Bloodline Legacy: A Young Adult Urban Fantasy Academy Novel (Bloodline Academy Book 4), стр. 34

to be tagged. That way, the wards will know not to trigger at your presence.” I stood stock still as the other students approached one of the mages. They held out their wrists and the mage traced a symbol on their skin. It was the symbol of the First Order.

“Come on, Alessia,” Professor Montgomery pushed. “We don’t have all day.”

Feeling harassed, I turned to the nearest mage. She was a stocky female with pleasant features and dark chestnut hair. She reminded me of Diana. It was the only thing that got me to bare my wrist to her. Though it didn’t hurt per se, a sharp tingle ran up my arm after she made the sign.

I stared at the mark until it faded. Having done their job, the mages left the room. They had barely spoken the whole time they were there.

“Freaky,” I said. Evan caught my observation.

“Being around the inhabitants of the prison has made them cautious,” he said.

“That’s not cautious. It’s paranoid.” I couldn’t help thinking about Giselle when she’d been in here. I shuddered at the thought of becoming just like that.

The professor beckoned us forward. He drew his hands together in front of him, two fingers on each hand crossed over each other. He made a sweeping motion and the room filled with single desks and chairs.

The students scrambled to take their seats. I gravitated to the back of the class and chose a seat in the corner. For some reason, Evan followed me. He sat down in the empty desk beside me. I suspected that reason was an infuriating Nephilim who was trying to keep tabs on me.

A scroll the size of a world map appeared on an easel in the front of the room. The picture on it made me frown. The professor confirmed my suspicions. “This is a map of the only upper floor of the prison,” he said. “The rest of the prison is below ground. This floor is comprised of those criminals who have been imprisoned for minor crimes. They are the least dangerous. For safety purposes, I want you to make yourself familiar with the layout and any of the exits. There is a copy of it in your textbooks.”

I flipped through until I found the diagram in question. The next page began a new topic. Huh. I suppose it would be a security risk if they provided everyone with a copy of the map for the entire prison.

The professor conjured himself a desk. He sat down on the lip. “Now,” he said. “Who can tell me the first rule when it comes to resisting the magic of another supernatural?”

“Don’t be human,” Chanelle cooed. Some of the class snickered. The professor kept his expression neutral.

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” he said. “There are some humans in the history books who have proven impervious to at least one or two supernatural spells.”

Evan raised his hand. The professor nodded at him. “As with most situations,” Evan said, “always be prepared.”

“That’s right, Mr. McKinnon,” the professor said. “It might be a tired cliché, but it is certainly a true one. The worst thing a person can do when dispatched to fight a demon or a rogue supernatural is to be unprepared. Your theoretical learning is just as important as your practical skills. Understanding your enemy could very well save your life.

“In your junior years you would have learned all the general ways to counteract the powers of other supernatural species. In this class, you will not only put those into practice, but you will learn who you are as a hunter as well. Let me warn you that the First Order has been charged with keeping the supernatural world protected against itself. It is not a duty to be taken lightly. Some of you may fancy yourselves capable. We will see if that is true.”

He scanned the room and seemed satisfied of something. “I see that we are without any students from Nightblood Academy.”

There was a collective chuckle of good humour. The Nightbloods tended to stick to their own. Technically, the necromancers were mages too, but their field of expertise was so niche they had separated and formed their own sub-group. A law unto themselves. I thought back to what Sasha had said about Andrei’s family. Perhaps not.

“I understand there are some who may be apprehensive about the long leash Nightblood allows their students,” the professor went on to say. Tell me about it. He waved his hand at somebody just outside the door. “Resisting a vampiric compulsion is one of the earliest lessons we teach our apprentices. It is also one of the skills that are necessary to become a Dominion guard. Today, I want to test your resistance.”

I gulped. It was completely at odds with the thrill of excitement that ran through the room. Beside me, Evan showed no signs of distress. He had been the one to help Kai extract me from the human world. I’d bet he could resist a vampiric compulsion with his eyes closed.

Thorns wrapped around the stone in my throat as the door opened. The prisoner was strapped to an upright gurney, his head encapsulated in a purple bubble of magic. His head was shaved and his feet bare. Like most of the human prisoners you saw on television shows, he was decorated in a number of magical tattoos. These ones were runes etched on the side of his neck.

The mage who wheeled him in wore a navy-blue cloak of a First Order journeyman. But it was the boy who walked placidly behind him that caught my attention. Everything around me stopped. Evan pushed himself forward in his chair at the sight of Fred.

At Bloodline, Fred had started off terrified of everything around him. He wore glasses and had about as much muscle mass as a pillow. As the semester progressed, he grew into himself with the help of demonic tutoring.

I hardly recognised the lean-muscled boy who strode up to the front of the class.