Lock and Key

by Evangeline Anderson

  Expelled? I looked at Headmistress Nightworthy, wide-eyed. Was I really going to be expelled on my very first week? Was I going to be kicked out of Nocturne Academy and this whole new world that I had only just discovered?

  “I don’t…I can’t…” I croaked, unable to make my throat work. “I don’t understand.”

  “Understand this, Miss Latimer,” Winifred Rattcliff said, looking down her long nose at me in apparent satisfaction. “Breaking the Edict is cause for automatic expulsion. Not only from Nocturne Academy but from the entire magical world. You will not be accepted into any coven anywhere. Moreover, none of your friends here will ever be able to talk to you or associate with you again!”

  I felt sick. Was I going to lose my coven when we had just found each other? The thought made my throat tight with misery and fear. I didn’t want to be alone again—I needed Emma and Avery and Kaitlyn—we belonged together! It was like we had been waiting to meet all our lives and now a cruel twist of fate was tearing us apart!

  “But…” I began, but Winifred Rattcliff interrupted me, a cruel smile spread over her wide, rubbery lips.

  “No buts, missy,” she declared. You’d best march right down to that ‘Norm Dorm’ of yours and pack your bags. You are not wanted here or anywhere in the magical world anymore. And that includes the Realm of the Fae and the Sky Lands of the Drakes as well as here on Earth!” she continued triumphantly and I got the sense that she felt she had won in some way—that I was a problem she had neatly disposed of and now wouldn’t have to worry about anymore.

  But could it really be so bad just to be marked by an Other who wasn’t of my same group? Avery had thought that the marking was justified and none of my coven had thought I would be expelled. Desperately, I looked at Headmistress Nightworthy.

  All this time, the Headmistress had been standing silently by, her arms crossed over her chest, tapping her perfectly manicured fingernails against her upper arms. There was a frown on her face, as though she was considering the right thing to say and do. Now she finally spoke.

  “Just a moment, Miss Latimer,” she said to me. “Do not pack your things. You will not be leaving.”

  “What?” Winifred Rattcliff rounded on her, a shocked look on her face. “What did you say, Headmistress?”

  “I said, Megan Latimer will not be leaving Nocturne Academy. She is not being expelled.”

  “But…but breaking the Edict has always been an automatic expulsion offense!” the other woman sputtered. “Ever since I attended here myself when I was her age. It’s understood that—”

  “Nothing in my school is understood or automatic,” the Headmistress interrupted her. “I judge each case on its own merits and I do not believe it would be in anyone’s best interests to turn a powerful witch out into the world with no knowledge of how to use or control her very formidable gift. It would be tantamount to throwing out a bomb, set to blow sometime in the near future instead of trying to defuse it. So no, I will not be expelling Megan Latimer from Nocturne Academy. It would be irresponsible in the extreme for me to do so.”

  For a moment Nancy’s mother looked so angry I thought she might have a stroke. Her face turned the same color as her dress and lipstick, which made her strangely monochrome.

  “Well at least find out who marked her!” she burst out at last. “And then punish them both—severely.”

  I lifted my chin. “I’m sorry, Headmistress,” I said as calmly as I could, though my voice shook a little. “But I can’t tell you the name of the one who marked me. He was trying to protect me when I was in a dangerous situation. I can’t repay his kindness to me by betraying him.”

  Headmistress Nightworthy nodded thoughtfully.

  “I understand, Miss Latimer. Though I do not condone your actions, your loyalty to friends is commendable.”

  “What?” Winifred Rattcliff burst out. “You’re not even going to make her tell his name? Well if you won’t, I will!” Turning to me, she pointed a finger straight at me and shouted, “Veratis!”

  I felt the magic trying to work on me at once. Like a hundred prying fingers tugging at my brain…my mouth…my tongue. Trying to force me to say Griffin’s name—trying to make me give him up.

  Tell…tell…tell…a hundred tiny voices buzzed in my ears. Tell…tell…tell…you must tell!

