The Chain (The Secret of Spellshadow Manor #3)(49)

Natalie had improved in leaps and bounds too, ever since her steady recovery from the dark magic she had used to relocate the portal. Her hands no longer shook, and it took a fair amount of time before she started to tire. It was a good sign, and one Alex was glad to see. Since his visit with Elias, he had been reluctant to ask her again what had happened that day, but with the shadow-man’s insight, he knew he had to keep an eye on his friend’s advancements. Yes, she was almost entirely healthy again, but he couldn’t help worrying that it might lead to her further pursuit of ‘strong’ magic. He couldn’t forget the gleam he’d seen in her eyes as she had watched the Stillwater students compete. In addition, she had been spending an awful lot of time huddled in corners with Helena, chatting in low voices away from the rest of the group.

The silvery-haired young woman kept her promise to visit every other day, bringing bigger boxes of supplies to tide them over, and each visit led to these secret, hushed talks—Natalie monopolizing the girl’s time, much to Jari’s annoyance. He had grand plans of flirtation and courtship, and had been unable to carry any of them out during Helena’s brief stopovers.

Each time Alex and Natalie sparred, he would see a spell he didn’t recognize, twisting toward him from her palms. Sometimes they were surprisingly potent ones which sent him sprawling backward in a dense mist of snow and ice, leaving him wondering what the spell would have done if he had been an ordinary wizard. It was almost as if he had become Natalie’s guinea pig, a means for her to semi-harmlessly try out her new tricks. It was clear Helena was teaching her these things, innocently enough, and he just hoped they were within the natural sphere of magic, and nothing from the dark, unnatural realms beyond.

“Why don’t we pair up today?” Ellabell suggested one morning.

Alex frowned. “It won’t be the same as sparring with the others, you know.”

“I know. I’ve been watching, remember?”

“You think you’re ready to take me on?” he grinned, flirting a little.

“I know I am,” she purred.

Bristling with excitement, they moved to either side of the main room and faced each other. Ellabell drew crosses on the floor with the edge of her magic, burning the symbols temporarily into the stonework.

“Ready?” Alex smiled.

Ellabell nodded. “When you are.”

Alex sent out the first attack, ducking to his knees as he pressed his palms against the stonework, sending a ripple of anti-magic through the floor of the room. It was a trick he had tailored from the one he’d seen in the arena, and it worked like a charm. Spirals of anti-magic shot up through the masonry all around Ellabell’s feet, surprising her, though he had made sure they wouldn’t touch her.

“Nice trick!” she gasped, slightly startled.

“Thanks,” he replied brightly, as he waited for her move.

Holding her palms up, she built a golden ball in the air before her, twisting her hand sharply until the ball began to spin, faster and faster, sparks careening off it as it hurtled around. Lifting it up, she pulled her left hand inward, causing smaller globes of glittering gold energy to be flung from the center of the larger orb, where they tore through the room toward Alex’s head, missing him by a hair. The globes were relentless, however, as they proceeded to surge from the larger orb, whizzing past him at all angles as he tried his best to duck and weave away from them. A few hit him in the shoulder and hip with a hefty punch, but they turned swiftly into flurries of cold snow, leaving him with little more than a light bruising.

“I think you got me!” he said as the balls continued to spin through the air. He lifted his hands in surrender.

With a turn of her wrist, the larger, spinning ball disappeared in a glimmer of gold dust. “Did I hit you?” she asked, a look of worry on her face.

He smiled. “A few times—I’m okay, though.”

“Are you sure?”

He nodded. “Of course. I can take more than that.”

“Well, if you insist.” She conjured several bolts in both palms and sent them speeding toward Alex.

“No, I didn’t mean—” he stuttered, not able to get all his words out as the hurled missiles forced him to bob and weave, cutting his sentence short.

Quickly, he sent up a glinting shield around himself, blocking the thin bolts as they soared in his direction. They slammed harmlessly against the barrier, much to Alex’s relief, giving him a chance to catch his breath.

They spent a good hour testing each other’s skills, with Alex trying out some of the spells he had picked up from the students in the arena, though inverted to his own anti-magical purposes. Some were more successful than others—the burning figure of an eagle was one he would have to work on, as a paltry conjuration of loose, glittering mist was all he could manage, making Ellabell chuckle. It was strange; some spells seemed to invert easily, whereas others seemed to be solely for the use of mages. There was no anti-magical translation, or not one Alex could figure out, anyway. The conjuration of creatures and birds was proving particularly difficult. Ellabell could almost manage a sleek, golden bird of prey, but he just couldn’t get one to stick.

They stopped when Jari and Aamir appeared in the doorway.

“You mind if we cut in?” Jari asked with a cheerful grin.

It was an expression that had been on the blond-haired boy’s face a lot since Aamir’s apparent return to normality. And it was so close to the memory of how his friend had been, that Alex could just about pretend to believe Aamir was entirely Aamir again, despite their encounter the other night.