Bloodlines: Academy of Magical Beings, #4

By Emery Cole

Daniel Arceneaux has a goal and Alyssa being alive is not on the agenda. When she's taken captive, her entire family and friends—both living and alive—have to come to her rescue.

 

Can Alyssa be saved? What role will Awena play in this milennia old game?

• Language: English
• Publisher: EmCo
• Release date: May 2, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201912888

Book preview

1

ALYSSA

They say that hindsight is twenty-twenty.

For the duration of my life, I have never questioned that saying. It seemed like a reasonable judgment to make. However, it wasn't until the moment that I was staring fate right in the eyes that I realized just how true that little phrase was.

We often don't truly know what we're getting ourselves into until it is too late. In hindsight, given everything that was happening in Deadwater—all of the darkness brewing right underneath our noses—it wasn't a good idea for me to go on the mountains alone. At the moment, though, I was acting on instinct. I was the only person who went on the mountains without fearing them, and so I assumed that, as usual, I would be alone.

That was a grand mistake, one that I would pay for dearly. I knew something was wrong the moment I set foot on the smallest mountain. Yet, I didn't turn around and go back home. I was too shocked by the unfamiliar sensation of foreboding. The comfort that I found in the darkness that I shared with the mountains was not there anymore. It was overshadowed by a different kind of darkness, the kind that was not natural.

The darkness was malicious. It descended upon me fast. It made me weak, forcing me to my knees. I remembered hearing a voice as I fell to the ground, a cruel one so icy that it turned my blood to frost in my veins.

There, there, little one… I was looking for you. How nice that you've met me halfway here.

It was a familiar voice, but before I could think too much about whom it belonged to, I fell into the abyss. I didn’t know how long I floated there for—hours or days or years. When I woke up, what had once been a pleasant afternoon had transformed into an impenetrable night.

I awakened with a start, sitting upright and gasping for air. My wrists were bound with rope, though not so tightly that it was painful. My ankles were also tied together. Clearly, whoever took me—and I had a feeling I already knew who it was—didn’t want me running away.

Obviously, that only made me want to run away even more.

Despite that, I didn't call out for help. I knew it would be useless. I was at the top of a mountain, one of the Three Sisters. The tallest one, the peak furthest to the west, and the longest distance away from my house.

I rarely came on this mountain, but it was familiar to me, nonetheless. It was the mountain that was believed to represent the oldest sister in the ancient legend. She was the one who had a daughter that no one knew of named Awena. A daughter that she gave her life to shelter and protect, taking an arrow straight through the heart to keep Awena safe.

The top of this mountain was fairly barren of forest, unlike the two smaller mountains beside her. This mountain had a summit that was treacherously rocky. It did not gradually decline, rolling down to the town with ease like the other sisters. Rather, this mountain broke off at the top to form a jagged cliffside. A sharp, bloody drop offered one of the few ways down to level ground. This sister was not gentle, but not because she was inherently cruel. It was because she was broken. Because an arrow had pierced her heart. Because she lost everything the day that the northern tribe attacked one thousand years ago.

At first, all I could see was the dark chasm of nothing that gaped open over the side of the cliff. I was lying in the dirt only a few feet away from the edge. The second that I got my bearings and realized how close I was, I scooted back to the best of my ability despite my bonds. If I accidentally tumbled over the side of the cliff, I wasn't confident magic could have saved me. I would surely die.

Overhead, the moon was full. Usually, I found comfort in the presence of the moon. It sometimes felt like she was one of my sisters, a silver lamp in the dark of night. However, the moon felt ominous that evening, as if she was grieving the power she gave to our planet as if she was being used for something that she did not approve of.

Suddenly, there was a rustling of movement behind me. I wriggled around, putting my back to the ominous cliff.

Standing beside a glowing fire several yards away from me were two figures. I recognized them instantly. Before I could stop myself, I spoke aloud.

Nick? I called out. Bethany? What are you doing here?

They didn't react. It was as if they didn't see me there at all. Like they couldn’t even hear me.

Hello? Guys? Are we up here for a reason? Do you think you could untie me?

Deep down, I already knew that they weren't going to help me. I already knew who the bad guy was, the devil that crept around underneath our noses. Nick Arceneaux and Bethany Larose were the two closest people to him and, therefore, would be of no help to me.

I was doomed, but I wasn’t quite sure what to do about it.

I peered closer at my fellow Arceneaux University students, squinting through the darkness to get a better look at their faces, which were subtly illuminated by the large circle of fire they stood beside. The fire was magical in nature, self-contained, and not at risk of spreading around the mountain.

Nick and Bethany both had an odd look on their faces. Their expressions were utterly blank; they looked like robots or dolls. Their minds did not belong to themselves at that moment but to the person who controlled them. Frantically, I looked around for something that might help me. I tried to struggle to my feet despite the ropes around my ankles, but my limbs were so weak that I could hardly move at all. My head spun from the sheer effort of it.

Hello? Is anybody up here?

In answer, Nick and Bethany started chanting. I froze instantly. Their voices were low and deep in a way that wasn't natural to either of them.

They were definitely possessed.

I tried to catch what they were chanting, but it was a strange language. It was neither Latin nor Hebrew nor anything that I could ever hope to recognize. It sounded ancient. I didn't know much about languages, though. If only Ronin Hayworth was here.

Oh, God. Ronin and my sisters, Carissa and Everly. Did they even know that I was missing? They were probably freaking out if they did.

Once again, I was kicking myself for deciding to go onto the mountains by myself. I should have waited for Cody to get out of class. I should’ve listened to him when he said that it wasn’t a good idea to go for a hike by myself. Unfortunately, it was instinctive for me not to listen to a warning like that. People have been telling me that it wasn’t wise to walk alone in the mountains my entire life. They tried to scare me away from them, to convince me that I would meet nothing but my doom up here.

