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“Well, what exactly did he say?” I asked, thinking of how huge the Guardian’s crocodilian jaws were and how sharp his teeth looked.
Ari raked a hand through his hair.
“He said he couldn’t promise not to eat you, especially if you were covered in the ‘delicious spice’ again.” He shrugged and looked at the Headmistress. “I have no idea what he meant by that—I assumed what drew him was Kaitlyn’s new scent as she was in the process of turning into a Nocturne at that time.”
“No—that wasn’t it at all!” Megan said. “I know what he meant by the ‘delicious spice.’ Kaitlyn, don’t you remember?” She turned to me, but I was reeling from the news that the Guardian apparently still wanted to eat me.
“Um…what?” I asked, feeling slightly nauseous.
“The spice! Remember—the paprika-looking stuff that Nancy ‘accidentally’ spilled all over you in Home Ec that same day you got knocked into the lake and the Guardian went for you?”
Her words jogged my memory. So much had happened between the fateful day I had become a Nocturne and now, that I had almost forgotten what had seemed like simply a minor cruelty at the time—par for the course for Nasty Nancy and her friends.
“Do you mean the same magical MSG stuff they put on that shepherd’s pie-type casserole?” Emma asked, frowning. “The stuff that tasted so good I couldn’t stop eating it and I was sick all night?”
“Yes, exactly!” Megan exclaimed excitedly. “It must be the same spice—it makes anything smell and taste so delicious, you can’t help eating it even if you know you shouldn’t. Nancy and the Weird Sisters were testing it out on the casserole and when they saw how well it worked, Nancy ‘spilled’ a bunch of it all over Kaitlyn and got someone to knock her in the lake!”
“Not just ‘someone’ Ari said grimly. “She was speaking to two of my countrymen—two other Drakes earlier that day. They were the ones who pushed Kaitlyn into the lake. I saw everything from the West Tower before I dived down in Drake form to save her.”
Headmistress Nightworthy looked like she wanted to give herself a big, fat face-palm.
“And once again, Nancy Rattcliff is involved,” she muttered. “Why am I not surprised? And why, oh, why did I ever swear that oath to her mother never to expel her? That girl will be the death of me!”
“I’m sorry, Headmistress Nightworthy, but trying to get Kaitlyn eaten by the Guardian isn’t the only way Nancy is involved in all this,” Megan informed her. “She was also the one who sent you and everyone else those ‘happy-gram’ bubbles.”
“Which were not showing true images,” I put in anxiously.
“And nearly caused a riot,” Griffin pointed out. “In fact, one could make a case that Ari had no choice but to claim Kaitlyn as his fated-mate in order to protect her from the fury of both the Drakes and the Nocturnes.”
“I’m sure one could, Mr. Darkheart,” the Headmistress snapped. “But I’m in no mood to have such a case put before me right now. Ari is supposed to go and Kaitlyn is supposed to stay.”
The fact that the nearly unflappable Headmistress had slipped and called Ari and me by our first names let me know exactly how upset she was. I felt sorry for her, but also scared for myself.
“Why should Kaitlyn stay?” Ari demanded. “To get eaten by the Guardian? To be starved to death with no blood to drink? Or perhaps you’d like to let that vrota, Nancy have another chance at killing her some other way?”
The Headmistress’s eyes narrowed and she drew herself up and looked at Ari.
“I’m sorry you are worried about Miss Fellows, Mr. Reyes,” she said in icy tones. “But may I remind you that the safety of the students in this school is my purview, not yours? Now that I know Nancy Rattcliff is involved, I will take extra measure to make certain Miss Fellows is safe. And I will find her someone else to drink from while you are gone to the Sky Lands.”
Ari’s face grew dark with fury.
“I do not want Kaitlyn taking any blood but mine! I don’t want to leave her alone here—she is mine!”
“That will be quite enough of that, Mr. Reyes,” Headmistress Nightworthy said tartly. “You cannot own another student.”
“You don’t understand!” Ari’s eyes were going from amber to gold with passion. “It isn’t only that I own her, it is that Kaitlyn owns me. She has my heart and the heart of my Drake. Once a male’s Drake settles on a mate, you cannot part them!”
“Oh, yes I can,” the Headmistress said coolly. “You are excused, Mr. Reyes. Please return to the Sky Lands where your father is waiting for you. As for the rest of you…” She turned to survey the rest of my Coven-mates. “I’d like you all to stay here this weekend with Miss Fellows until I can make other security arrangements.” She looked at me. “Under no circumstances are you to leave Nocturne Academy, since that would involve crossing the lake, Miss Fellows. We will work this problem out in time, but for now, I want you to stay put.”
