“How have you been doing it?” Aamir asked, his voice soft.
“D-Doing what?” Alex asked through his shivering.
“The magic, in class. How?”
Jari’s frown deepened. “Hey, what? What are you getting at?”
“Natalie,” Alex whispered, letting his head fall back against the snow. It was like a warm pillow against his frigid neck. The edges of his vision were blurry. “Natalie has been helping me.”
Aamir’s eyes grew soft with understanding, and he nodded. “So that is why you are so inseparable,” he said wonderingly. “I thought…but I never would have guessed.”
A lick of electricity reemerged to snap angrily between Jari’s brows. “If somebody doesn’t tell me what’s going on,” he said, “I’m seriously going to—”
“I’m a Spellbreaker,” Alex choked out.
Jari paused, then looked between Alex and Aamir with sudden clarity.
“No way.”
Alex nodded.
“It’s the only way he could have survived what he just did,” Aamir said, his voice distant. “Even so…” He trailed off.
Jari swore under his breath.
Aamir nodded. “Indeed.” His hawk-like eyes seemed to bore into Alex. “We need to talk.”
Alex, though uneasy at Aamir’s expression, silently agreed. He tried to say something, but there was ice in his mouth, under his eyelids, and he could find no words.
“Give him a minute to warm up,” Jari interjected, and Alex felt a surge of gratitude for the boy. “We still need to settle things.”
Aamir’s eyes grew hot as they darted to Jari. “Don’t think I’ve forgotten what you said,” he said, “but I think we have more pressing matters to attend to.”
Jari snorted. “What, the matter of Alex being strange and keeping secrets? That’s hardly new. I didn’t come here to talk to Alex. I came here to talk to you, and the result is that we both nearly killed a friend. We need to talk. Then we can talk to Alex.”
Aamir hesitated, looking down at Alex’s frost-covered body. Alex made an effort to smile reassuringly up at him.
“You two sort things out,” he said. “I really could use a minute.”
They moved to a place some twenty yards distant. Jari propped Alex up against a tree to keep him from sprawling in the snow, then Jari and Aamir stood, staring at one another with wary eyes.
“I apologize,” Aamir said first. “I never intended for things to get so out of hand.”
Jari raised an eyebrow. “Are you willing to start coming back to class?”
Aamir’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t you have something you want to say to me first?”
Lightning streaked the clouds above, and a rumble rolled over the gardens. A light rain began to fall, pattering little holes into the snow all around them.
“Jari,” Alex said. “Don’t be a jerk.”
Jari looked over at him, then released a heavy sigh. “Fine,” he said. “I was an ass. I have the social graces of a pole-dancing T-Rex, and I’m sorry. Is that what you wanted to hear?”
A rare smile cracked Aamir’s lips. “It’s a good start,” he said.
“Look,” Jari said, “it’s not that I don’t get it. Please don’t think that I don’t get it. You’re my best friend, and I need you to understand that you aren’t the only one afraid about your graduation. I’m terrified of losing you.”
Aamir blinked. “To be honest, I hadn’t even considered what my graduation might do to you,” he said slowly. “You seemed so opposed to my efforts to prevent it that I didn’t really think you cared.”
“Of course I care,” said Jari, stomping his foot and throwing up a little spray of slush that clung to his pant leg. “It’s only…If you become a teacher, you’re one of them. I lose you anyway.”
Aamir stood, stunned. “Jari…”
“Don’t do that,” said Jari. “Don’t condescend to me. You think I haven’t been searching for a way out? Hunting for every minute I’ve been here? I miss my family, Aamir. I miss my brother, my mother, my stupid prank-pulling father. But if I became a teacher, I’d be just as stuck, and what’s worse, I’d be responsible for what happens to the students. I’d have to watch.”
“I don’t intend to just—”
“Do you think any of them did?” Jari snapped, cutting Aamir off. “Do you think any of them were committed to luring pupils to whatever fate awaits them at the end of this road? Something is seriously wrong with this place, and you have to be an idiot not to notice it. The teachers know what it is, but whatever they are hiding is so serious that none of them have ever talked about it, not a single one.”
