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  “This place is ancient. You can feel the vibrations of its rich history in the air,” the necromancer whispered, twirling his long fingers around as if touching the imagined ripples of time. “I imagine it stood long before the mages came along, and shall stand long after they are gone.”

  “This isn’t mage-built?” Aamir asked, frowning thoughtfully.

  Vincent smiled a knowing smile. “Few things are, even in these realms. The mages were renowned cherry-pickers, commandeering what they liked the look of, and molding it to their own purpose. I imagine this place belonged to a race far older than mage-kind, though you will likely find no trace they ever existed, save for their architecture and a few stolen treasures.”

  Alex found himself looking at the pagoda in a different light, wondering what the people who had been here before might have looked like, and what had brought them to this part of the world. Had they been a peaceful race? Had that been their downfall, when the mages came to take their land? He guessed nobody would ever know, unless there was a forgotten history book, tucked away in the library beneath the ground, that spoke of the lost race.

  But who would bother to look? he reasoned, his thoughts turning sad. It made him wonder how many other places the mages had stolen. None of the architecture he’d seen so far seemed to belong to the same style, but that was the truth across the globe.

  Seeing a gap in the change of the guard, Alex and the others darted across to the pagoda and emerged beside the kitchen, though there was no comforting clash of crockery or sizzle of something delicious frying in a pan. It was silent. In fact, as they made their way through the pagoda’s floors, cautiously peering around every corner, Alex realized the whole place was silent. Where there should have been posted guards, there were none.

  It made the climb up to the top floor much easier, but it did nothing to settle Alex’s nerves. Reaching the solitary doorway that led into Hadrian’s private chambers, Alex pushed on it tentatively, half expecting it to be locked. It wasn’t, giving easily.

  “Hadrian?” Alex called as they stepped into the open space.

  The remnants of a meal lay on the low table in the center of the room, but everything had congealed, looking about as unappetizing as it was possible to be. Whoever had eaten the food had been gone a while.

  “Hadrian, are you here?” Alex called again, but there was no reply.

  With time running short, and a lot to do in two days, Alex found himself growing frustrated by Hadrian’s absence. He needed the royal’s help, and he wasn’t willing to simply wait around for the man to come back.

  Wracking his brain, he thought about where Hadrian might be. He wondered if the man had gone to teach a class, perhaps, in the treehouses that branched off from the central pagoda? If so, Alex knew he wouldn’t be able to disturb Hadrian; there weren’t any guards in the pagoda, for the time being, but there were plenty out beyond the sanctuary of it. Peering from the window, he could count at least thirty, and they would spot him before he even had the chance to explore the mysterious buildings that nestled in the treetops.

  “Where is he?” Ellabell asked, opening all the doors that led off from the central space.

  The only other place Alex could think of was the cave in the middle of the forest. “He might have gone to see his sister,” Alex replied.

  Aamir nodded. “Then let us go. It would be better than waiting around for him to return.”

  “You took the words right out of my mouth,” said Alex, moving back toward the entrance. Time was of the essence, and they needed to figure out what resources they had at their disposal, before that time ran out.

  Just then, Alex heard footsteps coming from the back of the room, where the silver fox statue stood proud.

  “Hide!” Alex whispered. The group scattered.

  Chapter 28

  As the secret door at the back of the room slid open, Alex realized he had no reason to fear. They were not soldiers, coming to take Alex and his friends away. The first person to emerge was Hadrian, his head turned over his shoulder as he spoke to someone behind him. That person, stepping into the glowing light of the fifth floor gallery, was Demeter.

  They were laughing over a shared joke Alex hadn’t heard, and seemed surprisingly friendly with one another. It didn’t look like they were strangers, as they moved farther into the room, an easy familiarity flowing between them.

  Alex stepped out from his hiding place behind a bulbous vase, and Hadrian jumped out of his skin when he saw him.

  “Alex! You m-mustn’t creep up on p-people like that!” Hadrian cried, clutching his chest.

  Alex smiled. “Sorry, I thought it would be weirder if I stayed hidden.”

