Lock and Key (Nocturne Academy 1)

“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.