Aamir was silent. Sitting against the tree, Alex stared at Jari. Feel-good, cheerful Jari, who now stood with tears in his eyes, his hands balled in frustration, his cheeks pink with ire. Alex hardly recognized him.
“I never considered that,” Aamir said, staring at his feet.
“Of course you didn’t,” said Jari. “You didn’t listen.”
The two stood, staring at each other for a long time. Then Jari spun to face Alex.
“And what the heck is up with you!” he cried, waving his hands in the air. “You’re a Spellbreaker!”
“Seems that way,” Alex replied.
“I’ll put that on the ‘things that would have been nice to know’ list,” said Jari. “Were you ever planning on telling us?”
This time, it was Aamir who came to Alex’s defense. “He could have been killed,” he said gently.
Jari let out an angry breath, glaring at both of them. “You two are idiots,” he said.
Alex and Aamir shared a look.
“To be honest,” Alex said, “I only just found out myself.”
Jari rolled his eyes. “You find anything good on New Year’s?”
Alex’s jaw worked as he fumbled for an excuse, but nothing he came up with seemed believable.
Aamir cleared his throat. “You weren’t at the speech,” he said. “Not unusual, but when Natalie threw up, and you came back late…”
“It wasn’t subtle,” Jari said.
Alex glanced from side to side, wondering if he should trust them. He knew what Natalie would say—she would want to include them, to help them. “I did get a book,” he admitted. “A tome of necromancy.”
“Oh good,” said Jari. “He’s evil. That’s nice.”
Aamir, on the other hand, wore a puzzled expression. “Why?” he asked.
And so Alex told them the whole story. From seeing Finder that night at the party, to following Natalie to Spellshadow, to the two of them tracking Finder to his lair, and then Alex’s daring assault upon the Head’s study. The only detail he left out was Elias. He wasn’t sure why; he just had a feeling he didn’t want to mention the shadow just yet.
At the end, Aamir looked stunned. Jari just looked impressed.
“I think you’ve covered more ground in months than I have in almost two years,” he said, letting out a low whistle.
Aamir seemed stuck on a different note.
“A ghost,” he said under his breath. “I thought he was using invisibility magic, but if it’s necromantic…I always wondered why there were no books on the subject.” He looked sharply over at Alex. “I need to see that book.”
“Natalie is using it,” he said. “Also, it’s in Latin.”
Aamir opened his mouth, then shut it.
“Then I’ll need to talk to Natalie about it,” he said.
Alex looked between Jari and Aamir, hoping against hope that he wasn’t about to make a mistake.
“I…can trust you two, right?”
Jari almost looked offended. “We’re on the same side,” he said, giving Alex a look that said exactly what Jari thought of his intellect at that moment.
“But my people,” Alex said. “They killed yours.”
Jari’s head tilted. “They killed the Greeks?”
Alex gave him a rebuking look. “Wizards.”
Jari let out a low no
ise of amusement. “In case you hadn’t noticed, we’re all captives here. Even if we weren’t, who cares what our forefathers did? You’re a friend. Your blood doesn’t make you want to kill me, does it?”
“No.” Of course not. But they had been painted as natural enemies.
“Then that’s that.”
Aamir seemed a little more reluctant, but he also nodded. “That’s that,” he echoed.
Alex looked between them, his gaze lingering on Aamir. The older boy was desperate to survive—was he desperate enough to give Alex up? It could be that turning in a Spellbreaker would save his own neck somehow. But Alex didn’t think Aamir would do something like that. He was desperate, yes, but essentially good.
“Thank you,” Alex said, and meant it.
They smiled in unison.
“Just get us out of here,” said Aamir.
Alex tried to smile, but he couldn’t quite manage it. His chest still felt heavy with cold, his limbs stiff.
“I’ll try.”
