Lock and Key (Nocturne Academy 1)

“None that I ever saw,” I said, shaking my head.

“Hmmm…” Avery looked thoughtful, his blue eyes far away.

“You still haven’t told me if there’s some special magic my family does better than anyone else,” I pointed out.

“Oh, well…” He hesitated. “Now, don’t let this give you any crazy ideas but rumor has it that Corinne Latimer practiced, well…”

“She did Blood magic, didn’t she?” Kaitlyn exclaimed, excited.

“Well…yes, she did.” Avery nodded reluctantly. “But that’s only according to legend. And it’s probably wrong because she is also the one who had the Council outlaw it.”

“What? Why would she outlaw her own magic?” Emma asked blankly.

“Who knows?” Avery shrugged. “Like I said, this is all just legend and speculation. There are a lot of things attributed to Corinne Latimer besides outlawing Blood magic and forming and enforcing the Edict. She was kind of a legendary figure in the Other world—like George Washington is for America.”

“Wow.” Kaitlyn looked at me in apparent awe. “You really are royalty, Megan.”

“She does have an extremely impressive lineage,” Avery agreed.

“Whether I can live up to it is the question,” I murmured pessimistically. How could I possibly hope to follow in my illustrious ancestress’ footsteps if I still couldn’t access my magic or even find out why Griffin was attracted to me? And me to him, for that matter.

“You’ll live up to it,” Emma said and yawned widely. “Sorry guys but I am so tired. Having all these late nights in a row is rough.”

“I agree—we should get to bed.” Kaitlyn yawned too. “I have an exam tomorrow—I’m glad I’ll have some extra time to study during study hall,” she added.

“Thanks to Griffin, you mean,” Emma pointed out as we all heaved ourselves off the floor and put the cushions back on the couch. “Without him you’d still be in gym.”

“Which is such a pleasure,” I said dryly. “Coach Vasquez has us playing softball now and I can’t hit the ball to save my life! I have zero hand-eye coordination.”

“I’m sorry you’re all alone in that class,” Kaitlyn said. “But at the same time, I’m very grateful I don’t have to be there.” She ducked her head shyly. “Will you please thank Griffin for me for that? It was very kind of him to see my problem and solve it for me.”

“Of course I will,” I said, smiling at her. And it really had been kind of him, I thought. Who was Griffin really? A bloodthirsty Nocturne who wanted to drain me dry? Or a chivalrous knight who wanted to serve and protect me and the ones I cared for?

I wondered if I would ever know…

40

I thought the time between Thursday and Saturday, when I would have to decide if I should meet Griffin or not, would drag horribly. But as it turned out, there was plenty on Friday to distract me from my impending decision.

I was in the middle of not being able to perform yet another elementary spell which all the much-younger girls around me were doing with ease when a runner came to the door.

There wasn’t an intercom system in Nocturne Academy—not because the castle was too old but because Headmistress Nightworthy didn’t believe in interrupting classes with “frivolous announcements”—at least according to Avery. So the school’s office employed a series of runners called “gerrunds.”

These were a type of Fae only about a foot and a half in height with tall pointed caps which were brightly colored to aid with visibility. They didn’t want to get knocked over in the hallway, after all—which was a distinct possibility given their diminutive size.

To me, the gerrunds looked like cute little garden gnomes in their homespun peasant outfits and colorful pointy hats and long beards, which they tucked into their belts. But when the one that came to Elementary Casting called my name in his piping voice and told me I was to report to the Headmistress’s office immediately, there was nothing cute about the situation.

“You may go, Miss Latimer,” Ms. Yasmeen said, giving me a penetrating stare. “And have a good weekend—I will see you on Monday. I hope.”

This last statement put a knot in my stomach. Did my Casting teacher know something I didn’t?

I thanked her and followed the little gerrund, who ran with surprising quickness down the hallway and around the corner. I expected him to take me back to the office in the North Tower, where I had first come with my acceptance letter what felt like a lifetime ago, though it had only been a week.

But instead, a new hallway I had never seen opened up suddenly to my right and the gerrund ran down it. I gaped at it stupidly for a moment—it shouldn’t have been there.

Nocturne Academy castle was in the shape of a square with the four towers at its corners and the long stone hallways between each tower serving to connect them and house many of the classrooms. There weren’t supposed to be extra little hallways leading off from the main one.