  No! I fought it as hard as I could but I knew I couldn’t last long. Nancy’s mother was a senior witch—she had years of experience on me. Years of practicing magic and learning how best to craft and use a spell. Eventually her truth incantation would work on me—unless I could counteract it.

  I did the only thing I could do. Steeling myself against the sharp pain, I bit my cheek as hard as I could and hot blood squirted into my mouth.

  45

  The moment I tasted the hot, coppery blood in my mouth, the prying little fingers dropped away and the buzzing voices fell silent. It was like they had been flies bothering me and I had swatted them all at once.

  I drew in a deep breath, relief washing over me like a spray of cool mist on a hot summer’s day. I knew that somehow I had rendered Winifred Rattcliff’s spell useless and from the look on her face, she knew it too.

  “You little…” she muttered and stopped, glaring at me with narrowed eyes. “How did you do that?” she burst out at last. “How did you deflect my spell without even a word of power?”

  Luckily, I didn’t have to answer because at that moment, Headmistress Nightworthy stepped in again.

  “I think the real question, Winifred, is why you attempted to lay a spell on my student in my office and without my permission!”

  Her voice was low and controled but her blue eyes flashed angrily. Clearly she was in a rage. Once more, I was glad her fury wasn’t directed at me.

  Winifred Rattcliff drew herself up, a look of self-righteous indignation written across her face.

  “I had to!” she exclaimed. “You can’t have Others of different species breaking the Edict by marking each other—it sets a terrible example for the rest of the school! I for one, as a parent, do not intend to allow my daughter to attend an institution where such behavior can be not only gotten away with but condoned by the administration!”

  “Very well,” Headmistress Nightworthy said quietly. “You may, of course, remove Nancy from Nocturne Academy at any time.”

  Clearly this was not the answer Winifred Rattcliff had been expecting to hear. She had threatened to remove her daughter from the school, hoping to exert pressure and instead Headmistress Nightworthy had been perfectly willing to let Nancy go.

  “You…I…I don’t believe this!” she sputtered. She pointed at me. “Megan Latimer has broken our most sacred law! Aren’t you going to punish her at all?”

  “Indeed I am.” Mistress Nightworthy turned those piercing blue eyes on me and I felt my stomach twist into knots. “Miss Latimer,” she said to me, “You will forgo half of your weekend privileges this weekend. You may leave on Friday afternoon with the other students after the last bell has rung and remain at liberty Saturday during the day. But you will return to Nocturne Academy no later than midnight Saturday night and you will not be allowed to leave the castle on Sunday.”

  “What?” Nancy’s mother nearly shrieked. “You’re docking her weekend privileges one day? For breaking the Edict, that’s all the punishment she gets? I can’t believe this!”

  Headmistress Nightworthy frowned at her.

  “Do I need to remind you, Winifred, that I am the Headmistress here? The Board of Trustees has given me complete discretion to deal with any wrongdoing in the way that I see fit. As I see it, Miss Latimer was only trying to protect herself from what she deemed—and rightly so—to be a dangerous situation. She is new to our world and she didn’t understand the implications of her actions. However,” she added, turning her piercing stare on me, “She knows now. And I trust we will not have any more trouble of this nature in the future. Correct, Miss Latimer?”

  “No.” I swallowed hard. “No, Head
mistress, you won’t.”

  “Thank you. Then see to it that you are back here by midnight Saturday night. Now, you may be dismissed to go to your last period.” She glanced at the grandfather clock ticking quietly against one wall. “I think you should just make it if you hurry. If you are late, simply tell Mrs. Hornsby you were with me and she will excuse you.”

  “Thank you, Headmistress,” I said. And when the black door opened for me of its own accord, I walked quickly through it, feeling that I had just had a very narrow escape indeed.

  46

  As I stepped out of the Headmistress’s office and the black door closed behind me, I saw the long dark hallway had been truncated to a journey of a few steps. I was sure I would find myself back out in the main corridor in no time and though I saw students scurrying by as though the bell had just chimed, I was certain I could make it to Home Ec in time.

