The Coven's Secret Page 9

  “The second floor is the dormitories,” Grammy explained as she led me down the hall to the right. We weaved between other parents and students. Even though the hall was wide, there was so much foot traffic that it was a little crowded. “The first floor is where you’ll find all your classrooms.”

  “Okay.” I nodded along, but I kept my eyes on the doors as we passed by. Each was marked with a number, with the even numbers on the right and the odd numbers on the left. They started at 100. I was relieved to see that my number was 112. I didn’t have long to walk.

  When we reached my door, it was propped open. A haunting but upbeat melody played from somewhere inside. The beautiful noise spilled out into the hallway. I stepped up to the door and peeked inside. The room was bigger than I expected, with a huge closet and a bathroom right up front. A set of beds stood beyond that, with a couch between them. The furniture was all dark wood and smooth curves. Red drapes hung in front of the window and matched the bedding. I was pleased to see the bathroom had a tub, as I’d need that for my Epsom salt soaks.

  A white cat lay curled up on the bed furthest from the door. In the far corner, a petite girl with brown hair, blue eyes, and smooth skin sat at a keyboard, playing the song. I noticed she didn’t have sheet music in front of her, as if she was playing from memory. She looked up and stopped playing when she noticed Grammy and me in the doorway.

  She cleared her throat, and her voice came out soft and a little higher than mine. “Oh, hello. You must be Nadine.”

  “Don’t stop playing,” I said quickly. “It sounded great.”

  She blushed a little and stood. “I was just practicing. I’m Talia, your new roommate.” She walked over to the bed and picked up her cat. He stirred a little and blinked as she held him up. “And this is Gus.”

  I stepped further into the room. “Aw. He’s precious.”

  I set my bags at the end of my bed and reached out to pet Gus. He nuzzled his head against my hand and purred.

  “He likes you!” Talia said sweetly. She glanced behind me, as if searching for something. “Where’s yours?”

  “My cat?” I asked. “I, um, don’t have one. Am I supposed to?”

  “No, dear,” Grammy replied. She set my largest suitcase on the bed and started arranging my clothes in the nearest dresser. “Cats are common in the coven, but not required. We believe them to be reincarnations of those who have passed on. Cornelius is actually your Grampy.”

  “Shut up,” I told her. “He is not.”

  Then again, I just found out magic was real. Reincarnation wasn’t totally out of the realm of possibility.

  Talia furrowed her brow. “You don’t know?”

  I shrugged. “I’m new.”

  “Ah.” She nodded. “That explains it.”

  “Explains what?”

  “Why I didn’t recognize your name. I know everyone in my class from high school. I figured you must’ve skipped a grade or something.”

  I shook my head. “Nope. Just new.”

  Talia’s eyes brightened. “Oh my Goddess! You’re going to love it here. First things first, we have to visit the Lounge. The restaurant there carries Barry’s Enchanted Muffins. They’re made by an Alchemist in town and can turn your hair purple or make you burp bubbles!”

  I laughed. She seemed really excited to have a new person to show around. “That sounds amazing. Where’s that at?”

  “Downstairs,” Talia said in excitement.

  “I’d love to check it out after we unpack,” I said. I noticed her bags were still full.

  She glanced to them. “Yeah, I only got as far as the keyboard. I was going to unpack after my parents left, but the music was calling me.”

  “You’re really good,” I said as I started lining books up along the top of my dresser. “How long have you been playing?”

  “Um, about thirteen years.” She looked like she was trying to calculate it in her head.

  “Wow.” I’d never stuck with anything that long.

  Talia shrugged. “It’s always been a comfort to me. Ever since I was a kid, I struggled with reading because I’m dyslexic, but music makes sense. I can feel it. I don’t have to worry about reading the notes.”

  “Wait,” I said, glancing back at her piano. “You do all that without ever looking at sheet music?”

  Talia offered a shy smile.

  “Do you want this hung in the closet?” Grammy interrupted, holding up a slim black dress I’d never worn. I kept it just in case I ever happened to get invited out on a hot date—which would probably be never. She stopped in her tracks when she realized how short it was. “Good Goddess! You call this a dress? You’ll bend over and everyone will see your cooch!”

