Bloodline Legacy: A Young Adult Urban Fantasy Academy Novel (Bloodline Academy Book 4), стр. 33
I was so busy following the footsteps on the ground that I didn’t notice I was nearing the local fauna. Something collided with my shoulder. I almost tripped.
“Sorry,” I said absentmindedly.
I glanced up and my insides wilted. Chanelle’s expression dripped with malice.
“You will be.” She shoved me aside further with her hip and stalked way. The homing signal was pulsating on the ground. That meant I had reached my destination. All around me were unfamiliar faces. I had expected Chanelle to disappear, but when she joined a group of other girls her age, it finally dawned on me.
I was in a fourth-year class. So was she.
I wanted to curl into a ball on the floor and kick something.
14
Somebody tapped me on the shoulder. When Evan stepped up beside me, I sagged with relief. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” he said. “One you want to strangle.”
It was an apt observation. “Please, please tell me you’re in this class.”
He smiled at me. “It’s a prerequisite for a position in the First Order. Let me guess, you’re here because Jacqueline made you?”
I nodded dumbly. Part of my mind was still preoccupied with tracing Chanelle’s every move. Right now, she was over whispering harshly to her friends. Evan noticed my distraction.
“Try and ignore her,” he said. “Believe it or not, your presence makes her feel just as uncomfortable.”
“I’m not the one trying to break her bones at every turn.”
“You still hurt her nonetheless.”
It was strange to talk to someone who wasn’t of the overprotective caveman ilk. “You don’t think I should be upset?”
“I didn’t say that.” He tapped at his chin. “But she wasn’t always this vindictive.”
“You know her?”
“We were friends before she was chosen for Kai. All of us.” He looked over at her. “She must feel quite abandoned.”
I didn’t think she could feel anything but her own self-righteousness. But I didn’t get the chance to tell him so. A man in a dark suit appeared through the back entrance of the Academy. His blond hair was cut short on the sides and left longer at the top. The way the suit fit across his slim build made me think it was tailored for his body.
The other students stepped back and freed up space for him. “Good afternoon,” he said. “I’m Professor Montgomery. You’ve all chosen this class because you have aspirations to join the ranks of the First Order when you graduate.” He panned his attention across the dozen students huddled on the lawn until he reached me. “Well, most of you anyway.”
There was a murmur of soft laughter. “If you succeed in your goal and pass the entrance exam, your first test will be to ensure that you are not at the mercy of another magic user, demon, vampire etcetera. To that end, we will require a good deal of field work this semester.”
I saw it coming before he waved his hand. The Ley lines blinked into view around us. My back went rigid. All I saw was blue before the professor opened up a portal.
“Our lessons will be conducted at a secondary location,” Professor Montgomery said. The centre of the portal opened up to reveal a room inside the Dominion prison. I suppressed a groan. It was now doubly hard to get my body to move towards the opening.
I was the last one left on this side with the professor. “You’re holding everyone up, Alessia,” he said.
I peered through the portal. Chanelle stood there with her arms crossed over her chest. I bit the bullet and forced my way through. My vision was still half in the Ley dimension. The blinding flash of blue that lit up the foreground had me staggering even as my feet hit the other side.
I had to rub at my eyes to get the black dots to dissipate. There was no way I could keep doing that. Whatever was going on, it seemed to agitate my magic.
I only just managed to keep my balance. The professor stepped through behind me. He flicked his hand. The portal closed. I looked on with unrepentant envy. It was just so unfair that humans didn’t have that ability. It made me think of all the things they taught me in Terran Academy. The supernaturals had come into our dimension and brought demons with them. If we had had the power to close the portals, maybe we would have been able to stop the initial invasion from happening.
As usual, it was freezing in the prison. Thanks to Bloodline’s temperature-controlled atmosphere, I found myself shivering. Next time I would bring a jacket.
We were in the administration sector. There were mages of all shapes and sizes going about their business around us. Anyone could be a guard. The Nephilim had the strongest natural shields against the powers of the other species. It was a trait passed on to them through their seraphim blood. Shifters were almost impervious to vampiric compulsion.
The rest of us were at the mercy of the whims of those more powerful. They knew well enough to steer clear of this class. I could see why Jacqueline thought it might be a good idea for me to learn to defend against being manipulated. I just didn’t enjoy having the truth thrown in my face at every turn.
“This way,” the professor said. He led us through the admin area. Outside I could see the sky shining through the large floor-length windows. He pushed open the wooden door at the end of the corridor to reveal a room with high ceilings. This one was carpeted and there were actually paintings hung on the walls. It was austere at best but a riot of personality compared to the rest of the prison. What got my attention were the rows of guards standing just shy of the doorway.
“In order for you to move freely about the prison,” the professor said, “you will need