The Secret of Spellshadow Manor (Spellshadow Manor #1)

As he waited for Derhin’s class to begin the next day, Alex prepared himself for yet another awkward session where he would stand out as exceptionally incompetent. It was a disconcerting feeling, given that all his life he’d always been one of the, if not the, top student in his class.

“I can’t believe you still aren’t doing well,” said Jari later in Derhin’s class, shaking his head. “You and Natalie seem closer than ever. You’re always in the library together, or practicing at the tables. You shouldn’t still be having so much trouble!”

Aamir looked pensive, but said nothing.

Professor Derhin cleared his throat, a noise that was somewhere between a smoker’s rasp and the cry a mouse might make if stepped on by a steel-toed boot.

“Now that the class is actually here,” he said, eyeing some latecomers, “I think we can begin. However, first off—Webber, I’d like you to come to the front of the room.”

Alex almost didn’t register what he was hearing. He looked up at Professor Derhin with an uncertain expression, and the man waved with uncharacteristic enthusiasm. “Come on,” he said. “I’ve decided that today is the day we break that little block of yours.”

Alex felt his blood run cold.

He was supposed to have more time. He’d had an idea that if worse came to worst, and they were still at Spellshadow by the time his “few weeks” grace period was over, he’d ask Natalie to fake his magic. But he hadn’t discussed it with her yet because he was supposed to have at least one week more to go. He shot a look over his shoulder and saw Natalie wearing an anxious frown.

Crap.

“Up, up,” said Derhin, clapping his hands.

Alex rose to his feet, his eyes flicking around the classroom. Everywhere, eyes were focused on him. He became keenly aware of the cold in his bones, that cloying, ebbing feeling of emptiness. He had no magic.

“Sit on my desk,” Derhin instructed.

Alex scrambled up onto the polished wood surface and sat cross-legged. He straightened his spine and raised his hands near his heart. He knew the procedure, at least.

“Excellent,” said Derhin. He circled Alex, looking him up and down with an academic air. “Yes, this is a good starting pose, but you need to remember to breathe. The breath is crucial to this focusing technique.”

Alex pulled in a breath, slowly, through his nose, just like he’d learned.

“All right,” Derhin muttered, as if trying to figure out how to tackle a complicated math problem. “Go through the stance for us. Give it your best.”

In dead silence, Alex raised one hand, opening his palm toward the sky as he brought his other hand over his heart. He closed his eyes and tried to visualize the flow of energies in his body as they traced the lines of his breath, but there was nothing but cold.

“Link the heart and mind,” Derhin said, softly. “Pull them together, and make them one. The breath is your heartbeat, and the heart draws air. Focus your energy like a great funnel, blossoming from its point at your gut and flowing free at your fingertips.”

Alex tried; he really did, but he felt nothing. Derhin poked and prodded at him, trying to adjust his stance, his words still coming in dull mutters.

“It really should work,” he was saying. “Webber, try twisting your hand—no, the other one—I’ve heard that helps. Maybe…no.”

Alex felt panic rising in his throat. This was it. This was the moment he proved that he wasn’t supposed to be here. They would place his connection to Natalie, figure out that he had followed her, and then…who knew.

He focused as hard as he could, squeezing his eyes shut…

“Aha!”

Alex opened his eyes to see Derhin standing in front of him, but rather than looking disappointed, his face was a mask of triumph. He stepped aside, gesturing toward Alex.

“See? All it takes it a little practice,” he was saying, but Alex couldn’t hear him.

All around his body, little golden flames licked across his skin. He did his best not to break his stance as he stared at the strands of light that spiraled around his wrists and fingers, sending crackles of energy through him. He shot a look at Natalie.

She sat, looking pleased, with her legs crossed and one finger held idly out. Around it was tangled a little wisp of golden flame. She gave her hand a twitch, and Alex felt a little bite of cold at the back of his neck.

Oh…she’s good.



The three boys went back to the dorm room after class. When Aamir finished congratulating Alex and Jari finished gloating, Alex excused himself to go meet Natalie in the library. Jari made catcalls at him until the door to their room was shut behind him, and even then they followed him as ghostly yowls of provocation. He shook his head, chuckling.

Now that Alex had had more time to practice finding his way around and the shifting hallways had become less mysterious than they’d seemed at first, he found it easy to predict their movements, though it still took quite a long time to get anywhere. On his way to the library, he continued his search for workable shortcuts, determined to master something about this place.

He opened a door that he thought might cut through another hallway, and nearly took a spinning cog to the face. He ducked, and the thing ricocheted off the window behind him, hitting the floor with a dull plink.

“Sorry!” someone yelled from inside, followed almost instantly by, “Shut the door, idiot!”

Alex did so and went on his way, going down one nondescript hallway, then another, until he sensed he was near the library.

“Signs!” he heard a frustrated Natalie exclaim from somewhere behind him. “Why are there no signs here? It would be so simple!” She followed this with a string of what he assumed to be French curse words, though he only recognized a couple.

He turned back, grinning, and when she caught up, he was leaning casually against the wall.