The Secret of Spellshadow Manor (Spellshadow Manor #1)

“Alex,” Natalie said later that day, “please try not to eat my magic when I try to help you. That is not productive.” She sounded annoyed.

They were sitting in the library, looking out the window from their concealed nook. Red slashes of sunset were making silhouettes of the ivy that coiled around the metal spikes atop the wall, creating strange, waving patterns against the light.

“I know, I’m sorry,” said Alex a little guiltily. “I don’t even know how I did it. Normally my body only nullifies things that are hurting me.”

Natalie let out a sigh. “Maybe it is a reaction to letting Aamir beat you up all morning. You shouldn’t push yourself so hard.”

She was probably right, Alex thought, but what other option did they have? Either he pushed himself a little, or Aamir got killed in battle and Alex got killed for being a Spellbreaker. He couldn’t possibly hide that forever, not in a place filled with wizards. Just now, in class, he felt he had come close to revealing himself. Not wanting to upset her, Alex changed the subject.

“Don’t you ever wonder where they went?”

Natalie had already turned back to her book. She looked up from where she had scribbled something on the page of translations that always sat out next to her, and lifted her eyebrows inquisitively.

“Who?”

“The myths.”

“The…oh, one moment.”

Natalie looked interested, but held up a finger. She set down Nobilitum Mortem, finishing what she had been writing before interlacing her fingers and giving Alex a look to continue.

“It’s something I’ve been wondering since I came here,” Alex said. “Magic is in so many of our myths that, knowing it to be real, I find I must start believing in some of them. When Finder was talking in the Head’s office, he mentioned dragons. And if they were real…” He trailed off, drumming his fingers on the tabletop. “I just wonder where they went.”

A strange look crossed Natalie’s face, and she turned to look once more at where the setting sun had faded to a diffuse orange, nestling among the hills of olive trees that made up today’s horizon.

“Once, I watched a house fire,” she said. “I thought it would be cool, you know? Mama was always talking about her heroics, so one day I followed a fire truck.” She smiled sheepishly. “I know you aren’t supposed to, but I was curious.”

The sun grew pink, sending spears of light through the gaps in the hills, shining against its halo of low, silver clouds.

“It wasn’t what I expected,” Natalie said, her expression soft. “It was so loud. The roar of the fire was like a beast screaming in my ear. So much rage and heat, and I just watched. Nobody could do anything. I saw inside a window, and there was an old movie poster in the room, and I watched it curl and burn and vanish. I wondered how many memories I was watching just…” She made a gesture. “Poof. Disappear.”

Alex watched her for a long moment as she kept thinking.

“And?” he asked, after it seemed that she wouldn’t continue on her own.

Natalie sighed. “I don’t know,” she said. “I guess I mean, sometimes something happens. Something that nobody expected, and nobody could have stopped. And everything disappears. Life does not always make sense.”

Alex thought about all those blank pages in the history books. All the stories that didn’t quite end…all the strange absences of endings. He thought about them, and he thought of a house, burning.

The sun slipped below the horizon, and the hills vanished with it, replaced by a blank expanse of nothing.





Chapter 31





In training the next day, Alex was sore and stiff. Aamir, however, seemed every bit as energetic as he had the day before, and it only took a few moments for him to floor Alex again. He let out a wheeze as Aamir sighed.

“You might need a few more days to recover from last time,” Aamir said. “This won’t be good for either of us.”

Alex struggled upright, his limbs aching, his shoulder covered in icy crystals where the other boy had struck him.

“One more try,” he said.

“Alex…”

“What?” Alex said, trying to force the warble from his voice. “You scared?”

Aamir’s lips thinned. “You know I am,” he said quietly.

He took his position opposite Alex again, and the two boys locked eyes. Fires began to spark around Aamir as he focused his magic, little glimmers of heat popping from thin air all about him. He raised his hands, opening his mouth, and Alex braced himself for the cold.

There was a crack as a bolt of fire snapped against the ground between the two boys, and they both jumped in surprise. Natalie stood nonchalantly at the base of the ladder.

“Alex has already been beaten up,” she said to Aamir. “But I figured you and I could both benefit from sparring too.”

They both gawked at her. Her hair was done up in a bun, and she wore loose-fitting exercise clothes and a pleased grin. She planted her hands on her hips, although Alex knew that was probably also an effort to hide the shake in her arms.

Aamir scowled. “First Alex, who does not know his own limits,” he said. “Now Natalie, who is almost too sick to stand.”

Natalie waved a hand. “No, I am fine. I have been sick for weeks now. I am used to it.”

She coughed, and Aamir glared at the both of them.

“You two—”

Natalie, standing by the ladder, was already closer to Aamir than Alex had ever managed to get. She stepped forward, and a whip of fire uncoiled from her hand to slap at the ground in front of Aamir, sending sparks flying up into his eyes. He cursed, throwing a hand over his face and staggering back a step.

“Sorry!” she said quickly.