Bloodline Secrecy: A Young Adult Urban Fantasy Academy Novel (Bloodline Academy Book 2) by Lan Chan (best e ink reader for manga TXT) 📕

said. “More homework. If I’d known it was going to be like this, I wouldn’t have tried so hard in the physical exam.”

“Buck up,” Max said. “Next semester we get to go out into the field and use our skills on real demons.”

That was not a prospect I was looking forward to. In fact, there wasn’t much to look forward to at all. By the time I met Diana in the gym, I was ready to kick some butt. Instead, I got it handed to me.

“You’re doing all of the right stuff,” Diana said as she offered me a hand and hauled me to my feet for the fiftieth time. “It’s just that you’re so small.”

“It’s because you’re swinging a two-tonne axe in my face!”

She grinned. “Roland got it for me for my birthday.” She pushed the blade dangerously close to me. “Cool, huh?”

“That’s not exactly how I’d describe it.”

She brushed a hand over her forehead. While she tied back the braid that had come loose, Diana surveyed me. “I feel like the only way you’re going to be able to get the upper hand on an opponent is if you’re a lot faster.”

“Too bloody bad if I’m fighting a supernatural, huh?”

“Humans do tend to be limited by that.”

“Doesn’t matter,” I said. “Let’s just keep going. Practice and sucking is better than no practice at all.”

“What a disturbing thought.”

She levelled her axe at me and charged.

All I could do was try not to die. That felt very much like the theme of my life.

9

Despite what everyone kept saying, over the next three weeks, things did not get better. We had to get Professor McKenna who taught Potions and Alchemy to help us remove the magical graffiti from our door. Two days later it was decorated with the words, “Morning Star Spawn.”

Jacqueline wanted to make the bulletin, but I steadfastly refused. If they couldn’t catch the person who did it, the last thing I wanted was to bring even more attention to it. After snapping at Brigid, I had learned that if I didn’t ignore it, the snide remarks got worse.

None of that really mattered to me. I just blocked it all out. It wasn’t as though I had grown up with a lot of friends. Having Sophie and Diana as well as the boys to talk to was more than enough.

We had all been dead wrong about one thing, though. Keeping away from Kai had the exact opposite effect that I’d hoped. I went from the girl Malachi Pendragon paid too much attention to, to the girl Malachi Pendragon pointedly ignored. Which seemed to give them license to treat me even worse.

It turned out Astrid’s father was Walter Bellamy, a member of the Council. It made Brigid furious. But because she couldn’t take it out on Astrid, she decided that it was all my fault really. Kai cornered me in the corridor one evening on my way to meet Diana.

I would have shoved past him if he hadn’t flattened him palm against the wall to stop me. “Blue.” It was the note of pity that had my temper simmering over.

“What did I say? Here I am getting blowback even though I haven’t done anything wrong.”

Technically neither had he. His only crime was that he was Malachi Pendragon. I deliberately ignored the fact that Astrid was now a permanent fixture at his side. He met her every day for dinner before her evening patrol. He always stood way too close to her in the dining hall line, his hand clasped possessively on her lower hip. I was surprised she didn’t pop up now and scream “Boo!”

“Can you please move your arm?”

“Can you please stop for a second and hear me out?”

I glanced up at him. It was a mistake. I’d made it a point not to make eye contact for a reason. I was already breathing through my mouth in an effort not to inhale the wood smoke and cedar scent of him.

“I have to meet Diana,” I said.

“How is it going?”

I shrugged.

“Blue.”

“What?” I snapped. “What?” I didn’t understand why he continued to try and torture me when it was obvious to everyone that he had moved on.

His eyes went wide.

My words were serrated. They were covered in anger to dampen the despair I was so desperately trying to hide. “Are you deaf or something? I said to just leave me alone. Maybe by the time I graduate some of the blowback might have washed away.”

One of the only advantages of being small was that I could squeeze through tight spaces. I slipped below his arm and was gone before he could say a word.

“Ow!” Diana said. I’d actually gotten in a hit. She was exaggerating the pain as a way of encouraging me. It just fuelled the rage inside me even more. As grateful as I was for her help, the thing with Diana was that she wasn’t in the same demographic as what I needed to help me fight. She was all about brute force. I needed to find an instructor who could teach me to fight against someone who was stronger, faster, and could fly.

It was illogical. If I couldn’t beat Diana, there was no way I was going to be able to take on Lucifer. But over the past month I had become obsessed with the idea. It was getting to the point where I was afraid to close my eyes because I knew the vision was waiting for me. So much so that I found myself biting the bullet and approaching Bradley early one morning when I caught him jogging as I was leaving the Grove.

“Bradley!”

He ignored me and kept running. What the hell? I chased after him. We had physical education classes like any other high school I had been to over the years. Keeping in shape was mandatory. Demons were as fast as any of the supernatural races. When all else failed, outrunning them was a final option.

Sadly, Bradley was a step above