“That’s crap and you know it,” Megan exclaimed, glaring at her. “She did it on purpose, Mrs. Hornsby. Nancy and her friends are trying to hurt Kaitlyn.”
Mrs. Hornsby gave me a look that was full of dislike and distaste.
“I don’t see what reason Nancy would have to harm your friend, Miss Latimer,” she said frostily. “She seems perfectly fine to me.”
“But Nancy poured that red stuff all over her!” Megan exclaimed. “What’s in it, anyway?” she demanded, glaring at Megan. “Cayenne pepper? Ghost pepper?”
Nancy lifted her chin.
“Nothing but a little smoked Paprika and salt. My spice blend is delicious but it couldn’t hurt anyone—unless they were a slimy slug that crawled out from under a rock, that is,” she added maliciously, staring at me.
Mrs. Hornsby apparently decided to ignore this comment. She simply looked at me and shrugged.
“Well, brush yourself off, Miss Fellows. And Miss Latimer,” she went on, frowning sternly at Megan. “Don’t be so quick to claim offense against someone. Anyone can have a simple accident, you know. Now don’t bother me again!”
And with a last warning glare, she flounced off to the front of the room to help one of the other students sew some lace onto the edge of her apron.
“Ugh! If only they hadn’t put that feel good spell on her!” Megan muttered under her breath. She looked at me with concern. “Are you all right, Kaitlyn? Does that stuff burn? Did you get any in your eyes?”
I told her that no it didn’t burn and that none had gotten in my eyes. And actually, though Nancy had spilled an entire large jar of the strange spice mix on me, there was very little to brush off. I thought of my earlier idea that the little red granules were sinking into my skin and tried to put it out of my mind. Surely it must have been my imagination, right? Skin couldn’t actually absorb foreign substances like that—right?
Right, I told myself firmly, if a bit uneasily. So just forget about it, Kaitlyn, and go back to work.
Which was exactly what I did. It was almost time to go home for the weekend and I was more than ready to go. While I wasn’t looking forward to the long walk across the narrow bridge, that spanned the lake which surrounded Nocturne Academy, I was looking forward to crawling into the back of the Breedloves’ luxurious Mercedes Benz and just relaxing in the cool, dark, leather-scented interior. I could ask Mrs. Breedlove to make me a doctor’s appointment and then maybe they would just let me rest until it was time to go.
Of course, Allegra would need to be entertained but I knew dozens of “quiet” games which we played when Mrs. Breedlove had a headache and didn’t want to be bothered—which was most of the time. So that would be all right.
By the time the bell rang, all I could think about was going back to the Breedlove’s home and resting.
Little did I know, I was never going to make it there.
24
Ari
I watched her leave the castle as I did every Friday afternoon. Standing at the top of the West Tower, where the Drake Dorm was housed, I had a clear view of the long, low bridge which spanned the lake and led from the castle to the parking area below.
And since I was watching so carefully, I saw everything that happened.
I saw Kaitlyn walking with her friends—a little behind them, actually—she seemed to be dragging her feet and squinting in the strong Florida sunlight. I watched as she and her Coven-mates made their way towards the land. Their feet were tapping on the wooden planks of the bridge, which was little more than a pathway across the water. There were no railings or walls on either side of it—just a long, flat, wooden road over the inky blackness that surrounded Nocturne Academy.
And that was when it happened.
Felix Gomez and Lupe Romero came running down the bridge, pushing and shoving each other and shouting like idiots. They made the bridge sway and jostled several people as they ran, nearly knocking them into the water.
“Cuidado, idiotas!” I wanted to shout as they came up behind Kaitlyn and her friends. But I had no time to speak. Before I could get the first word out, Gomez had rammed right into my little human, who was none-too-steady on her feet to start with.
My heart was in my throat as I heard her high, startled shriek and saw her windmilling her arms to keep her balance. But then, just as she had in our History of Magic class, she was falling.
And this time, I wasn’t going to be there in time to catch her.
25
Kaitlyn
It happened so fast, I didn’t even know what was going on. I had been walking along, head down, just trying to make it across the long bridge which led from the Nocturne Academy castle to the parking area in the orange grove beyond. That day the bridge seemed extra long and the sun was extra bright.