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

by Lan Chan

  Jacqueline cleared her throat and the assembly went preternaturally silent. “Students. I know we rarely have cause to all be together in one place. I’ll admit that I wished we were doing so under different circumstances. I regret to inform you that we’ve received a message from the Dominion. It appears there has been a breakout in one of their facilities on this continent.”

  A wave of gasps filled the room. Everywhere around me, students began to mutter to themselves. Jacqueline held up her hand. It became quiet once more. “The Dominion have assured us they’re doing everything they can in order to recapture those demons and rogue supernaturals who have escaped.”

  She pointed to the huge mirror installed in the wall behind her. It had a gilded gold frame but reflected most of the hall back at us. As I stared, the glass rippled and displayed the picture of a dark-haired man in his mid-fifties. He wore a bright yellow shirt that I figured was the regulation prisoner uniform. The image on the mirror changed every couple of seconds. There were para-human prisoners as well as their mage counterparts.

  And then there were the demons. True demons were ethereal. Their power lay in twisting the minds of those they inhabited. These types of demons got to humans from behind the barrier of the Hell dimension. When they did, the things they could make a possessed person do were beyond heinous. The monsters that had physical bodies had come from dimensions that had traded their freedom for the power the Hell dimension promised them.

  I heard some of the crowd around me whimper at the sight of a demon with six tentacle legs. At the end of each leg was a mouth with serrated teeth. It crawled low to the ground. When it roared, I almost jumped out of my skin. That image was followed by one of a dark-haired Fae, his features narrow and sharp. He had a pair of purple eyes that sparkled like jewels. If he hadn’t been pictured in the mirror, I would have a hard time believing he was a criminal.

  It was difficult to tear my attention away from the images, but I forced myself to refocus on Jacqueline and what she was saying. “The Council have decided to post extra security on the school premises. Students on the junior campus will be escorted to and from the campus by a teacher, and those of you in the senior campus will be required to accompany each other in pairs. I hope that these precautions will turn out to be excessive but we cannot be too careful.

  “I understand that the winter equinox ball is quickly approaching and many of you wish to visit one of our towns to prepare yourselves for the ball. The faculty are still working on coming up with a solution that will still maintain the security of the school. We will keep you posted. Otherwise, be wary of anything that seems out of the ordinary. Above all, look out for each other. Now is the time to set your differences aside. In addition, some of your classes may be rescheduled in order for the faculty to assist with the containment and hunt for the fugitives. Be accommodating, and where possible, there is the library and your peers for support.”

  Nobody wanted to move when Jacqueline left the stage. In fact, all around me, students whipped out compacts and small handheld mirrors so they could contact their families in order to check on them. Sophie was finishing a call to her parents when that tingling feeling crawled up my spine again.

  I glanced around to find Fred staring at the big mirror. His face was white as a sheet. The prisoners’ pictures were cycling back around again. It was the mage who was on screen when I turned to him.

  “Hey,” I said, reaching out to touch his arm. “You okay?” He’d made so much progress in the past few months. The last thing I wanted was for this to set him back.

  “Yeah, I’m fine.” The hand he was using to grip the back of Trey’s chair was blue.

  “They’re pretty scary.” I pointed to the six-limbed monster that was on the screen.

  “Tell me about it. I’m going to have nightmares for weeks.”

  People had started to stream out by that stage. We waited until the crowd thinned a little before Sophie got up and I could get out of my chair too.

  “Any chance we can do some more circle work?” Fred asked before we broke apart after reaching our dorm.

  I was about to answer when a familiar voice called out my name. “Blue!” Or what he considered to be my name. I couldn’t actually remember a time when he’d called me by my real name. I might fall over if he ever did.

  When Kai reached me, my friends had somehow all disappeared except for Fred. And he plastered himself against the wall and pretended to inspect his nails. Kai deigned to glance at him for a second but dismissed him almost straight away.

