by Lan Chan
“Seriously?” I paused. “What is it that you can do?”
“I infuse spells into food.”
“Really? Like you can make a cake that lasts forever.”
She grinned. “I don’t know about forever, but I can certainly concoct chocolate that gives you the runs.”
I shuddered. “Sounds like magic to me.”
“You’d be the only one.”
Something occurred to me then. “How many of us low-magic users are there at this Academy?”
Her shrug was not reassuring. “A couple dozen.”
There were more than ten times that many people in the dining hall when we entered. It was like a cafeteria that I’d seen on TV on steroids. I found myself gripping Sophie’s hand. Everywhere around me there were people with pointed ears, wings of various descriptions, and even some people with fangs. They were drinking from what looked like juice boxes. The liquid was crimson.
“Vampires,” I hissed. One of the bloodsuckers lifted their head and glared at us. I moved closer to Sophie. She gave the pale guy a sheepish grin and hustled me away.
“They have razor sharp hearing,” she whispered. “So do the shifters.”
“Is there anyone who doesn’t?”
“Us? And some of the goblins and dwarves.”
“Oh brother.”
Sophie smiled for real this time. She grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the queue waiting to get to the food. “Welcome to Bloodline Academy, Lex. If it doesn’t end up killing you, it’s a great place to study.”
That was one heck of a school motto.
10
I was so busy salivating over the aromas in the air that I failed to see the issue until Sophie had grabbed a tray. We were at the front of the queue. “Soph,” I said. “I just remembered I don’t have any money.” My bottom lip trembled slightly. That was my motto. Eternally impoverished. It usually wasn’t so much of a problem except this time I had an audience who possessed supernatural powers. One of them was bound to see if I tried to get a five-fingered discount.
Sophie scratched her head. “Why would you need money?”
“How do I pay for the food?”
She patted my hand the way I’d seen her do to Basil when we announced he couldn’t come with us to the dining hall. “They’re training you to be a soldier,” she said. “The least they can do is feed you.”
And then it was our turn. My scepticism was obvious in the choices I made. We were halfway down the line and all I had on my plate was a couple of dinner rolls and a small piece of fried chicken. And that was only because I couldn’t put it back on account of drooling on it a little. Sophie let it go for the first half, but by the time we hit desserts, she’d had enough.
“I see the Arcana fruit is wearing off,” she muttered. She put her tray down, grabbed mine and backtracked down the line. When she returned, the plate was groaning. “You need to eat,” she said. “I don’t care if it makes you sick. Who knows what tomorrow’s trial is going to bring. I’m not going to lose the first roommate I’ve had in six months!”
Somebody else in line cleared their throat. Sophie shoved the tray back at me and gave me the stink eyes until I put a couple of desserts on my plate.
By the time we went to find a table, my tray was difficult to hold up. Never in a million years would I finish even half of it. Instead of picking the closest free seat, Sophie was contemplating the options.
“What’s the hold up?” I asked, my arms straining. I couldn’t tell what it was she was searching for. They were just conventional-style communal dining tables. Long and rectangular with about ten places each in rows all down the room. “There are free spots right there.” I inclined my head to where a group of nondescript kids sat.
“They’re gremlins,” she said. “They’re okay now but once they get food into them, they’re going to turn feral.” She bit the inside of her cheek. “There are so many people here today! We might have to go to the far side near the bathroom.”
Toilet food. Great.
I went after her regardless. The ache in my shoulder was real, and we hadn’t even made it to the halfway point. There really were kids everywhere. I picked up bits and pieces of their conversation. It sounded as though they were all talking about the trials. I had a feeling it was a much bigger deal than Sophie or Jacqueline made it out to be.
