For my part, I could barely pay attention to Nancy, even if she was cooking up a scheme against me. My almost-cold had gotten worse and I felt so tired and chilly all the time I barely had energy enough to get my schoolwork done, let alone worry about the nasty bitch-witch and her crew.
I kept telling myself I would get over it—that if I could just get a good night’s sleep, I would feel better. But my dreams were filled with half-remembered nightmares—visions of huge, sail-like wings casting a black shadow over my body as I cowered helpless on the ground… and every day I woke feeling more tired than when I had gone to bed.
It didn’t help that I had little to no appetite. My Coven-mates noticed and worried about me and Avery even cooked another rare roast beef for me on Wednesday night—which did help a little. Though this time I found myself much more attracted to the bloody juices that came from the roast than the meat itself, I forced myself to eat it all. And, for a little while, I felt much better.
Other than my persistent cold, only one strange thing happened the whole rest of the week, and it mainly affected poor Emma.
We were at dinner Thursday night and for once it seemed like they were serving us something halfway decent.
“Well, will you look at that,” Avery remarked when Emma and Megan sat down at our table and put down their trays. “Less than a week on kitchen duty and it seems that Nancy and her nasty crew are doing us a favor—the slop on your trays almost smells edible tonight. It doesn’t look like much, though,” he added pessimistically.
“Yes, but it really does smell great, don’t you think?” Emma leaned over and took a big whiff of the weird-looking mixture. It seemed to be a mishmash of barbequed ribs, mashed potatoes, corn and green beans all covered in the melted orange-crayon cheese. Sprinkled on top of it was a reddish spice I assumed was paprika.
As Norm meals went, it really wasn’t half bad—at least the Cafeteria ladies hadn’t mixed yesterday’s fruit salad or some other weird thing like they usually did. I might even have eaten it—if I had any appetite at all. Since I didn’t, I pushed my tray away.
“Looks kind of like a BBQ shepherds pie,” Megan remarked, bending down to smell her own portion. She drew back, frowning. “Oh—I think there’s garlic in there. Along with…I’m not sure what this spice is on top.” She poked delicately at the reddish sprinkling of spice with the tines of her fork.
“It tastes amazing,” Emma gushed and I saw that she was already half through with her portion. “Oh my God—the Cafeteria has never done anything half as delicious as this!” she raved.
“Well, you can have mine then,” Megan said, pushing her green plastic tray across the table. “I can’t eat it if there’s garlic in there—it’ll make Griffin ill if he bites me.”
Emma frowned. “I thought all that stuff about garlic and crosses and sunlight hurting vampires—I mean Nocturnes—was just BS,” she said, after swallowing a huge bite.
“Unfortunately, most myths have a basis in reality,” Griffin said, taking a sip of his blood. “For instance, though bright sunlight won’t cause me to burst into flames, my eyes are very sensitive to it. And though garlic will not kill me, it would cause me to break out in hives if I ingested it—much like a human might have an allergic reaction to nuts or shellfish.” He looked at Megan. “But don’t let me stop you from eating something you want, sweetheart. The garlic will be out of your system in twenty-four to forty-eight hours at the most.”
“That’s too long to go without you biting me,” Megan objected. “Nothing the Dining Hall serves is worth giving up that.”
Griffin smiled at her.
“You are too kind, my Witch Queen.”
“Thank you, my Blood Knight,” Megan purred.
“Oh Goddess, here they go,” Avery groaned.
“Sorry,” Megan sighed. “You know, we’re not trying to flaunt our love, Avery. I think it’s just that Griffin and I are so newly bonded. Maybe things will, uh, slow down after we’ve been with each other a while.”
“Maybe it will—after the first hundred years or so together,” Griffin murmured and the two of them looked deep into each others’ eyes while Avery groaned again.
“Emma, can you believe them? Wait—did you really eat all of yours and Megan’s too?” he said, eyeing the two empty trays in front of her.
She nodded. “I guess I’m just really hungry tonight. In fact, I might go back for seconds.”
“Well, that’s a first.” Avery frowned. “But it’s pretty heavy food—are you sure you want more?”
“Yes, I really do.” Emma started to get up but I stopped her by pushing my own tray over.
“Here—you can have mine. I’m not hungry,” I told her.
I shouldn’t have done it, though, because all eyes at the table suddenly turned towards me and Avery frowned.
“Kaitlyn, are you still not eating? You didn’t touch a thing at breakfast or lunch either!”
“I’m just not hungry,” I repeated, frowning. “It’s no big deal, Avery. My body is just fighting off a cold—I’m never hungry when I’m sick.”
“Well, you have to eat something,” Megan objected. “Honestly, Kaitlyn, you’re getting so thin I’m afraid a stiff wind might blow you away.” She leaned forward and took my hand in hers. “Oh—you’re so cold!” she exclaimed. “If you were sick, I would think you’d be warm.”
“I always have cold hands,” I said, pulling mine away.
“Let me feel your forehead then.” Avery proceeded to do just that, placing one burning-hot hand on my forehead without asking for further permission.
“Hey!” I jerked away from him.
