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

Finder was doing something—something he, Aamir, Natalie, and Jari hadn’t thought of. What was it? How was he getting through to him so easily? Alex watched as the man’s hands churned the air in front of him, and braced himself against another wave of energy, followed by two whizzing spears of ice.

If Finder had been able to see Alex properly, it might have been over in that instant. However, the man was blind, forced to aim wildly in the direction of his own source. Alex held the skull as far from his body as he could as he dodged and weaved through the man’s magic, trying to think, trying to figure out what he was doing.

A thunderous boom sounded, and an old lord’s head spun from its statue to smash against the floor. Shards of stone spun through the air, and one glanced painfully off Alex’s foot. He groaned, looking down just in time to dodge another wave of ice. Finder was coming down on him hard, his mane of hair tossing in his magical energies.

“Yes!” the old man cried. “This is how it was always meant to be! Just you and me, Breaker, until one of us is in the lake.”

He spread his hands, and Alex finally saw something. A blur in the air where the man’s hands had been. A little twist, and then the shockwave tore out.

In an instant, Alex understood.

Finder wasn’t attacking him directly with anything other than the ice. Like the statue that had hurt Alex when it had fallen, Finder was causing disturbances in the environment, making shockwaves designed to push Alex around without any magic in them at all. While their magical source may have imparted some power, they washed straight through his resistances.

Another wave, and Alex found himself slammed against the wall, the breath erupting from his lungs as he slumped down to the floor. Finder stalked up, his tattered robes swaying in the wind, looking down at the skull. He opened his mouth, then winced, spinning back to where Natalie stood.

The girl’s eyes were closed in focus. Silver light spilled from the floor all around her as sweat poured down her brow, and she clapped her hands together, the light building to a brilliant flare. Finder snarled, making his way toward her.

Alex watched in horror from where he lay. He couldn’t get there in time to stop Finder from interfering with Natalie’s spell. Alex bashed the skull feebly against the ground, but it was as though the thing were made of steel. He looked on as Finder stalked toward his friend, swallowing hard, trying to stumble to his feet.

He wouldn’t make it. He knew he wouldn’t. He slumped to one knee, feeling something cold brushing against his side from the inside of his jacket. A faint, magical pulse. The screwdriver he’d brought along for no more than simple comfort.

In a moment of desperation, Alex reached down, tore the little device out of his pocket, and hurled it as hard as he could at the back of Finder’s head.

Impossibly, it worked. Finder, sensing its presence, spun, one hand coming up, a look of puzzlement crossing his face as he batted the small device away with a flux of power.

That moment, however, was all Alex needed. He jumped at Finder, his anti-magic void sucking at the air around him, hungry for magic.

“Alex!”

Natalie’s scream was accompanied by an eruption of power that circled both Alex and Finder’s heads. Natalie stood, one hand outstretched, the intricate silver circle at her feet seeming to carve itself into Alex’s eyes.

“Give me the skull!” she yelled.

Alex spun, bowling the skull across the floor toward her. Finder reached for it, his mouth twisting in a snarl, but Alex lashed out with a foot, spearing into the ghost’s essence with his anti-magic.

Natalie let out a yell as she seized the skull and drove it down into the silvery light at her feet. With a crunch, it smashed apart upon the marble. Alex watched, stunned, as Finder’s head splintered, then disintegrated into a cloud of gray mist, the ghost staggering back a step.

But Finder still had one last attack in him. He reached forward, his hands touching the air, and Alex thought he saw the twist of magic forming there. A shockwave. He didn’t need to look at Natalie’s tight face, the sweat dousing her brow, to know she wouldn’t be able to withstand much more, and at this short a range, Alex didn’t know if he could either.

Mustering the last of his energy, he formed a splinter of void and stabbed it straight into the center of the little knot of magic.

“Ah,” said a disembodied voice.

The magic popped, and then vanished. For a moment, everybody stood perfectly still. The ghost, his hands still raised to form his spell. Alex, his chest heaving, the needle of grayish nothing flickering at his fingertips. Natalie, her face drawn, her knees shaking.

“So this is how the world ends,” Finder said softly.

Holes began to appear all over the ghost’s body, bursting open as he slowly lost the ability to keep his form together. He reached for Alex, who recoiled instinctively, but it was as though Finder’s hands were shackled. They shuddered, then snapped back, drawn toward the dilapidated statue upon his altar.

With a crackle of magical energy, the air where the ghost stood seemed to splinter, leaving a visible wound in the fabric of the world. A wave of force roiled out from the place, smashing the statues of the crypt against the walls and sending stones tumbling down over the skulls on their neat pieces of white cloth.

Then everything was still.

Alex was dimly aware of a soft noise as Natalie fell to the ground. He turned, staring with wild eyes at where the girl lay upon the torn stone, eyes closed, cold sweat prickling through her clothes. Fearing the worst, Alex scrambled to her side, dropping to both knees, and reached out to shake her.

“Hey, Natalie.”

She didn’t respond. Was she even