The Secret of Spellshadow Manor (Spellshadow Manor #1)

When Alex was done, Jari reached out, adjusting the magical flow within the machine. The gears started to turn. With a click and a whir, a little puff of steam boiled up from some hidden, internal organ. The machine’s little legs began to kick and flick the air like a beetle turned on its back, and Alex instinctively reached out, righting it. Its legs hit the tabletop, and it skittered off along the wood workspace to collide with another boy’s project.

A volley of curses, insults, and threats followed. Alex ducked away, moving to where the beetle had fallen and picking it up. Its legs continued to move, but they seemed weaker, less coordinated somehow. Little trails of steam rippled up through the gaps in its clockwork hide.

A shadow fell over the machine, and Alex looked up to see Aamir standing over him, his dark eyes sparkling with amusement.

“You have worked on something like this before?”

“Sort of,” said Alex. “When I was a kid I went to a robotics workshop. I’ve never done anything exactly like this, but it’s just basic engineering, isn’t it?”

Jari bounced up beside Aamir with a broad smile. “We’ll have to come more often!” he said. “We always mess up the engineering part. Magic is way easier.”

Aamir glared. Jari returned the look, then corrected himself.

“I guess Aamir doesn’t always mess up the engineering.”

Aamir let out an offended huff of breath, and Alex looked over to see him leaning toward Jari with a scowl darkening his features. The two boys were an odd duo, to be sure. Alex watched as they turned in unison to a diagram on the table, each making sharp gestures as they shot their opinions at one another.

In his attempt to become more friendly with them, he’d asked about their backgrounds. Aamir was taken from New Delhi, India, while Jari had Greek roots, though he’d been living in America when he’d been “found”. Both had been strangely guarded when Alex had asked about their families. They’d tensed up, discomfort tracing their eyes, and returned similar answers—they’d prefer to not talk about it. Their responses had left Alex’s stomach feeling like a hollow pit: why had they been so reticent? After considering it, he came to the conclusion that it must simply hurt too much. Both were convinced they’d never escape this place. Thinking or talking about their families was just a recipe for pain. It scared Alex to realize he had already found himself constantly trying to push thoughts of his mother aside in an attempt to keep himself together—he was already utilizing Aamir and Jari’s method to cope with the separation.

But he could not end up like them. He could not.

“What do you think?”

Alex blinked, looking up just in time to see Jari and Aamir staring at him, both of their faces similarly demanding.

“Think about what?” he asked, pulling his mind back to the present.

“The design,” Aamir said, stabbing a finger at the little metal bug in Alex’s hand. “I think the methodology employed had some serious flaws.”

“At least it didn’t just give up and die,” Jari said.

“It lived too much.”

At this last note, Alex noticed that the student down the table, who had been fastidiously ignoring them, nodded sharply. Alex shrugged.

“I think it’s better to move than get stuck in one place. At least something happened. Here, let me see…”

Jari beamed at him, and Aamir sighed, running his hands through his hair. For a moment, his eyes seemed to glaze, looking at something else, somewhere else.

“I suppose,” he muttered.

There was a clattering from the walls, and the clocks began to chime, a cacophony of deep, booming notes mixed with high, tinny clinks.

“Curfew?” Alex asked, holding his ears.

Aamir continued to stare into space, so Jari stepped in to answer the question. “Yes,” he said. “We’ve got to get back to our rooms.”

“What if we don’t?” Alex asked, thinking of his after-dinner strolls in the garden.

Aamir shook his head, snapping out of his apparent trance. “You want to be back to your room before curfew,” he said simply.

“Hm,” said Alex. Another non-answer from Aamir.

As the trio made their way toward the door, Aamir suddenly stopped and threw out a hand. “Wait, wait,” he said, turning to Alex. “You don’t still have the beetle, do you?”

Alex nodded, holding out his hand to reveal the little clockwork creature, its legs now completely still.

Jari winced. “Ah, good point,” he said. “Alex, you can’t take those with you outside of the lab. They’re considered contraband.”

Alex proffered the item to Jari, who took it to the back of the room and put it in a little box labeled Petra. Then he came back to Alex and clapped him on the shoulder.

“Off we go, then!”

When they reached the room, Jari skipped across it in one bounding step to flop magnificently upon his mattress, bouncing once before landing on his back. Aamir watched him with a disapproving sigh, then looked at Alex as if to say, “Well, no helping that.”

“Here,” he said, reaching into a pocket and rummaging around. He pulled something out, and pressed it into Alex’s palm.

It was cold and firm, with a pleasing weight. Alex looked down to see a screwdriver, complete with a set of bits. He looked up at Aamir, surprised. Aamir pressed a finger to his lips and gave him a knowing look.

“You looked…happier. More at ease, near the machines,” he said. “I know how hard that can be when you first get here. Hell, it’s still hard now. So take that. It’s minor—I doubt you’ll get in much trouble for getting caught with it.”

Alex turned the screwdriver over in his hand, admiring it. This could be a very useful tool at some point. And Aamir was right, too—he had momentarily forgotten his constant tension in the lab, and focusing on something besides escape had been almost meditative for him.

“If you don’t want it,” Aamir said, “I can always take it back and—”

“No,” Alex said quickly. “Thank you. I appreciate this.”

A rare smile cracked Aamir’s lips. He gave a quick thumbs-up to Jari, who was sitting on his bed with an attentive expression.

Alex flopped backward. Well, Natalie had been right. He had learned a couple of new things about the manor, and it felt good to be on friendlier terms with his roommates. They certainly seemed excited about it.

But he still wasn’t sure he wanted to trust them with his secrets.