“What were you doing at the time?” he asked.
Ellabell frowned. “I’m not sure.”
“Think back. What were you doing when he attacked you?”
She paused, a thoughtful expression crossing her face. “I was reaching for a book… It had a bronze spine, dotted with red jewels. I remember because I was drawn to the glitter of it. Yes—I was about to pick it up when something swooped down from the shadows and hit me hard in the side of the head. Everything was dark, and I thought I’d gone blind, but then something tried to claw my tongue from my mouth. I remember the pain of it and feeling very cold… I saw strange, starry black eyes glaring at me from the darkness and could hear whispers all around, warning me to stay away from things that weren’t mine and seeking secrets that weren’t for me to know, but I couldn’t see the person who was speaking—there was only shadow.”
Silence stretched between the two of them as Alex struggled to find the right words to say. Her description couldn’t be of anyone but Elias.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured, moving toward her.
“It wasn’t your fault.” She smiled sadly.
Alex longed to reach out and comfort her, but his hands were holding the edges of his jacket, filled with berries for the others. She moved toward him in a similar motion, only to glance down at the spoils in her makeshift apron, seemingly coming to the same conclusion.
“I should have been there with my anti-magic,” he said, his mouth set in a grim line. “I should have stopped him.”
“You got me out, Alex… and I’m the one who told you I didn’t want to leave you on the mission. I meant it.” A small smile played upon her lips, and Alex felt a glimmer of hope flicker once more inside him, though he wasn’t sure what to say in return. All his previous questions evaded him, his tongue uncharacteristically tied.
“I need to get better at protecting my friends,” he said finally. “I will do my best to keep all of you safe here, wherever ‘here’ is.”
A look of disappointment flashed in her sparkling blue eyes, the smile vanishing. “We should be getting back with these,” she announced hastily.
“O-Okay,” he said, wondering if he had said something to offend her.
“They’ll be wondering where we’ve got to.” She turned and led the way back to the clearing, suddenly more surefooted among the undergrowth.
As he followed in Ellabell’s footsteps, listening to the thud of her shoes ahead, his mind was full of Elias and what she had told him. Leander Wyvern’s notebook was still in Alex’s back pocket, seeming to burn against his skin as all ill-gotten gains were wont to do. Repulsion at the shadow-man made his skin crawl, knowing how much trust he had put in Elias, only to find out what vile, reproachable things he was capable of. There had always been an uncertainty about Elias’s moral compass, but Alex had never thought him an evil creature.
He thought back to the disposal of Finder and the retrieval of Elias’s long-sought life essence, held captive by the Head. He thought of the uprising at Spellshadow, causing the Head untold trouble in regaining control, not to mention the anti-magic that had helped in the fight, only learned because of the books Elias had given him. Elias had made them seem like gifts intended to benefit Alex, and yet all of those things had helped Elias achieve selfish goals, in one way or another. The question Alex couldn’t answer, however, was why—why did Elias need Alex to do the dirty work?
Walking back into camp, he wasn’t sure he’d ever have the chance to ask.
Chapter 3
The others were pleased to see the foragers, as they returned with their jackets full of berries. It was a meager, plain meal, but it was better than nothing.
As Alex chewed, he turned his attention to Jari, who had tried to mash up some berries to feed to Aamir. The older boy had become worse during Alex and Ellabell’s absence, and his skin was covered in red blotches that felt boiling hot to the touch. His whole body was on fire, sweat drenching every fiber of his clothes. Every few minutes he would lash out, his muscles shaking uncontrollably as his limbs jerked.
None of them had much of a grasp of healing magic, and nobody had volunteered to try in case they made him worse. It was uncharted territory, but if Aamir didn’t get help soon, there was no telling what could happen to him.
