Alex scrambled up onto the polished wood surface and sat cross-legged. He straightened his spine and raised his hands near his heart. He knew the procedure, at least.
“Excellent,” said Derhin. He circled Alex, looking him up and down with an academic air. “Yes, this is a good starting pose, but you need to remember to breathe. The breath is crucial to this focusing technique.”
Alex pulled in a breath, slowly, through his nose, just like he’d learned.
“All right,” Derhin muttered, as if trying to figure out how to tackle a complicated math problem. “Go through the stance for us. Give it your best.”
In dead silence, Alex raised one hand, opening his palm toward the sky as he brought his other hand over his heart. He closed his eyes and tried to visualize the flow of energies in his body as they traced the lines of his breath, but there was nothing but cold.
“Link the heart and mind,” Derhin said, softly. “Pull them together, and make them one. The breath is your heartbeat, and the heart draws air. Focus your energy like a great funnel, blossoming from its point at your gut and flowing free at your fingertips.”
Alex tried; he really did, but he felt nothing. Derhin poked and prodded at him, trying to adjust his stance, his words still coming in dull mutters.
“It really should work,” he was saying. “Webber, try twisting your hand—no, the other one—I’ve heard that helps. Maybe…no.”
Alex felt panic rising in his throat. This was it. This was the moment he proved that he wasn’t supposed to be here. They would place his connection to Natalie, figure out that he had followed her, and then…who knew.
He focused as hard as he could, squeezing his eyes shut…
“Aha!”
Alex opened his eyes to see Derhin standing in front of him, but rather than looking disappointed, his face was a mask of triumph. He stepped aside, gesturing toward Alex.
“See? All it takes it a little practice,” he was saying, but Alex couldn’t hear him.
All around his body, little golden flames licked across his skin. He did his best not to break his stance as he stared at the strands of light that spiraled around his wrists and fingers, sending crackles of energy through him. He shot a look at Natalie.
She sat, looking pleased, with her legs crossed and one finger held idly out. Around it was tangled a little wisp of golden flame. She gave her hand a twitch, and Alex felt a little bite of cold at the back of his neck.
Oh…she’s good.
The three boys went back to the dorm room after class. When Aamir finished congratulating Alex and Jari finished gloating, Alex excused himself to go meet Natalie in the library. Jari made catcalls at him until the door to their room was shut behind him, and even then they followed him as ghostly yowls of provocation. He shook his head, chuckling.
Now that Alex had had more time to practice finding his way around and the shifting hallways had become less mysterious than they’d seemed at first, he found it easy to predict their movements, though it still took quite a long time to get anywhere. On his way to the library, he continued his search for workable shortcuts, determined to master something about this place.
He opened a door that he thought might cut through another hallway, and nearly took a spinning cog to the face. He ducked, and the thing ricocheted off the window behind him, hitting the floor with a dull plink.
“Sorry!” someone yelled from inside, followed almost instantly by, “Shut the door, idiot!”
Alex did so and went on his way, going down one nondescript hallway, then another, until he sensed he was near the library.
“Signs!” he heard a frustrated Natalie exclaim from somewhere behind him. “Why are there no signs here? It would be so simple!” She followed this with a string of what he assumed to be French curse words, though he only recognized a couple.
He turned back, grinning, and when she caught up, he was leaning casually against the wall.
“You lost?”
“Do not tease me right now, Alex,” Natalie snapped, her brown eyes bright with irritation. “I have had it up to here with this place! Why do they not simply put up signs?”
“Like this one?” he smirked, gesturing to a sign that read “Library” with an arrow pointing the right direction.
She huffed in exasperation, then looked suddenly triumphant. He glanced at the sign again, watching as the arrow slowly turned to point the opposite direction.
“You were saying?” she asked, looking smug.
“Right,” he said, shouldering off the wall and leading the way. “Well, I think they make it confusing on purpose, anyway. They want students feeling lost and trapped in here.” They rounded the corner. “Hey, thanks for saving me in class, by the way. That was some really impressive stuff.”
Natalie smiled at him, but her face quickly fell.
“It was not so hard. And not so impressive, either. I still cannot give form to my magic. I tried to make a lovely bouquet, but…” She sighed. “All I could manage was golden petals.”
“Don’t be so hard on yourself. It’s something, and you’ve improved really fast.”
“Mirian—she is across the hallway from me—she says I need to read more. She tells me crafting things is the essence of magic.”
“Okay, we can work on that. I’m sure I’ve seen books on that in the library.”
Natalie turned, staring out a nearby window where a blizzard had just begun, sending splashes of icy snow over the glass. In the distance, Alex could just make out jagged, stony mountain peaks beneath gray clouds.
He thought he could guess what she was thinking.
“We’ll get home,” he said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “You’re more than capable. Let’s go find some books.”
“Yes,” she replied, sounding distracted. “We might as well.”
At the base of the great iron staircase that wove around the library’s central pillar was a little sign, listing a variety of subjects. Alex glanced at it to remind himself where the Spellshadow Manor history books were located. He hadn’t found anything useful there yet, but he held out hope.
