The Secret of Spellshadow Manor (Spellshadow Manor #1)

Aamir gave a yelp of surprise, and Alex saw a hand snap out, fingers forming the sign of lightning. Concentrating his void into one hand, Alex slammed it into Aamir’s palm, disrupting the nascent spell and sending a wave of icy crystals over both his and Aamir’s skin. Then, without thinking, Alex brought a hand around and punched Aamir in the chest, putting the other boy on his back with a gasp. Aamir’s eyes flashed with exhilaration as he brought his other hand around, and once again Alex pinned it down.

The two of them lay like that for a long moment, panting, their hands pressed together and covered in frost. Mud coated both of their clothes, and Alex was bleeding from the corner of his lip.

Aamir opened his mouth. Alex hesitated.

And then a cold, precise voice split the silence.

“What, exactly,” it said, “is this?”

All three of them turned. They had been too intent on the fight to notice that the trapdoor had opened, and someone had let himself in. Alex had to look twice to recognize the man who stood there, straight-backed and proud.

Professor Derhin looked at the two of them, sprawled on the ground, and shook his head in derision. His eyes were deep and laced with eerie anger, his hands folded primly behind his back as he took a measured step into the room.

“Brawling like commoners,” he said, shaking his head. “I had heard disturbing rumors, Nagi, but I hadn’t expected to find this.” He laughed. “Tell me, when you challenge a teacher, do you expect to punch them out? I might have expected this sort of behavior from a weak novice like Webber, but from you? I had higher hopes.”

“Challenge?” Aamir said, keeping his tone carefully neutral.

Derhin gave him a scathing look. “Do not insult me,” he said. “Do you think that any of us failed to notice what you were doing when you vanished from class? You thought any one of us would be so negligent as to just give up our position?”

Aamir’s back straightened, his hands balling into fists, but he said nothing.

“Your little friend Petra could only cover your tracks so much,” Derhin continued. “He’s smart. Smarter than you.”

Aamir was shaking now with fear. Alex moved to step in front of his friend, but Derhin held out a hand.

A coil of magic curled around Alex’s neck, and he halted in his tracks. The magic wasn’t hostile yet, so his body hadn’t responded naturally. If he had wanted, he was sure he could have ripped the little tendril away, but the resulting ice would certainly reveal him as a Spellbreaker. He drew in a shallow breath, feeling the force of the professor’s magic against his neck.

It was a sinister malevolence, coiling tighter and tighter around him, and all at once his suspicions were confirmed. There was only one group of people who had the skill, potency, and perverse motivation to curse both Aamir and Natalie. And there was only one who felt like that.

He stared at Derhin, breathing steadily to control himself, and held perfectly still as the professor walked up to Aamir, his usual awkward gait replaced with an unconcerned stride.

“So who were you going to challenge?” he asked. “Lintz? Esmerelda? Renmark?” A smooth smile rolled out over his lips, his tongue flicking out to wet them.

Aamir glared up at the professor, and Alex felt panic boil up inside him.

Don’t say it, he thought frantically. Don’t say it, don’t say—

“You,” Aamir said.

The smile on Derhin’s mouth widened into a feral grin.

“Me,” he said, almost seeming to savor the word. “Yes, I suppose you would. Stupid Professor Derhin. Untalented, unassuming, and clumsy to boot.”

For the first time, Aamir hesitated. Alex could have kicked the boy. Only Aamir could have been bullheaded enough to not notice the malevolence flowing off the man. To not have heeded Alex’s warning!

“One week,” Derhin said.

Aamir jumped, blinking.

“One week, sir?”

Alex heard the boy try to bite back the honorific, but it spilled out anyway. Derhin noticed as well, and he refolded his hands behind his back with a smirk.

“That will give you some time to continue your training, won’t it?” he said, glancing between Natalie and Alex. “Even if your choice of opponent is…lacking. We’ll go with what you trained for. One week, on the lawn. I’ll inform the Head.”

Alex’s irritation with Aamir’s overconfidence and condescension dissipated as the older boy was threatened with a much crueler, much more dangerous version of the same.

He turned, and walked to the base of the ladder. When he reached it, he looked up, and with a little hop, he shot up through the open hatch, leaving only a ruffled burst of dirt in his wake.

The slip of magic around Alex’s neck vanished, and he heaved in a deep breath, turning on Aamir.

“Are you insane?” Alex breathed.

Aamir’s face was blank.

“I am not sure any other teacher would have been better,” he said.

Alex scowled at him. “I told you not to pick Derhin. I said—”

“Look,” Aamir interjected, his voice cracking. “What is done is done.” He looked down at his feet, and Alex could see his chest moving, his breathing a little too rhythmic to be natural. With a sudden movement, Aamir turned toward Natalie, who had remained uncharacteristically quiet for the whole event. Now she looked up at Aamir from where she sat, her eyes distant.

“Chevalier.”

Natalie started at the formal address, rising to her feet.

“Yes?”

“Are you and Alex still planning to destroy Finder?”

She nodded uncertainly. “I am figuring out the magic, little by little,” she said. “I am not sure I understand it perfectly yet, but—”

“You have one week,” Aamir said with finality. When Natalie’s brow furrowed, he explained, “When Professor Derhin and I duel, the whole school will be in attendance. It is the perfect distraction for whatever mischief you want to get up to.”

Alex frowned. “Aamir, no, we’ll be—”

“Exorcising the bastard who dragged me into this,” Aamir said through gritted teeth.

A silence fell over the room. Alex stared at Aamir’s clenched fists, at where the boy’s eyes were glittering with frustrated tears.

“I think I can make the duel last long enough to get you a window,” he said. “Use it. Please.”

Alex’s eyes narrowed. “You’d better not be planning some sort of noble sacrifice.”