  “I’m going to join the search,” he said. “Our classes are going to have to be set aside for a while.”

  “Okay...”

  “I can ask one of the others to take over in my place if you’re comfortable with that.” There was a strange edge to his voice that I couldn’t decipher. I tugged on the sleeve of my top.

  “Umm...no offense, but I’d rather not have to get used to another megalomaniac Nephilim.”

  He flashed his canines. For a second, my chest constricted. I was suddenly hit with an odd fear that this wasn’t just some field trip he took to check out a disturbance in the energy around a barrier. He did that quite often. That’s how he’d extracted me in the first place. But this was different. These were confirmed supernatural criminals.

  “Try not to die,” I blurted out before my brain could stop me. My cheeks burned. I couldn’t look him in the eye so I locked my sights on the edge of the tattoo sneaking out from beneath the sleeve of his T-shirt.

  “I don’t intend to.” We stood there for a second before he cleared his throat and turned to walk away. I saw his shoulders expand and contract like he was taking in a deep breath. Suddenly he was in front of me again. “You’ve improved a lot since we started training,” he said. “Don’t expect too much of yourself.”

  I looked up into green eyes that seemed to be lit up from the inside. “There now,” I said, “that wasn’t so hard, was it?”

  Just like that, the moment shattered. He stomped away. Fred was still trying to appear like he wasn’t eavesdropping. “He’s one intense dude.”

  I shook off the stupor and slung my arm around Fred’s shoulders. “Look on the bright side,” I said. “Now I have all the time in the world to help you with your circles.”

  It was obvious he hadn’t thought of that because a huge grin broke out on his face. I left him and went back to my dorm room. Sophie and Diana were both there. They pounced on me as soon as I walked in the door.

  “You know we’re in a jailbreak situation, right?” I asked.

  It didn’t dissuade them. They forced me to tell them everything Kai had said. It would seem like the world would have to end before my friends would give up on their crazy plans to be matchmakers.

  31

  Over the next few weeks, the school descended into watchful vigilance. Every time one of the escapees was caught, there was collective excitement. Nobody could talk about anything else. A big mirror was set up in the dining hall so that we could check out the latest on what was happening.

  Through some contacts that he managed to somehow obtain via the MirrorNet, Basil got newspapers delivered to us every day. “Why newspapers?” Diana asked.

  “Because we’re doing ourselves a disservice by concentrating solely on news from the supernatural world. The criminals aren’t going to stick around here waiting to get caught. They’re going to try and disappear in the most populated cities amongst the humans.”

  I didn’t blame Diana for asking. She and Roland had grown up in a purely supernatural community. It had been easier for them in a way because their physical proportions would have made them stand out amongst humans. But Basil was right. There were reports all over the place in the newspaper of crazies driving cars into the centre of the city and shooting at people. All abnormal behaviour that could have been the result of demon persuasion.

  My sleep became a pattern of nightmares. Whenever I closed my eyes, the cold descended on me. I sat paral
ysed as the bovine demon dragged itself ever closer. As a result, I developed insomnia. To combat it, Basil stayed up with me. We tried all kinds of meditation and some herbal medications Sophie concocted in Potions and Alchemy but nothing seemed to work. So instead of wallowing, Basil began to teach me some of his magic. Blood magic.

  I balked when he told me. “Umm…isn’t that a form of dark magic?” I asked.

  “Only if you allow it to corrupt you.”

  I scratched at my cheek. Fatigue held me in its grip, but I couldn’t close my eyes. “Did you ever think that might be the reason why you were bound?”

  He shrugged. “Who knows at this point?”

  One weekend we’d pestered Professor Mortimer to try and break the suppression spell on Basil to no avail. The secrets he had locked up in his woollen brain were locked up good. I was secretly slightly relieved. There was a part of me that was terrified if he got his memory back, Basil might remember he’d done something unforgiveable. I’d grown to care too much about him that I was afraid I might not be able to handle it. Out of viable options, I settled myself in for his lessons.

