“This is Black Magic you’re doing, Morganna,” Lachlan said from behind me. His voice was low and angry. “Is it really worth corroding your soul just because you dislike Emma so much?”
“You don’t get to talk about anybody else’s soul, you Winter Court half-breed,” she snapped, glaring at him. Then she stared at him more closely—then Bran, then me. “Oh my Goddess!” she exclaimed, narrowing her eyes at me. “Did you let both of them mark you? You little slut!”
“Watch how you speak to our lady!” Bran’s voice was a low, menacing growl.
“Ugh—I can’t believe you’re sharing her with a half-breed!” Morganna looked at him in disbelief. “Wasn’t your father the Councilor to the Queen? What do you think he would say about you tying yourself to two half-breeds like this, O’Connor?”
“My father’s good opinion or the lack of it doesn’t bother me,” Bran growled. “And neither does yours, Morganna.”
“The point is, this stops now,” I said, trying to turn the conversation back to the relevant topic. “You don’t try to put spells on me and I won’t try to put spells on you. Otherwise, we’re going to have to get Headmistress Nightworthy involved.”
There—I had said it. I had made the ultimate threat. Everyone knew that the Nocturne Headmistress didn’t tolerate any kind of bullying. If she caught wind of what Morganna had been doing, the Fae girl would be expelled for sure.
But Morganna didn’t even bat an eye.
“Oh, yes—by all means, let’s involve the Headmistress,” she said sweetly. “And while we’re at it, let’s tell her how you physically altered a human male with your magic outside school grounds!”
“I…what?” At first I didn’t know what she was talking about—then I remembered Mr. Groperson and the state I had left him in. Not that he didn’t deserve it, but still…
“Oh, now she understands,” Morganna cooed, seeing the look of recognition on my face. “That’s right, you nasty little wanna-be Fae—you breathe a word of anything I’ve done—or that I’m going to do for that matter—to Headmistress Nightworthy, and I’ll let her know what you’ve been up to off campus.” She grinned nastily at me. “Then we’ll see who gets expelled!”
And with a nasty smirk, she turned and flounced back into the Biology room, her long, perfect, honey-blonde hair waving behind her.
I exchanged a look with Bran and Lachlan.
“What are we going to do?” I asked them. “What I did to Mr. Groperson will get me expelled for sure if she tells Headmistress Nightworthy!”
“We can’t let her hold that over your head, Emma,” Bran said, frowning. “Sending poisonous spiders into someone’s bed at night must be an expulsion offense too!”
“Yes, but all that means is that both of them could get the other expelled,” Lachlan pointed out. And I don’t think Morganna would care if she got kicked out—she’d probably be happy to get back to the Summer Court.”
“Whereas if I get expelled, I’ll have to leave you guys and my Coven-mates and go back to Frostproof High,” I said dully. Frostproof High was the other high school in town—the human high school—and it wasn’t exactly a pinnacle of academic achievement.
“If that happened, Lachlan and I would come with you,” Bran said loyally.
“Yes, we would,” Lachlan promised.
I sighed. “Thanks, guys, but I don’t think any of us would be happy there. Plus, I don’t want to leave the rest of my coven! Megan and Avery and Kaitlyn are like my family. I just can’t leave them!” Not to mention Griffin and Ari and Jalli, all of whom I was also extremely fond of.
“If Morganna feels that you have more to lose than she does, she will become merciless,” Lachlan said darkly. “We can’t let her think that.”
“Then what do we do?” I asked. “She’s clearly not going to stop.”
“We fight fire with fire—or in this case, magic with magic,” Lachlan said, looking grim.
“But I thought you didn’t want to start a war with her?” I asked, frowning.
“Retaliating isn’t starting a war,” he said. “Whatever magic she sends our way, we will send it right back.”
“Just like we sent the skink back,” Bran said, nodding.
“She has to feel it isn’t worth her while to torment you, little one,” Lachlan said, frowning. “After dealing with her own nasty spells after a while, she’ll get the message.”
“Yes, but how long will that take?” I asked, frowning.
Lachlan shrugged. “As long as it takes. Get ready, Emma—I have a feeling you’ll be practicing those new magic skills I taught you a lot.”
66
Lachlan was right. That very night, the Norm Dorm experienced an infestation of mice. We had never seen a single rodent before—which was pretty remarkable, considering we lived in a centuries old castle—but now suddenly they were everywhere, squeaking and sniffing and scratching and poking their little grey noses into whatever food they could find.
“They’ve ransacked my Second Supper Snack cupboard!” Avery complained, after opening the secret cupboard only to find a rodent infestation where he kept his cooking ingredients.