  But just as I was about to walk out, the black door opened again and Winifred Rattcliff stormed right past me. She didn’t seem to see me, maybe because I was standing a little to one side in the shadowy corridor. Or maybe she was just blinded by fury. Her face was still as dark as her dress and her hands were clenched into fists at her sides.

  I let her pass and stayed prudently in the shadows, deciding I could wait to get to Home Ec until after the angry senior witch had a generous head-start on me. I certainly didn’t want to run into her again in her present mood—or ever, if I could help it. She might try some other—stronger—spell on me, especially when she knew the Headmistress wasn’t watching.

  The inside of my cheek stung where I had bitten myself but I considered it a small price to pay to keep the truth spell at bay. If she’d been able to make me talk, I might have blurted out not just Griffin’s name, but the fact that I had been doing Blood-magic. I wasn’t sure how Headmistress Nightworthy would take that particular news on top of the revelation that I had broken the Edict and I didn’t want to find out.

  As I watched her storm out into the main corridor, I couldn’t help feeling like Winifred Rattcliff had had it in for me from the start. She had tried to get access to my memories and when that had failed, she had attempted to force me to tell what she wanted to know. Then she’d tried to have me kicked out of Nocturne Academy and the entire magical world, like I was trash she wanted to throw away!

  She was as much a bully as her daughter and I didn’t believe for a moment she’d been friends with my mom, just as I was never going to be friends with Nancy.

  As though thinking of her had called the leader of the Weird Sisters to me, I saw Nancy herself passing by in the hall at that very moment. Her mother saw her too because she snaked out a hand and grabbed her by the arm.

  “What?” Nancy looked at her startled. “Mom, what are you doing here? I have to get to class—I’m going to be late.”

  “Then you’ll be late!” Winifred Rattcliff hissed. “I have to talk to you and it can’t wait.”

  “Mom!” she protested again but just then the late bell rang and all the other students disappeared magically into their classrooms. Nancy and her mom were all alone in the main corridor—or thought they were anyway. I pressed myself further back into the shadows to the side of the Headmistress’s door, trying not to be seen. The last thing I needed was for the senior witch to try and get me expelled for eavesdropping!

  “You told me she was a Null!” Winifred Rattcliff hissed at her daughter, coming in close to glare at her. “You told me the Latimer girl was nothing but a Null!”

  “I thought she was!” Nancy protested. “I’ve been provoking her every day just like you said and she hasn’t retaliated—not once!”

  I felt a shock of disbelief. So the nasty attack on me in the Dining Hall and the constant harassment in Home Ec were more than just bullying—they had actually been ordered by Winifred Rattcliff. She had told her daughter to provoke and attack me. But why? Why would—

  My train of thought was broken when Winifred Rattcliff slapped her daughter hard across the face.

  “Ouch!” Nancy cried, her hand going to her cheek which was already turning red. “Why did you do that?”

  “If you don’t know, you’re stupider than I thought!” her mother hissed at her. “She’s no Null. She has great power—I felt it! And you should have known it after she shame-marked that Drake boy.”

  “That’s all just a load of crap,” Nancy said uncomfortably. “Some kind of a prank or something. I heard she can’t even make a feather float or light a candle. And she sure as Hell can’t stop me from making her cookies burn so she can’t have any power.”

  “You cannot discount a Latimer that easily!” her mother insisted. “She has the proper bloodlines and she’s a direct descendant of Corinne Latimer herself—she could be the one the prophesy speaks of! And if she is…” She let the words hang ominously in the air like a threat as Nancy continued to cup her wounded cheek, her dark eyes narrowed in fury and filled with tears.

  “I don’t care what that stupid fucking prophesy says!” she snarled at her mother. “It’s all just a load of bullshit anyway!”

  “You listen to me, girl!” Her mother grabbed her shoulders and pulled her closer so they were face to face. “You’d better care what the prophesy says if you want to be the head of Windermere Coven after me! And you’d better find out who marked her. That’s right—the little slut’s been marked by a male already,” she added in response to the shocked look on Nancy’s face. “And it had better not be by him!”