Taken by a sudden impulse, Alex walked over to Aamir and settled down on the grass beside him. Jari looked on nervously as Alex laid his hands on Aamir’s shoulders, sending tendrils of silver and black through the blotchy layers of Aamir’s skin. Eyes squeezed tightly shut, Alex searched through the interior of Aamir’s body until he touched upon the glinting, golden shape of a snake, coiled around the inside of Aamir’s aura. There was no telling how long it had been there, but it was savage, snapping viciously at the intrusion of Alex’s anti-magic. The cutting of the band, Alex realized with a twist of guilt, must have released a potent curse that was gripping onto Aamir like a vice, sapping him of his health and vitality far quicker than Derhin’s curse had done to Natalie.
“What is it?” asked Jari, edging closer.
“He’s cursed. It’s a strong one,” said Alex reluctantly. “It must have been the band.”
“I can try and break it,” Natalie said, but she still looked weak.
“No, Natalie—you’re still not fully recovered. You shouldn’t be doing any strong magic for a long time.”
Turning back to Aamir, Alex wondered if he should try to break the curse himself. His powers had improved leaps and bounds since Natalie’s curse, but this one was far stronger. Testing the waters, he pushed the very edges of his anti-magic against the burning curse, feeling it repel him forcefully as it attacked the silver and black tendrils that were running through Aamir’s veins. He tried again, pushing the shimmering strands of his anti-magic closer to the glowing core of the curse, but it was no good; the coiled creature only gripped tighter to its host in retaliation.
Removing his anti-magic as swiftly as he could without hurting Aamir, Alex saw that the attempt had only made his friend worse. On the shady patch of grass, he was writhing violently, mumbling in his delirious state as he tossed and turned. Alex could no longer make out any of what Aamir was saying, but there was a note of fear still, within the fevered gibberish, that unnerved him.
Across the clearing, Jari was running like a madman to fetch cold compresses, his panic evident as he dipped strip after strip of torn-off material into the lake. The blond-haired boy’s fear started seeping into the others like an infection, making everyone tense and snappish, until Alex wasn’t sure he could take the anxiety anymore.
Alex rose, feeling the urge to step away from the situation to get some headspace. His throat felt as if he had swallowed thorns, his thirst still unquenched.
“I need to go and find some water I can drink,” he announced.
Nobody objected as he headed through the woodland, keeping the tree-line in sight so he wouldn’t get lost. He listened for the quiet babble of a stream nearby. He was certain he had heard something similar on his earlier trek with Ellabell.
A few minutes later, he found what he was looking for. A clear, inviting spring bubbled up from a cluster of rocks, meandering from the source, down through the undergrowth in a gurgling stream. He almost ran toward it, sliding down into the mossy forest floor on his knees as he reached for the crystalline liquid; he was so thirsty and desperate to feel cold water on his skin. It did not disappoint. Cupping his hands to catch the cool, crisp water, he drank deep, delighted to feel the liquid run down his throat without scalding it. He went back again and again, drinking the pristine water and washing his face in it, sloughing off the dirt and misery of the past day until he felt like himself again, some calm restored.
He stayed there awhile, sitting up against the damp rock, feeling the cool of it against his spine as he rested in the shade of the treetops. The buzz and crackle of the magic in the air seemed less noticeable in the silence of the forest, blending into the background as he grew accustomed to
it, causing no disturbance to his quietude. If he closed his eyes, he could almost believe he was at summer camp, in the normal, non-magical world of home, pausing on a trail in the mountains somewhere...
He couldn’t stay for long, or the others would grow worried. But as he rose slowly to his feet, a strange sound in the near distance snatched his attention. It was the soft, padding sound of stealthy feet, creeping close by. Squinting toward the direction of the lake, he caught sight of unknown figures walking just beyond the tree-line, moving with a deliberate slowness to keep their noise to a minimum.
Fear gripped Alex as he tore off through the forest toward the camp, the spongy, mossy undergrowth deadening the sound of his feet as he ran, hoping to beat the figures he had just seen. Bursting out into the clearing with very little time to explain, he ignored the stunned faces of his friends as he charged over and picked up Aamir.
