Bloodline Diplomacy: A Young Adult Urban Fantasy Academy Novel (Bloodline Academy Book 3) by Lan Chan (best short novels .txt) 📕

In the front seat I saw Rachel grip her chair. If she had a knife she’d be flipping it right now.

For some reason I didn’t jump straight out of the car when Sean pulled it to a stop. Phoenix whined to be let out. I sat there staring ahead. Rachel cleared her throat. “I know Sam asked you not to reveal anything about us,” she said. I suspected she was thinking about the toxic waste solution because I sure as hell was. “They’re going to ask anyway.”

“They’ve already asked. So have you. That doesn’t mean I don’t know when to keep my mouth shut.” It was when I wanted to say something and couldn’t that really got to me. “That little library you have, does it have any books on Lucifer?”

She frowned. “Don’t think so.”

Great. Yet another dead end.

Kai lost patience and opened my door for me. Phoenix bounded out and tried to nip at his face. I got out after him with what I thought was a little more dignity. “Why is he here?” Kai asked.

“He refuses to be left behind.”

“He can’t stay at Bloodline.”

“Why not?”

Kai’s brow twitched. “You know why not. The concentration of supernatural energy will end up hurting him.”

“It’s only three days.”

“This isn’t a negotiation. There are strict rules for a reason.”

I blew out air through my nose, well aware that Sean and Rachel were hanging on to every word. “Please.”

His sombre mask lifted for a moment. Those forest-green eyes became backlit by the evening sun. He weaved his hand through the hairs at the nape of my neck. The pressure was excessively gentle but I felt completely captured. Boy was I in trouble.

“I’m not saying no because I want to, Blue.” I balanced on the balls on my feet and waited. Finally, he let out an irritated grunt. “Fine. But if he starts acting up, I want no part of it.”

Despite my blasé demeanour, when we got back to Bloodline, I ran up the dorm staircase as quickly as I could with Phoenix at my heels. I slammed the bedroom door shut as soon as we were inside. Okay, no alarm bells had gone off. Maybe nobody would notice I had an illegal pet. I stayed up late reading through Hilary Hastings’s diary. If there was a definition for unintelligible rambling, surely this was it. She had hectic handwriting and she didn’t stay within the lines. There were notes in the margins, and she crossed out stuff other people had written. None of it made sense. There were words in dead languages and lists of strange ingredients. If I didn’t know any better, I would have thought she was a mad woman. Maybe I wasn’t far off.

Finally, my eyes wouldn’t stay open. Phoenix slept by my bed.

I got up early to resume my duties in the Grove. Sophie had snuck in during the night and was snoring away. She’d left me a note to say she was glad I was back. She also wrote: DINGO??????

I scrawled one back to tell her we’d catch up at lunch time. I left Hilary’s diary beside the note asking Sophie to look into the ingredients listed in there. That was the best thing I could think of right now.

We swung past the dining hall. I left Phoenix outside by the liquidambar tree while I loaded a plate with a double helping of food. He gulped it down even faster than I did.

At the entrance of the Grove, I worried the wards would deny him entry, but he sailed over the fence without so much as a zap of static electricity. When the nymphs appeared to check out what all the commotion was, they chattered around him in pleasure. Why was it that they seemed to like everyone around here but me?

I took my time getting everything done. I had plans to visit Jacqueline before my first class. Maybe I was also hoping the meeting would cut into Elemental Magic a little. Her door was open when I arrived. Professor McKenna was in there with her. They waved me in.

“Umm...maybe I should come back another time?”

Phoenix bounded right in. Both women startled. “Lex?”

“Ahhh...yeah, that’s what I needed to talk to you about. He wouldn’t stay behind. Can I please keep him?”

Professor McKenna scratched at her cheek. “He’s a mortal animal,” she said. Phoenix licked her hand. I wasn’t sure but her lip lifted. I hardly saw her smile but it was close. “How long has he been here?”

“Since last night.”

They exchanged a look. “And he hasn’t been whining or crying?” Jacqueline said.

“Not that I’ve heard.” I had slept pretty soundly last night. The first time in days.

“I’m not sure,” Jacqueline said. “There are rules against this type of thing. What would we tell the other human students if they want to bring their pets to school?”

“Tell them if their pet survives a bloodletting conjuring they’re welcome to it?”

She pursed her lips at me. The warning bell rang. “You’re not to take him to classes with you. That’s not negotiable. He is to be controlled at all times. I’m not saying this to be restrictive. There are beings here that might not take well to him. I wouldn’t want anything to happen to him.”

I was in the middle of backing out when she called me back. “I’m glad you’re home,” Jacqueline said. “I know it must be hard to go back and forth. We will sort this out eventually.”

I nodded. They would sort it out. I just wasn’t sure how many people would be left standing afterwards. I bolted to the billabong with Phoenix running beside me. When I arrived, the yowies scattered. I raced around trying to find the bunyip. The second warning bell sounded.

“Damn.” I rounded on the dingo. “Stay here. Don’t mess with anything. I’ll come back to get you after classes.”

He was already too busy sniffing at the sulphurous water to even notice I was leaving. I just hoped the bunyip wouldn’t take