Melissa raised her hand again. In my periphery, I saw Sophie roll her eyes. “Professor,” Melissa said without waiting to be called on. “Isn’t it also true that there is a prophecy that says one of his blood will be able to find the weapon?”
All eyes in the room turned in my direction. My blood, his blood, pounded in my ears. But it wasn’t from embarrassment. I didn’t hear what the professor said next because I was so engrossed in reading ahead. For what it was worth, Melissa was right. There were accounts that said someone of Lucifer’s blood could retrieve the blade. And then I hit on something that I had to read three times before it sank in. I turned the textbook over and looked at the name of the author. Jacob Buchanan. I didn’t know who that was.
I raised my hand knowing I would get a lot of heat for it. There it was. All eyes on me again. “Yes?” the professor asked. Her tone was frosty. I was used to the cold my now.
“How reliable is the author of the book?” I asked.
There was a moment of poised silence. Professor Avery’s lips bowed. “Why would that matter?”
I glanced down at the information again. It mattered because there was a passage in there that speculated that Lucifer could be killed with his own blade. It didn’t solve the problem of the destruction of the dimension, but it was a start. I began to get terrible idea. What if I could draw a circle strong enough to contain the dissolution of power resulting from Lucifer’s death? The strength he gave me could be his eventual undoing.
“Of course it matters,” Winnie said when I tripped over my own answer. “How can you reliably teach this stuff if you can’t verify the information? Is it a credible source or not?”
Professor Avery’s turned her back to us. I thought for a second she might be counting numbers to contain her irritation.
When she turned around, her expression was severe. “The author is a notable figure in Nephilim society,” she said. “In supernatural society, in fact.” I waited with bated breath. “Jacob Buchanan is one of the most powerful necromancers to walk this dimension. He is immortal and is old enough to remember the fall. His expertise helped to build Seraphina.” She glared at me. “It was he who led the forces of the Hell dimension in the battle that almost destroyed Raphael’s line. Is that enough credibility for you?”
I sat there stunned. There was a photo of Jacob Buchanan on the inside of the cover. He was ash blond with a trim beard. His forehead was wide above eyes that were slightly too close together. There was nothing remarkable about him. By the same token, there was nothing to denote that he was evil either. The information whirred inside my mind. I latched onto something Professor Avery had said.
“Wait,” I said, this time without raising my hand. “You said he is a notable figure in Nephilim society.”
Professor Avery cracked her knuckles. “Yes,” she said. “He remains at large. He continues to lead the forces of Hell while his master is contained.”
Son of a bitch! It was no wonder Kai couldn’t let go of what happened. The man who had caused it all was still alive. I spent the rest of the class staring at his picture while half the class stared at me. When the bell rang, I filed out behind my friends.
“Of course she’s interested in Buchanan,” I heard a girl muttering to her elf friend. “She probably wants to know how to join him.”
I would have called them out on it except they weren’t the only ones doing it.
Somehow, I made it through the rest of the day. I was so distracted Diana almost impaled me during Weaponry and Combat. She had to drop her broadsword mid-swing. “Watch what you’re doing!” she screamed at me.
I ducked my head and literally curled into a ball while she glowered. It was the same during my training with Giselle. There was a second when she came at me that I was thinking of something else. I accidentally let go of the iron grip I had on my magic. Blue light flared in my mind as the Ley dimension encroached over this one. The brightness of my light was almost blinding. My vision turned into a speckle of stars when Giselle kicked me in the gut so hard I toppled over. I sat there clutching at my ribs, gasping for breath.
Fresh out of ideas about how to train me, Giselle stood stock still on the mat. I thought she might have finally lost her mind. Something sharp knocked on the side of my head. It became a persistent pressure. My vision wavered. A phantom from my childhood blurred on the mat. The image had my heart kicking in my chest. I gasped.
The circle snapped shut around me. It cleared my foggy thoughts and ejected Giselle from my mind. “Stay the hell out of my head!” I snarled at Giselle. I kept forgetting she was a mind witch.
“You best learn how to cheat,” she said. “At this rate, you’ll die in five seconds.”
I felt like I was already dying. By now all of my friends were annoyed at me for my lack of ability and enthusiasm. Call me crazy but I wasn’t taking to being tortured by a member of the Sisterhood. Not a single one of them stuck around to keep me company while I recovered enough to go back to the dorms.
Sophie had a shift in the dining hall till later that night. Before entering the room, I disabled the circle I’d put up for protection. It had become a force of habit these days. I threw my bag and training gear on the bed and stomped my frustration. It wasn’t like I hadn’t been trying. Every spare minute of my time was spent watching previous Unity Games trials to prepare
