Blood Crescent

by S. M. McCoy

  He stood in front of me, strong-looking and determined. He placed his hand above my chest. “This won’t hurt…” He ripped the pacemaker from my chest with a jolt. My skin crawled and ached. “…Much.”

  Blood dripped down my shirt in an ooze. It didn’t flood out or even clog up. It was already done. There wasn’t anything pumping it out, or anywhere for that matter.

  How was I still alive?

  He looked at his hand disgusted that my blood touched him, but I felt my heart pulse again because of what he did.

  “Now there are some rules while here within the Council’s university and as long as you stay here they will be followed.”

  I gasped. The Council. I’d found it somehow.

  “Rules?”

  “Nothing too serious, mind you. You’ll stay in the dorms, there is one for the female residents and one for the male. We do not allow after-hours visitations to either dorm facility. You’ll attend the same school all the trainees go to. You don’t have to choose a profession as of yet, but if you choose to stay here then we can discuss them later, if you even have a later. I smell mortal in you still, and whatever amount of Diviner in you there is, it’s hardly anything special—I can’t even sense it at all. If nothing else, your dying corpse will be remembered as the one to reveal the true Oracle’s successor, if you live long enough for that.

  “For now, you should know half the students here are training for the guardianship; the other half make up the smaller, yet prized, profession of divination; then there are the astral gatekeepers, sorcery, Shifter alliance; and even some training to accept their Drawn destinies. I’ve enrolled you in a few I thought you’d be interested in, the mandatory ones, and provided a few choices you can try out for your electives. However, do keep in mind all of these classes are preliminary: If you should fail to progress in these, which you probably will, you will be pulled from class and required to find a more suitable job for maintaining your residency.”

  I was overwhelmed with what I had gotten myself into. I was being enrolled in school. School for monsters. What was supposed to be an escape was turning into walking into the pit of everything supernatural.

  “You’ll be safe here,” he assured me like he was reading my mind…and here maybe he could.

  “Shakesp—”

  “He’ll be enrolled as well,” he interrupted.

  “My—”

  “No one sees the mother Oracle without earning the privilege, not even you, princess. The nerve of the new generation to think they can waltz in here and expect a summoning with the Oracle, and to call her mother without being granted guardianship.” He was stern and the look in his eyes told me not to question him if I knew what was good for me. It was like he was reading my thoughts, but not fully. Context wasn’t given to him. I realized now that he had no idea what I meant by “mother.” And only I knew that Abernithy was my mother’s last name, the Oracle could be my mother…or my aunt.

  His expression softened to continue, “You’ll get the chance, but the mother is the Moon Oracle. Even if she granted you a summoning, you couldn’t see her without being trained and prepared in the art of astral projection. After you take the mandatory history class you’ll understand why. Until then, you’ll have to study very hard to see Lady Abernithy one day. Very few get the opportunity.” He bowed his head in reverence to her name.

  Something felt wrong about the whole thing, like he wasn’t telling me the whole story. And when he looked up from his bow he leered at me, like he thought I couldn’t do it. My power wasn’t strong enough in his eyes to even get the chance to see her. Then I would just have to prove him wrong.

  I looked down at my wrist. Five tattooed lines representing my oath to honor a trade. Just one favor. He held up his end of the bargain. I followed the path—it led me to here. Literally at a school that could answer all of my questions about the world of the unknown. My heart stopped beating, but my body still moved. I was by all accounts dead, or in a suspended time dimension; either way I felt oddly calm about it.

  Aislin was home, and probably worrying about me. Scrying all over the place to find me. I had no idea how much time took place between then and now. Maybe seconds…maybe months, but I supposed she might’ve been used to it by now. It wasn’t the first time I disappeared on her. I’d find a way of letting her know I was all right.

  “Aislin…”

  “She will see the Dragon. He will answer her questions about your safety.”

  It was like he had an answer for everything, a pre-rehearsed dialogue that he just continued to read off until I was speechless.

