Lock and Key (Nocturne Academy 1)

“The Sky Lands?” I asked, frowning as we crossed the shadowy Dining Hall, heading for the entrance to the food service line and the kitchens.

“The Drake home world,” Avery clarified. “They actually come from another land, just like the Fae come from the Realm.”

“Really?” I was surprised. “How do they get here?”

He shrugged.

“I’ve heard they have a special portal in the sky that they have to fly through in dragon form. They bring the female Drakes with them, riding on their backs since they don’t have dragons inside themselves.”

“Fascinating.” I shook my head. “I want to take a class in Other Studies so I can learn all these little details for myself. Do they have a class like that here? Maybe something I could get into if Ms. Yasmeen will ever let me out of Elementary Casting? Or if I can extricate myself from Home Ec?”

Avery shot me a knowing look.

“Had a hard time in your last two periods again?”

I sighed. “You could say that. I still can’t light a candle…or bend a spoon with magic…or do anything magical, really. And in Home Ec today, none of the ovens would work right for me so my cake was burned on one side and just soup on the other.”

“Oh no!” Avery shook his head sympathetically.

I shrugged. “Another day, another F. I don’t know how much more of this my GPA can stand but Mrs. Hornsby still won’t let me out of it. Of course she thought the cake Nancy and the Weird Sisters baked tasted like manna from Heaven.” I rolled my eyes.

Avery scowled. “That Nancy is such a bitch! I wish I could teach you a simple deflection spell to ward off her nastiness.”

“Well, I don’t think that’s going to happen anytime soon. As far as I can see, I don’t have anything magical about me.”

He shook his head. “I just don’t believe that. I don’t feel the Flame when I touch you, but I don’t feel the absence of it either, like you do when you touch a Null. Maybe your magic is locked up somehow—trapped behind a wall or a dam.”

“In that case, I might as well be a Null,” I pointed out. “Since I can’t get to it to use it—if it’s even there, which I doubt.”

“I don’t,” Avery said firmly as we got to the rounded archway which led into the food service line.

I looked in. There was the tall stack of green plastic trays, ready for breakfast the next day and the long metal bars to slide your tray along as you waited to be served. Behind the steam tables which would doubtless hold more nasty casserole tomorrow, was the darkened kitchen. Vast appliances—enormous convection ovens and heating racks as well as rows of stovetops with multiple burners loomed in the dimness.

“How does all this non-magical stuff work if it doesn’t work elsewhere in the castle?” I asked, looking at the enormous industrial-sized appliances.

“The kitchens are a magic-null area,” Avery explained. “They have magic shielding built into all the walls to keep any stray spells from getting in and messing with their cooking. Which also makes this a great place to come if you ever need to make a phone call—the shielding keeps the castle from interfering with your cell phone.”

“Good to know—thanks.” I nodded. “But, uh, how can your magic bag work in there if that’s the case?”

“Oh, because it’s personal magic tied to me. As long as I’m touching it, it draws from me like a kind of magical battery. The same way a flashlight works for you even if all the electricity goes out because of a storm.”

I thought that he had a remarkably practical way of explaining magic, which I really appreciated. It helped to de-mystify what was, for me at least, an extremely confusing subject.

“Okay,” I said. “Now what? Where’s the fridge? I mean, the cold storage unit?”

“Around the corner, there.” Avery pointed to the left of one of the big stoves. “But you’re going to stay here and play look-out for me. If you see or hear anyone coming, hoot twice like an owl and call once like a whippoorwill.”

I stared at him blankly. “I don’t know what a whippoorwill sounds like! Is that even a real bird?”

Avery sighed and made a face like a professional actor working with rank armatures.

“Of course it’s a real bird!” He shook his head, his blond hair gleaming in the dim light. “Emma will never play along with me either. Never mind, just cough three times if you see someone coming. If they ask what you’re doing out, pretend you’re going to the Healer’s office because you think you’re getting a cold.”

I frowned. “Will that give you enough time to get away? Or is there a place to hide back there if they come checking around?”