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“What is this?” she complained, plunking her tray down next to mine and pointing to the steaming bowl it held. “It looks like chili with cheese on top but it smells…” She took a deep sniff and wrinkled her nose. “It smells really weird.”
“It is really weird,” Megan said flatly, stirring the mixture in her own bowl. “Remember the beef brisket the Drakes had yesterday and the mixed root veggies the lunch ladies fed the Fae?”
The cafeteria workers—or “lunch ladies” as Avery had dubbed them—at Nocturne Academy had a bad habit of mixing whatever leftovers they had from the Others’ meals and making them into a casserole or some other kind of mixture for us Norms—usually blanketed in a thick layer of bright orange cheese that looked and tasted like melted crayon.
“Yes, but beef and veggies ought to make a great stew,” Emma exclaimed. “So why does it smell so weird?”
“Remember the tuna salad they gave the Sisters’ yesterday?” Avery asked, arching an eyebrow. “The one that smelled ‘off’ according to Nasty Nancy and her crew?”
He was referring to Nancy Rattcliff, of course, the bitch-witch daughter of Winifred Rattcliff, former head witch of the Windermere Coven.
“That stinky tuna salad? Oh, no—they didn’t,” Emma groaned.
“Afraid so.” Megan put down her spoon with a sigh. “They added it in with everything else and called it ‘surprise stew.’ As in, ‘surprise—you want to puke now!’” she finished flatly.
“But why couldn’t they just stick to the beef and vegetables?” Emma demanded. “That would have been perfect. Well, if they’d left off the cheese for once,” she added.
“There are many imponderables for which was have no answers,” Avery intoned, sipping his own lunch which was, as always, just a cup of coffee with waaay too much cream and sugar. “Such as, why Nasty Nancy and her crew are still here at Nocturne Academy when they tried to kill us all less than three months ago?”
“Now, Avery,” Griffin remarked. “You know that the only reason any of us is still here is because Headmistress Nightworthy thinks everyone deserves a second chance. The Council of Other Elders would have been just as happy to see myself and Megan expelled for breaking the Edict as to see Nancy and her compatriots kicked out of the Academy for attempted murder.”
“Besides, I made it so they can’t use their magic except for good, remember?” Megan asked brightly. “Personally, I think it’s the best possible punishment—them staying on at the Academy where they’ve always been such bullies and being unable to do a thing to hurt anyone with their magic.” She grinned happily and took a bite of the rather stale cornbread which was an accompaniment to the beef/veggie/tuna salad “surprise stew.” It was honestly, the only edible part of the meal.
“That was an extremely clever notion of yours—neutering them magically like that,” Griffin murmured, giving her a half-lidded smirk. “I imagine it must be seven shades of hell for Nancy to be unable to use her magic for evil intent.”
“Not that she doesn’t still try to use it for evil,” Megan said. “She’s been working all week to try and screw me over in Home Ec but so far all she’s managed to do is make my baked goods taste even better.” She smiled at Avery. “It’s like the magical MSG spell you were talking about when Nancy was using it on her own cookies and cupcakes.”
“Only she’s using it on yours?” He raised his eyebrows in surprise.
Megan nodded. “But it backfires on her every time. It’s like everything she tries only makes my baking more delicious. Mrs. Hornsby, the Home Ec teacher, is actually starting to like me. And all the while she’s raving about my cakes and cookies, I can see Nancy and her two nasty little friends—the Weird Sisters—absolutely seething over in their own little corner of the classroom.”
“No wonder Nasty Nancy seems so grumpy lately,” Avery remarked, grinning. “And here I thought it was just because her mother is in prison for life for murder.” He took another sip of coffee. “I just think it’s too bad the Council refuses to implement the death penalty.”
“Oh, don’t say that,” I said, startled into joining the conversation, though I really didn’t feel much like talking. “Nobody deserves to lose their parents—no matter what,” I said earnestly.
“No, they don’t,” Megan agreed soberly. She had lost her mother to cancer a few years before—about the time I was losing my own parents to The Fire—so she understood how I felt.
“All right, well I was just saying,” Avery grumbled. “I mean she did kill people and then pin it on someone else.”
“I know, as I was the one she pinned it on,” Griffin remarked mildly. “But I agree with Kaitlyn and Megan—no one deserves to lose their parents for any reason.”
He sighed and took another sip of his blood, wafting the delicious meaty scent across the table to me again. It made my mouth water and I took a sip of my iced tea thirstily. It tasted bland and flat, though tea was usually my favorite drink. I frowned—what was wrong with my taste buds lately?