“We need to go! Follow me!” he hissed, beckoning them into the woods as he tried to keep his voice as low as possible.
Staggering back into the forest, Alex headed toward a denser part of it, not too far from the clearing, where the trees were at their thickest. He could hear the footsteps of the others behind him as they moved into the more camouflaged cover of the forest. Desperately, his eyes scanned for a suitable hiding place in the undergrowth. Just off to the left there was a hollow in the ground, mostly hidden by a spiny-looking bush and a stack of fallen branches that had crumbled from the rotting tree above. Seeing the prime spot, Alex stepped down into it and maneuvered Aamir against the far side. Jari, Natalie, and Ellabell jumped in behind, helping Alex to pull the branches over the top of their hiding place, just in time to see a group of four people arrive in the clearing.
As Alex peered through a small gap in the branches, he saw that they were four of the most beautiful people he had ever seen—perfect beyond description. There were two young men and two young women, each of them more stunning than the last. One of the young women had silky, flawless hair down to her waist, the color and texture of spun gold, with porcelain-white skin that didn’t seem natural. The other woman had long, flowing black hair held back behind her ear with a delicate lotus flower and the most exquisite, deep-toned skin Alex had ever seen, seeming impossibly smooth. The men were no different, one with perfect, curly warm brown hair that swept across a face of unnaturally chiseled bone structure, his coloring similar to Aamir’s, the other with a jet black crop and glowing, pale skin. Dressed in a uniform of black well-tailored pants, military boots, and white t-shirts, they did not look real to Alex, more like photoshopped supermodels, but he knew that they were, in fact, very much real and looking for them.
They seemed to be scanning for any signs of habitation, scouring the area and talking in low voices that Alex couldn’t quite make out. Trying to get a better look, Alex saw them check the padlock on the door of the shed. It was still locked. Alex breathed a quiet sigh of relief, glad he hadn’t tried to break the lock on their first evening. The sight of it, still attached to the hut, seemed to reassure them somewhat that nobody had been there.
Just then, Aamir, in his delirium, jerked suddenly, the weight of his body cracking a large twig beneath him. The snap of it rang through the silent forest like a gunshot. Jari’s eyes went wide with panic as he reached across for his friend, smothering his mouth with a hastily conjured silencing spell, in case Aamir cried out. Alex, still peering through the gap in the branches, watched in horror as the four beautiful people turned sharply in his direction, searching for the cause of the loud crack.
Alex felt the collective pause of everyone’s breath being held as the four scouts crept closer to where the five of them were hidden. After hurrying to get as much detritus over them as possible, Alex hoped fervently that the thick blanket of moss and branches and gorse bush would be enough to keep them from sight. He didn’t know what these unearthly creatures were or what their mission was. Were they friendly? Alex wasn’t sure.
Edging ever closer, the scouts were almost on top of them. Nobody dared to move. One of them, the brown-haired young man, walked right beside Natalie’s head, but he failed to make her out among the camouflage of the undergrowth. Beside Alex, Jari clung tightly to Aamir, holding him still and keeping him silent as the scouts continued their search.
For almost half an hour, the scouts came and went. Each time Alex thought it was safe to come out of the hiding spot, he would catch sight of them again, creeping around the back of the ramshackle hut or appearing once more through the tree-line. A few times, they came close to discovering the five fugitives. One kicked a branch, watching it skitter away, not realizing he had unearthed a small portion of Ellabell’s curly brunette hair. Another almost trod on the back of Aamir’s head, where he sat up against the earthen wall of the hollow, missing him by mere centimeters. A third, the one with the flower in her hair, reached down to pick up a miniature wildflower that had fallen from one of the bushes, almost coming eye to eye with Alex himself. If her focus hadn’t been on the flower, he was fairly sure they would have been toast.
