Lock and Key (Nocturne Academy 1)

Then I took a step and winced at the pain in the backs of my heels. Looking down, I saw that there were, indeed, small patches of blood spreading on my white knee socks, just where the backs of my Mary Janes had rubbed my heels when I was running laps.

I don’t know why I hadn’t noticed the small but painful injures before. Maybe because I was too preoccupied with Kaitlyn and then later, because I was trying to pretend I didn’t care what the people in my English class thought of my scars.

Either way, he was right—I needed to take care of business. I was probably going to be late to third period too if I took the time to change clothes and bandage my wounds but at that point I didn’t care—I just wanted to get covered.

I could hold my head up high during one class and pretend I didn’t give a damn what others thought of me, but I didn’t relish the idea of doing it for all my classes. Plus, at some point I was bound to get even more demerits for wearing gym clothes instead of my uniform.

So, wincing with every step, I made my way back to the locker room to change. But even as I put back on my uniform, I knew it wouldn’t matter—the two nasty Fae girls in my English class would no doubt spread the word about my scars far and wide.

By the time I sat down to dinner tonight, I was sure all of Nocturne Academy would know I had been a cutter.

26

“Well, I was hoping you would have a better second day than your first but I’m afraid from what I heard, my hopes were all in vain,” Avery remarked dryly, looking at me as he came down the spiral stairway to the Norm Dorm.

“You’d be right about that,” I admitted tiredly. I was slumped in a corner of one of the big blue overstuffed couches and Emma was sitting in the other corner. Kaitlyn was curled between us, wearing her robe and slippers already.

I was glad to see that the swelling on the right side of her face had gone down considerably. The school Healer must be good at her job because only a little puffiness remained and I was certain it would fade quickly.

The injury to her spirits was more worrying, however. She had barely spoken a word to Emma and me since we’d come down after dinner (which was awful) to sit with her. She seemed to be drawn into herself, somewhere we couldn’t reach her, and she barely looked up when Avery came around to talk to her.

“Hey, Katydid,” he murmured, crouching down in front of her so they were eye-to-eye. “How are you?”

“Fine.” But I noticed Kaitlyn wouldn’t meet his worried gaze with her one good eye.

“No, you’re not!” Avery said and for a moment I thought he was going to want to talk about what had happened in first period that morning. I wished I could warn him off it—clearly Kaitlyn wasn’t up for a discussion of the PE class from hell. But then, to my relief he went on, “Nobody could be okay after that horrible dinner they just served.”

“It was pretty bad.” Emma nodded in agreement. “You didn’t miss a thing, Kaitlyn. I don’t know why the cafeteria ladies thought it was a good idea to mix the fish the Sisters had yesterday with the fruit salad the Faes had and bake it all together under a layer of greasy cheese.”

“The smell alone would make anyone gag,” I agreed, glad to change the subject. “And why the cheese? As if the fish and fruit mixed together wasn’t bad enough!”

“Who knows?” Emma shrugged unhappily. “They seem to operate on the principle that anything nasty can be disguised if they put on a thick-enough layer of that oily, orange cheese. Either that or they just want to use it up. I think they must have a block of it the size of a car engine somewhere back in the bowls of their cold storage unit.”

“Well, it’s horrible,” I said with feeling. “Like melted orange crayons!”

“Truly gag-worthy,” Emma agreed. “Which is why we were hoping you’d cook for us again?” she said, looking up at Avery with big, pitiful eyes. “Pretty please? I’m wasting away here!”

He snorted. “I don’t think any of us is quite starving yet, Emma my sweet, but I do believe we deserve a decent meal. And since the kitchen can’t be bothered to make it for us, I’ll just have to do the deed myself.” He frowned. “We’ll have to go raiding though—I’m fresh out of supplies.”

“You guys go, if you don’t mind,” Emma said to me and Avery. “I’m going to stay here with Kaitlyn. Okay?” She put an arm around Kaitlyn who sighed deeply and put her head on Emma’s shoulder. I was glad to see my fragile friend taking some comfort.