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

fist, sending a bolt of crimson flames toward Alex, who sidestepped, then ducked as it twisted in midair at a flick of Aamir’s fingers. Alex kept an eye on the flames, moving back a step as the fire tore into the dirt in front of him.

Before he could even feel proud, an impact from behind sent Alex staggering forward onto the ground, a wave of frost splashing out over his back. He let out a moan as the mud slapped against his face, his body aching. After a moment, Aamir’s arm wrapped around his shoulders, lifting him up.

“That’s enough for today,” he said.

“I can keep going,” Alex tried to say, but Aamir shook his head.

“There’s valor in training,” he said. “There is none in burning yourself out and groveling in the mud. We’ll try again tomorrow, if you’re feeling up to it.”

Alex, though reluctant, admitted he saw his point.

Aamir set about cleaning the grime from their clothes and tending to the icy burns on Alex’s skin.

“Anti-magic seems far less useful than I would have expected,” Aamir said absentmindedly. “You’re still getting pretty hurt.”

“I’m not getting pretty dead, though.”

Aamir gave Alex a wry look, one eyebrow raised.

“I suppose.”

Chapter 30

After an hour of fighting in the cellar, Professor Derhin’s lesson that afternoon seemed unspeakably dull. Alex watched as the man droned on about Shanna’s Twofold Focusing, all the while playing out the fights over and over in his head, analyzing every movement. He wondered how he was supposed to beat someone who could summon fire out of thin air and direct it with their hands. If only there were anti-magical lessons.

Alex moved through the motions of twofold focusing, feeling the warm embrace of Natalie’s magic fluttering around him.

There had to be a way to overcome Aamir’s advantages. After all, Spellbreakers were notorious for being wizard-killers; it simply didn’t make sense that he would barely be able to fight a student who wasn’t even fully trained. Perhaps his blood was simply weak, diluted from years of disuse. Or perhaps—

“Webber.”

He looked up to see Derhin watching him.

“Sir?”

“Your aura.”

Alex looked down, and saw that the magic around him had vanished. He felt the telltale chill on his skin, and almost heaved a sigh of relief when he saw that there wasn’t any visible frost on him. He looked back at Natalie, who was giving him a strange look.

“Sorry,” Alex said. “Lost in thought.”

On cue, Natalie’s magic folded around him again, and Derhin nodded in approval.

“Just remember,” he said. “It won’t do to lose focus. You need to learn to control your energy, not let it wander.”

“Alex,” Natalie said later that day, “please try not to eat my magic when I try to help you. That is not productive.” She sounded annoyed.

They were sitting in the library, looking out the window from their concealed nook. Red slashes of sunset were making silhouettes of the ivy that coiled around the metal spikes atop the wall, creating strange, waving patterns against the light.

“I know, I’m sorry,” said Alex a little guiltily. “I don’t even know how I did it. Normally my body only nullifies things that are hurting me.”

Natalie let out a sigh. “Maybe it is a reaction to letting Aamir beat you up all morning. You shouldn’t push yourself so hard.”

She was probably right, Alex thought, but what other option did they have? Either he pushed himself a little, or Aamir got killed in battle and Alex got killed for being a Spellbreaker. He couldn’t possibly hide that forever, not in a place filled with wizards. Just now, in class, he felt he had come close to revealing himself. Not wanting to upset her, Alex changed the subject.

“Don’t you ever wonder where they went?”

Natalie had already turned back to her book. She looked up from where she had scribbled something on the page of translations that always sat out next to her, and lifted her eyebrows inquisitively.

“Who?”

“The myths.”

“The…oh, one moment.”

Natalie looked interested, but held up a finger. She set down Nobilitum Mortem, finishing what she had been writing before interlacing her fingers and giving Alex a look to continue.

“It’s something I’ve been wondering since I came here,” Alex said. “Magic is in so many of our myths that, knowing it to be real, I find I must start believing in some of them. When Finder was talking in the Head’s office, he mentioned dragons. And if they were real…” He trailed off, drumming his fingers on the tabletop. “I just wonder where they went.”

A strange look crossed Natalie’s face, and she turned to look once more at where the setting sun had faded to a diffuse orange, nestling among the hills of olive trees that made up today’s horizon.

“Once, I watched a house fire,” she said. “I thought it would be cool, you know? Mama was always talking about her heroics, so one day I followed a fire truck.” She smiled sheepishly. “I know you aren’t supposed to, but I was curious.”

The sun grew pink, sending spears of light through the gaps in the hills, shining against its halo of low, silver clouds.

“It wasn’t what I expected,” Natalie said, her expression soft. “It was so loud. The roar of the fire was like a beast screaming in my ear. So much rage and heat, and I just watched. Nobody could do anything. I saw inside a window, and there was an old movie poster in the room, and I watched it curl and burn and vanish. I wondered how many memories I was watching just…” She made a gesture. “Poof. Disappear.”

Alex watched her for a long moment as she kept thinking.

“And?” he asked, after it seemed that she wouldn’t continue on her own.

Natalie sighed. “I don’t know,” she said. “I guess I mean, sometimes something happens. Something that nobody expected, and nobody could have stopped. And everything disappears. Life does not always make sense.”

Alex thought about all those blank pages in the history books. All the stories that didn’t quite end…all the