.
5
“Welcome to Nocturne Academy. And you are?” The receptionist in the North Tower, which turned out to be the administration building—or at least the bottom of it was—looked over the rims of her horn-rimmed glasses at me with obvious disapproval. She was wearing a severe black suit and her hair was pulled tightly back from her high forehead into a bun at the back of her skinny neck.
She was staring at me like I was something she’d scraped off the bottom of her shoe.
Crap—knew I should have changed my clothes!
I shuffled my feet and tried not to look as shabby and insignificant as I felt.
“I’m Megan Foster—I mean Latimer,” I hastily corrected myself. “And I’m here because I got a letter—an acceptance letter.”
“Let me see.” She snatched it out of my hand rudely and began to scan it. I crossed my arms over my chest and wished miserably that Aunt Dellie was still with me.
After wandering our way through a huge deserted courtyard which seemed to be divided into several sections—a flower garden in one corner, a vast grassy lawn in another, and an area with a café and seats under broad, spreading umbrellas to keep the merciless sun at bay in a third, Aunt Dellie and I had finally come to the North Tower.
And there my aunt abruptly deserted me.
“Well, this is where I leave you dear,” she said, smiling at me.
“What? But why?” It wasn’t that I couldn’t go on alone. I was used to going it alone since my mom had died. But it felt weird to be left in a place I ha
dn’t even known existed an hour ago—a place which shouldn’t exist, at least according to the all-knowing Internet.
“I can’t stay with you all day, Meggie—I have an herbalist class to teach in an hour,” she said kindly. “Besides, I’m sure you’re going to fit in here just fine.”
Looking around at the grand, immaculate castle and then down at my own way-too casual outfit, I doubted that she was right. But if she had to go, she had to go.
“All right,” I mumbled. “Um…will you pick me up after school then?”
Not that I relished the idea of walking down that long bridge to meet her on my own. I was sure I had seen something in the black waters of the lake—the huge golden dinner-plate sized eye was burned into my memory. But still if it was the only way to get home…
But my aunt was shaking her head.
“Oh no, Meggie—you’ll be staying here at the Academy. Except on the weekends, when you can come home of course—if you want to,” she said, smiling.
“I’m staying here?” I said stupidly, not quite believing it. And then I remembered that the acceptance letter had said that “room and board” were free. I had thought it was just a formality—a way to say I wouldn’t have to pay for anything. But apparently they meant it—I would be living at Nocturne Academy, at least Monday through Friday, anyway.
“You’ll be fine.” Aunt Dellie patted my cheek, her own plump cheeks pink with enthusiasm. “Oh, I’m so excited for you, Meggie! I remember my own days here at the Academy! You’ll make friends and coven-sisters here that will last your entire life—just see if you don’t.”
“Coven-sisters? Aunt Dellie, you know I’m not into Wicca like you are. I mean, if you want to do it, that’s fine with me—I won’t judge. But I’m not—”
“Not a witch?” she finished for me, arching an eyebrow. “No, not yet anyway. But the Academy is going to change all that.”
“Aunt Dellie,” I said, frowning at her. “Please don’t tell me you enrolled me in a religious school just to teach me about Wicca and Paganism. Because that is not going to look good on my college applications at all!”
“Oh no, my dear!” Her gray-green eyes opened wide. “No, of course not! Nocturne Academy is a very prestigious institution and fully accredited. After you attend here, any door you want will open for you—I promise you that.”
That made me feel a little better and I nodded reluctantly.
“Well…all right. Then I guess…I guess you’d better get going.”
“Yes, I really must.” Aunt Dellie looked down at her watch, which had an oversized face with a fuzzy yellow kitten batting at a butterfly on it. (The kitten’s front paws were the minute and hour hand and the butterfly was on the tip of the second hand.) She shook her head when she saw the time. “Oh my, class starts in half an hour and I still have to change. I can’t teach my class in this!”
She winced, as though the conservative blue suit was the worst thing she owned. It was certainly the most constrictive—you could actually see her figure in it which wasn’t half bad, unlike the flowery muumuus she normally wore around the house.
“All right. I’ll see you this Friday afternoon then?” I said, making it a question.
“Unless you find some friends and don’t want to come home for the weekend. If that happens, just call me,” Aunt Dellie said. She hesitated. “Not that cell phones always work here at Nocturne. You might have to find a non-spelled spot for that, but I’m sure you’ll manage.”
Great—so the freaky castle in the middle of the lake-which-shouldn’t-be was also a dead spot for cell phones. Inwardly, I sighed—it wasn’t like I had anyone to call anyway.
Also, I was pretty sure me finding a bunch of friends I wanted to spend the weekend with wasn’t going to happen. Even at my own school, I had always been a loner. Somehow, I just never quite fit in anywhere so I never belonged to a group. But it was nice of my aunt to think I could suddenly find bosom friends, even if it was never going to happen.
“I’ll see you Friday afternoon,” I said firmly. “As soon as school lets out. You’ll be here?”
She nodded. “Of course.” Then she hugged me again spontaneously. “Oh Meggie—I’m so excited for you! Your whole life is about to start!”
