Bloodline Secrecy: A Young Adult Urban Fantasy Academy Novel (Bloodline Academy Book 2) Lan Chan (pdf e book reader .TXT) 📖

captains, there had been a natural leadership shift. Kai and Max were at the head of the lines. Everybody else filed in behind them.

Shayla sighed. The glass in the mirrors shimmered until an image of the arena came into view. I gawped. The last of the competitors went through the doors. They sealed shut with the red of a magical spell. Two guards I hadn’t noticed before stood ready at the exit.

“Huh,” I said.

“What?” Sophie responded.

“I didn’t notice how many guards there are here tonight.”

“Of course,” Shayla said. “Many of us are shifters, but with everything else that’s been happening these days we thought it best to take extra precautions.” Judging by the pallid skin and dark eyes of the guards, they were vampiric. Now that I had cottoned on, I spotted a few other out-of-place characters in the crowd of spectators.

About forty of the party goers had elected to play in the games. There were twice as many still out here watching. I assumed there were some who were in the other undercover area and near the huts of food.

The image in the mirrors shifted to show the combatants streaming into the arena. The playing ground was that of a dense, subtropical forest. I wouldn’t have expected anything else given the majority of the party goers were shifters. There was an overlay of green to the images we were seeing.

I squinted. “It’s night vision magic,” Shayla said. “For the benefit of non-shifters, of course.”

“How thoughtful.” I hadn’t meant for it to come out so sarcastic, but Shayla laughed. “Does that mean it’s darker inside the arena?”

“It’s pitch black in there.”

I balked, thinking of Diana. Cassie patted my hand. “Don’t worry,” she said. “Diana is a dwarf. They’re used to the dimness of their caves. She’ll be fine.”

“Good thing you decided not to play, huh?” Sophie said. “I’ve seen one of these played entirely in an underwater arena.”

“Oh yes,” Shayla said. “I remember that. They didn’t even warn the contestants. So many fatalities that day. The aquatic shifters and vampires had a field day.”

“What do you mean fatalities?” I said. “People die in this thing?”

“Not usually,” Shayla said. “We take precautions. But it’s difficult to guard against everything. Sometimes, things happen.”

I was not placated by that statement one bit. “How are they even going to be able to work out who’s on their team?”

“That’s half the fun of the game.”

None of this appeared fun at all.

I wasn’t ready for the first casualty. It turned out I’d been right about Kai’s intentions. The mirrors were slightly biased about who they tailed. Unless something brutal was going on that would capture the crowd’s attention, they showed images of the most adept fighters.

Cassie and I watched with bated breath as her cousin glided through the branches in the canopy with the graceful, quiet gait of a predator. Below him, the shifter who had annoyed him earlier was wading through the thick grass. My heart stopped as Kai slid down the tree to drop in front of the shifter. Surprise had the boy rearing. He was in the middle of the shift into something furry when Kai held up the gun and shot him at almost point-blank range. It happened so quickly my vision didn’t even have time to adjust.

A spark of what looked like electricity shot out of the gun to encase the boy in a sphere of green fire. He beat at the enclosure, but it rose up into the air. Without even bothering to watch where his prey was headed, Kai turned and was running through the underbrush.

The mirror shifted to give us an intimate view of Max running down one of his friends. Even though he was still in human form, the chase reminded me very much of a lion pelting through the Serengeti. My heart stuttered when Max vaulted up into the trees. He was almost as fast in the canopy. A sudden change in direction had me confused until I saw he was trying to cut his friend off from a different direction. The crowd cheered in vicious glee when Max dropped down on top of the other shifter. The shot to the back of the shoulder had me wincing. Like Kai’s hit, the other shifter became encased in green fire.

The mirror showed the boy being lifted into the sky. It was the only bit of light in the whole arena. The screens split into dozens of images of the other contestants as they watched the casualties being airlifted. For a second the green light around the downed contestants radiated and flared.

A confused rumbling began amongst the spectators. They turned their heads as though watching for something. “Where are they?” I heard someone in front of us say.

Shayla got to her feet. In the mirror, the magical enclosure continued to smoulder. Kai finally stopped stalking to glance up at the sky. His shadowy features scowled. When the bubbles eventually popped, the magic having run out, both boys screamed. If they were human, falling from that height would mean instant death. For shifters, that might not be the case. But it would mean a world of hurt.

Without a moment’s hesitation, wings sprouted from Kai’s back. He shot straight up and raced to grab the boys before the impact. While I was watching what was happening on screen, Shayla and her husband were at the entrance of the arena, speaking hurriedly to the guards. There was a lot of agitated hand gesturing.

“Something’s wrong,” Sophie said. “Those guys should have been spat out of the arena after they were tagged.”

On my other side, Cassie was mute.

I was still watching the arena. The screens fluctuated. When the mirrors cleared again, the image was much less visible. A shadow crept over the picture. One that had nothing at all to do with distortion. Goosebumps pricked all the way up my arms. Sophie gripped my hand. I hauled her up with me as I stood.

My heart leaped into my throat. A thousand needles punctured