We were just skirting the aisle around the centre tables when my foot caught on something just as I lifted it. I stumbled and cried out. Sophie turned. I saw in her expression that I was going to fall. I’d never been clumsy on my feet. Today, I couldn’t seem to find my balance. The tray in my hands rocked. For a second I considered dropping the tray so that I could brace for impact. But it was food and that was sacred for a street kid. So instead, I clung on to it for dear life. The linoleum floor rushed up to me. My legs kind of did a comical skidding thing and then I hit the ground. The tray was still in my arms. I landed right on top of it. The squishing sound as my chest hit the food was drowned out by the uproar of laughter from the surrounding students.
“Oh shit!” Sophie said. She came over to help me. Heat shot up my neck and made my skin burn. “Are you okay?”
I glanced down at the jumble of mashed food on the T-shirt she’d let me borrow. Tears stung the back of my eyes. “I’m sorry,” I said.
“Jeez,” a familiar voice said. “Walk much?”
Sophie and I glanced up. There stood Brigid and her crew. She’d changed clothes from this afternoon and now wore a stunning royal-blue shirt and a pair of black jeans that looked painted on. Her hair was immaculate and seemed to blow softly around her head despite there not being a breeze.
I got the feeling from the way she smirked that my little trip wasn’t because I was clumsy. My jaw clamped down hard. Sophie’s hand was on my arm. She was petting me like she would a wounded animal. Out of the corner of my eyes I could see the laughing faces of the students around me. Some of them whispered behind their hands. And over all of that, I could smell the roasted meats and gravy on Sophie’s T-shirt.
Sophie sensed my rage a second before I tried to lunge. She grabbed hold of my arm and held on tight as I struggled. “Let go!” I snapped.
“Don’t,” she said urgently in my ear. “She’s a wind elemental. A powerful one. You don’t want to get tangled up with her.”
Brigid laughed. It was like the sound of wind chimes. That pissed me off even more. “I’d hate to see what you’ll be like tomorrow,” she said. Her minions joined the chorus of laughter. The one on the far left grinned hard at me when my eyes landed on her. Her hair was a rich, inky black. Her olive skin and upturned almost eyes spoke of Asiatic ancestry. She too had a pair of wings flapping at her shoulders. Hers were bright gold.
When I went to snap back, Sophie clamped her hand around my mouth. A strange quiet fell over the room. It was like a metaphysical sigh that blanketed the general conversation. All heads turned in the direction of the doorway. Sophie’s arms went slack. I took the opportunity to try and clean up some of the mess I’d made. And then Sophie was beating at my shoulder and pulling me into a standing position so that I was looking in the same direction as everybody else.
A group of boys had entered the dining hall. I imagined they were the Academy’s version of the football team. Every one of them was tall, built like tanks, but somehow also graceful and gorgeous in the way of the archangels.
“Nephilim,” Sophie sighed. Ah, right. Now I knew why all eyes in the room had fallen on them. I would have been grateful that they had taken the attention off me but then I spotted a familiar figure looming amongst them. Suddenly this wasn’t really all that interesting anymore. Even amongst his own brethren, there was something different about the way Kai held himself. Aloof like nothing in the world could touch him. Like he existed on a different level. Which, to be fair, he kind of did. But that didn’t mean I had to like it.
Brigid and her crew all but forgot about us. They made a beeline for the Nephilim. Lip curling, I
resumed cleaning the mess. Getting Sophie’s attention was the difficult part. She seemed transfixed. It wasn’t until I glanced back over that I realised Kai had split off from them and was talking to Max and a few other guys. I pinched my lips together and nudged her harder.
“Hey!” I said. “Still covered in food here.”
She did a little double-take and then her eyes cleared. “Oh, right. Sorry.” She raced away to find napkins. We cleaned up as much as we could. “Let’s get back in line for some not decimated food.”
“No it’s fine,” I said. “Let’s just eat and get out of here.”
“But it’s all stuck together.”
“So?”
She looked from me to the food and back again. Her dark brown eyes softened. “Okay.” She picked up her tray and led us to the outskirts of the room where there were fewer kids. We sat down at a long table all of our own.
“Do you want some of mine?” she asked.
