Bloodline Diplomacy: A Young Adult Urban Fantasy Academy Novel (Bloodline Academy Book 3) - Lan Chan (thriller books to read .txt) 📗

“You call him that too?” I asked. Tired of standing, I sat my ass down beside her.

“We might disagree on many things, but there are some facts that are indisputable.” She pointed to some articles. “These are the reports on the rise of widespread disease pandemics. We’re in a health crisis at the moment. People are getting increasingly sick.” She swiped right. “These are the figures on the resource crises the world is currently facing. Our oceans are being depleted. Our forests are being cut down. Our water is being polluted.”

This time when she glanced up at me, there was a shadow in her eyes. “I understand the seers amongst the monsters have also seen a battle looming.” She nodded towards Jessica. “Jessie is a sight witch. She too has seen the impending confrontation.”

I was glad I was sitting down. “What are you saying exactly?” I asked.

She laid the tablet on the table. “It is said that before the end of days, the world will be given portents.”

“Oh Gaia,” Sophie said. She touched the screen of the tablet and went through the articles again. “The Four Horsemen. Pestilence, famine, war...”

“And death,” Samantha concluded. “We’re almost halfway there.”

My head was pounding. “What does this have to do with me?”

She laid her hand over mine. I was too shocked to pull away. “We’ve lost our balance. Our ability to fight back. We need Gaia. Your blood bound her. We believe your blood can bring her back. We want you to join us. Finding Gaia might be Earth’s last hope.”

I let my forehead drop onto the table. Why couldn’t anything ever be easy?

8

Nora clucked her tongue. “That’s a lot of pressure to put on her.”

“I understand,” Samantha said. “That’s why we believe she would be best suited here with us. We can help her learn to be what she was made for. Far better than anyone at Bloodline can help.”

A heavy sigh. I wasn’t sure which of the Mwansas made it. “If everything you say is true,” Mani said, “it means that there will be demons looking for Lex. They’ll want to stop Gaia from returning. Your abilities are adequate when it comes to stopping the supernaturals, but humans, even the Sisterhood, are less equipped at fighting demons. She’ll be safer inside Bloodline Academy.”

I lifted my head. The notion of safe had lost all meaning. “How am I supposed to look for Gaia?” I wanted to know. “I can’t even unbind the curse that I supposedly put on my grandmot –” I choked on the word. It brought back everything that had been thrown at me today. I clenched my hands to keep it together.

“You haven’t been able to unbind her soul because you haven’t been taught how to do it. We can teach you here,” Samantha said.

I hazarded a glance at Nora. There were creases in her brow. When she turned her attention to me, I made an open handed gesture that I hoped translated into how confused I was.

“There’s no way the headmistress will accept Lex withdrawing from Bloodline Academy,” Nora said.

“That’s not her choice to make,” Samantha corrected.

“Maybe not. But she has considerable sway. And if she doesn’t outright forbid it, there are other considerations.”

“I’ll say,” Sophie muttered. I wasn’t sure if she was referring to herself or to the other friends I’d made. If I chose to transfer to Terran Academy, I wouldn’t be able to see any of my friends. It still tripped me out that I actually had friends to miss. My mind projected an image of Kai’s arrogant smirk at me. Right. No Bloodline meant no Kai. A couple of months ago I might have jumped at that chance. Now that he knew why I had wanted to keep my distance, it was hard to justify doing it. My heart ached at the thought.

“You see why you need to be here,” Samantha asked me. “This is about more than just the ties you’re comfortable with.”

“Believe me,” I said. “None of this makes me comfortable.”

“Then the only question now is whether you will agree to come to Terran.”

“What will happen if I don’t?” I couldn’t get the threat in their so-called invitation out of my mind.

“We can’t force you. But you’ve seen now the reasons why we can’t allow the world to continue on as it is. Without us, the binding around your…grandmother, will continue to erode until she won’t ever remember who you are.”

“And you won’t show me how to save her without my attendance here?”

She rapped her clear-polished nails against the table. I noticed there were black smudges under her cuticles and figured it was dirt. “We have to make some hard choices. This is one of them. We don’t have the enticement of ethereally beautiful beings to offer you. The only bargaining chip we have is your grandmother’s freedom.”

We both knew she had me. My reaction to learning Nanna wasn’t truly my grandmother had probably been enough. The rest was semantics.

Still, once we were back outside and in the presence of the others, I refused to allow myself to be manipulated into attending yet another magical school without having any say in it at all.

Professor Mortimer was standing again, though he looked slightly the worse for wear. His hair was dishevelled and there was a crack in his glasses. But he smiled at me nonetheless. It was in that small gesture that I knew I couldn’t just leave Bloodline. For better or worse, they had taken me in and given me stability.

“A trade-off is the best I can agree to,” I told all of them. “A few days a week at each Academy.”

“Two days at Terran is the maximum we can accept,” Jacqueline said.

“And alternating weekend,” Samantha corrected.

I balked. “Wait, weekends? I’m not going to school on my weekend!”

The grand mistress sighed. “Maybe not. But you need to spend some time back in the human world.” She dragged her gaze over the party I had arrived