The Secret of Spellshadow Manor (Spellshadow Manor #1)

They moved to a place some twenty yards distant. Jari propped Alex up against a tree to keep him from sprawling in the snow, then Jari and Aamir stood, staring at one another with wary eyes.

“I apologize,” Aamir said first. “I never intended for things to get so out of hand.”

Jari raised an eyebrow. “Are you willing to start coming back to class?”

Aamir’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t you have something you want to say to me first?”

Lightning streaked the clouds above, and a rumble rolled over the gardens. A light rain began to fall, pattering little holes into the snow all around them.

“Jari,” Alex said. “Don’t be a jerk.”

Jari looked over at him, then released a heavy sigh. “Fine,” he said. “I was an ass. I have the social graces of a pole-dancing T-Rex, and I’m sorry. Is that what you wanted to hear?”

A rare smile cracked Aamir’s lips. “It’s a good start,” he said.

“Look,” Jari said, “it’s not that I don’t get it. Please don’t think that I don’t get it. You’re my best friend, and I need you to understand that you aren’t the only one afraid about your graduation. I’m terrified of losing you.”

Aamir blinked. “To be honest, I hadn’t even considered what my graduation might do to you,” he said slowly. “You seemed so opposed to my efforts to prevent it that I didn’t really think you cared.”

“Of course I care,” said Jari, stomping his foot and throwing up a little spray of slush that clung to his pant leg. “It’s only…If you become a teacher, you’re one of them. I lose you anyway.”

Aamir stood, stunned. “Jari…”

“Don’t do that,” said Jari. “Don’t condescend to me. You think I haven’t been searching for a way out? Hunting for every minute I’ve been here? I miss my family, Aamir. I miss my brother, my mother, my stupid prank-pulling father. But if I became a teacher, I’d be just as stuck, and what’s worse, I’d be responsible for what happens to the students. I’d have to watch.”

“I don’t intend to just—”

“Do you think any of them did?” Jari snapped, cutting Aamir off. “Do you think any of them were committed to luring pupils to whatever fate awaits them at the end of this road? Something is seriously wrong with this place, and you have to be an idiot not to notice it. The teachers know what it is, but whatever they are hiding is so serious that none of them have ever talked about it, not a single one.”

Aamir was silent. Sitting against the tree, Alex stared at Jari. Feel-good, cheerful Jari, who now stood with tears in his eyes, his hands balled in frustration, his cheeks pink with ire. Alex hardly recognized him.

“I never considered that,” Aamir said, staring at his feet.

“Of course you didn’t,” said Jari. “You didn’t listen.”

The two stood, staring at each other for a long time. Then Jari spun to face Alex.

“And what the heck is up with you!” he cried, waving his hands in the air. “You’re a Spellbreaker!”

“Seems that way,” Alex replied.

“I’ll put that on the ‘things that would have been nice to know’ list,” said Jari. “Were you ever planning on telling us?”

This time, it was Aamir who came to Alex’s defense. “He could have been killed,” he said gently.

Jari let out an angry breath, glaring at both of them. “You two are idiots,” he said.

Alex and Aamir shared a look.

“To be honest,” Alex said, “I only just found out myself.”

Jari rolled his eyes. “You find anything good on New Year’s?”

Alex’s jaw worked as he fumbled for an excuse, but nothing he came up with seemed believable.

Aamir cleared his throat. “You weren’t at the speech,” he said. “Not unusual, but when Natalie threw up, and you came back late…”

“It wasn’t subtle,” Jari said.

Alex glanced from side to side, wondering if he should trust them. He knew what Natalie would say—she would want to include them, to help them. “I did get a book,” he admitted. “A tome of necromancy.”

“Oh good,” said Jari. “He’s evil. That’s nice.”

Aamir, on the other hand, wore a puzzled expression. “Why?” he asked.

And so Alex told them the whole story. From seeing Finder that night at the party, to following Natalie to Spellshadow, to the two of them tracking Finder to his lair, and then Alex’s daring assault upon the Head’s study. The only detail he left out was Elias. He wasn’t sure why; he just had a feeling he didn’t want to mention the shadow just yet.

At the end, Aamir looked stunned. Jari just looked impressed.

“I think you’ve covered more ground in months than I have in almost two years,” he said, letting out a low whistle.

Aamir seemed stuck on a different note.

“A ghost,” he said under his breath. “I thought he was using invisibility magic, but if it’s necromantic…I always wondered why there were no books on the subject.” He looked sharply over at Alex. “I need to see that book.”

“Natalie is using it,” he said. “Also, it’s in Latin.”

Aamir opened his mouth, then shut it.

“Then I’ll need to talk to Natalie about it,” he said.

Alex looked between Jari and Aamir, hoping against hope that he wasn’t about to make a mistake.

“I…can trust you two, right?”

Jari almost looked offended. “We’re on the same side,” he said, giving Alex a look that said exactly what Jari thought of his intellect at that moment.

“But my people,” Alex said. “They killed yours.”

Jari’s head tilted. “They killed the Greeks?”

Alex gave him a rebuking look. “Wizards.”

Jari let out a low noise of amusement. “In case you hadn’t noticed, we’re all captives here. Even if we weren’t, who cares what our forefathers did? You’re a friend. Your blood doesn’t make you want to kill me, does it?”

“No.” Of course not. But they had been painted as natural enemies.