That came shortly after. “I think it might be a good idea for you to undo the blood circle,” Professor Mortimer said.
The nymphs went into a rage. The gist of their issue was that the edge of Nightblood was encroaching on the Grove. The school itself absorbed a certain amount of living energy as a way to fuel their spells. The nymphs were not okay with that energy coming from the Grove.
Professor Mortimer ducked and weaved his head under the assault of the flying nymphs. “Ladies,” he said. “Professor Flint and I can set up another barrier that will funnel energy from elsewhere. But Alessia’s blood barrier is too unstable. If she loses control of it, she might end up taking out the Grove if it goes wrong.”
The nymphs put their heads together. Once in a while they cast sidelong glances at me. There was a great deal of gesturing.
The professors didn’t seem to have any trouble understanding what was being said. Finally, the nymphs seemed to agree. The purple nymph flew up to me. She came to a stop at eye level. There was something hesitant in the way she peered at me. She produced a tiny dagger.
I lifted my finger and waited for the lick of pain. The nymphs had always tried to make my life difficult. I expected her to cut a gaping wound in my hand. Instead, she pierced my skin as though using the dagger as a needle. It was only deep enough to draw a small drop of blood. She nicked her own hand and pressed it to mine.
I knelt down in the grass and used the small amount of blood to draw a circle. Then I placed my palm over it and scrubbed the circle away. With each brush of my palm I felt the blood barrier disintegrating.
The loud pop in my ear when it finally eroded was followed by the roaring of what sounded like an ocean. I braced my arms over my head as the pressure between my eyes built to an almost unbearable level. I was dragged into the Ley dimension.
The blue was absolute. There was no more distinction between me and anything around me. I felt a sob snag in my throat.
A tingle of magic rolled over my skin. I couldn’t see the spark of Professor Mortimer’s light in the Ley dimension. All I saw was blue. I was starting to hate that colour. An unfamiliar lick of magic stroked over me. I imagined that was Professor Flint’s magic.
I forced myself back to reality. Jacqueline was leaning over me.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
I rubbed at my eyes. The morning sunshine was suddenly too bright. “I guess so.”
She glanced around the Grove. “I suppose we should have done something about this after you felt the need to create the blood barrier in the first place.”
“That might have been helpful.”
Jacqueline sighed. The Nightblood headmaster had moved off to speak to the two professors. Not that either of them was in any state to make conversation at the moment. “Once the games are over, we can go back to normal,” she said.
I bit my lip.
“What are we doing to prepare for the growing forces of the Hell dimension?” I blurted. It was unfair of me to lay this at her feet. But in the absence of anyone on the Council, I had to direct it at somebody.
“All of the factions have been gearing up for war since that day you claimed to have seen Lucifer in the Fae forest,” Jacqueline surprised me by saying. “There have been reports of areas where there is an unusual amount of demonic energy without the usual blowout of violence. Almost like the demons are gathering themselves into a force and not giving into their baser instincts to kill.” She raked her fingers through her hair. “Thankfully, we still have some time before that might happen.”
She tipped my chin up. “About last night –”
“I don’t even want to go there,” I said. “I know I shouldn’t have lost my temper but there is only so much I can take.”
“I wasn’t going to punish you, Lex.”
“Damn straight. They were lucky I only went for the statue.”
She let out a small laugh. “Yes, they are very lucky.” She brushed her hand over the grass. “Declan and Sam have asked to attend the Unity Games.”
I balked. “That’s just what I need. More people to come and see me fail.”
“Based on what we saw last night, I think they’re hoping to see a human victory.”
“Well, they should probably come to one of my training sessions to divest themselves of that notion. I suppose there’s no way the Nephilim Council are going to pick me now.”
Jacqueline shrugged. “You wouldn’t want them to.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’ve seen what goes on in Pantheon. Imagine that on a grander scale. The way they let their students run rampant is completely against the edict the seraphim have given us.”
“And yet none of the seraphim have seen fit to step in.” I knew how she would respond.
“Free will,” we both said at the same time. I made a face.
“Alright,” Professor Mortimer said. He and Professor Flint came back from the site of the barrier. “That should keep the structure intact for the remainder of the semester.” He mopped at his brow. Professor Flint was also looking decidedly green.
“Are you gentlemen feeling alright?” Headmaster Stan asked.
“Just a little drained,” Professor Flint said. “The barrier was stronger than either of us imagined. What have these nymphs been doing?”
The nymphs were fortuitously absent at the moment. I left shortly after to meet the rest of my friends for breakfast. Astrid was regaling last night’s events with a big grin. “I’ll remember the moment Douglas Laurent’s head popped off for the rest of my life,” she said.
“Way to be morbid,” Diana told her.
Astrid shrugged. “His death was a tragedy. But that thing last night was an atrocity.”
Speaking of atrocities, Andrei sat alone at a table close to us. Every now and
