“So, Virgil left me at the portal and came to fetch Ceres,” Alex finished, his mouth dry from all the talking.
“Whoa, dude, you’re a total legend!” Jari whooped enthusiastically.
Aamir nodded. “Even I have to admit, that is pretty impressive,” he said. “Although, I would never have expected such an act from Virgil. Who’d have thought, after all this time, he’d switch sides?”
Alex shrugged. “I’m not sure he ever really knew whose side he was on.”
“How is he? Is he injured too?” Natalie asked curiously.
“He’s in better shape than me,” was all Alex could say on the matter. As much as he wanted to stay with his friends and talk some more, he could feel himself fading. His eyes burned, his face ached, and every movement sent a thousand shooting pains through his body.
“Is it really that bad?” Ellabell pressed, her eyes wide with concern.
He shook his head. “No, it’s not too bad. I just need to sleep it off, I think.”
“I am not sure you can simply sleep off the loss of half your soul,” Natalie said solemnly.
“No, indeed, you can’t,” Ceres cut in, walking over to the group. “You’re exhausted, Alex. I know you want to keep up the pretense, but you’re in a lot of pain, and I think it’s time you got some rest,” she remarked, offering her hand to him, to help him up.
He didn’t have the strength to protest as she hauled him to his feet, leading him toward the entrance to a nearby tent. The others stayed where they were, upon Ceres’s instruction, and watched him go, their faces morphing into masks of worry. He hated doing that to them, but it was clear he needed help. He had no idea what was going on inside his body, but Ceres seemed to understand.
Once inside the tent, which appeared to be vacant, Ceres led Alex over to a pile of furs that lay stacked in a comfortable nest shape at the far end of the space. There, she made him lie down, while she went off to brew some tea. The furs embraced him like the softest mattress in the world, easing the jolts and jars that spiked through his body. Already, he could feel himself falling asleep, but Ceres made him stay awake a while longer, shaking him gently just as he was drifting off.
“Drink this,” she insisted, handing him a steaming mug of something sour smelling.
“All of it?” he asked, wrinkling his nose.
“Yes, all of it,” she replied sternly, taking a seat on a stool beside the furry nest.
Pulling a face, he lifted the hot drink to his lips and sipped tentatively. It tasted as foul as it smelled, but the warmth soothed the pains in his chest, making him feel more relaxed. Taking sip after sip, until the whole mug was gone, he began to feel marginally better—not a lot, but a fraction less grim.
“What was that stuff?” he asked, wiping the remnants from his mouth.
Ceres smiled. “You really don’t want to know. Herbs, mostly.”
“It tastes like pondwater,” he complained.
“You’re not far off,” Ceres chuckled, stirring something in a pot beside her. “Anyway, you’re probably wondering what’s going on with you, inside, right?”
Alex nodded. “I feel about as close to dead as it’s possible to feel,” he admitted.
“That’s not uncommon,” Ceres replied, lifting her hands to Alex’s face and pulling back his lids to check his eyes. “I’m not entirely sure how it works in someone like you, but I’m guessing it’s the same state the mages came to me in. Half of your life essence has been removed from you—or your soul, if you prefer. As you can imagine, that comes with a lot of suffering, and the need for a lot of recovery. There are magical exercises that you’ll need to do to help repair the damage inside; I’ll guide you through them. They’ll help you breathe and focus, and put the pieces back together again. It will not be a quick fix, nor will it be easy, but if you rush it you’ll suffer more. These things take time, and you need to understand that,” she continued. “Even the swiftest recoveries can take months. Like I say, I don’t know how your body will respond, but I am certain of one thing—you’re in no state to go home yet,” she said, her voice laced with sorrow.
They were the words Alex had been dreading. Lintz had hinted at it, but he had chosen to ignore the professor. The thought of having to wait longer to return to the real world was almost unbearable. His mother was still waiting out there, and the longer he stayed, the longer she had to wait.