  Damien saw me disappear into moonlight, fading away like dust. Shakespeare said that Damien was dying soon and needed me to survive. But now that I was nowhere near him my body feels better, and I didn’t feel sick anymore. This place, where ever this school was…was my chance to figure out what was wrong with me and fix it. Until I did that I couldn’t focus on fixing someone else. I needed to know whether my feelings for him were real or not, and now that I no longer felt his presence, this was my time to figure that out as well.

  Then I felt a chill course through my fingers all the way up my arm. I heard the voice again, but it didn’t feel like Damien…maybe it never was.

  It was stronger now. More powerful.

  “Let me hold your hand.” Something was calling me here, from the very beginning—my mom.

  I looked down at Shakespeare and smiled knowing at least I had backup with me if I needed it. We had a new mystery to solve. Abernithy was family, and somewhere in this school held the answers.

  “Welcome to Ealdred University—School for Old Realm Powers and Home of the Serpents.” The professor led me out of his office.

  And into my new home.

  KEEP READING FOR A FIRST LOOK AT THE SECOND BOOK IN THE DIVINE SERIES

  T hank you for reading book one of the Divine series, Blood Crescent. It would mean the world to me for you to take a few moments to review the book on Amazon or Goodreads. All the fluffy corners of my heart thank you.

  I couldn't have done it without you, but remember, this is a three-part series so don't forget to stay posted, also as a thank you to my readers, I made a short story about Crystal’s mother and an introduction to the adventures of the White Diviner and protecting the portals to the other realms. Sign up to enjoy this freebie!

  For a Free Short Story “White Diviner” and find out about upcoming releases, and giveaways, please visit:

  https://mailchi.mp/8fc8b0c681ad/steviemariefree

  Book two, Blood Rebirth, is scheduled to be released in 2019.

  Without further ado, enjoy the following sneak peek.

  BLOOD REBIRTH

  CHAPTER ONE

  I‘m not going to lie to you, not yet, but what’s true or not is for you to decide. Getting my body purified is possibly the weirdest experience I’d had all year, and a lot of weird has happened to me these past few months. The head of the Divining Department at Ealdred University, Miss Divine—yes, divine as in the Divine Council divine—was putting my body into a “state of timelessness” as she called it.

  “State of what?” I looked at the blue slime she was pushing into my skin with her glowing hands. It felt like my insides were on fire, icy fire. The goop was being excreted from her fingertips and massaged in bubbles, my skin concave as she pressed in until suddenly the blue jelly just popped inside and burned.

  “Crystal, stop fidgeting.” Miss Divine continued, “The gel will preserve the parts of you still functioning as human.”

  I wondered how much of me was left from who I used to be. How much was still human?

  “It burns!” I felt my whole body twitch. Based on the prickling sensations, I’d say all of me was still me.

  “It won’t for long. It’ll coat your organs that need it and it absorbs within a week.”

  “What then?” I growled—not intentionally—toward her but it was hard to maintain my composure while hot, blue gel was being forced in m
e, burning everything it touched while it “coated” my organs.

  “Treatment will continue until you’re fully cleansed.”

  “We’ll do this again?” I shouted, eyes bulging at the idea.

  “Not if you’re cured of your humanity.” She seemed to shrug off the whole thing.

  “Yah, next week will be different.” I rolled my eyes, thinking with my luck that it wouldn’t happen that easy. I could already see this as my weekly doctor visit, complete with burning torture chamber and complimentary minty toothpaste smell. On the bright side there are worse things one can smell like, and I would be one of the few people whose nose would be assaulted by it.

  “Well, you’ll always smell like lilacs to me.” She read my mind like a sorceress creep. “And I could always change the smell for you. I thought mint ice cream was your favorite and the smell would be comforting.”

  “It smells like…”

  “Toothpaste,” she finished for me.

  “Yah. How’d you know?” I felt bad now since she was doing all this work to keep me alive and functioning properly. You know, the simple stuff like not passing out in the middle of the courtyard or something.

