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  “What?” breathed Jari, his forehead furrowed in confusion.

  “I had no intention of staying, though. It was just an excuse to buy more time. I figured we’d be better off at Stillwater, coming up with a plan, what with the library and everything… but we were never going to stay. Don’t worry,” he assured Jari.

  This news seemed to cheer Jari up. “How about the others—were they in on it too? Where are they?” he asked, glancing around for them.

  Alex didn’t feel he had the stomach to tell Jari that the others—particularly Natalie and Aamir—seemed to like Stillwater House, and had been less than forthcoming with their continued desire to leave Stillwater. He didn’t think he could deal with the disappointment he knew he’d see in Jari’s eyes, once the blond-haired boy learned of it, so he didn’t say a word on the matter.

  “The arena was pretty crowded. I’m sure they’ll be along soon,” he replied instead, hopeful that they would show up, despite the creeping sense of dread he felt at their absence. He guessed the Headmistress would be angry about what had happened at the arena; he just hoped his friends would not be punished for his actions, especially when they had tried to stop him.

  Jari nodded. “Cool. I might take a little nap. You wake me when they get here,” he muttered, his eyelids sliding shut. Within a minute, he was snoring softly. Alex wasn’t surprised. The evening had sucked out about as much energy from Jari as was possible. He hadn’t even expected the blond-haired boy to wake up for a long while, but Jari had never been one to disappoint an attentive audience.

  “Do you mind if I stay?” enquired Helena uncertainly.

  Alex nodded, smiling at her. “You should stay—he’d want you here.”

  They both sat back in their chairs, watching Jari as he slept soundly beneath the covers, resting away the exhaustion and pain of the last few days. It was a relatively new sensation, but Alex couldn’t help feeling a profound sense of protectiveness over his friend, and though he knew he, himself, needed some rest, he kept his eyes open, determined to stand sentinel over his ward.

  “What happened out there?” asked Helena.

  “In the arena?”

  She nodded. “Jari said something about blazing guns and silver eyes.”

  “I have a secret.” He sighed, realizing he was going to have to tell her after all.

  “What kind of secret?”

  “I’ve not been entirely honest with you—about what I am,” he explained.

  She tilted her head. “I don’t follow.”

  “See, the thing is,” he began, finding his throat dry, “I’m not a mage… I’m a Spellbreaker.”

  Her golden eyes flashed with astonishment. “What?” she gasped.

  “I would say don’t tell anyone, but I think everyone saw.” He shrugged dejectedly. The admission made it seem real, all of a sudden, and he wasn’t sure how comfortable his new position felt.

  “Do the others know?”

  He nodded. “They do.”

  She looked at him strangely, as though she were trying to figure out whether to despise him or be in awe of him. Her expression settled on a mixture of the two. “I can’t believe you’re a—”

  She was cut off by a knock at the door, which stirred Alex from his thoughts. The other three entered the room, looking decidedly sheepish. As annoyed as Alex was with their tardiness, he was pleased to have the distraction; he wasn’t sure how much more he wanted to say about his heritage to Helena. He just hoped she didn’t loathe him for it. It wasn’t exactly his choice, after all.

  Alex glared. “Where have you been?” he asked quietly, not wanting to wake the sleeping Jari.

  “We were detained—the Headmistress wanted to speak with us, but we came as quickly as we could,” replied Aamir, his eyes flitting toward the curled-up figure on the bed.

  Alex walked across to Ellabell, pulling her to one side as Aamir and Natalie pushed past him toward Jari.

  “What happened?” asked Alex, concern flashing in his eyes as he saw Ellabell’s worried expression.

  “The Headmistress had us taken away. She questioned us,” she explained rapidly, her voice shaking. “She wanted to know how long we had known about your powers.”

  “Did she hurt you?” he murmured, checking her arms for any bruises.

  She shook her head. “No. She didn’t seem mad or annoyed or anything. It was odd.”

  Alex frowned. “So what did she say?”

