The Breaker (The Secret of Spellshadow Manor #2)(68)

Miserably, Alex shook his head. “I can’t accept,” he said through gritted teeth.

“I beg you to reconsider. Think of your mother,” Escher said, almost tauntingly, picking up the painful threads of Alex’s heartstrings and yanking hard on them. “She is all alone out there, Alex. With your father gone and now you, she has nobody. She is sick, and losing you has only made her worse. I have seen her for myself, Alex—”

“Liar!” snapped Alex savagely.

Escher shook his head. “I have nothing to gain by lying to you, Alex. I am telling you the truth when I say I have seen your mother. She is not doing well without you. Each day, she grows weaker, her eyes forever on the door, awaiting your return. Each day that you don’t come home, her spirit is sapped just a little, and her strength wanes,” he said softly. “She needs you, Alex. She needs you far more than anyone in here does.”

Alex wasn’t sure if Escher was telling the truth, but the professor had certainly played on just the right insecurities. Alex’s heart ached at the continued thought of her out there, sick and alone and missing him. In his head, he knew he couldn’t leave. It was his sacrifice to stay and help in any way he could, but the sentence was a long one. He thought of the dream image of Lintz and Derhin as much younger men. They had spent nearly their entire lives within the manor’s walls. Was that his fate if he didn’t take Escher up on his offer? To see his mother again was a sacrifice of another sort. And yet, either way, somebody was going to lose. Alex wasn’t sure if he was ready to let that person be his mother.

He knew what he had to do.

“I have my answer,” said Alex softly.

“And what is your answer?” asked Escher, taking a seat in the chair opposite. He leaned closer to Alex, waiting patiently.

Alex looked up at Escher, his gaze fierce.

But when he opened his mouth to speak, the roar of an explosion crashed through the air as the ballroom’s heavy doors split open with a sudden rush and splinter of wood. Natalie and Jari burst in through the falling debris and sprinted across the polished black marble, sending shards of magic hurtling toward Escher.

Escher had little time to think as Natalie charged him, conjuring intricate webs of magic with her hands, her fingers moving rapidly as she sent glowing tendrils of her own golden magic up beneath Escher’s sleeves and down into his skin. He froze, juddering as Natalie’s magic took over his body, controlling him. His hands tried to move, to fight back, and it looked as if he might break free.

A coil of crackling golden magic erupted from Escher’s palm. He pushed Natalie’s magic aside, but Jari was ready with the cavalry. He sent a ripple of glowing amber toward Escher in a thin wisp that struck the professor in the shoulder. Tremors shook Escher’s body as the spell did its work, wrenching Escher’s limbs into violent spasms that sent him crashing to the floor.

Natalie sent the tendrils snaking back beneath Escher’s skin and gripped her fingers tightly into her palms as she held her magic inside him, controlling his body and his magic, preventing him from fighting back.

Alex watched in amazement as Natalie lifted Escher to his feet and jerked him back toward the chair, throwing him down with a graceless thud. His eyes glittered furiously beneath his mask as he struggled to break free of Natalie’s hold, but she had truly become an exceptional Mage. Nobody could deny it—her magic was extraordinary.

“Don’t mind the intrusion.” Jari grinned as he undid a silvery coil of rope and tied Escher’s hands behind his back. Alex was confused, knowing a simple rope wouldn’t keep Escher at bay, but it seemed Jari had learned some new tricks too as he fed a weaving pattern of magic into the rope itself. It seemed to keep Escher frozen to the spot, just as Natalie’s control magic had done.

“What the hell?” cried Alex, gesturing toward the door.

“Apologies for the surprise. We saw an opportunity and we improvised a little.” Natalie grinned, though her brow was creased with the exertion of holding Escher in place.

“Yeah, it was a bit scrappy, but it seems to have done the trick,” said Jari as he fastened a tight knot into the last bit of rope. “You can let go now,” he told Natalie. She released her tightly clenched fists with a sigh of relief.

Alex moved to the other side of the table. Professor Escher was oddly silent as he sat there, bound by the enchanted ropes. He stiffened as Alex approached.

Alex reached down for the edge of the delicate mask, with its complex pattern of gold and silver vines that curled elegantly across a white veneer. Escher tried to strain away from Alex’s touch, but he could not escape.

The man’s almond-shaped eyes glowered as Alex slowly lifted the mask. Shock shivered through Alex as he stared at the face before him, losing his grip on the mask. It tumbled to the floor, the porcelain cracking down the center.

Aamir stared back.





Chapter 26





“Aamir?” whispered Alex in disbelief.

All along it had been their friend. He did not know how any of them could have missed it, but Aamir had changed in the time since they had last seen him. He had aged, grown taller and broader, his face bearing a thin trace of stubble along his grimly set jawline, though his brown eyes and black curls were the same as ever. It was definitely Aamir; it was not a glamor or a trick of the eye. It was definitely him.