Page 48 of A Dawn Of Blood

I take the thing in my hand, open the lid and try to picture the Aesir iron. Almost instantly, the compass starts draining my energy, but there’s something else as well. This feeling that there’s something itwants.

“See,” I hear Dryden say sharply. “You’re only going to get yourself hurt.”

I lift my eyes to look at him, but I don’t let go, a realization hitting me. “No,” I say with a shake of my head. “Let me try something, please.”

He hesitates, but he gives me a nod.

I take the knife out of my pocket, prick my finger and feed the compass a drop of my blood.

Instantly, it emits this glow, the dial starting to move.

“How did you do that?” I hear Dryden ask with surprise in his voice.

I shrug. “It seemed to call for blood.”

When I look up at him, I see his face lighting up. “You got it to work, Anna,” he whispers excitedly.

Smiling, I look down. Then I frown. “Yeah, but it’s just spinning around.” I look up again. “What does that mean, Dryden?”

He’s pressing his lips tight, frowning. “It means the metal isnothere after all.”

Chapter 35

By the time we all gather in the Main Hall — everyone except Nimueh and Lorcan — the news has already spread.

“Nowwhat do we do?” Dryden asks, back to looking grumpier than ever. “We might only have a few days left, at least judging by how quickly the candle is burning this time around.”

We all exchange a look. No one seems to want to be the first to speak their mind.

It’s Jaeger who breaks the silence. “Maybe we should go back to business as usual. This god-killing sword still sounds very tempting, but if we can’t even get the stuff we need to forge it…”

There’s nothing unusual about her tone, but I do notice she’s making a point of not even looking in de Groot’s direction.

I force myself to stop ruminating about her and focus on the problem before us.

“I could start research on the shadow curse,” Raven suggests in a low, but determined voice, making Alaric shoot her an alarmed look.

Yeah, I really don’t like where this is going. It might prove more troublesome than we thought it would be, but it’s still by far our best option.

But before I can open my mouth to offer my two cents, Nimueh walks in.

“What’s going on?” she asks as she takes her seat.

“The metal is not at the Academy, Nimueh,” Nuala tells her with resignation in her voice.

The old woman frowns. Then she shakes her head. “It is. It has to be.”

It’s with such conviction that she says this that everyone goes back to brainstorming.

There’s a moment of silence before Alaric sits straighter, his face lit up all of a sudden. “Maybe it’s notinthe Academy. Maybe it’s back in our dimension, on Academygrounds.”

The statement makes me raise my eyebrows in surprise. Then again, it would make sense.

“On the grounds still being occupied by Cain?” Jaeger asks with a frown.

“Isn’t that wonderful?” de Groot drawls.

“Yeah,” Dryden chimes in, “even if it weren’t for Cain, the grounds are larger than the Academy itself and we don’t have any specifics whatsoever.”

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