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

On the other side I crouched low and allowed the last remnants of pain to subside. I didn’t even know why I was trying to be stealthy. I suppose it was better than being bombarded by acorns. There was nobody around. Dawn was only just beginning to light up the sky. I stalked up to the Arcana tree without ceremony, picked one of the fruit, and bit into it. The luscious nectar coated my tongue. But it wasn’t the taste I was after. It was the fruit’s ability to rejuvenate. With bated breath, I glanced inside at the well. No change.

The nymphs appeared just as I was launching the fruit in my hand at the floor. The purple nymph went ballistic. Her scream was so high-pitched it almost busted my eardrum. So much for stealth.

Makeshift weapons appeared in their hands. Twigs and rocks of every shape and size. They rained acorns down on me. The circle I drew was only supposed to be for protection. But the darker magic didn’t have the kind of subtlety of my hedge magic. After the first few projectiles hit the outer edge, the circle pulsed. It rocked the Grove in a cascade of sparking black that blew the nymphs out of sight.

“Uh oh,” I said.

“Blue!”

A fluttering of multi-coloured lights shooting straight this way told me the nymphs were regrouping. But I was preoccupied by the sight of Kai emerging from the path. Behind him were Cassie, Charles, Maddison, and Luther. Cassie saw me and bolted.

She slammed into me a second before Charles’s solid weight hit us. The nymphs were incensed, but Kai waved his hand and they reluctantly ceased and desisted. I wouldn’t have stood a chance otherwise. My lungs were being squeezed shut. I could feel the pulse in my neck.

“Alright,” Kai said. “Everybody off.”

When I let go, I reached up to run my hand through Charles’s hair. It was so long compared to his usual neat cut. He looked like a surfer. “What gives?” I asked.

“Supernatural puberty,” Luther said. “His mum can’t keep up with his haircuts.” He ducked as Charles tried to take a swipe at him.

“Shut up!”

Cassie tugged at my arm and placed something in my hand. I looked down and there was a neatly wrapped present. “Happy belated birthday,” she said. “Sorry we didn’t get to see you.”

“Yeah,” Maddison said. “We tried to get past the barrier, but the guards wouldn’t let us pass without a chaperone.” She stood a little farther away. Aloof but also a little uncertain. Like she wasn’t sure if I wanted her to be here. I smiled and opened my arms. She pretended to reluctantly hug me back.

“I hope you haven’t been making anybody’s life miserable,” I said.

“Only the usual suspects.”

“Open it!” Charles said. He then proceeded to snatch the present from me and started tearing into it. Luther cuffed him across the head.

“Give it back to her. What’s wrong with you?”

Charles let out a rumbling growl. His eyes transformed into beaten gold. Kai latched on to his shoulder and shook him. “Don’t even think about it,” Kai said. “One more growl from you and you’re going back inside the enclosure.”

“Oohh, do it,” Cassie said. Charles snarled at her. But it was a playful snarl. He pretended to snap his teeth in her direction. But his eyes had turned back into their normal colour. He handed me back the present.

It was only then that I noticed they had brought a picnic basket. Kai spotted me looking at it. “Trust you to focus on the food,” he said. They laid out breakfast while Cassie helped me finish off my chores. I pushed the anguish about my hedge magic to the side.

Before we ate, I finished off opening the present. It came inside a rectangular box. Sitting on a cushion inside the box was a jade amulet on what appeared to be a velvet choker necklace. There were three wavy lines etched into the amulet. I brushed my fingers over it.

“It’s beautiful,” I said, a little choked up. “Thank you.”

Cassie grinned at me. “It’s a water amulet,” she said. “It allows you to breathe under water. Because…you know…”

“You suck at swimming,” Charles finished off for her. Luther massaged the side of his head in chagrin, but I burst out laughing. It was the best morning I’d had all year.

It was the start of a strange day, though. In the last few months, ever since the other kids learned I was going to Terran, most of them had avoided me. In the halls they lowered their heads and whispered about me. In class, they pretended I didn’t exist. It wasn’t all that different to when I first started and they weren’t sure what was up with my magic. Now they gave me smug grins as they walked past. Some of them even asked me how school was at Terran.

By lunch time, I was fed up with the niceties. “What gives with all this creepy behaviour?” I asked Sophie and Diana. We settled into a seat with the boys. Someone ahead of me in line had offered me their spot. I was this close to believing a mass exorcism was required. Before any of them could answer, Kai walked into the hall. I kid you not, the whole place erupted in applause. He ignored them and scanned the room until his attention landed on Wanda. Kai inclined his head and she hopped up off her seat and raced after him.

Two vampire girls on the table beside us glanced away when I looked in their direction. They burst into laughter a moment later. There was no trace of fear in their easy camaraderie. It didn’t take long for the shoe to drop. Kai had figured out the Soul Sisterhood’s secret. Whether or not the Sisterhood tried to announce to the world that supernaturals existed, they would still remain top of the pecking order. When one of the vampire girls picked up her carton of blood juice and