  As if granted permission, the others emerged from their hiding places. Ellabell had been sandwiched between two bookcases. Aamir had ducked down behind a lamp. Agatha had merely stood behind one of the curtains, and Vincent had somehow stayed precisely where he was, yet Alex hadn’t noticed him until he stepped forward. The necromancer, it appeared, was something of a chameleon.

  “I suppose it’s true what they say—absence does make the heart grow bigger!” Demeter grinned, rushing to greet the trio. “And you two—I must say, it’s a touch peculiar seeing you both outside the prison walls! Fugitives from the law, very cool. Hadrian was telling me you’d gone to Kingstone, and here I was thinking it’d be quicker for me to get you up to speed if I came the short way round. I should have stayed where I was!” He pulled an eager Agatha and a less-than-willing Vincent into a tight bear hug.

  “You came through from Spellshadow?” Alex pressed.

  Demeter nodded. “Well, that was the plan, but I got myself into a spot of trouble and it took me longer than expected to get here. I suppose I’m here now, and that’s what matters, right?” He smiled brightly. It was a cheerfulness Alex realized he had missed.

  Hadrian frowned. “Wait, did you just say f-fugitives?”

  Vincent stepped forward, offering his hand. “We are acquaintances of Alex and his friends—we know Demeter extremely well, given the time he spent with us, festering inside the walls of Kingstone Keep. I assure you, we come in peace.”

  Hadrian visibly relaxed. “Well, any friend of Demeter’s is a friend of mine,” he said, his expression softening.

  “Do you two know each other?” Aamir asked, gesturing at the royal and redhead.

  They smiled warmly at one another, clapping each other on the back.

  “We certainly do,” said Hadrian, grinning. “And it seems my old pal hasn’t changed one bit—you’re as clumsy as ever. I found him in a trap, struggling to find a way out. Gave me quite a shock on my afternoon stroll. I’m glad I found you first.” He chuckled.

  Demeter nodded. “Always helping me out of scrapes, this one. We go way back. The two of us were part of a peacekeeping unit during the war, though we were younger then. You’re looking a little gray these days,” he joked, ruffling Hadrian’s white hair.

  “I’ve always been this color.” Hadrian grinned. “But yes, we transported refugees out of the magical realms and into the real world. We worked for a unit that tried to protect Spellbreakers too, smuggling them to safer territories, but it didn’t do much good in the end. I think we just stretched out their suffering,” he said, his voice tinged with remorse.

  “Didn’t you get caught?” Aamir asked.

  Demeter shook his head. “I evaded capture, and the organization I worked for arranged for me to be installed at Stillwater as a teacher, until everything had blown over. When I started telling my stories, I think they began to suspect,” he said, shrugging. “Hadrian flew straight under the microscope—nobody thought he had the guts to defy Julius, and so he got away with it. Sly dog!”

  “They tried to break Demeter, once they began to suspect what he was. They thought that if they tortured him, they might get some names out of him, but he’s always been tight-lipped. He didn’t say a word,” said Hadrian proudly, though there was sorrow in his eyes too.

&nb
sp; Alex wondered if that was why Demeter’s head was so muddled, because of the torture he had been put under. It would make sense. After all, Demeter was a smart guy, with a proven track record of intellect, and yet he couldn’t for the life of him remember how to piece an idiom together.

  “I think they forgot what I was capable of, though.” Demeter laughed. “When they sent me to Kingstone, I used my powers to make everyone believe I was a guard instead of a prisoner. A neat trick, and one of the only things I’ve ever prided myself on, where my talents are concerned.”

  “So, why did you come through the other way?” Ellabell wondered, changing the subject.

  “I wanted to scope out Spellshadow, make sure it was safe to strike,” the auburn-haired man explained. “If I hadn’t gotten myself trapped, I’d probably have made it here before you left.”

  “Did anyone see you?” Aamir pressed.

  Demeter shook his head. “I promise I didn’t raise any checkered flags coming through Spellshadow,” he promised, raising his hands solemnly. “I was the stealthiest I have ever been, I swear.”