“I know it’s not what you want to hear,” Ceres said softly. “But we have to begin treatment right away. It starts with tea and sleep, and then the hard work begins. You’ll need to relearn a lot of what you used to take for granted, but if you focus and you apply yourself, you may just get back to a normality you recognize,” she explained. “It will never be the same, but you can get pretty close.”
Alex sighed wearily. “How come Virgil isn’t reacting like this?” he asked, feeling as if some great injustice had been done.
“Virgil is a different case entirely, considering he’s half and half,” Ceres said thoughtfully. “He told me what happened. Not only that, but he told me what the spell did to him.”
Alex frowned. “What did it do?”
“It left him more or less the same, which is the good news,” Ceres explained. “The bad news is, he has no Spellbreaker power left. The mist took it all, leaving him only with his magical side—he’s surprisingly disappointed.”
Alex laughed at the irony. After everything the hybrid had been through in his struggle for acceptance, he was now as normal as any other mage.
Chapter 32
The next day dawned, and with it, good news.
Alex stirred to find Aamir sitting on the floor beside his bed, sipping a mug of green tea and talking quietly with Ceres, who was toasting bread over a small fire. The smoke rose through a gap in the tent’s roof. It smelled tantalizing, and Alex’s mouth watered as he struggled to sit up.
“Breakfast?” Ceres asked brightly.
Alex nodded. “Please,” he croaked. Although the sleep had done him some good, and his mind was clearer, his body still felt broken, the numb ache inside him ever present.
“How did you sleep?” Aamir asked, turning to him.
“Like the dead,” Alex said wryly, shuffling up into a better position, shoving some cushions behind his back to prop himself up.
Aamir gave a worried smile. “How are you feeling?”
“Like the dead,” Alex repeated, trying to muster a chuckle. It was clear the secret of Alex’s true state was out. Ceres’s words had no doubt put the seed of concern into the minds of his friends, and had blossomed into a true account of what had happened to him.
“You don’t look as bad as you did yesterday,” Aamir reassured him, an irreverent twinkle in his eyes.
“Charming,” Alex rasped, rubbing his face. “What brings you here, anyway?”
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to see Aamir, but the conversation he’d witnessed had seemed like a pressing one, Aamir’s face animated with passionate discussion. Ceres had been smiling too, a pleased look on her face, but those happy faces had morphed into expressions of solemnity upon Alex’s awakening. He hated that. It was why he hadn’t wanted anyone to know how much he was suffering, in case they treated him in precisely this way—walking on eggshells, unable to be themselves.
“Well, we have exciting news,” Aamir said eagerly.
Alex perked up. “Really?”
“Indeed. This morning, we are gathering everyone from the real world who wants to leave, and taking them through to Spellshadow,” he explained. “Some have chosen to stay, for a number of reasons, but we are returning those who want to be returned. There’s a mix of Spellshadow students and Falleaf students going, since Hadrian opened the offer up to his students—the ones whose families still live out there. Some might come back, and the door will likely always be open, if they want to return.”
The news warmed Alex’s heart. The Great Evil was gone, and the students were going home. It was everything he had hoped fo
r, and yet he couldn’t bring himself to feel the elation he knew he was owed. He wanted to scream and shout and dance around in triumph, but all he could do was smile and nod. Even that wore him out.
“That’s wonderful news,” he said, knowing it barely covered the scope of emotion he wanted to show.
“It is, Alex—and it’s all possible because of what you did,” Aamir replied, gripping Alex’s hand and giving it a squeeze. “I know you’re suffering right now, and everything feels wrong, but one day you’ll get to celebrate the way you deserve, and we’ll be waiting to celebrate with you.”
“I hope so,” Alex sighed. “Are you going with the rest of the students?” he asked, suddenly realizing what the exodus entailed for his friends.
Aamir nodded reluctantly. “I think so,” he said. “All of us are going through to the manor, leading the rest, but I don’t know what the others are thinking just yet. I know I need to go, even if it’s just for a while, to let my family know I’m okay. I’ve been gone for over five years—I want them to know I’m alive, at this point, you know?” he added, almost apologetically.