“Nah, I’m okay.” To be honest, the food wasn’t all that appealing anymore. My stomach was all tied in knots from the pent-up tension of not giving Brigid a piece of my mind. Sophie didn’t seem to notice. We sat side by side facing the room.
“So those were the Nephilim, huh?” I said.
“Yes they were. Amazing aren’t they?”
“They don’t exactly seem very friendly.”
She grinned. “They’re a law unto their own. They’re the bloodlines this Academy was named for.” She pointed to the left of the room where the Nephilim had walked straight to the head of the buffet queue. “Those guys are Michael’s bloodline. The warriors.”
Now that she pointed them out, I could see by their tow-headed good looks that they were definitely related to the archangel. “Those guys over there are born of Uriel, the watchers and seers.” I glanced at the boys who were seated at their own table. The students who were there had vacated their seats and the ones around it. Some of the boys were reading books. Others seemed in deep discussion. Sophie pointed to the two biggest boys who were leaning against the table.
“The two on the end are the descendants of Ariel. They are amazing with animals and nature. They’re the ones who keep the peace between the shifters, Fae, and the rest of us.”
While the boys seemed to hover in their own orbit, there was a definite feeling of connection between them. All except Kai who now sat at a table with Max.
“What’s with Mr. Smiley?” I asked, pointing to him and the permanent scowl on his face.
Sophie’s expression turned grim. “Malachi is Raphael’s.” She dropped her head and picked at her chicken. “It’s not really my story to tell. It’s kind of an unwritten rule here that nobody talks about Kai’s family.”
“Are they some kind of Fight Cub or something?” I asked.
“No,” she said. “On account of he doesn’t have any. Not on his father’s side anyway.”
“Oh.” I remembered then the acidic words the demon had spoken while it was inside my head. As much as he irritated me, a nugget of sympathy filled my chest.
“Is it just me or do the other Nephilim seem to be avoiding him?”
The edge of her mouth drew up. “It’s not just you. See, the thing is, they’re all born fighters. But Michael’s descents are meant to be the warrior line. They’re bigger, faster, stronger. Raphael’s line are the healers. They’re meant to be nurturing. But when he lost his family, everything changed. I’m not sure of the specifics, but I heard in his trial, he took on all of Michael’s line and beat them single-highhandedly without even using his angel blade.”
My jaw dropped. “Are you kidding?” I looked over to the Nephilim’s table. “There’s like, six of the other guys and they’re massive.”
“I know. But it can’t just be a rumour because all the kids from the same year came out telling the same story. Plus, the way they avoid him is pretty telling.”
I looked around at the empty chairs on our table. “You know what’s pretty telling? The fact that four people have walked past us needing seats and not one of them has sat down.”
Sophie speared a piece of broccoli. She glanced at it and made a face but forced it into her mouth nonetheless.
“They really don’t rate us,” she said.
I had already figured that out. It just never occurred to me that I would care. I’d never cared in my previous schools.
“You’ll learn more of this when school starts, but our magic and theirs comes from different origins. Their dimensions were ripe with power and ours, well, our power comes from the Earth and we haven’t exactly been nurturing of it. That’s why you shouldn’t try to mess with any of the ultra-power users. I know it sucks but they’re dangerous.”
The sound of my fork grating on my plate made her wince. “Don’t the professors do anything about it?”
“They do if it gets really bad,” she said. “We’re not supposed to be using our abilities against each other.”
“But tripping someone isn’t exactly grounds for expulsion?” I suggested.
She sighed. “Yeah. Sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“I know. But it still sucks.” She squared her shoulders. “Anyway, it’s all for the common good. The more powerful the students become, the better it is for us in the long run.”
She pointed out more of the students to me as I shovelled food that was both sweet and savoury into my mouth. The goal was to get full, not to enjoy it. Even if it made me kind of sad.
“We can be helpful to each other too.” Sophie brightened. “See those sun-shaped amulets the vampires are wearing around their necks? It allows them to walk in sunlight. One of ours, Colby, was a light wizard. He made them. So it all kind of balances out in the end.”
