Magic Within: A Young Adult Urban Fantasy Novel (Bloodline Academy Book 1)

by Ahava Trivedi

  “Thank you,” I hugged her back. Everyone helped themselves to the pancakes and coffee. After what seemed like an hour of picking away at my breakfast but failing to consume much, I pushed my plate away. Babette who’d been watching me with a sympathetic smile, reached across and placed her hand on my wrist.

  “I know we normally wait until sundown to do the readings but I’m wondering if Katrina might enjoy her special day more if we change things up a bit and do it sooner?” she looked tentatively at Lorna.

  “Hmm,” Lorna took a sip of her coffee, “it does go a little against tradition. But I’ll allow it.”

  “I was hoping you might,” Babette looked happily at me and nodded, giving my hand a squeeze.

  “Although let’s do any presents before,” said Lorna.

  “Me first!” said Quinn, proudly presenting me with a big bouquet of creamy, white lilies with a sunny streak erupting from the centre of each one.

  “Wow, thanks,” I said, inhaling the heady notes, pretending that I wasn’t even more uneasy now that my reading had been moved up by several hours.

  “I grew them myself. They’ve been enhanced to last for many years,” she said, as Lorna nodded with approval.

  “Me next!” said Safi. She closed her eyes and held out one hand, “Though this is actually from our High Priestesses.” We all watched her eagerly. With a great degree of concentration, she summoned a small, white quartz crystal into her palm.

  “Woah!” announced Nina, while Quinn’s eyes widened.

  “Happy birthday, Kat,” she said, offering me the crystal.

  “Show-off,” I replied, taking the crystal and hugging Safi tight. Though they tried not to let on, I could tell that Lorna and Babette were as impressed as the rest of us. As I felt the coolness of the crystal’s surface in my own palm, it struck me again that I was the only one with no such skills to boast of.

  After breakfast was cleared away, we followed Lorna into what was known as the reading room. Although it housed many tomes of antique spell books and was used by us as a library when we were studying theories of different types of magic, its grander purpose was for Babette to carry out her readings.

  Every coven and different supernatural race had their own unique way of finding out what the next chapter would hold in terms of school admissions when someone turned seventeen. Most would wait for a physical invite from the institution. If none had materialized one day after the birthday had passed, it meant that the person would continue their education wherever they currently were. Things were a little less formal in our coven as Babette would simply close her eyes, connect to her inner power and give one of her famous readings, enabling us to get a peek at what was to come for the birthday girl. Babette couldn’t always foresee events but since starting the coven, birthdays were occasions she had a flawless record with.

  “As with all personalized channellings, it is up to Katrina if the rest of you stay for the reading,” said Lorna, looking from me to the others.

  “It’s okay,” I said. If I’d have been honest, it was only Safi I wanted present but telling Quinn and Nina to leave would’ve caused unnecessary tension on a day that was already intense enough for me. Besides, I was very fond of them too in their own ways.

  “Alright,” said Lorna and she went and closed the jade curtains. Despite the day outside, we were instantly enveloped in darkness.

  Nina’s face glowed orange as she proudly summoned up some elemental magic to light a candle. Without moving from her spot, she then proceeded to multiply the flame so each candle around the room lit up simultaneously. Babette went and sat at the large round, rowan-wood table in the middle of the room. She closed her eyes with focus, the same way Safi had done moments before and placed her palms on the large, clear quartz crystal before her. She called this the heart of our coven. The crystal protected all who resided in our coven and for the right witch, allowed itself to be read. Its existence in Lorna’s life preceded that of our coven. It had been gifted to her by the Faery Queen of an enchanted English forest when she’d helped secure the tiny kingdom from a particularly vicious pack of werewolves.

  The crystal shone, piercingly white and radiated a beam of luminous light into Babette’s forehead. The candles looked dim and inconsequential by comparison. I’d been present at a few of Babette’s readings in the years I’d lived at the coven and each time was equally surreal. The energy from the crystal always made me feel almost light-headed, like I was hyperventilating without realizing. Babette’s eyes snapped open, no longer her usual brown but hot white, like mercury.