“If you’re going to keep covering for me in class,” he said, his voice muffled by the quietening charm, “we might need to find some new techniques to practice. You’ll have to do twice as many projects as a normal student. Think you’re up for it?”
“I suppose so,” she said listlessly.
“Okay…what type of spell do you feel like practicing today?”
“I do not care very much. Whatever you think is best.” She trailed her finger along the plaque, looking absently at the categories. “No, wait—what about destruction?” Her eyes gleamed dangerously. “Yes,” she said with more certainty. “I will be back.”
Alex was dubious about the safety of studying destruction, but figured it might come in handy, perhaps as defensive magic.
Natalie pushed off lightly from the handrail, levitating into the air with her arms and legs held close to her body. On the ground, Alex watched as she twirled, rising and falling with a dancer’s ease before starting to look for the section on destruction. Apparently not all new students could master the ability to fly easily, which was why they still had ladders climbing the three columns. He couldn’t help but feel jealous—how awesome would it be to fly? He hoped it would cheer her up somewhat—she loved floating to retrieve books.
By the time they left the library, laden with books, Natalie was indeed flushed and excited again. She had quickly found a book called Pyromancy and You, and had spent the rest of their time happily floating up and down to find all the books Alex listed. It was her favorite part of studying, and Alex was pleased she seemed back to normal. Though he had his doubts about her escape plan, it was necessary to keep her hopes high. Natalie was prone to bouts of despair, and he didn’t want her to give up, to succumb to the numbing energy of Spellshadow. He just needed more time to come up with something, and the key might be figuring out what else was going on at this so-called schoo
l.
The tables in the study hall where they headed next were a small sea of mostly abandoned rounds that sat before the great window overlooking the gates. Beyond them, Alex could just make out the great, snake-like building that rose up over the walls, backlit by the sparkling lights of a faraway city. As they settled down, Alex unloading his armful of books onto the table, Natalie seemed unable to take her eyes off the horizon.
“Is that your home?” she asked eventually.
Alex looked over. “Maybe,” he admitted. “Hard to tell at this distance, isn’t it?”
Natalie bit her lip, her fingers running over the embossed letters on the cover of Pyromancy and You. “It looks so close. Why can’t we just…?” She trailed off.
“I don’t know,” said Alex. “There’s something going on here.” He tapped the pile of books in front of them. “That’s why we have these.”
Natalie rallied, flipping open her book. “Yes,” she murmured.
It took maybe ten minutes for her enthusiasm to flicker, sputter, then go out like a candle in a hurricane. She sprawled, her arms splayed out on the table, her hair forming a dark halo around her head.
“It is impossible,” she moaned. “I cannot read any more English.”
Alex looked up from where he had been reading about the mental process of making inner fire into proper fire. “Let’s move on to practical magic, then. Sound good?”
“Very well,” she sighed, raising her face to look at him.
“All right, then,” said Alex. He looked over the page he’d been reading, then stuck a bookmark in it and turned to Natalie, who sat up a little straighter.
“Conjure some magic, please,” he said.
She nodded, cupping her hands in front of her. A little whirl gathered there, and she released a ball of light into the space between them.
“Now what?”
He looked down. “You need to fix the idea of heat in your mind. Of burning. Of everything that is fire. Then, you need to fill your magic with that.”
Natalie tilted her head, staring at the ball. Nothing happened.
“It won’t work,” she said.
“Let’s try something else,” he replied, picking up another book. Reading about Spellshadow’s history would have to wait.
They went through the next half hour with Alex gathering tip after tip from the books arrayed before them. Natalie, in turn, practiced her control while she waited for further instruction. Before long, she had three little balls going at once, her brow wrinkled in concentration.
Alex paused in his research, looking up at the three spheres.
“Nice!” he said. “You’re multitasking really well.”
She smiled faintly, her eyes fixed on her magic. “It is strange,” she said. “In class, it felt so easy, but just making three of these is difficult now.”
Alex nodded, tapping one of his books. “That’s called having range, but not focus.”
Natalie nodded, a little disappointed.
“Then we will practice focus next. Anything else?”
Alex referenced yet another book. Making fire was supposedly the simplest technique that destruction magic had to offer, but something was holding Natalie back.
“But I don’t understand,” she muttered. “I had four balls in my room earlier, and it wasn’t nearly this hard.” She looked at him. “Perhaps it is because I feel monitored.”
“Just pretend I’m not here,” he said absently, scanning the book in front of him. “Now, new tip. This one says you should be trying to make the fire come from within the magic. Picture your power like an egg, then hatch it with your mind.”
Natalie raised her eyebrows, then looked at the rightmost ball of her trio. She frowned, then made a sharp little motion with her finger.
The ball cracked up the center, and Alex stared in awe as little flashes of red and orange crackled along the line. Then, in a puff of crimson, the ball ignited, burst, and vanished. He sat back in his chair, his face feeling hot from the detonation. Natalie only stared at the place where smoke was now rising from thin air. Her other two spheres winked out of existence.
“That…” she said, “was so cool!”
Alex smiled. “Let’s see if you can make it stay next time.”