“Does it? What’s Brigid going to do for me one day?”
We smiled at each other. I was glad when we finished eating and could get away from all the people. I never knew how tiring being in a crowd could be. We walked around the common areas after that. Sophie pointed out some more species-specific spots to me. “We have an atrium for the avian species to fly around. And a semi-mountain for the dwarves and goblins.”
“Are you kidding?”
She shook her head. It was only then that it hit me. “We’re not in Australia, are we?”
“Yes and no. Technically we’re on Australian soil. The Academy sits right in the middle of the country.” I looked around at the lush green lawn and exotic fruit trees. This couldn’t be right. Australian soil was desert soil. We’d need a hell of a lot of rainfall and nutrients in order for us to be able to grow things even half this lush.
“Magic,” I whispered.
“Yup,” Sophie responded. “A whole hell of a lot of magic. The entire school is shielded by it. It’s the only way we can remain secret in the world of humans.”
There was so much still running through my head. Hours later, I was still finding it hard to take in. As I lay in bed that night, nerves started to grow spines in my stomach. Despite what she’d said earlier, Sophie was mouthing what I could only figure was a long list of ingredients. As a kitchen witch, this seemed to amount to studying in my books. She kept muttering under her breath about rosehip jam and ambergris. Whatever that was. But I had nothing to study. I was completely green, and now I was shitting my pants about what was going to happen tomorrow.
At about three in the morning I finally fell into a restless sleep. I’d always slept lightly but it felt as though my eyes just couldn’t settle. And then the voice came. It started off as just a slight hush. A hum in the back of my mind. With each second that passed, it grew and grew until I could hear the deep drip of it.
Kill them. You know you want to. They’ll never accept you. You’re not one of them. Kill them.
11
Somebody was shaking me. “Lex! Sophie!” A hiss from Basil. “Get up! You’re late!”
I rubbed at my eyes and tried to turn around, but he smothered my face with his woollen body until I couldn’t breathe. I ma
de a muffled sound and yanked him off me, launching him through the air. I wasn’t sure where he landed but a moment later, Sophie was groaning.
“Get up you lazy bones!” Basil yelled. “The mirror is buzzing. Everybody else has already made their way out.”
I couldn’t understand most of what he was saying. But it seemed to resonate with Sophie because she shot out of bed and screamed. “Oh damn!” She raced over to the round mirror with the golden frame on the wall between our beds and hesitated. I wanted to pull the covers up over my head but Basil was right. The mirror was rattling against the wall of its own accord.
“Just do it!” Basil shouted at Sophie. She pressed her palm to the glass and an almighty wailing rang out.
“Sophie Mwansa and Alessia Hastings. Your attendance at the examination complex is required this instant!”
The message replayed over and over in a shrill scream interjected with the sound of a siren. I bolted out of bed and wriggled back into the jeans I wore yesterday and a powder-blue T-shirt that Sophie threw at me. I was still slipping on my sneakers when we rushed out the door.
“Jesus!” I shouted at Sophie, still unable to get the ringing out of my head. “Does it do that every morning?”
“I forgot that I asked it to wake us up.”
We were running now. I was glad she knew where she was going because I sure as hell didn’t. If my brain wasn’t so sleep addled, and I wasn’t disturbed by that horrible dream with the awful voice, I would have noticed that most of the students were also heading towards one location.
I paused as the top of another building came into view over the canopy of trees. “Hold up,” I said. “I swear that wasn’t there yesterday.”
Sophie tugged me forward. “That’s because it wasn’t. They bring in the trial arena every year. It’s always a new one.”
We didn’t have time for me to unpack any of what she said because we were amongst the stragglers. The building was a mini-version of the Academy itself. Outside the entrance, there was a tall, dark-haired woman with small spectacles and a clipboard. Instead of a pen, she held up what looked like a stamp.