  “You think it looks ripe for the picking?” Vincent asked, a hint of curiosity in his strange voice. It was the first time Alex had seen the necromancer show more than a fleeting interest in the realm of Spellshadow Manor.

  “I’d say we have as good a chance as we’ve ever had.” Demeter shrugged. “I couldn’t see Virgil while I was there, but it doesn’t mean he’s not around.”

  “That’s precisely why we were looking for you, Hadrian,” Alex said, turning his attention to the royal. “We’ve agreed with Helena and her team to meet at Spellshadow in two days’ time, which gives us enough leeway to rally some more troops to the cause. Right now, it’s just us and one and a half bags of essence. We could probably do with more hands. Do you think Ceres would help? Maybe we could ask some of the recovered students if they’d like to join us?”

  Hadrian shook his head. “I don’t think that is such a good idea.”

  “Why not?” Alex pressed, noticing that Demeter had gone strangely silent.

  “I don’t want to get them involved, Alex,” Hadrian replied, with uncharacteristic strength in his voice. “They have been through enough, and though they would undoubtedly jump at the chance to help, they would not be able to take the strain. They aren’t as strong as they once were, but they think they are—a fragile mind is more easily broken than one that is whole.”

  “Don’t you think we should give them the choice?” Ellabell asked.

  Agatha nodded. “The girl is right—you should give them the option. It isn’t right to take choice away from a person, just because they are weaker than before.”

  “I won’t put them through it,” Hadrian insisted, his eyes narrowing. This wasn’t like the nervous royal they knew at all; there was a defiant streak emerging. “If they come with you, they will have suffered for so long, only to die anyway. As the guardian here at Falleaf, they are under my care, and I will do what is best for them.” There was no hint of a stutter in his voice, nor were his hands wringing in alarm. Perhaps, Alex thought, this strength had been there all along, it was simply reserved for what the royal deemed a righteous cause.

  Alex smiled. “But they aren’t at Falleaf, are they?”

  Hadrian looked worried for a moment. “They are,” he insisted.

  “No, they aren’t,” Alex repeated. “They’re hidden away somewhere safe—somewhere Julius and his cronies can’t get to them. If they were at Falleaf, Julius would have found them. No… you have found somewhere else to put them, I’m sure of it, somewhere far away from here.”

  “Even if I had, I would not take you there. I won’t let them fight.” Hadrian would not budge on the matter; that much was clear.

  “Then you are taking away any hope they have left,” Aamir said quietly, though his words were barbed.

  Alex glanced at Demeter to see what the auburn-haired man might have to say on the matter, but a wistful, dreamy look had washed over his face. Whatever the ex-teacher was thinking about, Alex knew it wasn’t how they might go about recruiting more troops.

  “Demeter?” he said, nudging the man in the arm.

  Demeter snapped back to reality. “Sorry… I was miles away. Did you say something about Ceres?” he asked, a hopeful gleam in his eyes.

  Alex nodded. “Yeah, we met her a few days ago. She’s hiding out with Hadrian’s secret squadron of broken children,” he said sourly, catching a flicker of glee that sparked across Demeter’s face.

  “Ceres? Ceres is here?” Demeter asked excitedly.

  Hadrian sighed. “Yes, she is here.”

  “I have to go and see her,” Demeter insisted, but Hadrian did not look like he could be swayed.

  “I have said it too many times already: I will not take any of you to where those students are. It is for the greater good that nobody knows the whereabouts of the sanctuary. I will not put their safety at risk,” he muttered, his resolve unwavering. “I know what you are doing is for a truly magnificent cause, but there is simply too much at stake. If the odds weren’t so uncertain, I might consider it, but there can be no guarantee of anyone’s survival in this act of yours. The only people I can truly swear to protect are those I already have, and I won’t go back on that.”

  “You have to take me to her!” Demeter demanded.

  “I am sorry, dear friend, but I can’t… Please understand the position you are putting me in,” Hadrian said softly, leveling his gaze at Demeter.

  Demeter looked crestfallen. “You really won’t?”

