Bloodline Alchemy: A Young Adult Urban Fantasy Academy Novel (Bloodline Academy Book 6) - Lan Chan (libby ebook reader txt) 📗

alchemy at bay. The magic could transmute any substance, but it had a natural inclination towards blood. My magic could pick up remnants of memory from a blood source depending on how fresh the bloodletting had been.

Right now, my thoughts were running amuck with the instinctual terror of rodents and poultry. They were fresh enough that I could scent the ammonia in the air as they voided their bowels after they died. Nausea rolled over me. I bit down hard on my tongue to stop from dry-retching.

“If you’re not minded to use the blood supplied,” Professor Suleiman said, “you are free to very carefully use your own. And any blood given to you freely from another student. But that is the extent of it.”

When Orla whipped a thin instrument from between the folds of her textbook and inserted it into her finger, I got up.

Diana turned towards me. “Soph?”

“Gotta go for a minute.” I speed-walked out of the room. “I’m not feeling well,” I told Professor Suleiman when he gave me a questioning look. I didn’t hear a thing as I pushed the door open and raced outside into the morning sunshine. That was why I probably should have known I was being followed.

Ignoring Noah who was doing his best to imitate a creep, I made a beeline for the Grove. Unsure what I was doing until I hit the barrier that kept students out, I banged my palm against the white picket railing.

A flash of purple and pink streaks whipped past us. They came to a halt just inches from my face. I could see the recognition in their eyes, but it didn’t soften their vicious expressions one bit. Razor-sharp talons adorned their little hands and feet. The purple nymph gave me a combative smile, her teeth like the opening of a shark’s mouth. Their message was clear: No entry.

That was okay with me. Standing there, I realised I didn’t need admission. It was enough to be in the vicinity of the Arcana trees. Breathing in deeply, I sucked the almost sickly honey and lemon scent into my lungs and held it there. After a minute the Arcana scent burned away the hints of copper and salt of the blood. I finally allowed myself to unclench.

I stood there for a while until the nymphs got bored of me and left. When my heartbeat resumed a normal pace, I turned around to find Noah watching me with that quiet intimidation of his. You would think I would be used to it, but the years in between contact made the resumption of his scrutiny more powerful. He never said anything. Just watched me with accusatory eyes like he was certain I would one day transform into a monster.

“Haven’t you gotten sick of that by now?” I asked him, the wound suddenly very fresh.

His bland expression sparked an old resentment in me. “I was asked to guard you,” he said.

“Of course. Well, you can report back that I managed to hold myself back from murdering anyone today.”

It would be another fifty minutes before my next class. There was no way I was going back in there with that essence in the air. “Can you tell Diana I’m going to the infirmary?” I asked Noah.

“She’s not my concern.”

Right. So he hadn’t changed either.

Chancing Diana’s wrath, I decided to visit Professor McKenna. Given that there were so few students at the Academy, I could be forgiven for expecting quiet and solitude in the infirmary. What I walked into was a passive-aggressive hissing match. Impressive when you considered one of the participants was an actual reptilian species. They were standing smack bang around the front desk.

“...not getting it from here,” Doctor Thorne said. Maggie Cross, Luther’s mum, would not accept that explanation.

“Then where is he getting it?” she snapped back through clenched teeth like she was pretending to smile.

“Ambrose works for the Dominion. Do they not have potions and elixirs available for the inmates?”

Maggie opened her mouth and then snapped it shut. She turned and only when she moved her robust body did I see Luther sitting in the patient chair with his head in his hands. “Lu!” she said. “Did you get the medication from Dad’s office?”

“No,” came the distinctly bored reply of a teenager who wanted to crawl into a hole and die. It was at that moment that he caught sight of me. His expression perked up. I wished it did something to the tinge of green on his dark skin. He’d lost weight. Too much. It was noticeable in the big knobs of bone that stuck out at his wrists. His usually rich, mahogany skin was sallow.

“Sophie?” he said like he didn’t believe I was here.

“Ah...hi. Is this a bad time?”

Maggie whirled around. Her eyes went wide, and I prepared for her to become hostile like the rest of the supernatural community. Instead, I found myself suffocating against a generous pair of breasts. It was only brief, but the smell of gardenia slapped me hard. “Sophie!” she said. “I heard you were back at school. Good for you, love.”

Behind her back, Luther tried to stand. She seemed to sense it, let go of me, and skewered him with her eyes. “Did I say you could move?”

“Mum!”

“Don’t give me that. Until you can prove you can make good choices, you don’t move a muscle unless I tell you.”

“Madam!” Doctor Thorne pleaded. “Can you please lower your voice? We’re in an infirmary. Not a MirrorNet drama.”

I never thought I’d get to see a basilisk getting punched, but it was so going to happen. Luther’s eyes begged me to save him. I just wasn’t sure how. “Ummm,” I said again. “Can somebody please tell me which room Professor McKenna is in?”

Doctor Thorne turned towards me. He seemed grateful for a distraction. “Room nine in the private ward.”

“Luther, do you want to come with me?” I asked.

Maggie grabbed his arm. “Oh no you don’t! No hanging out with your friends until we get to the