  A few days later, we were having breakfast when the screen lit up with a report of another capture. I literally stopped moving the fork to my mouth when Sophie tugged on my sleeve and pointed at the figure on the screen.

  “Oh God,” I said. “He’s going to come back so much more full of himself.”

  The report showed Kai in a showdown with two of the bipedal horned demons. Clearly, he’d been holding back big time when he trained with me. I could barely track his movements across the screen. His body was a blur. The only thing making it possible for me to see where he was striking was the green glow of his blade.

  “Holy shit,” Trey said. My heart leapt into my mouth. He wasn’t playing to capture. Everyone in the hall winced in unison when he grabbed one of the demons in mid-air, stabbed it with his sword, and cut the thing in half. Fred covered his mouth with his hand. His chest heaved like he was dry retching. The other demon pretty much gave up after that.

  For some reason, Sophie and Diana were staring at me. “What?”

  “I’m sorry, but if you don’t get a move on with him, I’m going to have to try and steal him,” Diana said.

  “He just cut a demon in half and that’s what you’re thinking about?”

  “Look around you, Blue. The whole female population needs new underwear!”

  I wished she was wrong, but the sinister look Brigid threw me as she walked past when the lunch bell rang could have stripped paint.

  “Too bad she didn’t stay away forever,” I muttered.

  “It sounds like her dad pulled rank to keep her here,” Diana said. “You know they used to be actual royalty in the Fae Realm?”

  “Ugh. Don’t tell me. I don’t care about anything except that she’s a total jerk.”

  “I feel kind of bad for her,” Trey said.

  Roland rolled his eyes. “You mean you think she’s hot. Why don’t you ask her to the ball?” I blocked out their ribbing because there was nothing I could think of worse than going to the ball right now.

  Except despite everything else going on, when they weren’t talking about the latest prison escapee to be caught, they were all talking about who was taking who to the ball or what they would be wearing. The compromise the faculty had come up with was that instead of the students leaving to go to the supernatural towns, the vendors would bring their stuff to the Academy.

  Everyone was beyond excited. I wasn’t sure why, but ever since the prison break, a knot had formed in the pit of my stomach. I couldn’t for the life of me dislodge it. Coupled with the insomnia, it made my mood bleak. I’d taken to sitting on the top of the staircase with Basil during our lessons, waiting for something bad to happen. He called it the Hastings’ Knowing. I had no idea what it was I was meant to know so I called it the Hastings’ Irritation.

  Instead of training with Kai, I met Fred in the library where we took over one of the meeting rooms and worked on circles together. When Sophie didn’t have a shift in the dining hall, she joined us. Her circles were a lot better than Fred’s, but he had been working so hard that the strength of his was getting stronger. These days I could throw as many pieces of chalk at him and they just bounced off his shield.

  As for me, I’d moved on from the basics book to another one Professor Mortimer had given me called Expanding the Circle. It was meant to help me use other materials to help me strengthen the circles. So far I’d read the chapter on salt and the corresponding insert on saltwater. But I’d dismissed that second part because there was no way I was going anywhere near saltwater if I could help it.

  Sophie came into our room after her Sunday dining hall shift with a metal chest in her hands. After showering, she proceeded to sit on the bed counting what turned out to be money. It wasn’t going well judging by the scowl on her face.

  “There’s not enough,” she said.

  “Not enough for what?” Basil asked. I knew where this was leading and I wanted to steer clear of it.

  “For two dresses!”

  “Why two?”

  She looked at me. I wanted to hug her for the thoughtfulness and also screech from the frustration. Somebody knocked on the door. Diana didn’t even wait for an invitation before she barged in with a jar of manna which she promptly spilled onto the floor. Manna were just coins, really. Except wider and thicker with grooves around the outside and runes carved into the metal.

