Magic Within: A Young Adult Urban Fantasy Novel (Bloodline Academy Book 1)

by Ahava Trivedi

  My inner witching magic yearned to be included, amongst that in the hallowed halls, as small swirls of power radiated off my arm and shoulders. The place was empty and yet didn’t have that deserted feel.

  Instantly spotting the sign for the Crystal Wing, I made my way in its’ direction across the hall. The whole space was enormous and I inspected the high ceilings, which appeared domed from the inside although they hadn’t been that way from the outside. There was definitely potent magic at play.

  The bright cream walls that swept downwards were lined with regal portraits of prominent witches and warlocks. I recognized some of them from the few spell books I’d studied at the coven. It seemed like a lifetime ago and yet it came back as I read the names and briefly explored the hall.

  As I concentrated on each picture, it lit up a different colour depending on the source of its owner’s power. I went up to the portrait of a witch who looked like my best friend Safi’s close relative for the fact that she was an exact image of her. Her lively emerald eyes looked back at me and she had the same beautifully high cheek bones, set within her luminously mocha skin. The only differences between her and Safi were that she looked slightly older than Safi and her hair was a deep burgundy. The picture lit up bright pink, making me take a step back to admire it. The golden name plaque read ‘Rose Quartz’. Rose was Safi’s middle name too.

  I wondered how many generations ago Rose Quartz had roamed these halls and what she’d done to be so famous within the S.L.A.? I reached the door that said Crystal Wing and took a deep breath and knocked. The tapping sound I made echoed through the hall and instantly came back to me.

  I waited but no one opened the door. Up to this point I had successfully pushed away my nerves but I began to get uneasy. What could the S.L.A. do about what had happened to Lorna? Would it count that I had helped to rescue her? I suddenly realized, thinking of Safi’s relative hanging on the wall, that Safi was basically untouchable given her family’s longstanding place at the S.L.A. If there would be any blame about what had happened, I’d be the one bearing it. And of course, being half vampire didn’t help at all.

  I hesitantly opened the heavy door and entered the Crystal Wing. It was another long hallway only this time, it wasn’t lined with portraits but held thousands of different crystals, all shapes and sizes. Each exuded some kind of magic. The crystals looked like they were just suspended in mid-air close to the walls but there must have been a strong enchantment holding them in place. I was willing to bet that if the wrong being so much as touched one, they’d quickly wish they hadn’t.

  I slowly walked past and as I reached the other end where another door awaited. A witch with striking green hair and eyes became visible with a soft pop. Her eyes beamed so brightly that I did a double-take to check that they weren’t crystals as well.

  “Katrina Snow Quartz,” she said pleasantly, “you’re early, do come in. It’s the second door to your right.”

  “Thanks,” I said following her.

  “I see you were admiring our building’s power source,” she remarked, amused by my gawking expression.

  “That’s what these are?” I asked.

  “Yes. They’re obviously so much more but they hold onto magic a lot better than any of the other earthen elements. “Go through and take a seat. I’m Angel Jade by the way. I’ll be back here if you need me.”

  “Uh, thanks,” I said, as the Jade Witch smiled and popped out of sight again.

  I entered the room which was empty. That helped calm me a bit. I’d hate to have walked into a full room of witches waiting to begin. Like some over-stuffed courtroom, waiting to piece things together, rightly or wrongly.

  My eyes were pulled to my name and picture glowing in front of a chair that was in a row, along a long wooden table that ran through the centre of the room in a triangular fashion. There was a chair that resembled a throne at the far point of the triangle. I went up to my name and image, which was like a light hologram as I put one hand through it. It was the only such image in the room giving me no clue as to who else would be attending.

  I sat down in the seat that I figured was designated for me and my glowing image and name instantly started to fade away. I waited for the others to enter the room, tracing the swirling magic on my blooming. It was what my boyfriend Ulric did when we were on edge and it always calmed me down as it pulled me into focussing on him. That was another loose end – Ulric and I. I thought he was my boyfriend for a very brief time after the night Lorna was kidnapped. Of late, I had no clue where he was at. Or where we were at. If there even was an us.

  One gruelling problem at a time, I reminded myself, wondering if my two vampire professors would be allowed to enter the room at all. I found myself strongly hoping they wouldn’t. They weren’t the ones that had been summoned, I was. Safi’s hologram came into view and my pulse quickened. She’d be seated across from me, leading up, closer to the point where the witch or warlock on the throne-like chair would be. She walked in and I too stood up running over to her and we hugged.

  “Hey lady! Long time no see,” she said with a smile that told me nothing had changed between us.

  “I’m so happy you’re here too!” I said as we walked over to the table and took our seats.

  “I’d love to catch up properly but I just found out a few things from my mom on the way here.”

  “You didn’t come from the coven?” I asked, confused.

  “No, I’ve been having some time away since everything went down. I’ve been with my mom – that’s why I haven’t communicated with you recently, sorry.”

  “That’s okay, I understand you must have been busy,” I replied. In truth, I’d really noticed her absence since our first semester had ended and I’d stayed behind in the mostly emptied academy for my holidays. Even my roomie Natalie had left to be with her vampire family and the Black Banes who were our resident werewolf students had all gone off campus to train.

  “Have you been spending time with your handsome werewolf?” Safi raised her eyebrows suggestively, bringing Ulric right back to the forefront of my mind.

