The Breaker (The Secret of Spellshadow Manor #2)(30)

“How long have you known?” Jari asked. It sounded more like an accusation than a question.

“What do you mean?” said Alex, attempting to play dumb.

“How long have you known about these havens? When did you find this note?” replied Jari, waving his hand in the air.

Alex shrugged. “A week or so, I can’t remember.” He ran a hand through his hair as he answered. Cold sweat prickled the back of his neck.

“Why didn’t you say something sooner?” Jari pressed.

“There hasn’t exactly been time,” sighed Alex. Though he knew he could have told them sooner, and had intended to, there was honesty in his words. What with Aamir and Derhin and the Head’s disappearance, other things had taken precedence.

Still, guilt bristled in the pit of Alex’s stomach, and he resented the feeling of being called out. He hadn’t meant to keep the information from them, not really. Had he? The paper had been in his pocket for weeks, and Elias’s name still wouldn’t spring willingly from his tongue. They had no clue the mysterious shadow-man even existed, because Alex had kept him secret. From day one, Alex had kept Elias to himself. However, it didn’t seem fair to Alex that he was the only one being dissected because of a single secret, not when Alex knew there were other secrets being kept by the two friends beside him. There was the matter of Natalie’s shiftiness every time dark magic or Renmark’s private tutoring was brought up, as well as Jari’s solo visits to Aamir after lessons, before their failed rescue attempt.

“You could have found time,” Jari said, raising an eyebrow. Alex grappled with the growing twist of guilt in his gut.

“When?” Alex could feel the flare of his temper. “Look, I found the piece of paper and I meant to tell you, but things kept getting in the way and I forgot. I’m only human,” he explained wearily.

Natalie smiled. “It’s okay. Sometimes it is not so easy to tell things,” she said. “To find the time, I mean,” she added quickly, though the peculiarity in her previous words made Alex curious, and there was an unmistakable conspiratorial note in her voice. She turned away before he could question it. Alex frowned, feeling tension building in the air around him. Natalie wouldn’t look at him, and Jari looked too intently at him.

“Well, I think it’s a waste of time,” Jari stated. “Even if these ‘havens’ are out there, they aren’t going to lift a finger to help us.”

Though Alex hated to admit it, Jari probably had a point. Those books were missing for a reason, and Blaine had never come back from Stillwater House—assuming he really had been sent there. It seemed like either a one-way ticket to another school with another wall and another Head, or a one-way ticket to something far worse.

Whichever outcome contained the truth, Alex knew he had opened a can of worms he could never get closed again.





Chapter 12





The next evening, Alex found himself hauled to the library after the last lesson of the day, pulled along by Natalie’s eager hand. The sun was setting through the far window as they entered. He was tired and groggy, dreaming of the soft pillow on his bed, but she had been insistent that he come with her, not taking no for an answer as she dragged him through the hallways.

“I have had a breakthrough,” she explained, ushering Alex over to their usual spot in the corner. Stacked high on the table were columns of leather books, in various colors with brightly embossed lettering, teetering crookedly to one side. They reminded Alex of a game of Jenga, and he smirked as he sat down, wondering if he dared pull one from the tower.

“With what?” asked Alex, his brow furrowed in confusion as he sat back in the armchair, trying to resist the comforting pull of the soft cushions and the fire crackling in the grate.

“What you told us yesterday,” she began excitedly. “It made me think about the possibilities of magical travel.”

“Mmhm.” Alex’s eyes drooped shut as he sank deeper into the chair. Natalie smacked him lightly on the arm. “Magical travel, I was listening!” he yelped, rubbing his bicep.

“Well, I found out some things. I have been reading much on travel and transportation,” said Natalie gleefully, sitting down in the chair opposite.

“I can see that.” Alex grinned, still tempted to pull one of the books from the middle of the stack.

“Here.”

Alex couldn’t see Natalie over the vast array of literature as she spoke, but he saw the book coming as it flew through the air toward him, landing with a smack against his hands as he reached up and caught it, just in time.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Just read it, see if it has anything about travel in it,” she demanded, peering around the stack to shoot Alex a look.

“Sorry,” he muttered. He opened the book to the first page: The Limitations of Clockwork Machinery and Other Uses by R.B. Moxam. Before he even read a word, Alex knew the book was going to be dull. He wondered if Natalie would notice if he took a little nap. A second book flying through the air toward him gave him the answer to that question; even if she couldn’t see him to tell him off, the thrown artillery of books would certainly keep him awake.

“Ah, here it is!” he heard Natalie proclaim breathlessly as she rushed over to him. Perched on the armrest of his chair, she shoved a book under his nose, her finger pointing to one of the lines. Alex read it, but couldn’t quite make sense of it. As far as he could tell, it was simply a brief explanation of a group of spells that required a huge consumption of energy, and how they might be achieved.