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“I see.Thank you for your opinion, Dolores,” she said blandly.Dolores?Was that Coach Vasquez’s first name?It seemed to fit her—didn’tdolormean “pain” in Spanish, after all?

“I said—” Coach Vasquez began angrily.

“And Iheardyou say it.”Headmistress Nightworthy’s sharp blue eyes flashed.“Now I want to hearwhyhis Drake came out.What exactly provoked it?Mr.Santiago?”she asked, turning towards Saint.

He and I were sitting in the two straight-backed chairs across from her carved wooden desk and he shifted uncomfortably at her question.The Headmistress’s office looks like it came straight out of a Victorian novel with brass lamps, a grandfather clock, and an elaborately detailed oriental carpet on the floor.The light fixtures aren’t quite bright enough to light the whole room—probably because some very old and powerful Nocturnes are sensitive to light—but I could still see the uncomfortable look on my roommate’s face.

“Saint’s Drake came out to rescue me, Headmistress,” I blurted, wanting to save him the confusion and pain of answering.I’m not sure most guys would have admitted such a thing, but I’m not too macho to admit I might need saving now and then.And to be honest, Saint reallyhadrescued me in the nick of time—it was thewayhe had rescued me that was the problem.

Headmistress Nightworthy turned to me, her blue eyes blazing.

“Mr.Connor, did I ask you the question?”

“No, but it’s probably hard for Saint to say,” I said boldly.“His Drake seems kind of…concerned about me for some reason.”That was the nicest way I could put it.“We’re roommates and friends, after all.And I guess somehow he sensed that I was getting beaten up and came to save me.”

Her silver eyebrows shot up.

“Beaten up?This is the first I’m hearing of this.Would that be the reason for the state of your face, Mr.Connor?”

I touched the right side of my face, which was definitely swollen, and winced.

“Yes,” I said flatly.“That’s exactly what happened to my face.I got punched—several times—before Saint came in.And right before that I was chased up a rope and nearly roasted alive when Juan Gonzalez did a partial shift and breathed fire at me.”

“I see—so there weretwopartial shifts in your classroom today, but you only chose to report one.Is that right, Dolores?”The Headmistress looked at Coach Vazquez again, who had a nasty look on her face.

“It’s a lie,” she snapped.“Connor is lying about the whole thing.”

“I’m lying?”I demanded, glaring at her.“Then how did I get these?”

I held up my rope-burned hands.I was going to have blisters for sure—the raw, red lines on my palms stung and ached.

“And those are?”Headmistress Nightworthy raised her silver eyebrows at me.

“Rope burns,” I said succinctly.“I had to magic my own rope to get down, since Juan was chasing me out along the metal support beam and I couldn’t get back to the regular climbing rope.I slid down in a hurry once he started breathing fire.At which point I tried to leave class, but Coach Vazquez told me to stay.She then went into her office, shut the door, and pulled the blinds,” I finished.

Ididn’tadd that she had basically left me to fend for myself against a whole class full of homophobic bullies but I didn’t have to—I could tell by the snap and sparkle of anger in Headmistress Nightworthy’s eyes that she understood.

“Dolores, is this true?”she demanded, rounding on the Coach again.“Did you allow such a dangerous situation in your class to continueon purpose?And please keep in mind that I can call Professor Yasmeen in here to do a truth spell on everyone in this room if need be,” she added.

Coach Vasquez gave her an ugly, mutinous look.

“You don’t have to work a truth spell on me,” she spat, glaring at the Headmistress.“I’ll admit it.Yes, I left Connor to fend for himself.I did it because he’s a nasty littlemariposa—a man-lover—who deserves whatever he gets.”

Headmistress Nightworthy’s eyebrows climbed so high they nearly disappeared into her chic cap of silver hair.

“You’reopenlyadmitting that you deliberately put a student in harm’s way because you disapprove of his sexual orientation?”she demanded in a low, dangerous voice.

Coach Vazquez lifted her chin defiantly.

“Damn right, I did,” she snapped.“His kind have to be taught a lesson.Maybe he’ll think twice next time about flaunting his sexual choices in front of everyone.”

“First of all, it’s not achoice,” I said in a low, level voice, though I was boiling with rage inside.“And second, who are you to judge me for the way I was born?Do I judge you for having black hair?Or tiny little eyes?Or a nasty look on your face like someone smeared dog shit under your nose and you’re smelling it all day?”

“All right, Mr.Connor, that will bequiteenough,” Headmistress Nightworthy said, though I thought I saw the corners of her mouth twitch.

“Good—expel the littlemariposa!” Coach Vazquez demanded.“I refuse to have him or anyone like him in my class ever again!”

“Oh, I don’t think that will be a problem, seeing as how you will no longer be teaching at Nocturne Academy.”The Headmistress’s eyes were snapping blue fire.