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

left as the road curved gently. A spark of green light had Kai appearing in the aisle. Despite the unbalanced angle of the bus, he managed to remain upright.

Slowly, the professor got the bus into gear. The ride evened out. It was more than I could say for my nerves. Beside me, Sophie’s complexion had turned ashen.

“I thought he said he could drive,” Sophie complained.

“Believe me,” Kai said, coming to sit in the seats in front of us, “This is a lot better than if my grandmother were driving.”

“I might not be a shifter,” Jacqueline said, “but my hearing is just fine.”

Kai shot her an amused grin. There was an edge to it. I stared at the seaside landscape past Sophie’s shoulder. My hand bunched the newly upholstered black leather seats. Outside, the early morning sun lit up the landscape. It was going to be a glorious day. If I were a normal human, the scattering of sunlight against the dark grey horizon of water would have made me excited. But I wasn’t just a human. I didn’t know what I was. And I wasn’t going to the beach to have fun. I was going to meet with a group of mythological assassins.

Irritation spiked in my chest. I closed my eyes and searched my thoughts for that sliver of a connection to the seraphim. I knew he was there. Azrael had spent the worse part of my childhood supposedly watching over me. When the Sisterhood called to me, I had insisted he tell me the truth about what I was. He remained mute on the topic.

Please? My pleading wasn’t really working. I was never the kid who whined until they got what they wanted. I didn’t have the patience for it. If I wanted something and Nanna didn’t think I should have it, I either deferred to her judgement, or if I wanted it badly enough, I found a way to get it on my own. Mostly it turned out Nanna was right. I had a scar on my right wrist from a stove burn to prove it. But I knew I was right this time. He chose to ignore me.

I huffed aloud. It brought Kai’s attention. I lowered my gaze and turned my head the other way. The brush of Kai’s thumb against my jaw had me lifting my head. Out of the corner of my eye I saw waves lashing at the shore. We were driving along the Great Ocean Road headed towards Apollo Bay. At this time of year it was so clogged full of tourists that it was a miracle we had found a break in the traffic for the portal teleport.

“You okay?” Kai asked.

I bit my tongue. His hand tightened. “I know you’re not happy –”

I shook my head. We’d had this argument one time too many. They all knew I didn’t want to be here. But the damage done by the Sisterhood was too great a burden to ignore. This was as much a mission of peace as it was of protection. Jacqueline wanted to hear them out.

I wanted to point out that none of them had any kind of guardianship over me. Not even Basil. In a few months, I would turn eighteen. In the human world, that day would release me from any legal obligation to listen to them. If only the emotional ties weren’t so binding. Case in point: even though I was annoyed at him, I didn’t move my head away from where Kai had uncurled his hand and was cupping my cheek. Even now a soft heat crawled down my neck. It whispered through my chest, trying to soften me.

If I didn’t know better, I would swear he was trying to use magic on me. As it was, this was just my idiotic heart telling me that I had it bad for him. It was that thought that had me moving back. I shook myself of the stupor and got up to walk to the front of the bus.

As much as I tried to ignore the great expanse of sea that was riding shotgun beside us, there was no way to ignore the scent of brine in the air. We turned left along an arterial road. The bitumen gave way to dirt. Eucalyptus rose up along the shoulder.

The bus was unwieldy. It took up the entire width of the road. If anything should happen to be coming the other way, they were going to have a difficult time getting past.

“Not long now,” Professor Mortimer said as I came up beside him.

“Yay,” I muttered.

“You know this could be an opportunity.”

“So was getting Skander to help me learn to wield the demon blade.”

“I don’t know,” Basil said, “that didn’t turn out too badly.”

I was hardly listening to them. As the bus continued, the pace began to smooth again. The tree line melted away and became cultivated land. Green pastures surrounded us. We were driving too quickly for me to make out anything but the hairy tufts of corn growing along the edges.

The road dipped. When it rose again, the trees parted to reveal a cove. We drove along a dirt track that didn’t lead far enough away from the smashing waves for my liking. After a few minutes, an enormous structure began to emerge against the backdrop of trees. It appeared to be constructed in the same Gothic style as Bloodline Academy. All grey stone and wrought-iron ornaments.

Sigh. Here we go again.

5

I gulped at the proximity of Terran Academy to the ocean. I was pretty certain this phobia of the ocean had come from an unpleasant childhood experience. I heard Nanna muttering once that it was un-Australian not to like the beach. What was there to like? It was cold, wet, and if the reports were anything to go by, it was also dirty. Plus, I really despised the feeling of sand all over the place. It got everywhere.

The professor pulled on the hand brake and put the bus in