  “She just told us we could stay, as planned, despite what had gone on,” said Ellabell, holding onto Alex’s hands tightly. Her own hands were shaking as she relayed the information to him, her blue eyes wide with stress.

  “And me?”

  She nodded. “You too.”

  Alex sighed loudly. None of this added up. He knew Alypia was not a benevolent creature; she would come for him in due course. Until then, it seemed, she had chosen to hide behind a masquerade of goodwill and kind intentions. It did not sit well with Alex. It was like spotting a lion in the bushes and simply waiting for it to pounce.

  Turning back toward the bed, Alex saw that Aamir was by Jari’s side, apologizing profusely. Jari was awake again, though he looked a little groggy.

  “Forgive me, Jari. I have been an idiot. I should have stood up and done something, but I was scared and stupid. I’m so sorry, Jari—please forgive me,” he begged.

  On the other side, Natalie was holding Jari’s hand, having taken the place of Helena, who stood to one side, allowing the old friends their moment. It was a sweet image, and Alex didn’t want to disturb it with his frustrations and the residual anger he felt toward his friends for standing by as Jari was almost killed. He guessed it had something to do with the magic that crackled and buzzed in the air, so quietly they had almost forgotten about it, but he knew he needed to clear his head before he did or said anything he would regret.

  “I’m just going to step out for a moment,” he announced, before turning on his heel and leaving the infirmary.

  As he stepped out into the hallway, he realized his error. Within the infirmary, he had been in a bubble of friends, but out here he had to face the music. The corridors were still full of Stillwater students, filtering in from the festivities. He could not turn a corner without bumping into one, and each time, he was met with the same frosty reception and fearful scrutiny. They observed him with cold stares, low voices, and whispered threats as he passed by. Where once there might have been fledgling friendships, now there was wariness, as they peered at him in fear.

  “You’re not welcome,” whispered one.

  “You know what we do to your kind,” hissed another.

  “Let’s see if you sink with the rest of them,” growled a third.

  They knew what he was, but they had never seen one before—he may as well have been an alien to them. He was an unknown entity, and they feared the unknown. Helena had said so. They didn’t like outsiders, much less ones with powers they had never seen, only heard about in ancient tales.

  Oddly, there was awe too. In some faces, he saw a flash of it. It had been the same with Helena—that blend of disgust and wonder. Not having seen it for himself, Alex wondered what it was he had done that had caused so much fear and amazement, in almost equal measure. As he felt the burn of eyes staring him down, he wasn’t sure whether he was cast in the part of hero or villain. Shrugging them off, he realized he didn’t care which role they wanted to pigeon-hole him into. Standing up to the Headmistress had made him lose that desire to belong. In that moment, with Jari’s life on the line, he hadn’t cared whether he belonged. It had been his difference that had saved Jari’s life.

  Swiftly, he made his way across the Queen’s Courtyard and scrambled up the outer wall, following the familiar route as he dropped down onto the field beyond, his eyes seeking out the crumbling white cottage, hidden away in the tree-line. He headed toward where he remembered it being, longing for the privacy and freedom they’d had back then, in their first days on the shores of Stillwater.
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  It had been a mistake, going into the school. He sensed that now.

  In this world, they were no longer safe. None of them were… if they ever had been.

  Chapter 28

  Darkness fell with Alex still outside the school walls. He couldn’t face any of them—not his friends, not the other Stillwater students, none of them. So he stayed hidden, taking a moment for himself. He figured they would come looking for him if he was needed, and so he sat within the small cottage, gazing out toward the sparkling lake, allowing his mind to wander.

  It seemed impossible that more than a year had passed since he had made the doomed journey to Spellshadow Manor, following Natalie through the gate. Sighing, he wondered if he would ever get to see his mother again. He missed her so much it hurt to think about her. Each memory physically stung, scraping at his insides, gripping his heart. Helena’s optimistic thoughts on portals had made him slightly more positive, but he couldn’t be certain the girl would come through; there was still too much he didn’t know about her, and he didn’t feel comfortable with the gaps in his knowledge.

