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

a determined look on his face. His eyes swept the room, landing on Alex.

“Ah, Alex. Good, you’re awake.”

He hesitated, seeing the sheets on the floor, then the dead mouse bleeding on the mattress.

“Hm.”

“Don’t ask,” Alex grumbled. He tried to pick the mouse up by the tail to move it, but the thing came off in his hand. Jari made a retching noise.

“I confess I am curious,” said Aamir, a wry smile slanting one corner of his mouth. “But no matter. I came to ask a favor.”

Alex threw the tail in the trash bin as Jari made unintelligible noises of protest.

“What’s up?”

“I wanted to ask you to train with me, actually.”

Aamir and Jari had continued their argument from the previous day in more civil terms after Alex’s revelation the previous night. Jari had begrudgingly admitted that Aamir’s additional practices might serve a purpose, but he had also convinced the boy to come back to classes. The peace between them was uneasy, but seemed to be holding for the time being.

Now, Alex gave Aamir a questioning look.

“And do you think I would be useful to help you study magic?” he said, one eyebrow raised. “Although my…talents apparently lie in the exact opposite realm?”

“I do.”

Alex poked at the body of the mouse, and Aamir made a noise of impatience, his hand shooting out. Little flames engulfed the rodent’s body, burning it until nothing but ash remained. Aamir made a second gesture, and the heap of ash blew apart.

“It’s everywhere now,” Jari said in horror.

Alex returned his attention to Aamir with a sigh. “I’m just not sure what I can do.”

Aamir looked away, scratching at his cheek. He opened his mouth, then shut it, trying several times to speak but seeming completely unsure about how to proceed.

“It’s just…” he said, trailing off and gesticulating. “I, well, my disagreement with Jari—”

“‘Disagreement’, he says,” Jari interjected.

“—has left me concerned,” Aamir continued, glaring at Jari, “about what to do in the event that I have to duel someone in the process of taking a teacher’s position. I need a training partner.”

Alex’s brow rose even higher. “You want to have a magical duel with me?”

Aamir made a face.

“I need someone I won’t kill,” he said.

“Ah,” said Alex, then gave him an incredulous look. “You did see what happened to me yesterday, right? I almost froze to death.”

In the corner, Jari shrugged. “That was probably because I hit you,” he said.

Aamir shot him a look, but nodded. “It probably had a lot to do with both of us hitting you at the same time. If we were to limit your exposure to a single source of magic, I think you would find it much milder.”

Alex was silent for a long time. All his efforts to engage his Spellbreaker powers thus far had resulted in him curled up on the floor covered in painful ice burns; he could still feel them, hot and raw under his clothes. On the other hand, he was the only person with this power. If he could hone it, he might be able to make something of it, a weapon the Head wouldn’t see coming.

“I can even try to—” Aamir began.

“I’ll do it.”

Aamir stopped.

“Really?”

Alex nodded. He could feel the cold rippling in his bones. His blood, he knew now. Holding the manor at bay. He didn’t need to wonder what would happen if he let himself grow weak.

Aamir took Alex down to the cellar, then stood him at one end of the room.

“So,” said Alex, “how are we doing this?”

Aamir looked around, seeming confused.

“It does seem strange,” he said. “I mean, I would say we just fight, but you can’t really fight back, can you?”

Alex let out an affronted noise. “I could punch you, if that would help.”

Heat began to ripple the air around Aamir, and the same mantle of flames that Alex had seen the previous night surged up around the boy’s arms and legs, spilling down his chest. His eyes glazed over with sparks.

“You think you can punch me?” Aamir said, amused.

Alex raised his fists like a Hollywood boxer, trying to make himself sound more confident than he felt.

“I think I can try.”

Aamir stepped lightly from foot to foot, then nodded.

“I suppose so,” he said, settling into a combative stance. “I’m ready when you are.”

“Bring it,” Alex grinned.

None of the action movies he had watched could have prepared Alex for the speed with which Aamir moved. Alex was lean and tall, and liked to think he was fairly fast on his feet, but when the other boy threw his first line of flames, Alex’s feet locked up. He tried to get them to move, but all he could do was watch, petrified, until the bolt of fire connected squarely with his chest. He staggered back a step, his breath erupting from him in a burst of ice and frost as he gasped, falling to one knee.

Aamir was by his side in an instant. “This was a terrible idea. I’m sorry, I don’t know what I was thinking.”

Alex staggered to his feet, shaking his head. “Again,” he said.

Aamir’s eyes widened. “No, we should—”

“Aamir.”

The two locked eyes, and Alex tried to put the full force of his passion, his determination to help, to learn, into that stare. “Again,” he said.

Slowly, Aamir nodded.

The next hour was a whirl of pain for Alex as his body slowly adjusted to the nearly unpredictable movements of Aamir’s flames, and the ensuing waves of cold that consumed him as they broke against his body. It took him three tries to successfully sidestep Aamir’s first blow, and when he did, his euphoria was short-lived as the lance of flame snapped sideways, smashing into his side.

Aamir, in his stoic way, offered no advice. He attacked, his eyes narrowed with concentration as he shot assault after assault at Alex. Before long, the ground was muddy from the ice sloughing off of Alex’s body, and the air was hot with Aamir’s magic. The two stood, Aamir sweating, Alex shivering.

Aamir jabbed with his