Page 41 of A Dawn Of Blood

But instead of fighting my men, the enemy surprises me by attacking the Academy.

It doesn’t take me long to figure out what they’re doing, but by the time I do, they’re already getting back inside, the Academy being zapped out and into another dimension.

Chapter 29

It’s as if the very earth below my feet shakes, but there’s something else as well… It’s a sensation neither my body can recognize nor my mind can make sense of, except registering it’s similar to that jump in your stomach that accompanies a fall.

The sensation dissipates at the same time the floor of the Entrance Hall goes back to feeling solid. I look around at the faces of all the Embers standing around me. It doesn’t surprise me that only Lorcan, Raven, Alaric and I seem to be under the impression. The others must have experienced this before.

“Take me to see,” I urge as I lock eyes with Nuala. It’s not just the desire to make this mission successful that’s driving me, it’s personal curiosity as well.

She nods, turns on her heel and leads us all straight into the Main Hall. It’s one of the windows she motions at.

Stopping midstep, I suck in a sharp breath. The magic that makes the windows show the world above ground is no longeractive. There’s only blackness outside, the kind I’ve never seen before.

“Can we go outside?” I ask in a near whisper.

“No,” I hear Dryden say. “There’s this secret Pull Chamber we can use to leave the Academy, but as long as we’re… here, the Elevator will be out of function.”

It’s to one of the niches in the north wall that Nuala takes us next.

My eyebrows shoot up as I slow to a stop. I’ve seen this thing a million times before, along with the candle placed inside. The only difference is that the candle is now burning.

“What does this have to do with the disappearance act?” I ask.

“Just as we can’t control when the Academy will disappear,” Nuala tells me, “we can’t control when it will go back either. But over time, we’ve realized that this candle burning means the Academy is currently using the magic to keep us here. And only once it’s on the verge of using it up will it return to Academy grounds.”

My mind blown, I just stare at the thing for a while. “That’s so damn interesting.”

“Yes,” I hear Dryden say, clearly smiling. “Judging by our past experiences, it’s around three months of being safely tucked away that we have. But more importantly…”

I force myself to tear my eyes away from the candle and turn to look at him.

“We did it, people,” he exclaims with this huge grin on his face.

Everyone cheers, making me smile from ear to ear.

But we don’t waste time celebrating. As soon as we get settled around the table, Nuala turns serious. “Alright, how do we approach this?”

“Yeah,” Dryden chimes in, “how do we search the Academy looking for something no one here has any way to identify?”

“Nimueh and I could use our magic to try to feel around for it,” Nuala suggests. “It’s super old, even I could at least narrow it down.”

“Jaeger, de Groot and I could go around smelling the place,” Alaric suggests.

I shake my head. “As Jaeger mentioned,” I remind them all, “the Academy is enormous and it’s chock-full of stuff made of metal, super old included. I’m all for doing what you two suggested, but we need a more systematic approach as well. We need more information.”

“Well, the Library is useless,” Jaeger offers. “There’s nothing in there even mentioning anything like that.”

I think for a second. “There’s the gargoyle on Level Two. It’s been here since the fifth century, I believe. I could try to make it talk, see if it knows anything.”

“Good luck with that,” de Groot comments with a roll of her eyes.

“Thank you for believing in me,” I say sweetly.

“You don’t have to go alone, Anna,” Raven says. “I could come with you.”

“So could I,” Dryden offers.

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