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

She tossed a backpack at me that I caught out of sheer luck. “Demons?”

“Yes!” she said. “My dad is part of the glamour recovery team and the number of demon attacks he’s witnessed is ridiculous. But the Council are too thick-headed to listen. Let’s get their deity back. We’re going to need help soon.”

I rummaged through the backpack. She’d brought me a change of clothes but no shoes. I tried not to think about how she’d gone to my room when my hand touched on something cool and smooth. I pulled out the pendant the kids had bought me. There was a note attached to the clasp. It was from Sophie:

Don’t get yourself killed. I wanted to come but Max has barricaded the door. Idiot.

I couldn’t help smiling as I changed. In all honesty, I was glad she was somewhere safe. Snapping the choker around my neck, I turned to Basil. “I’m going to assume the mermaids found something close by?”

He nodded. “They checked the worst possible places for her,” he said. He shook his head. “It made some of them very sick. In the end, they sought help from the other marine mammals.” He pointed out towards Bass Strait. “Apparently there is a spot out there where the water becomes opaque. Nothing exists except a convergence that has no other side. Funny thing is, it wasn’t always there. It only appeared a few months ago. Best I can tell is that it’s been shielded all this time. But something happened recently to make it visible again.”

Sounds about right. Why couldn’t Hilary have stashed Gaia somewhere tropical? Hawaii would have been nice.

“What’s the plan?” Isla said. I grinned sheepishly at her. “You’re the worst!”

“I don’t know what’s going on half the time. I have an idea how to unbind Gaia. The rest…” I waved my hand about.

Basil rolled his eyes. “We need to secure the site,” he said. “Isla, when I open the portal directly over the convergence, how long will you be able to hold back the water?”

Isla’s lips puckered while she thought. “Probably no more than five minutes.”

Basil turned to me. “You’ll have five minutes to work your spell. Make it count.”

Basil began to chant a spell that would conceal us from passersby. I was going to draw an invisibility circle when my hedge magic sputtered. Dammit! I was running too low. Who knew what I’d be up against if we found Gaia. I needed to conserve that energy.

Rachel was slumped over in the dunes. “Can you draw an invisibility circle around this place?” I asked her.

“I need to get back to Terran,” she said.

I was so tired of having this conversation. “Look. I get that you’re pissed. But you dragged me all the way here to find Gaia. I’m trying to do what you asked. Work with me here. You can run off and die as soon as we find her.”

“Why are you doing this?”

Why in hell did I do anything? “Because somebody has to do it, and the rest of you are all too stubborn to admit when you’re wrong. At least I know I’m stupid.”

I left her to it. Basil had started to cast the spell that would open the portal and I needed to be ready at a moment’s notice. I did smile a little when I heard her swiping sand off her pants. A second later, the familiar tingle of hedge magic settled over the area. Something in my gut clenched. I missed that tingle.

Balling my fists, I allowed myself to face the waves. Ever since we landed on the beach, I’d been trying to block it out. There was no more time to be a chicken. That was all well and good except my legs stopped working about two metres from the water.

“Do you want me to drag you in when the time comes?” Isla asked.

Ridiculous as that was, I seriously contemplated it. “I’ll do everything I can to shorten the distance between the portal and the convergence,” Basil said. “But there’s still going to be some overlap.”

I bit my lip. “It’s okay. Just do what you need to do.” If it came down to it, I would force myself into the water through sheer recklessness.

As the first orange glow of dawn appeared over the waves, a rushing sound filled my ears. I thought it was Basil until something tugged at the pit of my stomach. Rachel crouched where she’d been standing, her head dropping between her knees.

I found myself drawn to the direction of Terran. “They’ve closed the soul gate,” Rachel informed me. “It means there’s an immediate threat in the area.”

My heart leaped into my throat. “Reinforce the invisibility circle,” I told her. “Keep it going as long as you can. We can’t be interrupted.”

Basil glanced at me. He nodded. My eyes followed the orange spark that began in the sand. It widened in circumference until it turned into a portal twice my height. It was disconcerting to hear the waves in the water not far from me and the waves inside the portal which were such a long way off.

Isla hissed. “This is insane.” I followed her line of sight to see dozens of golden-armoured Nephilim appearing in the sky above Terran. None of them were armed with angel blades. That very fact should have given them pause. The weapons they had been bestowed weren’t made to kill humans. How could they not see that?

Turning away quickly, I focused on the task in front of me. Mostly so I couldn’t scan the horizon for any signs of Kai. I didn’t want to believe that he would be part of an invading force with the intention of wiping out the Terrans.

Isla’s face settled into a mask of grim determination. When Basil was done with the portal, she stepped forward and raised her hands. Her wings materialised at her back. I didn’t think she noticed when they fluttered and she began to