Natalie pursed her lips, held out her hand, and tried again. The flickering orange light bounced off the great window of the library, reflecting up the columns and into the rafters high above. The distant city lights sparkled, unchanged.
Chapter 18
The regular tedium of class was interrupted the next afternoon when Professor Derhin strode into the classroom with a slightly vexed expression on his face. He looked around at his silent, attentive class and actually gave a small huff of annoyance.
“I’ve been informed,” he said, “that today will be spent reviewing student policy. Apparently, we need to touch base on school rules for the newcomers. So. Let’s get that out of the way, and then we can do some actual learning, eh?”
In spite of his protests, Derhin’s attempts to ‘get that out of the way’ seemed anything but hasty. He started with the smallest, most minute rules and worked his way forward, with a sort of enraptured glee, in what Alex quickly realized was alphabetical order. Aamir’s head sunk lower and lower until his brow was pressed against his desk.
“And that covers proper use of lighting during curfew hours,” Derhin said, rolling his knuckles along his desk. “Moving right along, you may have noticed that there are certain colored lines throughout the school. Blue and gold. Given that we haven’t had any trouble from the new students, I would imagine you were properly warned, but do not, under any circumstances, cross either. The blue marks where student territory ends and teacher territory begins. The gold lines, on the other hand, are only to be crossed by the administrative staff, which is to say the two heads of the academy or Siren Mave.”
Two heads? Alex’s eyebrows rose, but he refrained from raising his hand. Asking Derhin a question would likely get him a thirty-minute answer that would cause the lecture to bleed over into their other classes. Instead, Alex leaned forward and tapped Jari on the shoulder. The boy turned, looking bored, and it occurred to Alex that this wouldn’t be the first time that he had heard this lecture.
“What’s up?” Jari whispered.
Alex gestured at where Derhin’s nasal drone was flooding the front of the room. “Two heads of the academy?” he said. “I thought there was only the one.”
“Yeah,” said Jari. “You might know him as the invisible force that compelled you to come here.”
“Finder?”
“Yeah, that’s him.”
In all the time he had been at Spellshadow, Alex hadn’t seen so much as a hint of the man, though he was sometimes mentioned. Whereas the Head’s influence was visible at every turn, Finder seemed a reclusive sort. It was strange to Alex to hear them mentioned on equal footing.
He weighed his options, finally deciding that any information he could gather might be worth the risk. “He wasn’t invisible to me.”
Jari froze, his mouth half open. For the first time since Alex had met him, the boy seemed truly at a loss for words. “You…Excuse me?”
“I could see him,” Alex repeated, wondering whether he had just made a grave mistake.
Aamir glanced over at them. “What’s going on?”
“Alex saw Finder.”
The two exchanged a look.
“Let’s talk after class,” said Aamir.
When they met in the dining hall after class, Aamir’s interrogation was thorough.
Jari, while also interested, seemed perfectly content to let Aamir do the grilling, leaning back in his chair with a fascinated expression. Natalie had also opted to join them.
“He sounds less impressive than I had pictured him,” Aamir admitted, when Alex had finished describing Finder’s rotting clothes.
Alex frowned. It was hard to convey Finder’s unnerving quality with words, he was finding. He was both eerie a
nd powerful, more like an omen than a man, an apparition that brought with him a sense of ending, of finality.
“Did you see him?” Aamir asked, swiveling toward Natalie.
She shook her head. “Alex mentioned him to me,” she said, “but I didn’t see him…I don’t know if I heard him either. I was in a weird way. I didn’t really understand what he was saying—or don’t remember it now.”
“Don’t worry,” said Jari with a bright smile. “Nobody can see Finder. It’s part of his magic.” He stared pointedly at Alex here.
Alex made a face, then turned to Aamir. “All right. My turn to ask some questions.”
Aamir nodded.
“Finder. Who is he, and how does he…‘find’?”
Jari leaned forward, answering before Aamir could. “He’s, like, this old master of the school,” he said. “Dedicated his whole life to scrying and detection magic. They say if there’s a drop of magical blood in someone’s veins, he can find it. That’s why he’s called Finder, see? Because nobody knows his real name; they just know what he does.”
Alex nodded slowly. “Doesn’t he have a more active role here? Beyond finding new students?”
Aamir shook his head. “No. At least, not that I know of.”
“He wanders the hallways at night sometimes,” Jari said.
“No, he does not.”
“Does too!”
As the two began to argue, Alex rolled his eyes at Natalie, to see her staring down at her bowl.
“Anyway,” Aamir broke off, all but palming Jari in the face to shut him up, “Finder has always been called one of the school’s Heads. Beyond that, nobody knows much.”
“But,” Jari interjected, “if you see him at night? Run. I’ve heard some nasty stories.”
Alex glanced at Natalie again. She was still looking at her bowl. She gave the contents an idle stir with her spoon, looking pensive. When she realized that Alex was watching her, she looked up.
“Alex,” she said softly, “do you feel like getting some fresh air? I am feeling restless in here.”
Jari broke away from his second argument with Aamir at once, gazing delightedly between the two of them.