  “Praesidium omnibus, dico resideas in Circulo Vicus! May all those who reside in the Circle of Quartz be protected!” said Babette. “You are here today, sister Katrina Snow Quartz, to know what this part of your magical transition holds for you.”

  “I am, High Priestess,” I answered, steadying my voice which was small and felt like it didn’t belong to me.

  “You are a Crystal Witch with this coven and as such, must remain pure of heart and hold no fear as you develop your powers,” said Babette. The white light from the crystal took on a pinkish hue, which at first would have been imperceptible had it not been for the abrupt pause in the reading. It occurred to me that maybe the reading had become mixed and something was coming through for Safi who had a natural affinity for pink quartz crystals and had recently begun working with them. As we watched with anticipation, the air crackled and Babette finally spoke again. “You are about to come into enormous power, sister Katrina Snow Quartz,” she said.

  I felt Safi’s gaze on me, and heard her unspoken words, “See what did I tell you? You’ll be fine.” I breathed out loudly as I’d been holding my breath, letting cool relief run through me and replace the squirming unease. Maybe I was going to be a worthy witch after all?

  “That’s great news,” began Lorna. She was about to say something else but suddenly fell silent as Babette’s body went rigid and the beam from the crystal changed colour. This time it went bright red and within what couldn’t have been more than a few seconds, developed into a deep crimson. Babette’s eyes too, glowed like two rubies. I’d never seen that happen before and I could feel my pulse quickening as I forced myself to break away my gaze and look to the others sitting around the table. They all looked as disturbed and Lorna raised a hand as though she wanted to interrupt but it stayed in the air, motionless as she stared at Babette.

  “What’s happening?” I whispered, staring back at Babette.

  “Light and darkness has mingled into one. With the birth of a white witch who’s only part witch. She’s also ancient and dark!” said Babette, or at least her mouth spoke. The ominous voice that came from her lips sounded nothing like her. It was deep and creepy, like an echo from some forbidden black magic coven that had long been dismantled.

  “What does that mean?” commanded Lorna, holding a stern composure that was used to dealing with the other side of the supernatural world. The dark side.

  “Katrina Snow Quartz will be leaving the coven for good. Today, when the sun sets, she will be taken to St. Erzsebet’s Academy. There, she will finally gain her rightful place with the powers bestowed upon her – by the pure vampire bloodline she carries within!” bellowed the voice that had possessed Babette. The room fell into bleakness as the heavy, crimson energy began to dissipate, snuffing out all the candles and leaving behind only an oppressive smoke that continued to swirl all around us.

  Chapter 2

  “What the hell just happened?” asked Safi, her voice shaken as she grasped for my hand. Even in the darkness, I saw Quinn and Nina move away from me as the four of us rose from the table.

  “Draw the curtains!” said Lorna, rushing over to Babette, who was slumped over the table. Nina quietly obliged, coming to stand by Quinn afterwards.

  “I blanked out, I don’t know what came over me,” said Babette, weakly.

  “It’s okay, smell this,” said Lorna, withdrawing a small bottle from the pocket of her dress and h
olding it under Babette’s nose, rubbing her back. Babette took in the fragrance from the tincture, with a few long inhales and sat up, looking exhausted.

  “What happened to Kat’s reading, did I say anything?” she asked.

  “Girls, I want you all to leave the room, please,” said Lorna firmly. Quinn, Nina and Safi walked away. I just stood there. “You too, Katrina,” she said, making me feel like I’d been punched in the stomach. I slowly turned and walked away, taking with me, the deep dread that had settled inside.

  “That’s some serious shit back there!” announced Quinn as we trickled back into the kitchen.

  “What is?” asked Fleur, one of the other young witches at our coven who shared the room across from us. She tossed back her long flaxen hair coming in closer to learn what was going on.

  “Nothing,” said Safi, narrowing her eyes at Quinn in warning.

  “She needs to know – they all do,” said Nina, coming to her bestie’s rescue and gesturing at the two other witches who were preparing some herbs to be dried.

  “We don’t even know!” said Safi.