  “Grammy!” I exclaimed, covering my ears for show. Talia burst into laughter. “Don’t ever let me hear you say that word again.”

  “Which word?” Grammy asked innocently. “Cooch?”

  “Grammy!”

  “Okay, okay,” she sighed as he headed toward the closet to hang it up.

  “I’ll wear leggings under it,” I promised.

  It took another hour of moving around the room and giving introductions before we’d finished unpacking. Even though I’d paced myself, I was exhausted by the end of it.

  Grammy picked up her purse and took a deep breath. “Well, I guess I’ll leave you to it.”

  “Thanks for all your help, Grammy.” I reached out to pull her into a hug. “I’ll see you this weekend.”

  “I look forward to it. Bye, Nadine.” She gave me one last squeeze, then turned to the open doorway.

  “Oh!” Grammy whirled back to me like she’d forgotten something. “I meant to give you these.”

  She reached into her purse and pushed a pile of foil packets into my hands. I took them, not realizing what they were. She reached in for another handful and shoved them into my other hand, until they started falling onto the floor. When it hit me, I wanted to crawl into a hole.

  “Grammy!” I cried, shooting a quick glance to Talia, who sat on her piano bench. She slapped her hand over her mouth and was trying not to laugh. She wasn’t succeeding.

  I turned beet red and hissed at my grandma. “Condoms!?”

  Grammy shrugged, like it was no big deal. “You’re in college. I want you to be safe.”

  “Grammy, I—I—” I couldn’t find the words. It was too awkward.

  “What?” she asked innocently. “You are going to be having sex, aren’t you?”

  “Oh my God,” I groaned. Of course I was going to lose my virginity eventually—and probably in college—but couldn’t she be a normal grandma and pretend I never would?

  Grammy huffed. “Well, if you don’t want them, give them back.”

  She reached for the pile of condoms, but I jerked away from her. Grammy raised a curious eyebrow. Talia could no longer contain her laughter. She doubled over, trying to catch her breath.

  “I’ll keep them,” I told Grammy. “You know, just in case.”

  “That a girl,” Grammy said proudly. “I’ll see you girls later. It was nice to meet you, Talia.”

  “You too!” Talia called as my grandma left the room.

  As soon as she was out of sight, Talia and I exchanged a wide-eyed look, then we both broke into a fit of laughter. I had to sit down on the bed, I was laughing so hard.

  “Oh my God,” I cried between laughs. “I can’t believe she just did that.”

  “She’s just looking out for you,” Talia giggled, eyeing the pile in my hand.

  “What?” I held them out to her. “You need one?”

  She smirked. “Tell you what. We’ll start a condom box.”

  “A condom box?” I asked.

  She stood and bounced over to her dresser. She grabbed a jewelry box that opened from the top and turned to me. “We’ll keep it stocked, and if anyone needs one, there will always be one handy.”

  I placed the condoms into the jewelry box, then leaned over to pick up the others that had fallen
out of my hands. “Thanks, Talia. It’s a good idea, considering you’ll probably use most of them.”

  “Me?” she balked. “Uh, no…”

  I snickered. “Then this condom box is going to last us a while.”

  She looked curious as she closed the box. “Wait. So you haven’t…?”

  I shook my head and quickly added, “Not that I don’t want to. I’ve just never been in that situation.”

  “Shut up,” she said with an eye-roll. “You’re banging hot, Nadine.”

  I smiled. “Thanks, but I didn’t have many options. I dated this guy in high school for two years, which kept me out of the dating pool. But it was just kind of puppy love, you know?”

  For him, at least. I’d always wanted more, which made the break-up that much worse.

  “Oh, I know,” Talia said, like she’d had her fair share of crushes.

  “Anyway, it didn’t end well. He told me he was saving himself for marriage, but I guess he forgot about that when he fucked the head cheerleader.”

  Talia’s jaw dropped. “He did not!”