She gave me a smacking kiss on the cheek and pointed at the heavy wooden door set in the base of the North Tower.
“Go on now—get in there.” Then she turned and trotted away, her low heels clacking on the flagstones that led back to the stone arch and the entrance to the castle.
I watched her until she was out of sight and then, taking a deep breath, I had pushed open the North tower door and let myself inside.
* * *
Which was how I now found myself being scrutinized by the glasses-wearing receptionist who was had on an immaculate black suit and an expression of distain.
She looked up at last from the acceptance letter she’d snatched from my hand and shook her head.
“I don’t know what the Headmistress is thinking, admitting a Null Talent student on a full scholarship but she is known to like hard-luck cases. You’ll have to be housed with the Norms of course—unless you can manage to get into the Sisters’ dormitory in the South Tower. But I doubt that, so I’ll have your things sent to the dungeon.”
“The dungeon?” I exclaimed. “Why would you send my stuff there?”
“Because it’s where the Norms have their dormitory, of course,” she snapped briskly. “The Others have their quarters in the four towers. Sisters in the South Tower, Faes in the East Tower, Drakes in the West. And of course, Nocturnes in the North Tower, just above us here.” She pointed at the arching stone ceiling above her head.
“Okay,” I said. I’ll try to keep that straight when I’m finding my way around the different towers. Do you have a map of the campus I could have?” I asked hopefully.
But I seemed to have said the exact wrong thing.
The receptionist glared at me.
“You will never enter the towers,” she spat. “A student must never enter the dormitory of a group he or she does not belong to. Others avoid those of dissimilar origin, except for during classes, of course. That is unavoidable.” She sniffed. “But on the whole, Others do not mix. That is the number one rule here, at Nocturne Academy. You will do well to remember it, even if you lack Other status yourself.”
I stared at her uncertainly. Was this school segregated in some way? Wasn’t that illegal? Before I could ask any questions, she went briskly on.
“All right, now that you know the rules, let’s get you some uniforms and a meal ticket.”
She led me from the reception area—which was set up like a normal office, except it looked strange to have a normal office in the grand setting of a castle—and through a stone archway.
We walked into a room with racks and racks of clothing—all of them uniforms. I saw rows of neat white shirts, black pleated skirts, and black blazers with blood-red trim. There were slacks hanging neatly from hangers too, which led me to believe that there were male students here as well—though as yet, I hadn’t seen any students at all. Maybe they were all in classes?
“All right, let’s see…” The receptionist sized me up with her sharp black eyes and began pulling hangers off the racks. She got five skirts, two blazers, five crisp white blouses, and two blood-red ties and hung them all on a rolling gold luggage cart, like the kind you see at fancy hotels.
To these, she added a pair of plain black Mary Jane shoes, (after inquiring my size) some white socks, and even a bundle of plain white underwear and bras and some long, lacy nightdresses. Last, she added an indeterminate pile of folded black and white clothing and a new pair of pristine white tennis shoes. “For physical education,” she explained, as she put them on the bottom of the cart. “All students must dress out every day or risk disciplinary action.”
I nodded meekly. “Okay, got it. Thanks.”
“Now, on to personal toiletry items and your backpack for classes. It will
come fully equipped with all the pens, pencils, notebooks, and paper you will need for each class,” she announced but I stepped forward to stop her.
“Wait—the uniform blouses,” I began hesitantly.
“Yes? What about them?” Her eyes flicked over my worn Henley shirt. “Are they not to your liking? Not the right size?” She indicated the white, short-sleeved uniform shirts hanging in a starched row from the gold bar at the top of the luggage rack.
“They’re the right size,” I said, lifting my chin. “But I would prefer those.” I nodded at another row of shirts—ones with longer sleeves—hanging in a row further down the line of uniforms.
“These?” She strode briskly over and pulled one out, to be sure she understood me. When I nodded, she frowned. “But these are winter uniform blouses,” she said, speaking slowly, as though to a slow child. “It gets very hot here in Florida, even with the weather incantations and the moat to keep things cool. You’re going to be extremely warm if you insist on wearing long-sleeves until around January when it gets chilly for a bit.”
“I’d still like them,” I said firmly. “Please.” Good manners are important, my mom always used to say. They’ll get you things and places that rudeness can’t.
It wasn’t the first time my mom had been proved right. With a huffy sigh, the receptionist put back the short-sleeved uniform blouses and pulled out five of the long-sleeved ones to hang on the rolling luggage cart instead.
“Fine—here you are. But don’t come crying to me that you’re too hot in a day or two. These are all you get for this semester so I warn you, you’d better be sure.”
“I’m sure,” I said, keeping my voice steady with an effort of will. I wasn’t going to snap back at her or react to her snotty attitude. And, I had decided, I wasn’t going to let myself care that she was treating me like a charity case.
Nobody can make you feel inferior unless you let them. Eleanor Roosevelt said that, I think. Anyway—it was true no matter who said it. If this receptionist was any indication of the rest of the school, I was going to have to remind myself of it on a daily basis. I might even get it tattooed on my arm when I went back into town this weekend—if dumpy little Frostproof was big enough to have a tattoo parlor, that was.
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