The Breaker (The Secret of Spellshadow Manor #2)(34)

His mother would welcome him home, though. Alex’s heart wrenched at the thought of her. She had been so ill before he’d disappeared. Who was to say she was even still alive, out there, waiting for him? Tears spiked the corners of his eyes as the morbid idea crept into his brain. He wondered if he’d know if she were dead—if some anti-magical part of himself would know, deep down, that she had gone. He had felt no such thing, at least to his knowledge, but he knew that didn’t mean his mother was okay. Maybe it just meant his anti-magic didn’t stretch that far.

A large part of him wanted to jump ship that instant, damning everyone else. He just wanted to make sure she was still alive. But he doubted whether he could have the best of both worlds. After all, he wouldn’t be able to find his way back to Spellshadow if he left. He thought of Natalie and Jari, despite their ongoing differences, their families and their homes and their lives before. Of Natalie’s family, especially, who had sent her away to America under the assurance that she’d be safe with Alex and his mother, only to have her disappear off the face of the earth.

Gritting his teeth, Alex knew he couldn’t just walk out, no matter how desperately he wanted to see his mother again. It was a tough pill to swallow, but there it was. Alex just wished fervently that time didn’t work the same out in the real world as it did within the manor walls—that a year to them was mere minutes to non-magical people. That would be ideal, Alex thought, hoping his mother wouldn’t have to miss him.

Magical travel and anti-magical escape would have to wait. However, one technique close to the end of the tome had piqued Alex’s interest. The section title read “Portals and How to Find Them.” It did not require a spell, as such, but gave a short explanation on their usage: ‘Often appearing as still passageways or doors with strange auras, these portals lead to other realms and destinations. Portals require a vast amount of magic to create and keep open, but many can be found by chance, usually those that have been forgotten. To use them, one need only walk through.’

Alex had committed the small section to memory, the words conjuring images of the shifting windows and the doors that led to nowhere within the manor. A slithering sense of despondency wriggled uncomfortably through his nerves, the realization dawning that it would take him years to check every single one. And by then, no doubt, it would be too late.

They had been duped again. It was so obvious to him now. He felt a bubble of rising resentment ripple through his body. How he loathed the Head for dangling such a tempting carrot of hope, only to swipe it away. Then again, Alex realized, that book would never have been in the library if they could actually have used it.





Chapter 13





A blast of black energy, flecked with shards of silver, thudded against the cellar wall, exploding in a burst of ice and snow. Alex grinned as he watched the ball shatter mere inches from Jari’s head, a surprised expression appearing on the other boy’s face as cold flecks of snow landed on the back of his neck.

Alex had finally managed to convince Jari to come and spar during the lunch break, after days of stilted conversation and frosty tension. He didn’t want to speak too soon and jinx himself, but the break from the norm seemed to be doing a world of good for their strained relationship. Alex thought he almost saw Jari smile as he sidestepped a well-aimed javelin of ice.

Sparring was a slightly different beast where Alex was involved. He couldn’t simply throw his anti-magic in the direction of his opponent and expect them to snatch it away or deflect it with their magic; it would slip through their fingers, the anti-magic hitting home with a nasty sting at best, a deeper wound at worst.

To prevent accidental injuries, Alex had suggested they draw crosses in the dirt for him to aim at, with the sparring partner standing between the markings; he would try to hit the targets instead of his opponent. So far, he had only made impact once, a stray shard of black anti-magic skewering the front of Jari’s boot, fortunately missing any toes. Otherwise, he had been on target, hitting the markings with a precision and focus that surprised even him. Jari and Natalie had been taking turns firing their magic at him. Alex had to swipe their attacks toward the wall with his anti-magic or attempt to dive out of the way when it came to particularly quick spears of golden light. Pleased with himself, Alex found he could snatch the stronger balls of magic in mid-air and make them evaporate into a flurry of snowflakes, where once he would have had to duck. Slowly, he was gaining some real control over his powers.

It was thrilling to see the black and silver mingling with the gold and white as the elements crashed together in the vacant space between Alex and his opponent. Direct impact resulted in a loud bang of an explosion, the two contrasting energies hovering together for a moment before erupting into a rush of bright white light that burned the eyes to look directly into, the breeze from the blast whipping over their faces as it swelled outwards. A few times during the sparring session, Alex paused to watch it when he should have been ducking, but he simply couldn’t tear his eyes away from the sight.

A distinct improvement in Alex’s focus and the strength of his summoning was evident to all, and he felt pride in the anti-magic he could conjure beneath his palms, molding it more easily to his will. The cold ripples coiled more effortlessly from his fingers, and he found he could spend less time with his eyes squeezed shut in concentration and more time looking at his opponent, surer that his anti-magic would do what he wanted as he watched for the moves and conjurations of his challenger. He had only been struck twice that session—a new record—the blows bruising him a bit as they disintegrated into snow, but doing no real harm.