  My gut sank at the memory. Brandon made me believe he was saving himself for me. Nope. Just waiting for someone hotter to show up, I guess.

  “Whatever.” I brushed it off. We’d broken up months ago. I was over it. “I’m glad I never slept with him.”

  “Totally. I hope you whooped his ass,” Talia said.

  I chuckled. “I made a scene, all right.”

  In front of the whole lunch room, too. I dumped my entire milk carton over his head. Jackass.

  I would've done a lot more had my friends not held me back. They had to remind me how much I'd regret it. I'd buried my dark side long ago. I wasn't the crazy bitch who started fist fights on the playground anymore.

  Talia set the condom box on my nightstand and sat on the couch, leaning over the arm to face me. “I want my first time to be special, but like, I’m not the kind of girl who needs a ring first.”

  I laughed. “Me neither. Give me a loyal boyfriend, and I’ll be good to go.”

  Talia made a crude motion with her hand and her tongue. I threw my head back in laughter.

  “Oh, good.” She gave a sigh of relief. “I was afraid my roommate would be a prude.”

  “Girl, you can make dick jokes all day long and it’s not going to bother me.”

  “In that case…” Talia made another motion with her hands. I couldn’t stop laughing.

  A knock came at the door, which was still open. I leaned forward on my bed to peek around the bathroom at the door. A woman I didn’t recognize stood in the doorway. She was at least my parents’ age, with dark brown hair and hazel eyes. She wore a pantsuit and looked like she was someone important. A fat black cat followed at her heels.

  “Excuse me?” she said kindly.

  Talia shot to her feet and nodded politely. “Headmistress Verla.”

  Since I didn’t know the proper protocol, I stood beside Talia.

  Headmistress Verla smiled at the two of us. “Do you mind if I come in?”

  “No, not at all,” Talia said.

  Headmistress Verla stepped into the room and extended her hand out to me. “Hi, Nadine. I’m Headmistress Verla, and this is Odin.” She gestured down to her cat. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

  I furrowed my brow. “How do you know my name?”

  “I know all my students.” She turned to Talia and said, “Talia Murphy.”

  Talia looked like she was going to pass out as she took Headmistress Verla’s hand. You’d think she was meeting her pop star idol or something.

  “To what do we owe the pleasure?” I asked. I glanced down to Odin, who was sniffing Gus curiously. Gus’s hair stood on end, like he didn’t like the other cat in his territory.

  “I’ve come to welcome you to the school,” Headmistress Verla said kindly. “I don’t know if you’re aware, Nadine, but I was friends with your mom. I know how hard things must be for you right now, especially after what happened.”

  Her expression turned sad. There was a genuine sorrow behind her voice that suggested she and my mom were very close, though I’d never met her. “I just want you to know that if you ever need anything, you can come to me. It’s the least I can do.”

  “Thank you, Headmistress Verla,” I said genuinely.

  “Oh, please,” she replied. “Call me Clarice.”

  Hold the phone. This was Clarice!? The friend from high school my mom always talked to on the phone? I’d heard so much about her.

  She must’ve noticed the shocked look in my eyes, because she said, “I take it your mom has mentioned me?”

  “Yeah,” I said breathlessly, unable to believe I was finally meeting her. “She talks about you all the time.”

  It hit me that I’d said talks, like I still thought about my mother in the present tense. It was a hard habit to break.

  Headmistress Verla gave me a smile, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. I bet she was thinking about how my mom was gone. I knew I was, and it was killing me inside.

  Finally, she cleared her throat, and her eyes focused on me again. “I’m so glad to hear that. Well, I’ll let you get back to things. I just wanted to come and introduce myself. It’s great to meet you, Nadine.”

  “You, too,” I said, feeling relieved that she didn’t say anything more about my parents.

  When she and Odin left the room, I turned to Talia. “She seems really nice.”

  Talia frowned. “Yeah. All the students love her. I just feel so bad for her.”

  “Bad?”

  Talia dropped her gaze. “She’s had it really rough these last few years. First she lost her sister. Then just a few weeks ago she gave birth to a stillborn.”