  Nancy shook herself free of her mother’s grip.

  “It probably is him,” she snapped sullenly. “He’s all over her lately—taking her to classes, holding her hand…who else could it be?”

  Winifred Rattcliff’s face went pale and I felt the blood drain from my own face as well. Griffin—they were talking about Griffin. But why would the senior witch care if I was marked by the tall Nocturne?

  I had no idea but it was clear Winifred Rattcliff did care—very much.

  “This is worse than I thought,” she muttered, loosening her grip on her daughter’s arms.

  Nancy drew away at once, shooting her mother a venomous glare but Winifred Rattcliff barely seemed to notice.

  “We must consider a plan of action.” She pointed a finger with one long mauve nail at her daughter. “Make sure it’s really him. I need to know for certain who marked her before I can do anything else.”

  “Fine. I’ll find out,” Nancy said sullenly. “Now can I go?”

  Winifred nodded absently.

  “Yes. I’ll see you later. For now, go about your business like nothing’s changed.”

  “Nothing has changed,” Nancy snapped. “She’s just a do-nothing, know-nothing wanna-be witch. You’re getting all worked up for nothing, Mom.”

  “Worked up for nothing? You stupid little witch.” Winifred shook her head as she regarded her daughter with clear irritation. “If only you knew what is really at stake here,” she told Nancy. “It isn’t only the leadership of the Windermere Coven we are fighting for. “It is much, much bigger than that.”

  Then she left Nancy and walked quickly away, her mauve heels (yes, even her shoes were mauve) clacking on the flagstone floor.

  Nancy stood for a moment staring after her mom, resentment clear on her face.

  “Stupid old bitch,” I heard her mutter. “Someday I’ll be head of the coven and then we’ll see how you like it!” She forked the first two fingers of her left hand and spat through them in the direction her mother had gone.

  I wasn’t sure what the gesture meant but it looked like some kind of insult—like flipping somebody off, but maybe in a magical way.

  Clearly there was no love lost between Nancy and her mom and for a moment I felt sorry for them. My mom and I had butted heads on occasion but my mother had never slapped me or called me stupid and I had known that she loved me unconditionally, right up until the end.

  Then I remembered how nasty Nancy and her mom both had been to me and my pity faded. They des
erved their toxic relationship and really it wasn’t surprising they were so nasty to each other when they were clearly just as terrible to everyone else around them.

  “Some people just have bad blood,” my mother used to say and I had to think she would have said the same about Winifred and Nancy Rattcliff right at that moment.

  I wished desperately that I could talk to my mom right now. That I could ask her the truth about her relationship with Winifred Rattcliff and why she hadn’t told me anything about the magical world full of both wonders and dangers I now found myself in.

  But my mom was gone and no amount of wishing could bring her back. The best I could hope for was to get some answers from my Aunt Dellie—I was betting she knew a lot more than she had ever let on to me.

  A hell of a lot.

  47

  “What prophecy?” Avery demanded when I told him and Emma and Kaitlyn.

  “That’s what I’d like to know,” I said, frowning thoughtfully. We were all sitting in the common room of the Norm Dorm, ready to go home for “weekend liberty” as it was called here—though of course I was only going to get half of mine.

  I had been bursting to tell the others about what had happened in the Headmistress’s office as well as the confrontation I’d seen between Nancy and her mom for all of Home Ec. The entire class Nancy had been watching me narrowly—her attention so focused on me that for once, she was the one who burned her baked goods—blueberry muffins with an oat crumble on top. She forgot to set a timer and hers came out of the oven smoking, much to my private satisfaction.

  I had gone about my business, pretending not to notice her and, for a wonder, she actually left me alone. Maybe because she was too busy looking at the mark on my forehead or maybe because she didn’t have to bother and try to provoke me anymore to know I was really a witch.

  “Forget the prophesy—I can’t believe that bitch-witch tried to have you kicked out of the Academy!” Emma exclaimed. “What is her problem?”