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

stern looks from their teachers in the hallways, but other than that garnered no repercussions. Each of them threw themselves into their practice with vigor—Alex and Natalie trying to continue formulating a solid plan for Finder on the side.

Alex’s anti-magic conjurations were getting better, but they were still far from perfect. He had to focus too much, and it inevitably came down to a choice between concentrating on his enemy’s hands and holding his own energies together. He was pleased to note his improvement, but frustrated that he still ended up losing.

With her curse hanging heavy around her shoulders, and Aamir having developed a firm grasp on the basics of grabbing, Natalie’s success against the older student dwindled to almost nothing. Her endurance was poor, and her magic was weak. She spent most of their practices sitting against the wall with Alex, who was glad she was finally resting a little.

Then there was Jari. Aamir had always said the small boy was good, but Alex had never fully appreciated the statement until he saw him spar. Jari stood, his body held sideways to present the smallest possible target, one hand slotted behind his back and the other held out like a fencer’s foil in front of him. His hair glowed with crackling power as his fingers snapped one way then another in a blur of magical signs, sending spell after spell raining down on the bottle, and Alex noted with surprise that Aamir struggled to keep up.

A crack of glass, and the bottle at the center of the room spun, a small hole in its side burbling with fizzing wine, the sickly smell of scorched grapes floating into the air. Aamir smiled weakly, then slumped down to a sitting position, panting. Jari flicked a couple stray bolts of lightning from his fingertips.

It was the night before the duel. So far, none of them had actually mentioned the fact, but it hung heavy over the room. They had been talking less, concentrating more. Now, however, it was growing late and they would soon be forced to sleep, or face the dawn unrested.

Jari made a hand sign in Aamir’s direction, and the boy’s hawk-like eyes caught it, squinting in the gloom of the cellar.

“Anima, strong, ground to my left.”

Jari smiled, then changed the sign.

“Lightning, straight to the face.”

There was a chime that seemed to roll through the room, and Jari’s watch began to emit a faint light. He didn’t even look down, flipping his hand into a new position.

Aamir, however, did not answer. He was staring at the watch.

“Jari…”

“What’s the sign?” the younger boy responded.

Aamir sighed, then looked at the hand. He blinked, a smile sliding over his face as he saw what the other boy held toward him: a thumbs-up.

“Time for bed,” Jari said.

On the way back, Jari drew Aamir ahead by the arm, and the two of them spoke in hushed whispers that were masked by the wind as it whooshed through the bare branches of the toppled trees. The two boys walked, their long gray coats tumbling behind them in the wind, and for a moment Alex thought they were the very picture of modern magicians.

Beside him, Natalie was muttering to herself too, her hands making signs he didn’t know. Alex noted with interest that the spells she was practicing took both hands, one fluid and wavy, the other stiff and harsh.

“Necromancy?” he asked.

Natalie shot him a small smile.

“Have to make sure I have it right for tomorrow.”

Alex nodded. “Did you get enough practice? I was worried that you wouldn’t have time, what with training Aamir.”

Natalie shrugged. “There is no way to know, is there? We’ll find out tomorrow.”

They walked in silence for a time, Natalie continuing to mutter and flex her hands.

“So,” Alex said as the wind cut a cold line across his cheek, “what’s our plan tomorrow?”

“We have already gone over it at least a dozen times.”

“Humor me.”

Natalie sighed, but she settled into the discussion with an ease that would have been impossible for someone who hadn’t already been thinking on the topic. “We go to the crypt,” she said. “Odds are very good that the source will be in there, possibly the skull. We sneak in, locate it, disenchant it, and get out.”

Alex nodded. “For my part,” he said, “I’ll take care of any traps and wards set on the crypt. My anti-magic should be able to dismantle spells rather than trigger them, so if we’re careful, we won’t sound any alarms…Should be a clean trip in and out.”

As they walked, Alex tilted his head back, staring up at the mess of stars that washed over the sky. He picked out constellations, slowly building a map of the cosmos high above.

Natalie looked up as well, her brown eyes soft in the moonlight.

“It is like they are putting on a show for us,” she said.

Alex frowned. His complex web of patterns and lines wavered, and for a moment he saw the stars.

“A show?”

Natalie smiled and moved a little closer to him, wrapping her arms around herself in an effort to keep warm. “They look a little like fireworks, do they not?” she said.

Alex squinted, and then he saw it. Like a thousand fireworks exploding in frozen water, deep and distant, halted in mid-blast.

“I was just mapping them,” he said with a frown.

Natalie laughed. “Of course you were.”

He helped her over a large tree that had been thrown across the path, her hand soft and warm against his palm, and led the way back toward the manor.

“Do you really think we can do this?” she asked in a quiet whisper. It was the first time she had allowed herself to show true doubt in a while.

Alex looked back at her, studying her face. For a moment, all he could see was her eyes, sparkling in the night. She seemed taller than usual, her dark hair tied back in a bun that left only a few long locks to hang loose over her face. They fluttered in the wind,