Finally, after doing one last lap of the area for good measure, as if to make sure the fugitives’ heart rates stayed up, the foursome departed. Alex watched intently as they walked back the way they had come, disappearing from sight. He waited a while longer, just to be sure they had definitely gone, before he clambered out of the hollow and crept across the ground, following the four scouts as closely as he dared.
He tailed them for quite a way up the shoreline, before ducking behind a thick tree trunk as they came to a halt. From behind a rocky outcrop, they dragged a sleek blue and white rowboat they had pulled up onto the beach. Alex peered cautiously from his vantage point, watching them step into the boat and set off across the lake toward a faint rise of ground in the distance.
He hadn’t been able to see it from the clearing, but it was more visible from where he now stood. There was definitely something out there, looming on the horizon, and he wanted to know what it was that called to him from beyond the glittering waters of the lake.
Chapter 4
Alex remained beside the tree, staring out at the water, wondering how they were supposed to get over to where the four people had disappeared. He wasn’t sure what had spurred him into following the scouts, after the near miss of discovery, but the compulsion had at least pointed him in the right direction. It was becoming abundantly clear that they were going to need a boat of some sort, and, as far as he knew, there weren’t any boats just lying around willy-nilly for strangers to hop into and use as they pleased, as much as he might have liked there to be.
He was almost certain now that it was Stillwater House that lay on the other side of the lake, drenched in shadow. It had to be. Yet the only way to get there seemed to be by water. He supposed they could walk around the lake to reach the shadowy rise on the other side, but that would take days, by Alex’s estimation, if not longer. It was no good—they needed to get there sooner rather than later, if they were to stand any chance of reaching it undetected. Already, he could feel time slipping away from him. Even as he was standing there, he thought, the Head might have found a way through the portal and be in hot pursuit.
The sight of the rippling expanse of water frustrated and astounded him; it had all seemed so much smaller from the office window.
The vast distance made him think about magical travel for a moment, wondering if he could transport himself to Stillwater House via anti-magical means. Glancing back along the shoreline, he knew he couldn’t just leave the others, especially with Natalie and Aamir in weakened states. Then again, perhaps this world didn’t have the same barriers against travel that Spellshadow had.
Curious, he held his hands up to the empty air and fed his anti-magic upward, toward the atmosphere. There were some small sparks of resistance from the thrumming magic all around him, but it didn’t have the same cold, deadening feel as the ivy at the manor. It didn’t try to stop his energy—it merely seemed inquisitive. His interest was piqued, bu
t he knew he’d have to get one of the others to test for an actual barrier, just in case it wasn’t responding to his particular brand of energy. After all, he hadn’t been able to sense the one that had sent Natalie tumbling from the sky, and he didn’t fancy a repeat of that. However, he knew he’d have to shelve the idea for a while, until everyone was functioning at full capacity; they couldn’t very well leave Aamir and Natalie behind.
Mulling over their options, Alex returned from the shoreline. As he neared the clearing, he saw that the others had moved back into the main space, though their eyes looked up in alarm as his shoes crunched on the pebble beach, signaling his arrival.
“They’re gone,” Alex announced, as his friends sighed in relief. “I followed them to see where they were headed—there is something on the other side. Only thing is, it’s pretty far away, and the only way over seems to be across the water.”
“Do you think we can do the shield trick and make a boat instead of a bowl?” asked Jari.
“I think that’d be a pretty tall order… I was thinking we could build something,” Alex replied. “I mean, we have a forest, right? And forests have trees. We can… cut some down, strap them together with vines, or something.”
“There might be something in the hut,” suggested Ellabell, pushing her spectacles back up the bridge of her nose.
Alex looked from her to the ramshackle hut, which was still locked. Even if nothing was inside it, they could try to do something with the wooden planks it was made of.
He made his way over to the structure. The padlock was a beastly thing, covered in flaking red rust. He fed silvery tendrils of energy through the inner mechanisms, opening his hand sharply to explode the decaying metal with a loud crack. What remained of the padlock fell to the ground with a heavy thud.