“You don’t need to sound so sorry about it, Aamir,” Alex reassured him. “I’m happy you get to go back to them. Plus, there’s no way you’re all going through to Spellshadow without me.” He flashed a mischievous smile, causing Ceres’s expression to darken.
“You’re not strong enough to go with them, Alex,” she insisted.
He shrugged. “I started this with them, and I’m going to finish it with them. If I can heal here, I can heal at home,” he said firmly. It was something he had been thinking about the night before, as he’d drifted off to sleep. What difference did it make, if he was here or back at home in Middledale? As long as Ceres told him what he had to do, he was confident he could get better.
Ceres shook her head. “It doesn’t work that way—because you are of magical, or anti-magical, origin, you can only heal those injuries within this realm. The exercises required for you to get better are magical exercises—if you try to do them out in the real world, they won’t work, and you won’t heal. It requires the sewing up of all the gaps the torn essence left, through prolonged magical therapy of the mind and body that need to be guided by someone like me. Like any new skill, it needs to be taught. Or, in your case, relearned. Plus, you have to consume a lot of medicine, and the potions that will heal you are only beneficial when consumed in this realm.”
“I need to go with them, Ceres,” he replied, adamant now. “You can either help me get to Spellshadow, or you can step out of my way, and I’ll go there anyway, with my friends.”
Ceres sighed deeply. “Fine, but you’ll be setting yourself back by doing this.”
“Then I’ll just work harder to fix whatever else I’ve managed to break,” he insisted.
“Are you sure you should be pushing yourself, in your state?” Aamir chimed in, a worried expression furrowing his brow.
Frustration prickled at Alex’s nerves. He wasn’t an invalid; he was just exhausted after the events of the past few days. Yes, he’d lost half of his soul, but he was still Alex. He was still strong enough to see the journey through to the conclusion they’d all agreed upon.
“I know my limits,” he said slowly, trying not to snap. “I’ll be fine.”
Aamir left a short while later, with a promise to come back for Alex when the time came for them to return to Spellshadow. It left him alone with Ceres, who continued to insist he should rethink the matter, while forcing pieces of buttered toast and endless cups of herbal tea into his hands. Alex tuned out her sage words, knowing there was no pain on earth that could prevent him from going with his friends. They had waited too long for this moment, and he wasn’t going to be the one absent from the pack when it came to closing the circle of their path together.
Around midday, the quartet of friends arrived at the entrance to Alex’s new abode. Helena still wasn’t with them, nor had he seen her the day before. It was strange not to see the silver-haired girl standing beside them; she had become such an integral part of the group that her absence was almost jarring.
“No Helena?” Alex asked.
Natalie shook her head. “She has returned to Stillwater House, to see what she can salvage,” she explained. “She left after Venus freed us. I’m sure she would have come if she’d known you were still alive.”
“How is your romance blossoming, anyway?” Alex wondered, flashing Jari a knowing glance.
To his surprise, Jari gave a casual shrug. “A man like me can’t settle for just one dame, dude. I’ve got to see what’s out there, you know?”
Natalie giggled. “What Jari is trying to say is, things did not exactly work out. I believe Helena just wants to be friends, correct?” she teased.
“Yeah, something like that,” Jari muttered. “Ah well, plenty more fish in the sea, right?”
“I’m sure there’ll be someone out there who can deal with you and your outlandish displays of love, Jari Petra,” Ellabell chimed in, an amused smile on her face.
He winked. “Yeah, we can’t all be like you two.”
Rolling her eyes at the blond-haired boy, Ellabell walked up to where Alex was sitting and helped him to his feet. Aamir moved around to his other side, pulling his arm around his neck. With their support, he hobbled over to the tent’s entrance, and stepped out into the bright sunlight. The scent of bonfire rippled through the air, reminding Alex of Halloween and summertime campfires by the river. Many of the Starcross inhabitants were still milling about their makeshift homes, but a notable number were elsewhere.
