Total pages in book: 154
Estimated words: 145728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145728 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 729(@200wpm)___ 583(@250wpm)___ 486(@300wpm)
“He was right, may the Goddess bless him,” the Headmistress said. She nodded at me and Morganna. “I’m afraid we have a “she-said—she-said” situation here and I need to know who’s telling the truth.”
“Well, higher and more complicated Sister magic doesn’t always work well on Faes,” Ms. Yasmeen said, frowning. “But a simple truth spell ought to be effective on any Other.” Pointing to Morganna and then to me, she said, “Veritas! You will both speak the absolute truth!”
I felt a strange tingling come over me and hoped that Morganna was feeling the same. Though once the whole truth came out, I was afraid I was still going to get expelled.
“All right, Miss Plunkett first, this time,” Headmistress Nightworthy directed, pointing at me. “Tell me everything that’s been going on between you and Miss Starchild.”
So I told her everything—I had no choice. I started at the beginning of the semester, back before my transformation, when Morganna liked to say nasty things about me to get the popular kids to laugh at me. Then I told about how I had made Morganna give back Spike, when she’d been using him as a living hair ornament and the skink she’d sent to live in my ear as retribution. I told about how it made me talk in rhymes until I could get rid of it by sending it back.
“The skink was bad, but things got a lot worse after I had the magical geas lifted off me and it revealed my true form and the fact that I’m a Fae,” I went on with my story. I could see Morganna glaring at me, but she didn’t dare to say anything yet because Headmistress Nightworthy hadn’t called on her to speak. “After that, Morganna just wouldn’t leave me alone. It was like she had a vendetta against me.
“I see. And what did she do?” the Headmistress asked.
“First she put a doubling spell on me,” I said and explained about how every time the threat doubled, the danger did too. “It started with a fly in my bowl of oatmeal and ended with sixteen black widow and brown recluse spiders in my bed in the middle of the night,” I went on. “One of them bit me. After that, I went to Morganna and told her to leave me alone, but she refused and sent a whole infestation of mice to the Norm Dorm—I mean, the basement dormitory,” I went on.
I told about sending the cats after Morganna, in retaliation, and then her sending the pack of dogs after me and Megan.
“And then, this morning, she pulled that prank with the dog crap and I just lost my temper,” I said honestly. “I did mean to throw it in her face—which I know is wrong. But I didn’t mean to make her go bald. And that’s all I have to say.”
I shut up then, because what else could I do?
“All right, Miss Starchild.” Headmistress Nightworthy turned to Morganna. “What do you have to say for yourself? Is everything as Miss Plunkett says?”
I saw Morganna’s mouth working, as though she desperately wanted to call me a liar. But Ms. Yasmeen’s truth spell was still on her, so she couldn’t do it.
“Yes,” she said and added quickly, “But that nasty little wanna-be Fae deserved everything I did to her!”
“Is that right?” Headmistress Nightworthy arched one silvery eyebrow at her. “And why is that?”
“Because she’s prettier than me now!” Morganna’s mouth twisted, as though she hated the words she was saying but couldn’t help herself. “And all the boys who ought to pay attention to me, have been paying attention to her instead!”
I was willing to bet she’d get plenty of attention now that she was bald, but I was smart enough not to say so.
“Also,” Morganna went on, “She’s a slut! She let two different boys Mark her and she Marked them, too! She’s nothing but a whore!”
“That will be enough of that kind of language, Miss Starchild,” Headmistress Nightworthy rapped out, glaring at her. She turned to me. “Miss Plunkett, now that I look closely at you, I see that you have exchanged Markings with two different males.”
“I had to!” I protested quickly. “I took Bran and Lachlan’s Marks in order to keep the boys from bothering me after I came out as a Fae. And I Marked them as well, so they could help heal me and diffuse the poison from the black widow bite from the spiders Morganna sent into my bed!”
“Well…” Headmistress Nightworthy frowned at me as though she didn’t know whether to believe me or not. But then she apparently remembered that I was still under the truth spell, so she nodded. “All right, I believe that you believed the Markings were necessary, though we do not encourage such things at Nocturne Academy.” She shook her head. “I’m afraid you’ve set yourself up for a difficult decision in the future. You can’t bond with two males at once, you know.”