  “I think the reading was pretty clear,” argued Quinn.

  “That wasn’t even a reading. It was some weird interception of something else. Besides, you’re talking as if Kat’s not even here and it’s her thing. You wouldn’t have been there if she wouldn’t have been cool with it. What do you want?” asked Safi, turning to me. Like any true friend she’d taken to standing between me and the other girls who were either interested to know what had happened or buzzing to tell what they’d witnessed.

  Before I could reply, Lorna formally glided into the room, looking like a witch on a mission, with Babette trailing behind her. I had seen that air in Lorna play out over the years and it never boded well for the one on its receiving end. The young witches froze what they were doing in anticipation of what was to come. I desperately looked to Babette for some reassurance and realized she’d been crying. She looked at the floor, unable to provide what I so badly needed from her.

  “Katrina’s reading took a turn we never could have expected,” Lorna said. No shit, I thought. “Never in our coven’s history or even my life, has something like this ever occurred.”

  “May I ask what’s happened, High Priestess?” asked Fleur, braiding her hair on one side.

  “If we didn’t think you needed to know, we wouldn’t be telling you,” said Lorna authoritatively, “but this impacts each of you and I’d say even the whole of the supernatural world.” She paused and as we all held our breath, she read out what was basically the death sentence of my life as I knew it. “Katrina is only half Quartz Witch. I already knew this when we took her into the coven. But I always thought her non-witch blood was mortal. It’s not. This morning we’ve discovered that she’s also half dark-blooded.”

  “How dark?” asked Fleur, “I mean, are we talking werewolf or some fae-cursed dark-blood?”

  “Pretty dark if she’s going to Bloodline Academy,” said Quinn, who knew exactly what had been discovered at the reading but played dumb for the sake of drama. Bitch.

  “Huh!” gasped Fleur, “St. Erzsebet’s? No way!”

  St. Erzsebet’s or Bloodline Academy as it had come to be known amongst witches, faeries and light-blooded shifters, was a place run by and for vampires both born and made. There were also places at the academy that were reserved for recruiting dark-blooded shifters such as werewolves but it was well-known that these were second class students there. The vampires as expected, had major tickets on themselves and ruled the roost.

  Although the S.L.A. had fought hard to outlaw more vampire ‘making’ by turning regular humans and supernatural light beings, what went on at the academy was kept under lock and key. Safi had once told me Aviar had learned that many of Superno’s graduates went on to work for the S.L.A. to monitor Bloodline Academy. The werewolves churned out by the institute were alumni foot-soldiers for the vampires, their security team and ears on the ground. Safi’s mom, Pearl Quartz, who was a professor at Superno and a high-ranking member of the S.L.A., told them nothing of what Aviar didn’t already learn through the grapevine but she must have been privy to some pretty head-turning information. She did not like vampires.

  “Quiet!” commanded Lorna. “I’m here to deliver my – our – decision on behalf of this coven, not listen to your half-assed attempts to piece together what’s already known,” she looked behind at Babette, who meekly came and stood with her, still avoiding my gaze. “We’ve come to learn that Katrina has vampire blood. And as such, she will be going to attend St. Erzsebet’s Academy as of tonight.”

  “Kat’s one of us, you can’t send her away! Not to that place – she won’t last the night!” protested Safi, as shell-shocked as I felt.

  “That’s quite enough Saffron,” said Lorna firmly.

  “I think I need some air,” I said, barging past Fleur and the rest of the gawking lot, out of the double-doors at the other end of the kitchen, that led out into the veranda and the vast plot of land at the back of the house.

  “Kat! Wait!” Safi called after me. She seemed distant, as did the birds outside in the trees that I stumbled past.

  The day was already hot and heavy as I ran down the gravel path, flanked on both sides by cherubic statues, bewitched by the same magic that protected the house. I felt like I was suffocating. I stopped when I reached the boxwoods that framed the gardens on both sides of the house and knelt down, sure that I’d pass out. What Babette, or whoever was controlling her during the reading had said, began to sink in as did Lorna’s verdict and angry tears welled up inside me. I saw Safi running towards me and Babette behind her, standing by the doors of the kitchen. “Just leave me alone!” I cried as Safi came up to me.

