Bloodline Secrecy: A Young Adult Urban Fantasy Academy Novel (Bloodline Academy Book 2), Lan Chan [readict TXT] 📗

Academy. They were cloaked in darkness. I didn’t recognise any of their silhouettes. What I did recognise was the sweep of the pattern their hands were making in the air. No!

The portals opened as the scream locked in my throat. I drew a circle around the one that was opening a few feet in front of me. The dark magic clashed against my mind, but I gripped tight and held the portal closed. The first demon that tried to thrust itself against the blue of my circle got its arm seared off for its trouble. That held back the tide for a second, but it wouldn’t hold for long.

There was no time for anything but instinct. Giselle might have stolen my body, but my mortal self wasn’t where my power resided. Lowering myself down to the earth, I threaded my hands into the grass and let my hedge magic flow. The ground beneath me shook as my ears picked up the gnashing of teeth. I heard the deep-throated growl of beings who were so twisted they could no longer speak.

I rose as the first demon ran at me. Reacting through muscles memory, I gripped Curtis’s broadsword and swung. No way in hell would I have been able to deal with the weight of the sword in my own body. With Giselle’s, I sliced through the four-legged demon that shuffled along the ground. The sickening crunch of metal against bone made my nerves quiver. There was no time to be squeamish.

No sooner had I cut down the first demon did another one come at me. At the same time, I had to manoeuvre to stay standing as the earth tore apart beneath me. The trees reacted to the pouring out of my magic by coming alive. They dragged their roots from the ground and swiped at the demons coming out of the portals.

A squat demon with spines all along its back launched itself at me. I stepped to the side in time to feel the sting of its claws under my chin. It landed a few feet away from me and roared. The thing’s mouth opened to reveal several layers of serrated teeth. In between the teeth were chunks of flesh that were still oozing blood.

I lifted the sword out in front of me just as a laboured groan sounded from behind me. The demon charged. I met it with a flash of metal. It opened its mouth to catch the tip of the blade in its teeth. I was so focused on pushing back so that I didn’t get bitten that I didn’t notice the thing had a tail. It whipped to the side and clubbed me across the chest. The air escaped my lungs and I stumbled. I would have gone down had something not broken my fall. More than one something.

Leathery hands helped me stand. I glanced down to find a group of furry creatures scrambling beside me. They were all hair and wide mouths. Yowies. Their claws were much smaller than the demon’s, but when it came at me again, they didn’t hesitate to launch themselves at it. Just as I wasn’t affected by the draining because my magic was of this dimension, the creatures that came from the Earth dimension were also unaffected.

A guttural growl rent the air. I turned in its direction in time to watch the bunyip lumbering across the lawn. For a second, its massive glassy eyes rolled so that it was looking in my direction. It thrust its head upwards and gouged a hole into an eight-legged demon that tried to get in its way.

I tried to race forward after it only to be hauled back by the horde of yowies. The one clinging to the back of my shirt swung me around so I faced the direction of the junior school. It pointed. They all followed suit.

Overhead, coloured flares of magical energy darted into the sky. One of the smaller Japanese maples that decorated the ornamental lake was using its branches to climb up the side of the Academy’s walls. I tried to turn back to where the criminal mages were holding their ground, but the yowies wouldn’t allow me to inch forward.

The big one shoved me in the direction of the assembly hall. They let out a chorus of deep moaning growls. I wasn’t sure how, but in that moment, I understood.

“Look after them,” I said. And then I started to run.

42

The assembly hall was where the Arcane Magic demonstrations were supposed to be held. I had thought perhaps Giselle would be at my trial. If she was inside the assembly hall it could mean she’d gone back on my decision to showcase for Herbology. I thought of the circle she had used to transmutate our souls. All manner of evil could be going on in there. I could already be too late.

Pushing the thought aside, I sprinted across the field that intersected the two campuses. The Fae lights had been extinguished. Here and there I spotted the artful mounds of pumpkins. They were now smashed and spilling their seedy guts onto the grass.

Something flapped membranous wings. I didn’t dare look up and continued to run. I knew the sound big feathery wings made by now. It did not sound like that. The magic continued to spill from the well inside my mind. My skin licked with the heat of flames as one of the mages set fire to the trees.

I sucked in smoky air that shouldn’t have been able to reach me this far away. I was running out of time. The lights in the assembly hall were on. Curiously, the junior campus was silent. Some of the kids had siblings and other relatives who would be undertaking the showcase. There was no way they could all be asleep.

I was distracted as I touched the handle of the assembly hall. The zap of magic was not unexpected, but I was unprepared. It snapped up my arms and threw