The Secret of Spellshadow Manor 2 by Bella Forrest (top ten ebook reader .TXT) 📗

everyone able to breathe more easily. Alex wondered if his fears about the golden band listening in had been unfounded. Days had passed, and still the Head did not come. He hoped tentatively that they might have more time than he’d thought.

Walking quickly down the hallway, intent on reaching the wine cellar for a private training session, Alex jumped as a head appeared around the corner of one of the classroom doors. It was Lintz, his brow furrowed and his mouth set in a stern line.

“What’s going on?” he asked sharply. “Where is everyone?”

Alex had known this time would come. The classrooms had been growing progressively emptier, and so had the dormitories, with students scattered throughout the manor, trying to keep as much distance between themselves and the teachers as possible. As yet, it seemed, nobody had asked for Lintz or Gaze’s assistance. Perhaps they were too afraid to judge their trustworthiness wrongly, Alex thought, as he narrowed his eyes at Lintz, weighing whether or not he could trust this particular professor.

“Staging a coup,” said Alex bluntly.

Lintz nodded with a tight smile. “I thought as much. About time, if you ask me.” He grinned, his moustache twitching. “Any room for an old codger like me?”

Alex widened his eyes, pleasantly taken aback. “There’s room for anyone who’s on our side,” he replied, hoping his gut feeling to trust Lintz was right. There was a lightness in Lintz’s manner that made Alex curious; he seemed keener than Alex had anticipated. He knew how long Lintz had been waiting for an opportunity like this, and perhaps he had finally come to realize that there was only really one mode of escape left to him, after what had happened to Derhin. They had been friends, from young men to old men, and Alex had to wonder if Lintz felt there was anything left to lose. It certainly didn’t seem that way.

“Count me in. I’ll go fetch some things. You call on me when the time is right—I’ll be barricaded in here until then.” He chuckled, a genuine warmth spreading across his face.

“Professor?”

“Yes?” said Lintz.

“Do you think any of the other professors would help us?” asked Alex sheepishly.

Lintz flashed a smile. “Only one,” said Lintz. “I will ask her.”

“Thank you,” sighed Alex, hoping he meant Gaze.

“Well, this is very exciting,” muttered Lintz as he closed the door of his classroom behind him and headed off down the hallway, whistling loudly. Alex watched him go, a broad smile on his face, before he carried on toward the cellar.

Alex had just returned from a sparring session in the cellar when a loud explosion sent him running back through the manor. The rumble rippled through the flagstones, the ground shaking. Another loud bang knocked him sideways into the wall, but he scrambled to his feet and kept running, determined to reach the place the explosions were coming from.

“How dare you!” roared the biting voice of Professor Renmark.

Alex rounded the corner and saw a maelstrom of energy chasing a small group of students down the corridor ahead.

“How dare you go against the Head! You are not worthy!” Renmark yelled after them, shards of golden spears sailing past the shoulders of the fleeing students.

Beside him stood Esmerelda, wearing a striking, sequined purple dress that glimmered with each burst of magical energy that soared from her delicate hands. Alex saw her gazing up at Renmark’s face with an expression that lay somewhere between adoration and hero-worship, her blue eyes shining.

It seemed Renmark had decided to seize back power, in the absence of Professor Escher or the Head. Alex recalled the muttered conversation overheard through Renmark’s door. It was the moment Renmark had been waiting for—the chance to prove himself to the Head. It looked as if the students had tried to take him on, underestimating his strength and overlooking his partnership with Esmerelda, who was a far more powerful mage than anyone had suspected. Beneath her delicate exterior lay a ferocious force of raw energy, and the pair made formidable foes. Alex ducked into a doorway, watching the fight from afar but not daring to toss himself into the line of fire just yet. Perhaps he could initiate a surprise attack when the professors were least expecting it, or could run to get Lintz, knowing his classroom wasn’t far.

A few of the students sent streams of golden energy trailing over their shoulders, some even using spells they’d been taught in Renmark’s classes. But he seemed to always be a step ahead, swiping the futile magical attempts away with a flick of his robed wrist.

The magic thundered between the walls as the fight tore through the corridor, close to the classroom doors. Fierce blades and great, mystical birds of prey dancing within a flame-like aura raced after the students, lashing out at their skin, trying to inflict pain, as Renmark and Esmerelda walked slowly in pursuit of their quarry. They didn’t need to run; their magic was doing the legwork.

Alex lifted his hands, preparing to form a blade of anti-magic, but he was distracted by the sound of rusted metal scraping the floor as a door across the hall flung open. Lintz jumped out of his classroom, the students rushing past him. A look of disgust flashed across his face, his moustache twitching angrily as he beheld the two teachers at the far end of the corridor. Across his body, he wore a leather satchel that bounced awkwardly against his back. He didn’t seem to mind it, though, and stood his ground.

Deftly, Lintz conjured a blockade, a magical version of the inverted one Alex liked to use, and sent it rushing through the hallway—only it seemed this one was intended to combat magic alone and not inflict damage on human bodies. It swallowed up the magical arsenal of Renmark and Esmerelda’s combined forces, rendering it useless.

“Stop!” yelled Lintz. “What on earth do you think you’re doing? You do not kill the students!” he bellowed as the group tore past him,