  “Not that much,” I shrugged. Ulric, my kind of, maybe, boyfriend had promised to stay behind with me during the break. It had seemed like an ideal way to spend the holidays and as my feelings for him had grown I’d been excited about us spending some serious alone time.

  But a day into our break, his sister Winnie had gone missing. To be honest, I hadn’t known how to feel about her disappearance. She’d hated me as much as Lilith and the gang who’d kidnapped Lorna had and was one of the party’s directly responsible for bringing Lorna close to death. But she was Ulric’s sister. And no matter what she’d done, Ulric was still her brother. In the end, I’d encouraged, even forced him to go and locate his pack so they could help track her.

  I’d spent the time alone with no one to talk to but Darius, a down and out, turned vamp who’d mostly used the time to stalk humans who were easily seduced by vampires. And I’d missed Safi even more than when I’d newly left the coven. At least her absence made sense now and I was relieved it wasn’t that she’d chosen to stay away. Whatever her mother had felt about me before I was discovered to have a vampire bloodline, she didn’t like me afterwards. As a pure-blooded witch, I was everything people like Pearl Quartz had an innate bias against. Whether they ever admitted it or not.

  “We don’t have a lot of time, my mom and brother will be here soon,” said Safi, in a hushed voice, “they’ve officially disbanded the coven this morning.”

  “What? Already?” I hadn’t expected that.

  “Yep. As of right now, the Circle of Quartz no longer exists.”

  “So where will everyone go?” I asked.

  “Apparently all the teen witches, including me, have been accepted into Superno. Exceptional circumstances and the like,” said Safi, trying to sound casual. I felt the excitement pouring from her anyway.

  Superno was the coveted school for supes of all shapes, sizes and species.
Most of its graduates ended up being big influencers either within the S.L.A. or in the world at large. It was where her brother Aviar studied and her mother, Pearl, taught part-time. It was where I’d dreamed of going but never made much mention of it as their standards for acceptance were very high and I’d always known that I’d never stood a chance.

  “Nice! Congratulations to you!” I said, “and lucky for everyone else,” I forced a smile thinking of every one of my former roommates getting the chance that I never would. But I actually was happy for Safi. Another thought I’d never shared with anyone was that Safi had been wasted at our coven. Her magic had been minimized by Lorna and she’d never been encouraged to reach her full potential. She deserved this even if it had been achieved due to the weirdest of circumstances. Even if my former roommates totally did not deserve admission to Superno. “What about the younger witches?” I asked.

  “They’ll be sent back to their families until they reach seventeen. And then they’ll automatically be invited to Superno too,” said Safi, not meeting my eyes.

  “Good,” I said. The unspoken unfairness of it hung in the air but neither of us called it out. “What do you think will happen at this hearing?” I said rapidly changing the subject.

  “No idea, my mom wouldn’t tell me. I think even she’s in the dark this time. It’s way above her head too.” Suddenly we were both made aware of Pearl and Aviar’s approaching presence by two bright holograms that lit up next to Safi.

  We went back to not talking and Safi smiled at me, sympathetically. Pearl Quartz entered the room, followed closely by her son, Safi’s older brother, Aviar. She saw me and barely showed any recognition whereas Aviar looked at me and nodded. A slightly cheeky smile played across his lips as he took a seat next to Safi. His crisp, blue eyes twinkled. The last time I’d seen him had been that fateful night, when he’d accompanied his mother and members of the S.L.A. into St Louis Cemetery to rescue Lorna. He’d helped me save Natalie’s life while his mother had blinked herself, her entourage, and Lorna away without a second thought for the vampire and werewolf who’d been on the side of light magic. Pearl glanced around the room restlessly, gazing everywhere but in my direction. Screw you then, I thought, not wanting to let her get to me.

  More holograms arose next to the seats and before I could really take them in, the door opened. It felt greatly intimidating as a whole room of witches walked in and up to their reserved seats. I counted eleven. That left only the regal seat at the head of the table, vacant.

  The witches were an assortment of magic from different Crystal Covens and I instantly picked up that the ones nearest to me were from the Amethyst, Citrine, Ruby and Emerald Covens. These were powerful women with strong lineages. And they were all staring at me.

  The Ruby Witch looked like she was about thirty years old, though it was impossible to tell accurately as she could’ve been double that age. Or even triple. She was the only one who smiled at me, while the others unashamedly stared on.

  Duquette and Devin hadn’t arrived. I assumed they were still waiting to be assessed by the S.L.A.’s security team to either be cleared, which was highly doubtful, or be granted some kind of a temporary pass by way of a time-limited spell. There was also the stronger possibility that they’d be denied entry to the building altogether and made to wait outside while the Witches Council conducted its’ hearing. I could only imagine how pissed Duquette would be if that happened. And while I hated to admit it, there was a part of me that was beginning to feel uneasy about being totally unaccompanied.

  - END OF PREVIEW CHAPTER –

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  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Ahava Trivedi grew up in the south of England and almost on a whim one day, decided to up and move to Toronto, Canada with her sister. She is mostly a fiction author who, similar to her hasty move across the pond, likes to dive headlong into writing the stories that she would like to read. Ahava’s love of all things magical and fantastical began somewhere between Dracula the Series, on Nikelodeon and Harry Potter. When she’s not writing, Ahava can be found chilling in a local coffee shop with her toddler or with a book in her hand, reading about anything with wings, fins, fangs or glitter.

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