Chapter 29
Alex awoke the next morning to the truly strange sight of a small mouse crouching on his chest, its eyes aglow with a crimson light. It scurried in circles, tail lashing, revealing patches of missing fur that exposed shining white ribs. Its tail seemed to hang from it by sinew. It pounced from side to side on emaciated legs, leaving little red paw prints on Alex’s comforter.
On instinct, Alex yelled, hurling his sheets, mouse and all, to the floor, where the bedclothes began to thrash, panicked little squeaks cutting the air as Alex sat on his bed in his pajamas, breathing hard in surprise. In his bed, Jari opened an eye, looking over.
“Bad dream?” he asked blearily.
“Mouse,” Alex explained shortly, jerking back as the mouse burst from the sheets. Jari let out an undignified cry of terror and flattened himself against the wall.
The mouse sprang back up onto Alex’s bed and advanced upon him with glittering eyes. Alex held out a placating hand, as if the creature would listen to sense.
The mouse leapt, and Alex braced himself for the pain of its little teeth sinking into him, but instead he only felt a cold, wet weight drop on his hand as it settled comfortably against the side of his open palm. He looked down, and his gaze was met by eyes like flickering, waning candles.
Lifting his hand, Alex surveyed the animal. It had a bloody hole in its side, and was missing a substantial part of one ear. He lifted it up, rolling it onto its back to reveal a little note tucked against its belly, held in place by a thin piece of string.
He undid the binding and took the letter, the mouse hopping from his hand and dropping back to the bed, sitting obediently while he read.
Alex,
I found this dying mouse in my room, and I had to experiment on something, so…here it is. It’s not very pretty. I think it must have been attacked by a cat. I hope it didn’t frighten you too much! Anyway, it looks like I got the magic to work. I’m curious about what he will do when his task (delivering this letter) is complete. The book was vague.
-N
Alex looked down just in time to see the mouse give a final, beatific squeal before falling dead on his bed. A little dribble of red drained out of its side.
“She’s more cold-blooded than I am,” Alex muttered, staring from the letter to the mouse and back.
Jari nodded emphatically from where he was still curled on his bed, his eyes wide.
The door opened and Aamir came in, a book under his arm and a determined look on his face. His eyes swept the room, landing on Alex.
“Ah, Alex. Good, you’re awake.”
He hesitated, seeing the sheets on the floor, then the dead mouse bleeding on the mattress.
“Hm.”
“Don’t ask,” Alex grumbled. He tried to pick the mouse up by the tail to move it, but the thing came off in his hand. Jari made a retching noise.
“I confess I am curious,” said Aamir, a wry smile slanting one corner of his mouth. “But no matter. I came to ask a favor.”
Alex threw the tail in the trash bin as Jari made unintelligible noises of protest.
“What’s up?”
“I wanted to ask you to train with me, actually.”
Aamir and Jari had continued their argument from the previous day in more civil terms after Alex’s revelation the previous night. Jari had begrudgingly admitted that Aamir’s additional practices might serve a purpose, but he had also convinced the boy to come back to classes. The peace between them was uneasy, but seemed to be holding for the time being.
Now, Alex gave Aamir a questioning look.
“And do you think I would be useful to help you study magic?” he said, one eyebrow raised. “Although my…talents apparently lie in the exact opposite realm?”
“I do.”
Alex poked at the body of the mouse, and Aamir made a noise of impatience, his hand shooting out. Little flames engulfed the rodent’s body, burning it until nothing but ash remained. Aamir made a second gesture, and the heap of ash blew apart.
“It’s everywhere now,” Jari said in horror.
Alex returned his attention to Aamir with a sigh. “I’m just not sure what I can do.”
Aamir looked away, scratching at his cheek. He opened his mouth, then shut it, trying several times to speak but seeming completely unsure about how to proceed.
“It’s just…” he said, trailing off and gesticulating. “I, well, my disagreement with Jari—”
“‘Disagreement’, he says,” Jari interjected.
