The Secret of Spellshadow Manor 2 by Bella Forrest (top ten ebook reader .TXT) 📗

they expected Renmark to accost them with his accusing tone and strange eyes. He had told other students he’d be roaming the halls most evenings from now on, just in case anyone thought it smart to flout the rules. Alex wasn’t sure why, but he felt the act was aimed at him personally, or him and his friends, anyway.

Things were changing.

There was little sanctuary to be found in the new regime. If Renmark had his way, the school would be as close to a military operation as possible, and their lives would only become more restricted. The only comfort was in Lintz’s lessons. He had returned to work in a much brighter mood after the owl incident. And their other new teacher, Professor Gaze, had proven to be an unexpected delight as well. She was a small, ancient woman with a love of laughter, and her warm, generous manner relaxed the students and made her lessons as close to fun as it was possible to have in the manor. Professor Esmerelda had become frighteningly volatile, swinging from pleasant to aggressive in a nanosecond, seemingly as on edge as everyone else under the new rules, though she hadn’t exactly been her usual flighty self since Derhin’s upheaval. Each lesson, she would prowl the classroom, evidently paranoid one of her students was going to challenge her to a duel and steal her place on the faculty. She told them as much, in a woeful voice, pleading with them not to, promising she was a nice person. It threw Alex a little to hear a teacher talk that way, to know the changeover between Aamir and Derhin had caused more concern than he had realized. Then again, Esmerelda had always been a bit strange.

Finally, the trio entered the large foyer that led to the manor’s entrance. The sky beyond was a hazy purple as sunset gave way to twilight, stars beginning to twinkle. A flurry of a breeze rippled through the air toward them from the grounds. Alex longed to be out in the desolate landscape, so charred and twisted and broken, yet carrying a macabre beauty he had developed a fondness for. It was so close he could scent the metallic tang of ozone in his nostrils.

“Last one out is a rotten egg!” Alex said with a grin, about to break into a sprint, when he felt Natalie’s hand close around his arm, pulling him backward.

She shook her head, pointing miserably at something glimmering in the doorway. He saw the dull golden glow of the same type of barrier that lay across the ancient tomb, and felt a flood of rage surge through him. He walked toward it, kneeling on the ground, ready to place his palms against the pulsing radiance.

“You cannot break it every time, Alex,” Natalie said sadly. Alex sat back on the cold stone floor, gazing out at the grounds beyond, desperate to escape the stifling walls of the manor house.

“Just this once?” Alex smiled weakly, knowing it was futile. Natalie was right, he couldn’t keep breaking barriers. He’d only run the risk of getting caught.

“Not today, buddy,” Jari croaked, slumping down on the floor beside Alex. They let the light breeze wash over their tired faces.

It was then that Alex’s eye was drawn to the outer edge of the front lawn, his heart gripping in his chest as he jumped to his feet and moved to the farthest edge of the entrance, trying to get a better view.

“No,” he whispered in heartbroken disbelief. Jari shuffled to see what Alex was looking at. Natalie followed, peering over Alex’s shoulder.

Something was not right with the front lawn. It was like an optical illusion; it took a moment for the mind to realize what it was seeing. Alex had simply thought they were looking from the wrong angle, but as he peered around as far as he could to get a better view, he realized his worst fears had come to life. The walls really were closing in on them. On the far side of the lawn, where the vast iron gate should have been, there was nothing but wall. The gate had disappeared entirely, replaced by a giant wall, smothered in the same magic-sapping gray ivy that curled and stretched across the grounds. They were locked in, closed off completely from the outside world.

“No,” Alex breathed again. He slammed his fist against the masonry of the doorframe.

“It is gone,” Natalie whispered, holding her hands to her mouth in shock.

“They’ve trapped us in here,” Jari wheezed, his head in his hands.

Alex gazed out upon the thick, ivy-covered wall, not quite believing his eyes.

The manor truly was a prison now.

Chapter 11

As the days went by in the confines of Spellshadow Manor, Alex came to realize the value of the brief time he and his friends had at their disposal. With the new restrictions in place, and Renmark’s endless prowling, which he had somehow persuaded Esmerelda to join in, their only chance for a taste of freedom was lunchtime. On occasion, the three of them would pick up sandwiches and go for a wander, sitting on the broken fragments of ancient stone benches, or lying back in the dried-up grass, the blades prickling through their clothes as they wolfed down whatever they’d managed to pilfer from the mess hall.

One lunchtime, after forgoing the midday meal, Alex decided they should use the time to go and spar in the cellar instead. It had been a long while since they had sparred, and Alex had almost pleaded with his friends, knowing his skills were getting rusty with disuse. Natalie and Jari had agreed to come along with him, happy for the distraction of a good old-fashioned fight. What was more, during Renmark’s lessons, Alex often felt the cold shiver of his anti-magic beneath his palms, conjured by prickling resentment toward the professor’s teaching methods, until he almost couldn’t control it. He knew he needed a safe place to practice defusing