The Secret of Spellshadow Manor 3 by Bella Forrest (recommended ebook reader txt) 📗

told to use whatever means necessary to hold our positions as teachers. They taught me so many vile spells, to hurt and punish and emotionally scar students. They taught me all of that here, and I didn’t want to think about it—I didn’t want you to think of me that way. I wanted to bury Escher for good, and I went about it in entirely the wrong way.” His brow furrowed as he held his head in his hands.

This tale seemed to placate the others, who rushed to embrace the softly weeping Aamir, but Alex knew the tears were rooted in something deeper. The shame he believed, but the teachers had a choice; they had seen as much with the likes of Gaze and Lintz. Yes, there were bad eggs, but it didn’t mean they didn’t have a choice.

Alex had a feeling that it was this that lay at the root of Aamir’s shame. Through fear or uncertainty or not knowing, Aamir had done the bidding of the Head, being too naïve or too frightened not to. It made sense—Gaze and Lintz were older, with less to lose. Aamir had gone along with it, perhaps because he had seen no other option. Alex could understand that; he just wished he could hear Aamir admit to it, just once. The raw, honest, vulnerable truth. He could have truly respected his friend for that, because it wasn’t easy to say. Still, Alex believed the hurt in Aamir’s words and the meaning behind them and knew it was enough. His friend had been through enough, and the trust between them had been restored, however tentatively. It wasn’t an easy thing to admit, when a person was wrong, and so he looked to Aamir, realizing that, if this was all he was going to get by way of an apology, then that was fine by him. It was just nice to have the old Aamir back, or as near to him as it would ever be possible to get.

As Aamir regained his composure, Alex brought out the book Elias had given him and began to read. Ellabell shot him a curious look. She wandered over to where he was and sat on the armrest, peering down.

“What are you reading?” she asked.

“A Spellbreaker book,” he replied.

The sight of it seemed to perk up her interest. “Any good?”

“I’m still finding out,” he whispered. She smiled back at him, making him feel close to her as a warm, conspiratorial moment passed between them, reminding him of the last time they had bonded over stories from Spellbreaker history.

“It makes sense now, your sudden interest in battles.” She grinned. “Did I help at all?”

He nodded. “You helped more than you know.”

“I’m glad.” She nudged him lightly, leaning close as she tried to read some pages over Alex’s shoulder.

The moment was disturbed as Helena appeared, looking flustered.

“There you are!” she cried. “I’ve been trying to find you.”

She froze, her pale eyes snapping toward the book in Alex’s hands. Her expression morphed into one of shock as she read the title, Leander Wyvern: The Last Spellbreaker, and leveled her gaze at Alex.

“Where did you get that?” she breathed.

He shrugged. “It was just in the stacks.”

“Don’t play the fool, Alex! I know every book in this library, and that does not belong here,” she hissed. “That is a very rare book—rarer than you know. It has always been kept in my mother’s office, not here. You didn’t simply find that in the stacks, so I’ll ask you again—where did you get it?” Her eyes burned with annoyance.

“Why does it matter?” remarked Alex, genuinely curious to know why it did.

His comment seemed to soften Helena’s angry expression. “I suppose it doesn’t,” she said through gritted teeth, her words lacking conviction. “I was just surprised to see it in your hands, is all.”

Alex frowned, his suspicions piqued that she was no longer on their side. Her startling reaction had been unexpected to say the least, and he wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. Even as she got back to the reason she had been seeking them out, her eyes kept flitting to the cover of the book in Alex’s hands, her expression anxious.

“I come bearing good news,” she explained, a forced brightness in her voice.

“You do?” asked Natalie hopefully. “We have not been having much luck.”

Helena nodded. “I couldn’t find the book I wanted, with all the portal magic inside, but I did manage to find something else,” she whispered, as the others leaned in to hear.

“What did you find?” Jari asked, instantly doe-eyed in her presence. No lie could suppress his adoration for the girl.

“I managed to find a portal to another haven,” she said softly.

They looked at her in surprise. The only reason Alex had contemplated traveling to other havens was to seek out more bottles of essence, but the renewed idea was pleasing to Alex’s ears. It could maybe lead them to an abandoned site where they might have a lot more time to think, unburdened by the pressure of being pursued or used for ulterior purposes. Besides, if the black bottles were in Alypia’s office, he knew he might need to find essence elsewhere.

“Which haven is it?” Alex asked, remembering the note with the names of the remaining four havens upon it: Falleaf House, Kingstone Keep, Spellshadow Manor, Stillwater House.

Helena shook her head. “I don’t know. I just know it’s a portal to somewhere else.”

“How do you know?” he pressed.

She sighed, narrowing her eyes at him. “You really do have endless questions, don’t you? I know because there is a still, unmoving image through a door in one of the rooms in the deepest part of the school—it looks out onto a castle courtyard. Now, I don’t know about you, but you don’t tend to find many castles sticking out of subterranean rooms, do you? So I’m guessing it’s a portal,” she remarked, flashing a look at Alex. “Nobody goes down there. It’s close to the derelict quarter,