The Secret of Spellshadow Manor by Bella Forrest (classic english novels txt) 📗

lip nervously. “But you need to be careful. Really careful. Derhin came ‘round last night and threatened anyone who might have it.”

She stood up, holding the book close to her chest like a favorite child.

“I will be careful,” she said solemnly. “I just need to do something useful…I’m glad that you are okay.”

With that, she turned and headed toward the door. Her cool façade was spoiled only slightly by a fit of coughing that left her leaning against the doorframe. Alex leaned back in his bed, his brow deeply furrowed.

“I wish I could say the same, Natalie.”

“Oh,” Natalie said, her voice quavering. “You worry too much.”

And with a click of the latch, she was gone.

Chapter 28

Natalie quickly became absorbed in Nobilitum Mortem, working relentlessly, though not tirelessly. She and Alex moved from their customary table at the library to one that was more private, located in a small reading nook in the darkest corner they could find, where the only illumination came from flickering candles. By their light, Natalie looked half dead, her skin shimmering with sweat, her paling hands flipping page after page, occasionally cross-checking a word against a Latin dictionary she had managed to dig up from somewhere.

Her illness, to Alex’s consternation, had not gotten better. While Natalie had begun to act more or less like herself again, it was clear that she was pushing her health in order to do so. She went to bed earlier, and lasted for less and less time during their study sessions before being too exhausted to work. When Alex pressed her on how she was feeling, she insisted she was fine and wanted to keep working. He knew she was as motivated to figure out the school’s secrets as he was, but he also knew she was pushing herself too hard.

Bent over the book, Natalie frowned, looking between it and her dictionary.

“What’s wrong?” Alex asked.

“This must be a magical word,” she muttered. “It isn’t in the dictionary, and I do not know it.”

“What’s the context?”

Natalie read the sentence in Latin, which was gibberish to Alex, then read it in English. “The ‘inmagus’ are immune to the gaze of specters, and the magic of the dead cannot touch them.” She let out a frustrated breath, brushing a lock of dark hair behind her ear. “Sounds useful, if we knew what it was.”

Alex paused.

“I think I know the word you’re looking for,” he said.

Natalie looked up, her eyes reflecting the candlelight. “What is it?”

Spellbreaker, Alex thought with a thrill of excitement, but didn’t say anything. He wanted to confirm his suspicions and find evidence to support them before making an announcement. But this could be huge.

Alex rose to his feet, and Natalie let out a quizzical murmur as he began to walk away.

“I just need to check something,” he said, turning to her and walking backwards a couple paces. “Why don’t you take a break? I’ll be back in a moment.”

His feet clattered against the metal grate of the steps as he ascended one of the library’s three towers, row after row of books passing him on one side. Looking down through the holes in the steps, he could see the dizzying drop of at least a hundred feet down to the library floor. He watched a student vault the waist-high handrail and sail gracefully through the air, landing lightly with a puff of golden magic. Alex swallowed and gripped the railing more tightly, imagining himself falling heavily through the air and landing with a hideous thud. He did not have the option the magical students did. One misstep could send him to an unfortunate fate up here. He moved on, his steps careful.

The paper lanterns hanging from the web of threads linking the three towers cast a cozy multicolored glow over the spines of the books as Alex perused them. He was in a section of the tower dedicated to the histories of old bloodlines, but he wasn’t sure he would find what he was looking for. He stared at the adjacent tower, wondering if perhaps that would have been the right place to begin. He had seen students jump from one to the other on magically enhanced legs, but for him to get there, it would require going all the way down, then all the way back up. That would be both tiring and time-consuming, and he hoped he wouldn’t have to check that second tower.

Returning to his search, Alex ran a finger over book after book detailing the lives of ancient magical families. He wasn’t even sure what he was looking for, as the Spellbreakers did not merit their own category, and the book he remembered had mentioned them only in passing. Did he expect to find “Spellbreakers” just written on the side, plain as day? They weren’t exactly well-known, or even well-regarded.

He thought of the bodies of the people Finder had mentioned, their bones probably still lying there under the ice out in the lake, and swallowed.

On a whim, he changed tact. While he didn’t know the family names required to find a Spellbreaker history directly, he could at least look up the history of those who had slaughtered them. Finder’s true name was Malachi Grey; that was a sensible starting place. He began to hunt, and within a few minutes had victoriously located a series of books, each labeled “Grey”.

It took a few more minutes of searching to find the correct book, and even then he found only a reference. Alex sat on the walkway, ignoring the looks he got from other students who had to turn sideways to edge past him, and read the passage.

Lord Evan Grey was the fifth of his line, and continued his predecessors’ hunt with zeal. He gained recognition and infamy for his enthusiastic continuation of tradition of slaying those with anti-magical blood and disposing of their bodies in his lake. While many viewed the tradition as barbaric, he claimed it to be the only way to protect