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)
Actually, I could have stayed with my mom and commuted as well. But I liked living in the Norm Dorm with my Coven-mates and besides, our tiny apartment back home always reeked of cigarette smoke, since my mom has a four or five pack a day habit. Even the damp dungeon air of our underground dorm was better than living in a haze of smelly smoke.
“Well, if he’s a Norm, maybe we ought to invite him to sit with us at mealtimes,” Kaitlyn said. “That would be a nice thing to do. It’s hard when you feel like you don’t fit in,” she added in a low voice. “I know all about that.”
“We know you do, Katydid,” Avery said gently, smiling at her. Avery is sweet and protective with all us girls in the Coven. He’s like the big brother I never had but always kind of wanted.
“I think Kaitlyn is right—we should invite Bran O’Connor to sit with us,” Megan said decisively. “After all, if you guys hadn’t invited me to sit with you when I first came to Nocturne, I don’t know what I would have done. Probably slit my wrists the first time Nasty Nancy and the Weird Sisters came after me.”
“Speaking of Nancy and her crew, don’t they look lovely in their hairnets,” Avery remarked, grinning.
Nancy Rattcliff and her two followers, Missy and Jasmine, were standing behind the serving line, slopping food onto the ubiquitous green plastic trays everyone in line was holding. They were indeed, wearing hairnets and white industrial serving aprons as well as plastic gloves as they served the food. Serving like this was part of their punishment for trying to get Kaitlyn and Megan both killed—though at different times and on separate occasions.
Don’t get me started on the details—it’s a long story. Let’s just say that Nancy and her crew were as nasty as Morganna Starchild, though not nearly as pretty.
Because nobody out-pretties the Fae.
They are literally the most gorgeous—and stuck-up—creatures in this world or the next, as my mom liked to say. But what Nancy and the Weird Sisters lacked for in looks, they more than made up for in evil.
Luckily, the Headmistress of Nocturne Academy—Ms. Nightworthy—wasn’t about to tolerate the kinds of nasty pranks and life-threatening plots Nancy and Co cooked up—literally, in one case. She had banned them from using any magic at all—good or bad—outside a classroom setting. And then they could only use it in magical classes, under a teacher’s direct supervision—not any of their other classes, where they’d been using magical means to cheat.
In order to be certain Nancy and the Weird Sisters were obeying her orders, Headmistress Nightworthy had asked one of the teachers to lay a spell on Nancy and her friends which sounds an alarm in her office if any of them breaks the rules. As a result, Nancy couldn’t do so much as a cheer charm without getting ratted out. Now her too-large mouth was turned permanently down like she’d been sucking lemons because it made her so angry not to be able to screw with people magically.
She couldn’t screw with their food either—which was another spell they had done not that long ago. I vividly recalled the paprika-looking magic dust they had sprinkled on a Sheppard’s pie. It had acted like a kind of magical MSG and made me want to eat more and more until that night in the Norm Dorm I had nearly exploded from overeating. It had been a miserable experience but now Headmistress Nightworthy had put some safeguards in place.
Safeguards my Coven-mate, Avery, was about to exploit. He never ate anything the cafeteria fixed, preferring to live on over-creamed and sugared coffee during the day and the delicious “second dinner” he cooked for us almost every night with ingredients he “borrowed” from the kitchen. But ever since Nancy and her Weird Sisters had been serving, Avery had been getting in line with the rest of us—mainly to get revenge for all the awful things Nancy had done. He called it his “daily dose of schadenfraud.”
“All right, girls—let’s see it,” he remarked, as he strolled up to the line, holding his green tray in his hands.
Nancy narrowed her dark eyes at him, her large lips pursed into a white line.
“What do you want, Avery?” she snapped.
“Hmm, well now…” Avery made a considering face, rubbing his chin as though it was a tough choice. “Technically I can eat from the Sisters’ food, though I’m also okay with the Norm food. Let’s start with the Sisters first.”
“This is it.” Nancy pointed to a platter of delicious looking lamb chops with roasted potatoes.
“Hmm, very appetizing,” Avery remarked. “I’m sure you and your little friends will enjoy having some of that. Oh, but wait…” He tapped his temple. “Now I remember, you and your Weird Sisters are only allowed to eat Norm food for the rest of your time here at Nocturne Academy. So let me see what the Norms have today.”