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The Headmistress looked troubled.
“Well, yes I did, Myra,” she began. “But you see, we don’t usually find it necessary to ward anyone against white magic—that is, spells which are generally used for good.”
“How can you say this was a ‘good’ spell?” the Home Ec teacher seethed. “Did you see what it did to me? I was humiliated in front of my entire class. And all because of her!”
She pointed at Megan who looked at her, plainly too shocked to speak. Since my Coven-mate couldn’t talk for herself, I had to talk for her, though it was difficult for me to speak up to the angry teacher.
“Mrs. Hornsby, please,” I said. “It wasn’t Megan who put this spell on you—it was Nancy Rattcliff and her friends.”
“How dare you blame those sweet girls?” Mrs. Hornsby raged. “Why, they’ve never been anything but perfectly angelic. Whereas from the moment this one…” She pointed at the still-stunned Megan, “Came into my classroom, things started going wrong. Do you know how many fire alarms I’ve had to cancel because of her, when she burned her baked goods and set off the alarm? Or how many foul concoctions I’ve had to taste—some that looked perfectly normal like the chocolate cupcakes she frosted with Marmite or the oatmeal cookies she flavored with soy sauce instead of molasses—that made me want to retch? This girl is to blame!” She stabbed a finger at my Coven-mate. “Megan Latimer is a menace.”
“But…but I’m the one who helped you stop laughing,” Megan exclaimed, finding her voice at last.
Mrs. Hornsby looked down her nose at my Coven-mate, her nostrils flaring.
“That’s what you say anyway, but why should I believe you? How do I know you didn’t put that spell on me just so you could ‘rescue me’ from it and try to get a better grade? Well, it won’t work!” she exclaimed, before Megan could even answer. “You’re getting an F on your final project, Miss Latimer! And your little friend is too,” she added, sneering at me.
“Mrs. Hornsby, that is really unfair!” Megan cried. “Especially to Kaitlyn who just came into your class today. Surely you can’t give her and F—she’s not even a Sister or any other kind of Other—she’s a Norm! There’s no way she could have had anything to do with the spell that was put on that cake.”
“I don’t care what she is, the both of you are getting Fs for this entire unit,” the Home Ec teacher snarled. “And before you ask, no, I will not let you out of my class, Miss Latimer,” she went on, glaring at Megan. “You will be staying to learn how to sew. Though unless you can make a dress fit for a princess, don’t expect to pass the next unit either!”
Turning in a huff, she stomped out of the Headmistress’s office before Megan or I could protest, shooting us one last venomous glance over her shoulder as she went.
12
Kaitlyn
“Headmistress Nightworthy, this is completely unfair!” Megan exclaimed, appealing to the tall Nocturne as soon as Mrs. Hornsby was gone.
“Yes, Miss Latimer, I am aware,” the Headmistress said dryly. She frowned at Ms. Yasmeen, who was looking thoughtful. “I sense there is something else behind this—something other than the ‘cheer up’ spell you detected.”
“You could be right,” Ms. Yasmeen murmured. “I believe I did sense another spell on her—I think it might have been a ‘feel good’.”
“A feel good?” I asked, completely confused. I was taking a History of Magic class but it didn’t go into the minutia of all the millions of different spells the Sisters could perform.
“It’s a spell that makes someone have warm and affectionate feelings towards the person who casts it,” Ms. Yasmeen explained. “It’s not technically classed as black or bad magic because it does no direct harm, but it is extremely manipulative. It’s often used by politicians, for instance, to get a certain segment of the people they are trying to influence to vote for them.”
“It is?” Megan’s eyes widened. “I didn’t know some politicians were Others!”
“Oh my, yes.” Ms. Yasmeen nodded. “Just because the humans outnumber us Others is no reason for us not to mix among them. Sisters and Warlocks gravitate towards politics and Hollywood is filled with Faes—they’re so beautiful, you know—humans are very susceptible to beauty.”
“What about Drakes?” I asked, before I could stop myself. “Are some of them in the human world too?”
Ms. Yasmeen nodded. “Yes, certainly—they gravitate mostly towards the armed forces. Many of the greatest generals were Drakes. Napoleon was one and so, we believe, was Julius Caesar.”
“Nocturnes, of course, prefer to manipulate things from behind the scenes,” Headmistress Nightworthy said. “There are many of us in the world of high finance.” She frowned. “But speaking of manipulation, this spell—this ‘feel good’—as you pointed out, Ms. Yasmeen, is extremely manipulative. Do you think it is possible that Miss Rattcliff and her friends laid it on Mrs. Hornsby in order to insulate themselves in case their other spell was traced back to them?”
