Bloodline Alchemy: A Young Adult Urban Fantasy Academy Novel (Bloodline Academy Book 6) Lan Chan (uplifting novels .TXT) 📖

seating where one by one, mages and sorceresses were teleporting into their seats. Between the top of the wall and where they sat, a shimmering barrier of mauve light rose into the sky.

“Agatha!” I screamed, knowing this had to be her doing. “Let me out!”

Members of the crowd grinned, their opulent clothing amongst the stink made me think there was some major glamouring going on.

As more and more of the seats filled up, I tried to approach the wall to find where I had come through. The bricks were solid and reinforced by magic. A sweep of what felt like electricity zapped me when I touched it for too long.

“Agatha!” I screamed again.

She appeared in a wash of magenta-purple light. The crowd cheered for her. “What is this?” I said.

She smirked. “This is your destiny. No more hiding behind that sweet disposition. You will become what you were meant to be.”

“You’re insane!” I screamed. Magic blossomed all around me as more portals opened. “Let me out of here!”

“Perhaps,” she said, referring to my assessment of her mental health. “But better to be insanely who I am than fighting to be something I’m not.”

“You can’t do this!”

She waved a hand dismissively at me. “I would save my strength if I were you!”

“If they knew–”

She sneered at me. “Oh, they know.” She swept a hand to the left of the arena where a space had been cleared for a full-length mirror to be set. Through it, I could see the reflection of the people on the other side. Every few seconds the scene switched but they never repeated. The MirrorNet.

Agatha clicked her fingers to get my attention. “Unlike you, we don’t hide behind worthless rules. We’re not afraid of what we can do, and we’ll stick to it no matter what the consequences.”

My eyes dragged back to the mirror. My heart leaped into my throat. Angus and Ivan were on the other side. Angus’s lips moved but no sound came from the mirror. The way his face twisted said he was probably barking out orders. I waited with my breath held tight, but nothing happened. No elite guards showed up to bust the door down. Instead, more spectators kept appearing in their seats. Before too long, the stadium was full to bursting.

The scent of brimstone became so strong that my eyes watered.

Like a stunned fish, all I could do was stand there looking into the crowd. What had my palms turning sweaty was that there were demons in the crowd. They were low demons on the smaller side, like big guard dogs, but demons, nonetheless. They sat at the foot of a mage or sorceress or stood guard beside a supernatural on the aisle.

Most were gilded to their masters through a spell that leashed them with magic. Bound. That kind of magic was forbidden. The red tint in the eyes of the demons said that if the will of their masters slipped for even a second, they would break free and attempt to massacre us all.

Hugh appeared by Agatha’s side holding a small knife in his hand. My whole body clenched. “Here you go, little witch,” Hugh said. He waved his hand in a circular motion. A break appeared in the spell that held the barrier intact. He threw the knife onto the sand. “I’d pick it up if I were you. They’re a little bigger than rats.”

Apprehension had the circle drawing around me before I even turned around. Though I wanted to spit in his face, instinct had me staggering towards the knife. Over on the far side of the area, a portal was beginning to open. As it gaped, I saw through to the other side. It shone with the dull red light of the Hell dimension.

Crouching, I didn’t hesitate to pierce my skin with the knife. Blood trickled from my hand onto the sand. It soaked through instantly as I used it to draw a blood circle to reinforce my protection.

And then what, Sophie?

A knife this small would be less than a pinprick on the hide of a demon. Nausea and hysteria clawed at my throat. Useless. When it came down to it, I was defenceless. Without blood, I had nothing at all.

Except I did have blood. Fear locked me in its sights.

Good, that heinous voice echoed in my head. You’re learning. As long as there is blood, you will be safe.

Safety was the last thing on my mind as a thunderous roar whipped from the mirror and filled the area was shockwaves of anger. No, dear Gaia.

My attention dragged to the mirror where the head of an infuriated lion looked out at me. Max’s eyes were two simmering balls of rage. The streaks of blue and pink in his mane were glowing as though lit from inside by something not of this world. He rammed at the mirror. If he were indeed in front of glass, it would have shattered into a million pieces already. But I had a feeling what I was seeing was Max attempting to force the portal behind the mirror to open up. At his back, Charles stood with his head bowed, the glow of yellow bathing his face in a jaundiced light that made him appear sick.

And then I heard a scraping sound behind me, and everything else disappeared. “We wouldn’t leave you there without a way to protect yourself,” Agatha simpered. My heart shredded altogether when four silver poles appeared at even interval inside the circle of the arena. They were the width of the telephone poles used in the human world. Each one was constructed of pure silver, the metallic tang somehow transferring to me as a sour taste in my mouth. Shackled to each one of the poles was a supernatural. Ash coated my mouth.

Noah was strapped with his back to the pole on my left. Chains of silver latched across his chest and neck. His head lolled. Where the silver touched his skin without a barrier, it smoked and