The Chain (The Secret of Spellshadow Manor #3)(30)

Still oblivious to most of the things going on, though the tense atmosphere was hard to miss, Aamir had become more alert since Helena’s treatment of his curse. Slowly, he had begun to talk again, involving himself in the group as best as he could, though he still looked weary and broken, sagging under the weight of untold exhaustion. Alex couldn’t even begin to imagine what it was like to have something forcibly torn from within, especially something that had clung for so long to the inner being of a person. On occasion, Alex would catch Aamir gazing into nothingness, and the expression on the older boy’s face was chilling—as if he were permanently staring, shell-shocked, at a ghost in the distance that nobody else could see.

Ellabell was more vocal about the night before; she was still in a state of shock, evidently struggling to absorb the truth of what she had seen. She couldn’t seem to sit still, always busying herself with something to try to take her mind off it.

“I don’t know if I’m happy about staying here anymore,” she said suddenly. “After what we just saw, I’m not sure we can.”

Everyone turned to look at her.

“We can’t leave just yet, Ellabell,” Alex stated calmly.

Her eyes narrowed. “Why not?”

“There are things we need.”

“Like what? What’s the plan, Alex?” she snapped, her manner agitated. “As far as I can tell, we don’t have one.”

Slowly, all eyes turned toward him instead.

The semi-spoken goal among the group was that they wanted to reach the real, non-magical world again. They wanted to get back to their families and friends. The only problem was, he could tell the idea weighed heavy on a few of them. He knew it did for him. It was a goal interwoven with guilt for those they had left behind at Spellshadow Manor. Alex could not get them out of his head, and so his plan had evolved slightly over the time they had been running, in an attempt to kill two birds with one stone.

He had wanted to move closer to Stillwater House and get inside the grounds, to try to find something they might use that could help them not only reach the real world, but gain the upper hand against those in charge in order to free the others who remained. What that entailed, he still wasn’t sure, but he knew it would need potent magic. For the moment, it was a pipedream, and one of unknown feasibility. But he had made the first step in the right direction. They were in the grounds, after all.

As for the rest of his plan, he had a suspicion their hopes might lie with the black bottles and the glowing red embers he assumed must be inside.

“The plan is to get home, maybe saving the others if we can,” he said quietly.

“Nice and vague,” muttered Ellabell.

“To get back to the normal world, I think we’re going to need to figure out how to create a portal,” Alex continued. “Now, I’m guessing that is going to require a whole load of magic and a complex spell we don’t yet know. I’m guessing it’ll be in there somewhere.” He pointed toward the school. “If we want to try and help the others, we need to gain an advantage over the Head.”

“And how might we do that?”

“I think it might have something to do with the life essence that’s being collected from students. The people in charge are harvesting it—here and at Spellshadow. So there has to be a use for it. There has to be a reason they need it, and that might be a weakness we can utilize,” he explained.

Glancing around the room, he could see the others were creeped out by the mention of it. Even after seeing the losers being dragged off last night, Alex wasn’t sure it had fully sunk in for his friends, what was actually happening to those who didn’t win. It wasn’t an easy pill to swallow.

“What are they using it for?” asked Ellabell, her former bitterness replaced with anxiety.

Alex shrugged. “That’s something we’re going to have to find out. If we know that, we can use it against them.”

His eyes trailed toward Aamir, who was staring absently into space. If Aamir was listening to the conversation, he was showing no signs of it. Still, it made Alex curious; if anyone knew anything about the reasons life essence was being harvested from students, it was the former teacher.





Chapter 12





Alex knew questioning Aamir wouldn’t go down well with Jari, but they were wasting time not using their biggest asset, who was sitting right there, his brain full of secrets. Without the golden band on his wrist to prevent him from speaking the truth, Alex was certain he would be able to garner some useful information from Aamir, even though he still wasn’t certain which side the older boy was on. If he was friend or foe, only time would tell. It was like Helena had warned—the band and subsequent curse had gripped him for a long time, keeping him under the influence of the Head’s manipulation. It might take more time than they had for his loyalties to change.

But as Alex approached Aamir to question him, he began to have second thoughts. Their friend looked like the husk of his former self, fatigue and despair etched on his weary face as he slowly ate a croissant Jari had placed into his hand. The older boy’s hands shook weakly. Alex hated that he had to interrogate Aamir now, but he felt the pressure of the task ahead upon him.

Deliberately, Alex settled down on the floor in front of Aamir, making his intentions clear. Jari bristled, frowning at Alex, as a look of understanding passed between the two older boys. It looked as if Aamir had been wondering when this moment would come.