  Closing his eyes, he let the magical world fall away, thinking instead about what life might have been like if he and Natalie hadn’t left the real, non-magical world. If he had somehow managed to prevent her from following Finder, or if neither of them had been supernaturally gifted in any way, where might they be now? With a wistful smile, he thought about a world without magic, where nobody came for Natalie and nobody bothered them. Where he was still a regular teenager, staying up all hours to get through a stack of programming, showing the new French exchange student around town. They would have eaten pancakes with strawberries every morning, and his mother would be singing in the kitchen, pleased to see her hermit of a son socializing with such a nice, intelligent girl. He imagined the college applications, the final exams, the school interviews and the anxious wait for letters to fall onto the mat in the hall, offering him a place somewhere. Maybe he wouldn’t have gone to college at all; perhaps his business would’ve taken off and he would be doing that full-time, saving up enough money to pay his mother’s medical bills and buy a bigger place for them, where she could be comfortable.

  There might even have been enough money left over for plane tickets to Europe. A visit to see Natalie, maybe, if his initial crush hadn’t faded to simple friendship. If they had never come to Spellshadow, who knew what might have happened? He doubted she would be his girlfriend, what with the distance, but she might have been a summer romance, had they had the luxury of time. It felt strange to think of his friend like that, especially now he found himself drawn to Ellabell; she was one of the few bright lights in the darkness of walking through those Spellshadow gates, and if he had never followed Natalie that day, it was certain he would never have met the pretty, bespectacled girl with her freckled nose and sparkling blue eyes.

  He knew his mother would adore Ellabell. More than pretty, she was intelligent and kind and funny too.

  His reverie was disturbed by a scuffling sound within the cottage. Alex’s eyes snapped in its direction. Trying to see through the darkness, he wasn’t sure if it was friend or foe within the building, and, as Elias appeared near the entrance, he still wasn’t sure.

  The crackling magic of the world around them still seemed to be playing havoc with Elias’s form, as he struggled to gather all of his pieces together. Most of him was still fragmented, and his shifting body was strangely translucent, like peering through a thin, black cloth, though he was more whole than he had been on his previous visit. Alex sighed dismissively, his head already so full of other things that he wasn’t sure he even wanted to see his shadowy acquaintance, who would no doubt fill his brain with frustrating thoughts and vague suggestions that would plague him for days. There was already too much going on; he didn’t need Elias adding to it.

  “What do you want?” he said sullenly, turning his gaze back toward the lake.

  “You’re a fool, Alex Webber,” snapped Elias. It seemed to Alex that his shadow-guide was on an accusatory objective, and it was not one he much cared for.

  “What have I done this time?” he remarked sourly.

  “I should never have trusted you to get on with things on your own. You seem to have a habit of making a royal mess of things. Not much else, but that you are an expert at!” Elias rolled his starry eyes.

  Alex glared. “I seem to be doing just fine, thank you. My friends are safe—they know what I am, and I’m still not dead. I’d say that was pretty close to success.”

  Elias sniggered. “That little display you put on has landed you in more danger than you know, Alex. Before you rose up, glowing like a Christmas tree, they were only curious about you—now they fear you. Fear is treacherous. Fear makes people lash out. Fear makes people feel out of control,” he warned, his teeth flashing in a stern grimace that was halfway between scowl and smile.

  “Why would they fear me?”

  Elias sighed, the sound like a million distant whispers. “You are different. They can’t control ‘different.’ It is unpredictable, and it threatens their existence—you are the fox in the henhouse, and they want you dead. Whether or not you believe otherwise is your prerogative. I am only here to make suggestions,” he purred, his shadowy mouth curving upward in a definite grin.

  “They can’t do anything to me,” said Alex uncertainly, feeling dread claw at his stomach.

  “You know that’s not true.” Elias smiled. “Just because you’re ‘special’ doesn’t mean they won’t use you—they already have plans for you. By showing your hand, you have become a pawn between the power-plays of the magical elite.”

