The Breaker (The Secret of Spellshadow Manor #2)(70)

“Good plan,” Jari said as he cast a miserable glance at his beloved friend. It was uncomfortable for anyone to see Aamir like that, but Alex knew it must have been hitting Jari the hardest.

“Work as fast as you can!” Alex said. Natalie and Jari nodded and jogged to the two vast doors. Pulling the hinges open, they staggered backward as a swarm of students flooded into the room. Alex stared in surprise, recognizing a few from Jari’s lunchtime training sessions.

“What are you doing here?” yelled Alex.

“We are here for the Uprising!” shouted a tall, slim figure at the very front of the group. His name was Jun Asano, and he stood a good head taller than most of the other students. Alex knew him to be a final year, one of the students who was on his way to graduation.

Jari turned toward Alex, looking sheepish. It seemed there were even more secrets that had been kept from Alex, just when he had thought they were all out in the open. He had never heard the word ‘Uprising’ mentioned, but the group seemed riled and ready for action, their collective glare directed at the shrouded figure of Aamir.

“We want retribution! Kill Escher!” cried a blond-haired girl beside Jun. The group bellowed behind her. Alex could see they were already in the throes of full-blown mob mentality, waving their fists and yelling at the top of their lungs, baying for the blood of whoever was closest to the Head—whoever could offer them the revenge they thirsted for. At that moment in time, that title fell upon Aamir.

They could not see that the man behind the shield was their one-time classmate and friend. They saw only Escher, the Deputy Head, and he was close enough to the real thing to slake their thirst for blood.

Alex ran across the marble toward them, standing in front of Natalie and Jari.

“Stop! Your anger is misplaced,” Alex stated. “The person in there is not who you think he is. He is not some faceless, masked monster who wants to hurt you, and there is no Professor Escher. That man in there is Aamir—your friend and classmate. He is suffering under a curse, laid upon him by the Head. He is not responsible for any of this.” Alex gestured toward the walls of the manor. “Your anger is with the Head, not with Aamir, who needs our help as much as anyone.”

“This could have happened to any one of us,” Natalie declared, nodding to Alex before turning to the mob. “Aamir was only doing what the Head made him do. He could not say no, the same way none of us could have refused if we had been in his position.”

“You’re only saying that because he was your friend!” sneered Jun. The group behind him grumbled in agreement.

“It’s not Aamir’s fault!” snarled Jari.

“Of course you’d say that. You were his pet. Always tagging along behind him like a lost puppy,” laughed Jun with a cold mockery.

“You shut your mouth!” yelled Jari as Alex held him back.

“All of you, stop!” Alex shouted. “We have to work together and use this opportunity. Aamir could know something we can use against the Head, and you can be sure that if any of you harm him, the Head will come running.”

Jun frowned. “You’re lying,” he hissed.

The mob shouted insults and angry slurs behind their leader, howling for Aamir’s comeuppance, furious at being held back by three upstarts. It didn’t matter that two of them had helped train them; they seemed hell-bent on their revenge.

Jun raised two cupped hands with a sneer, posed to strike. But before he could even twist his wrists to release a spell, Natalie had formed a shining shield of gold between them. It thrummed powerfully as the mob stepped back with a cry of discontent.

“Give us Aamir!” Jun shouted, those behind him echoing the call.

“Do you really want to wait here until my shield falters?” Natalie challenged.

“It’ll be days,” Alex said, casting Natalie a wry smile.

Jun snorted and formed a ball of energy between his palms, throwing the glowing orb toward Natalie. The blow ricocheted off the shield, crackling above the gathered heads of the mob and frying the top of the doorframe with a sharp sizzle, blackening the wood. No one else dared attempt to break the shield after that, though a few shouted brazenly that they might.

Jun motioned for his entourage to gather around, and they set into a hushed debate about their next plan of attack, flashing furtive glances toward Natalie and her glinting barrier. Her own gaze never faltered.

Alex gave a low sigh at the raging voice of Aamir, who was screaming abuse from across the ballroom, doing himself no favors. Unfortunately, it seemed the shield did not silence the person within, only kept their magic from doing any harm.

“You’ll all pay for this! You are nothing! When the Head returns, he will punish you all! You will wish you had never set a foot out of line, you fools!” he bellowed from within his pulsing cell, his words descending into a bitter cackle.

Alex stepped into Jari’s place as the blond-haired boy moved quickly back toward his friend and knelt on the floor in front of the rippling barrier of his prison. He could not reach Aamir through Alex’s anti-magic, which burned his hands with a sharp wince as he attempted it. Alex felt the judder of Jari’s impact, feeling sorrowful as he watched Jari try to grasp his dear companion by the shoulders. Alex would have lowered the shield, but was too worried about what Aamir might do. He watched Jari sit cross-legged on the floor and talk softly to Aamir.