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I wasn’t sure what the gesture meant but it looked like some kind of insult—like flipping somebody off, but maybe in a magical way.
Clearly there was no love lost between Nancy and her mom and for a moment I felt sorry for them. My mom and I had butted heads on occasion but my mother had never slapped me or called me stupid and I had known that she loved me unconditionally, right up until the end.
Then I remembered how nasty Nancy and her mom both had been to me and my pity faded. They deserved their toxic relationship and really it wasn’t surprising they were so nasty to each other when they were clearly just as terrible to everyone else around them.
“Some people just have bad blood,” my mother used to say and I had to think she would have said the same about Winifred and Nancy Rattcliff right at that moment.
I wished desperately that I could talk to my mom right now. That I could ask her the truth about her relationship with Winifred Rattcliff and why she hadn’t told me anything about the magical world full of both wonders and dangers I now found myself in.
But my mom was gone and no amount of wishing could bring her back. The best I could hope for was to get some answers from my Aunt Dellie—I was betting she knew a lot more than she had ever let on to me.
A hell of a lot.
47
“What prophecy?” Avery demanded when I told him and Emma and Kaitlyn.
“That’s what I’d like to know,” I said, frowning thoughtfully. We were all sitting in the common room of the Norm Dorm, ready to go home for “weekend liberty” as it was called here—though of course I was only going to get half of mine.
I had been bursting to tell the others about what had happened in the Headmistress’s office as well as the confrontation I’d seen between Nancy and her mom for all of Home Ec. The entire class Nancy had been watching me narrowly—her attention so focused on me that for once, she was the one who burned her baked goods—blueberry muffins with an oat crumble on top. She forgot to set a timer and hers came out of the oven smoking, much to my private satisfaction.
I had gone about my business, pretending not to notice her and, for a wonder, she actually left me alone. Maybe because she was too busy looking at the mark on my forehead or maybe because she didn’t have to bother and try to provoke me anymore to know I was really a witch.
“Forget the prophesy—I can’t believe that bitch-witch tried to have you kicked out of the Academy!” Emma exclaimed. “What is her problem?”
“I have no idea.” I shook my head. “The whole thing was just so weird. And I had the feeling she’d been spying on me—or maybe having Nancy do it.”
“You don’t think she has us bugged, do you? Like, with some kind of magical listening device?” Kaitlyn looked around our common room worriedly, as though someone might be listening in to our conversation right that minute.
“I don’t think so,” Avery said slowly, frowning. “First of all, that kind of spell is really complicated and delicate. And second, if Nancy’s mom was listening in on us they would have known how Megan was able to resist her truth spell and how she was able to shame-mark Sanchez too—by Blood magic.”
“Don’t talk about it anymore until we’re sure!” Kaitlyn begged. “We’d better be more careful from now on, don’t you think? I mean now that we know Nancy’s mom has it in for Megan for some reason.”
Avery nodded. “You’re right—we need to be careful what we say and where we say it. And we don’t have time to talk about it now, anyway. We have to be out of the castle gates by the time the weekend liberty bell rings or we’ll all be stuck here all weekend.”
“Why don’t you all come by the I Scream tomorrow for lunch?” Emma suggested as we gathered our things—which was pretty much nothing at all for me. I was wearing the clothing I had come in with, having left my black leather satchel and all my uniforms hanging in my wardrobe.
“Mmm…the I Scream Diner,” Avery murmured, his blue eyes crinkling at the corners with laughter. “Five star dining all the way.”
“Cut the crap, Avery. We can talk during my lunch break,” Emma said crossly. “And Megan can decide once and for all if she’s going to meet you-know-who you-know-where,” she added significantly.
I sighed. In all the confusion today, I still hadn’t decided if I would meet Griffin Saturday night or not. Of course, the answer was “no” if he wanted to meet after midnight—I would have to be back at Nocturne Academy by then. But if he wanted to meet before, well…I still didn’t know.
