The Breaker (The Secret of Spellshadow Manor #2)(10)

“How did your meeting with Renmark go, Natalie?” Alex asked, breaking the silence.

Natalie paused. “It was okay, I suppose. It was nothing so special,” she said finally, though Alex had the uncertain feeling that Natalie was being tight-lipped about it. He couldn’t say why, but there was a shiftiness in her as she spoke, and she was unwilling to meet his gaze.

“Well, what did you do?” Alex pushed, intrigued by Natalie’s coyness.

Natalie shrugged. “Nothing so difficult. It was more of a meeting—I did not learn anything new,” she answered stiffly.

“Do you think you will?”

“It is hard to say. Perhaps,” she replied, picking up an abandoned cork from the floor and flipping it between her fingers in a distinctly antsy display. “How was your trip to the library?” she countered, leveling her gaze at Alex.

“It was fine,” Alex said, trying to push down the bitter feeling that rose up his throat.

“What were you looking for?” she pressed, with a knowing smile.

“Nothing much.”

Now it was Alex’s turn to feel uncomfortable. He didn’t feel as if he could explain the true reason he had gone to the library. He still had not told his friends about the mystery shadow-man Elias and all the secret gifts he had been bestowing upon Alex since his arrival at the manor. There was something about Elias that held Alex back—as if the others might think he was under the influence of some dark magic, like Natalie’s curse. Or that Natalie might regret their attack on Finder, if she knew of Elias’s involvement in the whole thing. Elias was an odd enough phenomenon to Alex’s mind; he had no clue how he would explain him to the others. None of his friends had seen Elias for themselves, and Alex somehow sensed that Elias would not appreciate being talked about or revealed in such a way. A shiver crept up Alex’s spine every time he thought about telling the others of Elias and his gifts, like a silent threat. An invisible warning not to say a word.

And so, Alex didn’t.

“You must have been looking for something, I think?” Natalie frowned.

Alex thought of his literary dead-ends, and the earlier frustrations of the empty gaps in the shelves, wondering why he felt he should be so secretive about them. It was crazy. If anyone could help, they could. Alex looked across at his friends, and felt the urge to tell them both about the havens. He was just about to open his mouth, to begin the tale of these other schools, when there was a creak at the overhead hatch. The words stopped dead on his tongue as Aamir dropped down into the cellar.

He looked flushed and exhausted, but happy to see them, his weariness falling away as he brushed the dirt from his hands. He ran a hand through his luxurious black curls and sighed, the sound whispering around the room, his lips curving easily into a broad smile. Jari jumped up and ran to him, and the older boy pulled him in for a tight hug. Natalie and Alex couldn’t help but smile too at the sight of such pure friendship.

“Right, then, shall we get to it?” Aamir grinned.

They set up the cellar for a sparring session, placing a few ancient bottles in the center and drawing lines in the dust.

“What kept you?” Jari asked lightly as he dragged one of the racks out of the way, searching for more bottles behind it.

Aamir sighed more heavily, and not out of relief. “Things have changed. I can’t just be at your beck and call all the time anymore. I have duties, responsibilities, restrictions. I can’t get away on a whim, whenever I like.” A sudden bitterness tainted his voice. Aamir opened his mouth, his brow furrowed, as if he were about to apologize, but he didn’t say the words.

Alex was surprised by Aamir’s coldness toward his friend—toward all of them. It had been easier to understand in the classroom, but they weren’t in the classroom anymore. There was something unmistakably different about him; he seemed weighed down, his temper quick and the lines around his eyes showing the first telltale signs of unspoken exhaustion. Alex longed to reach out to Aamir, to ask what troubled him, but didn’t feel like getting the same snappy response Jari had gotten.

“Then let’s just get on with it, shall we, if you’re in such a rush?” Jari retorted, returning Aamir’s frostiness, as they moved to either end of the cellar, behind the drawn lines.

“Jari, don’t be—” Aamir began, but Jari had already sent a spiral of liquid gold searing toward Aamir’s face.

Aamir ducked just in time, watching the magic explode into a shower of glittering dust against the far wall of the cellar. Jari fired another, twisting his hand to conjure up a ball of energy that pulsed in his palm before he launched it at the unprepared Aamir.

Aamir quickly sidestepped the magical missile as it sailed past his head. When Jari turned his hand to create a more solid javelin of magical energy, Aamir was ready for him, moving his hand slightly to one side, flicking Jari’s magic away. He conjured a shield around his friend, trying to keep Jari’s energy hemmed in. Jari raised his palms and twisted both hands counterclockwise, sending a violent pulse out from within the shield, shattering it. There was a flash of fury in the younger boy’s eyes.

The pulse knocked everyone in the room backward, Natalie and Alex included, as Jari regained his stance, breathing heavily. Sweat beaded on his forehead, dampening his blond locks. He sent wave after wave of magical artillery at Aamir, who swiped them away, snatching the magic from the air and diffusing it against the walls of the cellar, dirt and dust and splintered wood flying everywhere. Aamir was sweating too, trying to defend himself from the barrage of attacks.