  “It’ll be alright, Kat,” she said softly.

  “Alright - how in hellfire will it be alright? I’m an effing vamp! I’ve barely ever been able to prove a capable witch and now I guess we know why,” I said through tears as Safi silently took my arm and guided me towards the sanctuary of the majestic oak in the corner. We’d played under this oak for so long and it was where Safi and I had made and exchanged friendship bracelets in her first year at the coven. We’d sat under the tree’s immense canopy and spent the afternoon studying a spell book, trying the best our tween selves could muster, to cast a binding spell on our bracelets. I still had mine somewhere in the bedroom and I knew she did too. Best friends forever. Or until one of us turned out to be a vampire.

  “I can’t even imagine how hard that must be,” she said, facing me.

  “And all in the same day or more accurately night, I get to die by being sent to Bloodline Academy.”

  “It’s so unfair. It sucks!” said Safi and we both burst out laughing. “Sorry that was really lame.”

  “I thought she loved me,” I sniffed back more tears and stared angrily back at the house. At Babette. At least with Lorna, she’d never made any secret of it that her motivation for adopting me was only because she knew I was a Quartz Witch and those were in slim supply. Witches literally travelled the world over to find others who carried their line of magic. It was business and the creation of a strong coven that drove them to do so. Babette was another story. At least I’d thought she was. Babette had been more like the mother I’d never known. She had a softer side to her that Lorna was incapable of and I knew she’d always wanted children. When I was new here, she’d tell me little stories as she taught me about the different herbs and flowers. She’d made me little dolls out of straw and put an animation spell on them to bring them to life for an afternoon when the older girls refused to include me in their activities. Then again, I was a ticking time bomb. Keeping me around knowing what I was, was a death sentence for the entire coven.

  “She does,” Safi offered, hugging me.

  “Funny way of showing it. This is the worst birthday ever. And I’ve had some pretty bad ones before coming to live here.”

  “I know Lorna loves being unapproachable when it’s
anything to do with questioning her authority but Babs is cool. Why don’t you talk to her, alone? Ask her if there’s anything that can be done to reverse their decision. I could even ask my mom.”

  “Do you think your mom might be able to do something?” I asked, for the first time seeing a light at the end of the shitty tunnel I was stuck in. If anyone had sway, Safi’s mother did.

  “Sure. Let’s face it, no matter how powerful our coven is, it’s like a drop in the magical bucket. Not even that. Lorna might call the shots with us but no High Priestess can overrule the alliance if it gets behind something.”

  “But I’m being expelled from the Circle of Quartz in the next few hours,” I said remembering that I was leaving that night. “And even if by some spellbound miracle, I don’t get sent to Bloodline Academy, I’m not going to be welcome back here.”

  “If that’s the case, who knows? Maybe my mom can pull some strings and get you accepted at Superno? I’d make sure that Aviar looks after you.” As with everything, Safi seemed so sure that things would work out. And I couldn’t help but feel a spark at the mention of Aviar’s name. Then again, if Safi’s mom saw my vampire side more than the witch in me, she’d forbid her son and daughter from having anything to do with me. Crap, I forgot about that.

  “I love your optimism but I still have vampire blood. Correct me if I’m wrong but no vampires born or made, have ever studied at Superno,” I slumped against the tree.

  “Half vampire, if that,” said Safi. She gestured at Babette to come over to us and winked at me, stood up and began to slowly make her way back to the house. I felt so grateful to have her as a friend and at how unphased she’d appeared throughout. Her lack of using magic since she’d learned about me, told me appearances could be deceiving. Mine had deceived me and everyone around me all my life.

  I sat up as Babette got close enough that I could see her face properly in the scorching sun. Her skin was blotchy and her eyes were puffy. She looked less like a High Priestess and more like an apprentice witch who’d failed miserably at her initiation. She came and sat down beside me. “Sometimes, we don’t understand life. It can be painful and confusing and I know you’ve had your fair-share.”