As they moved toward the edge of the encampment, Alex saw where they had gone. Standing in the field just beyond the perimeter, a swarm of people were chattering and laughing, slinging bags over their shoulders and clutching their limited belongings to their chests. Alex felt his own chest swell with pride; these people were going home today. He noticed there were a few older individuals in the crowd, the years having flown by for them. They weren’t royal or elite; they were ordinary mages, whose lives had not been extended by their magical ability. Instead, they had grown old in the usual way, the years graying their hair and lining their faces, all of it exacerbated by the loss of half their life essence. In his mind, they were the bravest souls, choosing to return even though the outside world had changed immeasurably since they were last there.
A few cheered as Alex approached, the news having spread that the Great Evil had been vanquished because of what he had done. Virgil was already there, passing a conspiratorial nod in his direction, but Alex almost didn’t recognize the sunken-faced man. If he hadn’t been standing next to Ceres, he would have missed him entirely. The Head was no longer dressed in the hooded robe Alex had always seen him in. Instead, he wore a smart suit with a high collar, the fabric flowing smoothly over his thin form.
“Right, everyone keep it friendly—no pushing, no shoving,” Ceres bellowed, jumping up onto the back of her Kelpie.
“Come on, hop up,” said a familiar voice, as hooves trotted up behind Alex.
Demeter was sitting astride his own Kelpie, holding out his hand to haul Alex up. With the help of Aamir pushing, he made it onto the back of the beast, where the auburn-haired man turned to look over his shoulder and grinned at Alex.
“Long time no welcome,” he chirped brightly. “I hear you’ve been defying all kinds of magical challenges, Alex Webber.”
Alex smiled, the auburn-haired man making him feel calmer. “Yeah, you could say that.”
“Ceres tells me you’re being as stubborn as a box,” he said, grinning.
“I’m just ready to go home.” Alex sighed, wondering what else the one-eyed royal had said about him.
Demeter nodded. “I can understand that, just don’t push yourself. You don’t want to really break, you know?” he warned. “Anyway, sorry I wasn’t there to welcome you back last night. As soon as the news broke that the Great Evil had gone, I went through to Spellshadow to get things prepared for today.
I only got back this morning.”
“Hey, I’m just glad you’ll be around for the farewell,” Alex said as they set off at a slow trot across the fields, toward the portal to Falleaf, where they would all head through to Spellshadow’s gateway. From there, they would be heading for home, and Alex was jittery with anticipation. “What’s your plan for the future, anyway?” he asked.
Demeter gave a casual shrug. “The current plan is for Hadrian, Ceres, and I to join forces, to make Falleaf House into a real school, with a voluntary student body. We might liaise with Helena at Stillwater, and share the load, as it were. Anyone who wants to come, can come, with no fear of death at the end of their time there. I’ll be caretaker of this place too, ensuring the people who have stayed have everything they need.”
It sounded perfect, everything falling into place. Helena had Stillwater. Hadrian and the other two had Falleaf, with Starcross as a bonus. It seemed unlikely anyone was going to take up the reins of Spellshadow again, with Virgil heading up to the golden city of Angel’s Roost to rule beside his mother. That seemed like the most fitting end, that Spellshadow Manor should be left to rot, a crumbling monument to the cruelty that had gone before, and should never be allowed to prevail again.
It took a longer time than expected to get the large crowd through the portal to Falleaf. Then, of course, they had to traipse through the dappled forest, watching out for traps, though the soldiers there had done a decent job of clearing them, under Virgil’s instruction. Upon reaching the portal at the other side of the forest, the one that led to Spellshadow, Alex began to feel nervous. They’d had to leave the Kelpies behind at Starcross, and even though Demeter and Aamir had stepped in to help him on the lengthy walk, Alex was beginning to feel weak again. His breathing came short and fast, and he could feel Ceres’s watchful eyes upon him, the words “I told you so” teetering on the tip of her tongue.