  “I can’t… but I will pass on a message to her that you are alive and well, and eager to be reunited with her. If she wants to see you, she will come to you,” Hadrian replied, evidently trying to give the broken-hearted man a sliver of positivity to cling to.

  “Hadrian, we’re running out of time. We need those extra people,” Alex insisted, hoping he didn’t sound too cold toward Demeter’s plight. He didn’t know the full story of what had happened between Ceres and Demeter, but it was obvious that there had been a romance, once upon a time. No man carried that expression in his eyes unless he clung to the bittersweet memories of lost love.

  Hadrian shrugged, his features sagging with exhaustion. “You will have to come up with something else. It is too risky to begin a rebellion here, with so many eyes on us. I’m not taking you.”

  “It’s in the cave, isn’t it? There’s something in the cave that leads to this secret place?” Alex asked, making a last-ditch effort to get Hadrian to take them there, or at least spill the beans.

  Hadrian flashed an angry look in Alex’s direction. “I ask, politely, that you shelve this idea of yours and use what little time you have left to perfect the counter-spell. That will be where it counts. You can have all the numbers in the world, but if you do not know that spell, it will all be moot,” he said, his voice tense. “Ensure there is nothing you have missed.”

  “I already know what we’re missing,” Alex muttered.

  Hadrian exhaled deeply. “I shall be in the kitchens, ordering a fine meal for you all. When you are done trying to persuade yourselves that I will change my mind, I will be waiting for you with a hot supper. Until you can push those thoughts from your mind, I suggest you remain absent. Shut yourselves in your rooms if you must.” With that, the wearied royal left the room.

  “As much as I hate to admit it, I don’t think you should have said those things,” said Demeter quietly. “Hadrian has sacrificed a lot to be where he is, and to have achieved what he has with the essence. He does every extraction himself, you know? He told me, as we were returning. The man has a good heart, and if he says we shouldn’t involve the victims he is trying to keep safe, then we shouldn’t.”

  Alex frowned, thinking about what that entailed. It was no wonder the royal looked so tired. He could only imagine what kind of strain that sort of exertion would put a man under—to pull the living pulse of a person out of them, listening to their agonized screams,
all the while trying to soothe and fix whatever remained.

  “We need the numbers,” Alex insisted, despite the unease he felt at Demeter’s chiding. “No matter what he says, we will struggle with what we have.”

  Aamir placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “It will have to be enough.”

  It wasn’t what Alex wanted to hear, but he knew he was fighting a losing battle. If he wanted to seek out the assistance of the recovering students, he was going to have to get it himself.

  “We’ll talk more tomorrow, figure out our next move,” Alex said, though he already had a plan formulating in his mind. He didn’t dare look at Ellabell, but he could feel the heat of a knowing look coming from her direction.

  “And you’ll come sit with us now?” she asked pointedly.

  He nodded. “Of course. We’ll just have to pray there are enough at Stillwater to take on the task. Two royals and a school full of undoubtedly brainwashed students—how hard can it be?” he said, his voice dripping sarcasm.

  Obediently, he followed everyone else toward the low table, where they sat in readiness for the meal Hadrian had promised. When it arrived, they ate in uncomfortable silence. The food was delicious, but everything left a bitter taste in Alex’s mouth. After eating his fill, he retired to his chamber, plucking the Book of Jupiter off the shelf as he went. Perhaps Hadrian was right; maybe it would be best to have a thorough read-through, just to make sure he hadn’t missed anything important, although he would never admit that to his friends.

  In re-reading the spell, nothing new jumped out at him. He already knew he needed more than five drops of royal blood, and that the spell had to be performed at the Mouth of Evil. Alex presumed that to be one of the cavernous pits into which the essence was poured. Soon, he would have the blood too, if everything ran smoothly. It was all coming together, so long as there were no nasty surprises that would weaken their forces. He couldn’t get that notion out of his mind, hard as he tried.

  We need more, he told himself, moving over to the small window that beckoned from the far wall of the chamber. The others had all gone to bed not long after he had, and he found himself hoping they were all asleep as he clambered out of the window and dropped down onto the ledge below him, barely making a sound with his bare feet.