  “Seriously?” I asked, my heart breaking for her. I couldn’t imagine. “She seems a little old for a baby, doesn’t she?”

  Talia shrugged. “I don’t think it was planned. She’s not married.”

  “That’s still gotta be hard, though,” I said. My guts twisted at the thought. She’d lost so many important people in her life in such a small amount of time. I couldn’t imagine adding any more people I loved to the list of those I’d already lost.

  “She said something happened to your parents?” Talia asked softly. It didn’t sound like she was trying to prod, but rather make sense of what Headmistress Verla had said.

  A heavy weight settled on my chest at the mention of my parents, so I sat on the bed to ease it. “Yeah. It was a car accident. That’s why I came here.”

  Talia’s frown deepened. “I’m so sorry, Nadine.”

  My breath wavered. “I don’t really want to talk about it.”

  Talia’s expression was soft, like she understood. “I could cheer you up.”

  I looked up to her and cracked a smile. I was glad my roommate was so nice. “You can try.”

  Talia sat on her piano bench and positioned her hands over the keys. Gus hopped onto the bench beside her and watched as her fingers began to move expertly, creating a soft, beautiful melody. I lay back in the bed, relaxing as I let the beautiful sound wash over me.

  “This is the only way I know how to cheer people up,” Talia admitted without missing a note.

  “It’s working,” I told her.

  “That’s good.”

  She continued playing while I took deep breaths. My mind was on my parents now, which meant it could be hours until I stopped thinking about them. I loved them with all my heart, but sometimes it was easier to forget that they were gone. When I brought up their memory, a huge hole opened up in my abdomen, and it felt like it was trying to suck the rest of my body inside of it.

  My head started to hurt, and my bottom lip quivered.

  Suddenly, the music stopped.

  “Can I help you?” Talia said.

  My eyes shot open, and I pushed myself up in bed to see who she was talking to. I didn’t get a look at the door before the voice came.

  “I’m looking for Nadine.”

  T
hat hole inside my stomach seemed to slam shut, and the tension in my head eased instantly. In fact, my whole body felt lighter as a fluttering sensation overtook my insides. Was that Lucas standing in my doorway?

  I got to my feet and walked around the side of the bed where he could see me. His eyes seemed to light up, and the weight melted off my shoulders.

  “Well, you found me,” I told him. “Come in.”

  Lucas stepped into the room, followed by another guy I didn’t know. Lucas must’ve noticed me eyeing him, because he quickly introduced us. “Nadine, this is my roommate, Grant. Grant, this is Nadine.”

  “Hey,” Grant said, but his eyes remained locked on Talia.

  Talia didn’t seem to notice him, as she’d turned back to her piano and kept on playing. Grant smirked and stepped forward, leaning against the wall next to her.

  “Well, hello beautiful,” he said.

  Talia didn’t miss a beat on the piano. “Really? That’s the pick-up line you go with?”

  Grant stood straight up, looking shocked. “I’m sorry. Did it not work? Let me try again.”

  He leaned back against the wall and cleared his throat. “Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?”

  Talia kept her eyes on her moving fingers. “Try again.”

  Beside me, Lucas chuckled. “Good Goddess, he’s making a fool of himself.”

  “Really? I find it a little entertaining,” I admitted.

  Grant tugged at the collar of his shirt. “Is it hot in here, or is it just you?”

  “Again,” Talia said flatly.

  Grant took a deep breath, like he was about to go in for the kill. “If I told you that you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me?”

  “No,” she deadpanned. “Try again.”

  Grant groaned. “You’re killing me.”

  Talia shrugged, but continued playing. “I’m going to make you do it again until you get it right.”

  Damn it. I loved this girl already.

  Grant sighed, then stood up straight and spoke softly. “Hey, I’m Grant.”

  “I’m Talia,” she introduced.

  “Talia,” he repeated, sounding pleased. “I couldn’t help but notice that you’re really talented. Is that Dark Midnight by the Wicked Warlocks?”

  Talia glanced up at him with half a smile. “It is. You’ve heard of them?”