“—has left me concerned,” Aamir continued, glaring at Jari, “about what to do in the event that I have to duel someone in the process of taking a teacher’s position. I need a training partner.”
Alex’s brow rose even higher. “You want to have a magical duel with me?”
Aamir made a face.
“I need someone I won’t kill,” he said.
“Ah,” said Alex, then gave him an incredulous look. “You did see what happened to me yesterday, right? I almost froze to death.”
In the corner, Jari shrugged. “That was probably because I hit you,” he said.
Aamir shot him a look, but nodded. “It probably had a lot to do with both of us hitting you at the same time. If we were to limit your exposure to a single source of magic, I think you would find it much milder.”
Alex was silent for a long time. All his efforts to engage his Spellbreaker powers thus far had resulted in him curled up on the floor covered in painful ice burns; he could still feel them, hot and raw under his clothes. On the other hand, he was the only person with this power. If he could hone it, he might be able to make something of it, a weapon the Head wouldn’t see coming.
“I can even try to—” Aamir began.
“I’ll do it.”
Aamir stopped.
“Really?”
Alex nodded. He could feel the cold rippling in his bones. His blood, he knew now. Holding the manor at bay. He didn’t need to wonder what would happen if he let himself grow weak.
Aamir took Alex down to the cellar, then stood him at one end of the room.
“So,” said Alex, “how are we doing this?”
Aamir looked around, seeming confused.
“It does seem strange,” he said. “I mean, I would say we just fight, but you can’t really fight back, can you?”
Alex let out an affronted noise. “I could punch you, if that would help.”
Heat began to ripple the air around Aamir, and the same mantle of flames that Alex had seen the previous night surged up around the boy’s arms and legs, spilling down his chest. His eyes glazed over with sparks.
“You think you can punch me?” Aamir said, amused.
Alex raised his fists like a Hollywood boxer, trying to make himself sound more confident than he felt.
“I think I can try.”
Aamir stepped lightly from foot to foot, then nodded.
“I suppose so,” he said, settling into a combative stance. “I’m ready when you a
re.”
“Bring it,” Alex grinned.
None of the action movies he had watched could have prepared Alex for the speed with which Aamir moved. Alex was lean and tall, and liked to think he was fairly fast on his feet, but when the other boy threw his first line of flames, Alex’s feet locked up. He tried to get them to move, but all he could do was watch, petrified, until the bolt of fire connected squarely with his chest. He staggered back a step, his breath erupting from him in a burst of ice and frost as he gasped, falling to one knee.
Aamir was by his side in an instant. “This was a terrible idea. I’m sorry, I don’t know what I was thinking.”
Alex staggered to his feet, shaking his head. “Again,” he said.
Aamir’s eyes widened. “No, we should—”
“Aamir.”
The two locked eyes, and Alex tried to put the full force of his passion, his determination to help, to learn, into that stare. “Again,” he said.
Slowly, Aamir nodded.
The next hour was a whirl of pain for Alex as his body slowly adjusted to the nearly unpredictable movements of Aamir’s flames, and the ensuing waves of cold that consumed him as they broke against his body. It took him three tries to successfully sidestep Aamir’s first blow, and when he did, his euphoria was short-lived as the lance of flame snapped sideways, smashing into his side.
Aamir, in his stoic way, offered no advice. He attacked, his eyes narrowed with concentration as he shot assault after assault at Alex. Before long, the ground was muddy from the ice sloughing off of Alex’s body, and the air was hot with Aamir’s magic. The two stood, Aamir sweating, Alex shivering.
Aamir jabbed with his fist, sending a bolt of crimson flames toward Alex, who sidestepped, then ducked as it twisted in midair at a flick of Aamir’s fingers. Alex kept an eye on the flames, moving back a step as the fire tore into the dirt in front of him.
Before he could even feel proud, an impact from behind sent Alex staggering forward onto the ground, a wave of frost splashing out over his back. He let out a moan as the mud slapped against his face, his body aching. After a moment, Aamir’s arm wrapped around his shoulders, lifting him up.