But, for me, the mountains were a peaceful refuge from the more complicated world on lower ground, and I had never felt in danger while walking on them before. I learned to ignore all of the ghost stories and the foolish warnings about the Three Sisters. It became a habit. However, things were out of sorts recently. My mother was dead, and I was pretty sure I knew who killed her. My sisters were being confronted by people they thought they could trust, attacked because we might be the ancestors of an ancient bloodline and therefore the key to a well of power that could make someone the most powerful witch or a warlock on earth. Basically, we were walking targets.

The fact that Carissa and Everly had somehow proved themselves irrelevant should’ve immediately clued me in to the fact that I was the only option left. I was the one to look for. I was the prey, the one that would be hunted down when my sisters were unwanted. Whoever was on a journey to wreak havoc in Deadwater was right on my trail. I felt like a fool for not figuring that out sooner, for not sticking around my sisters and keeping myself updated with the progress on their investigation.

Instead, I wanted to pretend that everything was normal and go for a simple walk. I thought that I would be able to get away with it. I thought I had time. I thought everything would be okay.

Nick and Bethany started chanting louder, their voices humming deep into the earth even from their distance away from me. I could feel the ground trembling slightly from their words, and I was also able to pick out the sounds more clearly now that they had raised their volume. Still, I didn’t know what any of it meant.

"Nodam gizos. Namito gizos," they chanted in unison. Their bodies were still as stone, and the image of them standing on the other side of the crackling fire, flickering shadows in the distance, made my skin crawl.

Hello? I called out again. Can somebody help me, please?

I didn’t know why I was bothering calling out for help. I was pretty sure that anyone who was up there with Nick and Bethany wasn’t interested in setting me free. Was it them who had kidnapped me? Had they taken me out with a wave of darkness and knocked me unconscious before dragging me up the mountainside? Why would they do that?

I had to stop asking myself questions that I already knew the answers to. The problem was that the answers made me sick to my stomach. I didn’t want to believe that they could be true.

They were working for him.

At that moment, I recognized one of the words amongst the chanting.

"Nodam Awena. Namito Awena."

Awena. She was the reason for all of this. I grew still as Nick and Bethany continued to repeat those same lines with Awena’s name. Were they trying to summon her spirit? If not, who else were they chanting to? It wasn’t a particularly modern method for casting a spell.

When I pressed my palms to the earth, I could sense the Three Sisters and their familiar energy, but it was weak and feeble as if I was hovering a hundred miles above them rather than sitting atop the summit.

You recognize her name, don’t you, Alyssa? came the sound of a terribly familiar voice somewhere to my left.

I whipped my head to the side, searching the shadows in the dense thicket of forest that began a dozen paces away from my spot on the ground. I hadn’t taken much time to observe the trees when I first opened my eyes because it was so dark that I couldn’t see through the nearly impermeable wall of tangled pine branches, but as I continued to sit there uselessly in the dirt, a shadow began to take shape. Soon enough, a man emerged from the tree line.

Headmaster Arceneaux, I whispered. I had suspicions about him. I never much liked him or trusted him, and the idea that he might have blood on his hands didn’t seem as bizarre to me as it did to my older sisters.

He smiled cruelly as he approached me, his footsteps slow and measured as if he had all the time in the world. He paused a few feet away, smiling down at me like an old friend, like we planned to meet here this entire time. I gazed up at him. My lips parted in shock. I wished I was a stronger witch, but I was speechless with fear.

Yes, hello, Alyssa. I am glad to see you’re awake. You were out for most of the day, but this is good timing. We can begin now.

What’s going on? I choked out. What are you doing to me? I feel strange.

Headmaster Arceneaux crouched down in front of me, his cruel smile not once faltering as he tilted his head to the side and observed my face. A chill ran down my spine.

You are confused, he said. It wasn’t a question. Yes, it seems that your sisters are a few steps ahead of you. I’ve been very busy today, but I have been keeping a close eye on them. Unfortunately for them—and for you, too, I suppose—I am always several steps ahead. I have prepared well for this day. It is generations in the making, after all.

I continued to stare at him, unsure what to say. I had a dozen questions, starting with what the hell are you talking about, but I couldn’t muster the strength or the stability to push out the words from between my trembling lips. This was the headmaster of the university I attended. This was the man I had known all my life. His son grew up with my sisters and me. Our families had never been close, but they were always there. To think that Headmaster Arceneaux could’ve been an evil man with cruel intentions all along was horrifying.

Then again, maybe he wasn’t always evil. At least, not explicitly so. Maybe he was born with malicious potential, but he didn’t actually become a monster until the opportunity presented itself. Either way, it was horrifying to see the darkness that the headmaster had been concealing all these years.

Alyssa, I must ask you to just let me check something very quickly, he said in an oddly patient tone of voice. I’ll be able to explain everything to you once I am done.

By way of explanation, he reached out and tugged down the collar of my shirt. I gasped and flinched away, my mind going to a completely different conclusion than the one I had originally expected, but that was quickly dashed to bits when all the headmaster did was glance behind my right shoulder, make a sound of affirmation in the back of his throat, and then straighten my shirt once more. I recoiled from his touch, though he didn’t seem to care. He was wearing a wide, satisfied grin on his lips.

That birthmark of yours… he murmured. It appeared on your eighteenth birthday, didn’t it?

How did you know that? I breathed. Nobody knew about the arrow-shaped birthmark on my shoulder. Nobody alive, at least. I had told my mother about it when it first appeared, but she acted like it was no big deal for me to wake