The Breaker (The Secret of Spellshadow Manor #2)(27)

The day passed slowly and uneventfully, nobody coming to get them mid-lesson or surprising them in the hallway as they moved from period to period, keeping their heads down. An atmosphere of uncertainty had infected the whole manor. Even the hallway windows weren’t sure what to think, one looking out on a beautiful tropical beach with golden sand and turquoise waves, while the next showed a violent storm whipping around the jagged peaks of stony mountains, grim and desolate, lashed by lightning and rain and hailstones.

“Come on,” Alex said to Jari and Natalie. They were at the end of their brand-new evening session, their minds exhausted from lack of sleep and a long day. It was eight p.m., and they had an hour to kill before curfew. Frustrated by the feeling of being hemmed in, Alex wasn’t interested in spending his last hour in the library or study hall. He wanted to feel the kiss of fresh air on his face, draw it deep into his lungs, and shake off the antsy, irritated feeling crawling beneath his skin.

“Where are we going?” Natalie asked, a little anxiously, as Alex led the way, striding through the hallways toward the entrance of the manor.

“To try something out,” replied Alex cryptically. His friends followed him.

In the hallways, they passed a few other students, who were rushing to their dormitories so as not to be caught by any marauding staff members. Renmark in particular had taken a perverse delight in repeating the new rules to the students during their first class of the day. It had fed his need for power, Alex was sure. They thought he had been strict in their first session, but Renmark had shown he was capable of much, much worse. Their two sessions with him that day had consisted of brutal duels and exhausting new spells that had sapped the energy of them all, except Alex, who had had to watch as Natalie plowed on, doing double the work, the strain evident on her weary face. He wanted her to feel the cool air on her face too—she had earned it.

Around every corner, they expected Renmark to accost them with his accusing tone and strange eyes. He had told other students he’d be roaming the halls most evenings from now on, just in case anyone thought it smart to flout the rules. Alex wasn’t sure why, but he felt the act was aimed at him personally, or him and his friends, anyway.

Things were changing.

There was little sanctuary to be found in the new regime. If Renmark had his way, the school would be as close to a military operation as possible, and their lives would only become more restricted. The only comfort was in Lintz’s lessons. He had returned to work in a much brighter mood after the owl incident. And their other new teacher, Professor Gaze, had proven to be an unexpected delight as well. She was a small, ancient woman with a love of laughter, and her warm, generous manner relaxed the students and made her lessons as close to fun as it was possible to have in the manor. Professor Esmerelda had become frighteningly volatile, swinging from pleasant to aggressive in a nanosecond, seemingly as on edge as everyone else under the new rules, though she hadn’t exactly been her usual flighty self since Derhin’s upheaval. Each lesson, she would prowl the classroom, evidently paranoid one of her students was going to challenge her to a duel and steal her place on the faculty. She told them as much, in a woeful voice, pleading with them not to, promising she was a nice person. It threw Alex a little to hear a teacher talk that way, to know the changeover between Aamir and Derhin had caused more concern than he had realized. Then again, Esmerelda had always been a bit strange.

Finally, the trio entered the large foyer that led to the manor’s entrance. The sky beyond was a hazy purple as sunset gave way to twilight, stars beginning to twinkle. A flurry of a breeze rippled through the air toward them from the grounds. Alex longed to be out in the desolate landscape, so charred and twisted and broken, yet carrying a macabre beauty he had developed a fondness for. It was so close he could scent the metallic tang of ozone in his nostrils.

“Last one out is a rotten egg!” Alex said with a grin, about to break into a sprint, when he felt Natalie’s hand close around his arm, pulling him backward.

She shook her head, pointing miserably at something glimmering in the doorway. He saw the dull golden glow of the same type of barrier that lay across the ancient tomb, and felt a flood of rage surge through him. He walked toward it, kneeling on the ground, ready to place his palms against the pulsing radiance.

“You cannot break it every time, Alex,” Natalie said sadly. Alex sat back on the cold stone floor, gazing out at the grounds beyond, desperate to escape the stifling walls of the manor house.

“Just this once?” Alex smiled weakly, knowing it was futile. Natalie was right, he couldn’t keep breaking barriers. He’d only run the risk of getting caught.

“Not today, buddy,” Jari croaked, slumping down on the floor beside Alex. They let the light breeze wash over their tired faces.

It was then that Alex’s eye was drawn to the outer edge of the front lawn, his heart gripping in his chest as he jumped to his feet and moved to the farthest edge of the entrance, trying to get a better view.

“No,” he whispered in heartbroken disbelief. Jari shuffled to see what Alex was looking at. Natalie followed, peering over Alex’s shoulder.

Something was not right with the front lawn. It was like an optical illusion; it took a moment for the mind to realize what it was seeing. Alex had simply thought they were looking from the wrong angle, but as he peered around as far as he could to get a better view, he realized his worst fears had come to life. The walls really were closing in on them. On the far side of the lawn, where the vast iron gate should have been, there was nothing but wall. The gate had disappeared entirely, replaced by a giant wall, smothered in the same magic-sapping gray ivy that curled and stretched across the grounds. They were locked in, closed off completely from the outside world.