  “You’ll still be tired. This won’t help that.” Her eyebrows knitted together, concerned.

  “But I thought—”

  “This isn’t a panacea, Crystal. Your body is healing itself and transforming; it takes considerable energy to do that. I have an enchantment that lets me read thoughts, but only those directed to me, so no worries while you’re wandering around campus thinking of boys.” She paused. “Unless you see me and start thinking about how you hope I didn’t hear then repeat your thought.” She shook her head and laughed. With a last smirk she flicked the extra blue jelly from her fingers and it disappeared, evaporating into the air.

  “What if I’m all the way across campus and think of you?” I raised an eyebrow.

  “Good things I hope.” She didn’t answer my question. Miss Divine smiled and wiped her hands on her black robes. She had a way about being mysterious because she’d always answer your questions but leave you with this sense of omission. I chalked it up to a teacherly thing. They’ll give you knowledge, but they want you to seek out that extra ten percent on your own.

  “All done.” She brushed her hands together and that grin made me think she was listening to my thoughts again. Sometimes I felt like making random animal noises in my mind so that would be all she heard. Moo, hiss, growl, hoot, purr. Miss Divine’s eyebrow raised at me with amusement.

  “Go to class, Crystal.”

  I was going to come up with an excuse about how much my body ached and was too tired, but now that I thought about it all the pain was gone. I looked down at my hands and there was a piece of paper I didn’t remember having before, clasped within my fist. I eased up my grip and flattened out the wrinkles to see it was a schedule.

  First Period: Serpent Lore

  Second Period: Astral Affinity

  Third Period: Biology

  Lunch Hour

  Fourth Period: Divine Craft 101

  Fifth Period: Math and Magic

  Sixth Period: Guardian Training 101

  My eyes bulged when I saw Biology and Math on my schedule. Some mystical school this was. We still had normal human classes as well, and here I thought I’d escaped that. Okay, really, I was trying to escape supernatural anything, but now that I was here I just wanted to be normal. Whatever normal meant when you were at a school for old realm magic and home of the serpents.

  “What time is it?”

  “Sixth period.”

  “Already?”

  “You’ll find the professor in the courtyard at this time.”

  “Courtyard,” I repeated to myself, so I’d remember.

  “You’ll be catching the end of class. This is only to introduce yourself to your professor. Do be careful.” She smiled at me and handed me another piece of paper.

  A map.

  “What about my—”

  “Mother?” she finished my sentence again then continued, “The Oracle, mother to us all, is merely the vessel of the races’ unity. Everyone is welcome to see her when they’re capable. Train hard and you’ll get to meet her one day. She has mentioned you in prophecy leading us to her successor—very high praise. We expect exceptional things from you.”

  It was then I realized the one place that might know of what happened to my actual mother, had no idea who I was, or my mother, but thought because I came to them through the ring’s magic that I would lead them to their next “mother,” the Oracle. I didn’t know who to trust, so while I was here, finding information about my mother might be as simple as looking up my family name in the library.

  Little did I know.

  Stevie Marie

  is the author of young adult paranormal fantasy and the Divine series. Born within the apex of another universe, where magic flows like leaky faucets, and forged from the fires of the Underrealm she dug her way to Earth and reluctantly participates in human society, secretly returning to her home world to relay the stories of her monsters and the troubled love of her people. When she isn’t writing she’s crafting clothing in her sewing room, cuddling her significant-other creature, or pretending to adult by managing a portfolio of properties for an accounting business in the rainy city of Seattle, Washington.

  Connect with Stevie Marie at:

  www.steviemarie.com

  Instagram @TruStevieAddict

  Twitter @AuthorMarie.

  Facebook.com/authorsteviemarie

  Divine Series:

  Blood Crescent Book One: Published September 2018

  Blood Rebirth Book Two: Releasing 2019

  Blood Queen Book Three: Releasing 2019

  #divineseries