  “Are we playing cards or chess here?” muttered Alex.

  Elias chuckled in the back of his wispy throat. “Don’t get smart with me, Alex. They are both games of patience, and they can be very patient if they need to be, but do not mistake their tolerance for acceptance. They will put their plans into action, the moment opportunity presents itself.”

  “Who?” Alex frowned.

  “Please tell me you’re joking,” said Elias, gesturing in exasperation with his floating limbs as he lounged against the wall. “I thought you’d picked up that book?”

  “The royals?”

  “All is not lost—there is hope yet!” he mocked, grinning.

  Alex sighed. “I’ve been learning a bit about them, but I’ve not exactly had much time.”

  “You know enough though, yes?” prompted Elias, his galactic eyes peering curiously at Alex.

  He shrugged. “I know the Head and Alypia are royals.”

  Elias whooped unexpectedly, startling Alex. “Perhaps you have not been entirely remiss while I’ve been away.”

  “I’m not stupid, Elias. I overheard them talking, and Alypia called him ‘little brother.’ It wasn’t hard to put the pieces together,” he remarked, pausing as a thought entered his mind. “What actually is he—the Head, I mean?” asked Alex, certain Elias would know.

  The shadow-man lifted his weightless shoulders in an attempted shrug. “He is an abomination, but one of royal blood, nevertheless,” he replied, in his usual, frustratingly cryptic way.

  Alex clenched his teeth in annoyance. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Surely, the question is, ‘Why is that important?’ After all, you are as much a pawn in his game as you are in Alypia’s,” taunted Elias.

  “How am I a pawn?” snapped Alex, his eyes narrowing.

  “Think about it—what are you?” encouraged Elias with a twist of his shadowy wrist as he languished on the floor, contorting his fluid body to look up at the ceiling.

  “A Spellbreaker.”

  “Good. And your heritage? I know you’ve been thinking about it.” Elias smirked, tilting his head back at an unnatural angle so he could stare into Alex’s eyes.

  Alex shrugged. “So what if I have?” he muttered, remembering his thoughts on Leander Wyvern and a mysterious, non-magical partner. The loophole that had, perhaps, given hi
m life. “It makes no difference. I can never get a proper answer, so why bother thinking about it? They’re all dead.”

  For once, Elias didn’t throw a sarcastic remark back at Alex, but looked at him with something akin to kindness. It was almost as frightening to behold as his usual disdain. Nothing on Elias’s face did what it was supposed to, with everything shifting and moving of its own volition.

  “You have a truly powerful heritage, Alex—and they will fear you more, once they know.” An expression of remorse twisted Elias’s face. “They have been looking for you. They have been searching for such a long time. They never thought you could exist, yet here you are. Nothing can ever be the same now.”

  Alex frowned, not knowing what to make of Elias’s mysterious words. “You’re like a sphinx or something, always talking in riddles—why do you always have to be so vague? If there are things you want me to know, why don’t you just spell them out for me? It’d be a lot more help than this rigmarole.” He gestured between them, a look of sheer frustration on his face. “Do you know how annoying you are?”

  Elias grinned. “Do I vex you, Alex?” he purred. “There’d be no fun in simply giving you the answers.” There was a strange flash of something in his galactic eyes that Alex couldn’t put his finger on, as if there was something more to it than Elias was letting on.

  “I swear you just show up to irritate the living hell out of me!” snarled Alex, his temper flaring. “Maybe you just shouldn’t bother anymore.”

  Elias twisted back up to a standing position, most of his lower half trying to float away from him. “Well, then maybe I shouldn’t bother with this,” he said, pulling a book from the cavern of his starry ribcage. The bizarre, nauseating act didn’t seem as simple as it normally did—retrieving the book from his chest seemed to cause Elias a great deal of strain, a few minutes passing before he finally managed to maneuver it out into the open. Sections of his shadowy figure had disappeared, dissipating into the atmosphere.