  Basil told me there were black magic markets where people traded in teeth, blood, and other unmentionable items. Thankfully, the clothing vendors would be accepting cold, hard cash.

  “How much do you have?” Diana asked Sophie.

  “I need a pay raise. I tried to get my parents to give me a loan, but Dad went on a tirade about why I need money when the Academy covers all of my expenses.”

  Diana rolled her eyes. “Tell me about it. My stepmother is rolling in manna from her diamond mine, but I ask for money to buy a dress and it’s like I’m the most spoiled jerk ever.”

  “Well, I can save you some cash,” I said.

  Sophie refused to take no for an answer.

  “Hold on a second,” Basil said. He shuffled out from my lap where we’d been reading the newspaper to look at Diana’s pile. “You’ve got over six hundred manna here! What kind of dresses are you intending to buy?”

  “How much is that in human terms?” I asked, still a bit iffy on the exchange rate.

  “Roughly eight times the value.”

  I snorted in disbelief. Before my shopping trip with Sophie, the only dress I’d owned cost five dollars from the charity shop. “No way! What kind of dresses are these? Magic dresses?”

  Of course that’s exactly what they would be. “Madame Familiar is this boutique that makes dresses that are hexed to fit you perfectly and accentuate your best qualities,” Sophie said.

  Diana made an obscene gesture by cupping her hands in front of her already ample chest. “We all have the same qualities, ladies,” I said. “This sounds like supernatural plastic surgery!”

  “I suppose it is,” Sophie said. “But it’s just for one night so it’s totally worth it.” I didn’t understand her logic at all.

  “Well, I am more than happy not to be wearing one of these dresses so you can save the money for yourself.”

  “At least tell me you’ll come even if it’s in something plain and boring,” Diana said. They both eyed me like a piece of meat. “You know what? I’ve just noticed how much you’ve filled out since you got here. I mean, I can’t even see your ribs through your top anymore.”

  “Is that supposed to be a compliment?”

  “Definitely.” She pointed at the picture of Nanna and Mum. It was the only one I had of my mother. It was taken before I was born. “You’re turning out to look just like your mum.”

  That was just about the biggest lie ever. But I appreciated the effort to try and get me to go.

  Sophie started stac
king her money. “What about dates?”

  Despite being low on the magical totem pole, Sophie was physically gorgeous. Besides Fred, I suspected Roland had a little crush on her as well. Not to mention one alpha lion shifter who spent way too long picking food from Sophie’s made-to-order station. Diana was fast becoming a legend in our Weaponry and Combat classes. More than one guy had asked her out in the past few months. I doubted either of them would have any problems getting a date. Yours truly, however, was still a social pariah. Unless one of the boys in my junior campus class asked me. And that was all kinds of wrong.

  “You know you’re not going to get a date for the ball, don’t you?” Diana said.

  “Way to rub it in.”

  She waved a hand dismissively at me. “What I meant was, literally everyone has seen the way Kai is about you. No boy in their right mind is going to poach you away.”

  Basil made a very unflattering grunting sound. “I think that’s enough talk about boys for one night.”

  “Yes, Dad,” we said as a chorus. Then we doubled over laughing. He made Diana go back to her room after that.

  “When did he turn into the parent around here?” I asked.

  “I think it was that time he blasted Kai and got him to back up off you.”

  “Oh yeah.”

  “Do you really have to do that?” Sophie slid into her bed as I walked around the room. I assumed she was referring to the salt I was sprinkling on the floor. I shook the salt to keep it dry.

  “Sorry. It’s become a habit.”

  “We’re inside the Academy. Nothing can happen in here.” Her patience was unlimited. The number of time we’d had to shake salt out of our shoes and clothes could no longer be counted. I did want to point out that she too had a packet of salt on her nightstand. If I didn’t do it, I had a feeling she would.

  “Better safe than sorry.”

  “Ah huh. Try not to wake me when you two leave in the middle of the night again.”