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

“So is air!” one of the girls in the far right of the room called out. The hissing started again. I didn’t know many of the faces in the room. I recognised a boy named Kieran who sometimes sort of stopped to say hello to Sophie. There were also a few faces from my Herbology and Potions classes. Everyone else was a stranger. I couldn’t tell whether that was an advantage. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. I couldn’t turn my head fast enough to catch them staring at the same time. I had no allusions about being low-key considering my association to Kai. But this was starting to get on my nerves.

Gritting my teeth, I forced myself to concentrate on what Professor Aisling was saying. “You will all know that one thing all species, supernatural–” she swept her gaze over us and then rested it on me, “–and human, have in common is that our bodies are made of mostly water. Out of all the natural disasters the Earth dimension faces, a flood is the disaster that brings about the most destruction in terms of both physical and human casualties. It creates disease that lingers far longer than the water might. We can survive without food for weeks, but a few days without water and our bodies shut down. Let’s not forget that most life on this planet resides inside the ocean.”

Just the uttering of that word had a cold shiver running down my spine. Once again I tried to dredge up a memory of why I had such an aversion to the ocean, but I couldn’t find anything. I’d been four when I’d first seen it, standing on the pier in St. Kilda Beach with Nanna. She had me on her hip. I clawed at her shoulder, wanting to get away from the roaring that I knew even then would grab me and smash me against the rocks.

Isla rapped her manicured nails against her desk. It pulled me from my memory and allowed me to refocus on the professor. For a second, I thought she might have done it for my benefit. But that couldn’t be right, could it?

The professor continued to discuss both the benefits and the destructive properties of water. By the end of the class, I was getting thirsty. When the bell rang, I resolved to get to the dining hall and chug as much liquid as I could. “Don’t forget that our next class will be in the lagoon.”

Half the class cheered. I looked to Isla for an explanation. “Mermaids,” she said.

All thoughts of merpeople slipped from my mind as soon as I walked into the dining hall. I hadn’t imagined the way the sound of voices babbling cut out momentarily. The goblin in the line in front of me stood with a rigid spine. Was it my imagination or had her moss-coloured skin turned a darker shade? She was pressed up so close to the Fae in front of her that it could be considered spooning. I couldn’t even feel the presence of the person in line behind me. They had left a wide enough gap for two others to slot in. Yet nobody wanted to make cuts. Nobody except the Nephilim, of course.

“Don’t mind if I do,” Adam said, slotting himself behind me. He tapped me on the shoulder. I wanted to throw my tray back and leave but there were too many people watching.

“Are you okay?” Adam asked. His voice was low. Why did it irritate me even more that he was trying to be considerate? A flash of another set of wings that I’d seen this morning when I stepped out for class was the answer.

“Are you hungry, or have you been sent here to spy on me as well?”

He chuckled. “I’m here of my own free will.” We reached the start of the buffet. I grabbed a glass of nectar water and set it on my tray. “Having said that, I won’t make any excuses for my fellow guards.”

I really hated that he was so jovial. It made it vastly more difficult to be annoyed at him. He knew it too, because he grinned at me when I scowled at him.

“If it helps, we had to put a tail on Kai for months after…” he trailed off without realising it. Though the Nephilim tried to make light of what happened to Kai’s family as a way to move on, they never quite seemed to be able to brush it off. It had the effect of turning everything sombre. And it made it impossible for me to stay angry.

“Yeah, yeah,” I said. “Just tell them to stay out of my way. And they better not be listening in to my conversations.”

His ears pricked up. He leaned in like we were co-conspirators. “Anything interesting I should know about?”

I narrowed my eyes at him. Having chosen my food, I stuck my nose in the air and left the line. It was a mistake. I should have stayed with Adam for as long as I possibly could. When I caught up with my so-called friends, they were engrossed in a conversation about the Sisterhood.

“My da says they’ve been commissioned to add another wing to the Dominion prison,” Roland said. I set my tray down. The conversation cut out.

“Don’t start,” I snapped.

Diana eyed Roland meaningfully, but he didn’t take the hint. Now that they’d gotten over being startled at my appearance, he ploughed on. “Apparently, Giselle Hartnett is still unconscious, but they’re worried about how they’re going to contain her given she can phase through physical objects.”

Something under the table thumped. Roland jerked. I imagined Diana had stomped on his foot. I let my head sink. “It’s fine.” There was that word again. “You may as well get it all out while it’s fresh.”

Trey sat on my left and placed an arm