“So,” said Jari, “when did you realize you were a wizard?”
Aamir groaned. “Please, call us ‘arcanologists’,” he said. “‘Wizard’ sounds so…fantastical.”
“And arcanologist sounds like someone with his head in a book,” Jari retorted.
Alex frowned. “I am not a wizard, or an arcanologist.”
Jari stared at him. “Huh?”
“You heard me,” Alex replied.
“You’re saying you didn’t cause any magical events? No buildings catching fire, or luck turning miraculously in your favor?”
“Nothing like that whatsoever,” Alex declared. “Unless you count seeing strange figures nobody else can see, I guess,” he added.
Jari’s eyes widened. Aamir’s head tilted ever so slightly as he leaned in.
“Seeing strange figures?” he said in his rich voice. “That’s a new one.”
“Aptitude for summoning, maybe?” Jari said speculatively.
“That or necromancy,” Aamir replied.
Jari looked horrified.
“Regardless,” Alex interjected, as this conversation was flying over his head, “I think I would have noticed if I were a wizard or an arcanologist. I’m just a senior at Middledale High. Nothing fantastical.”
Jari bounced to his feet with a bright smile. “Well, not anymore, you’re not. Come on, you should get washed and then we’ll show you around before class.”
Aamir nodded. “That would be a good idea.”
Damn it. Of course, Alex would be expected to go to class. He could try to skip it, but that would be more than a little suspicious for a student on his first day. He’d have to figure out a way to explore later, without attracting blatant attention.
Noticing Alex’s hesitance, Aamir reached out and patted his shoulder lightly. “Don’t worry. You’ve got a few hours, and you won’t be asked to perform magic for the first few weeks.” Aamir ducked down beneath his own bed and pulled out a plain dark outfit—cotton pants, a shirt, and a sweater. “You’ll get your own set of clothes made to measure soon,” he added, “but for now you can borrow one of mine.”
“Perform magic,” Alex repeated slowly as he accepted the clothes, his brain still coming to terms with the fact that magic even existed.
Jari chuckled. Grabbing Alex by the wrist, he dragged him out the door and into a hallway hung with gray ivy. “You’ll be fine!” he said. “The basics are easier than breathing. If you were chosen and brought here, you can do it.”
But Alex hadn’t been brought here.
What would that mean for him?
Chapter 9
Jari and Aamir showed Alex to a bare communal bathroom lined with individual cubicles down the hallway, where he took a shower. He couldn’t stop shivering as he stepped beneath the water, even though it was warm, and he didn’t feel any better when he was dry and in his new change of clothes. The sweater felt fairly thick to the touch, but his bones still ached from the cold. What is it with this place?
Once he reunited with the boys, who’d waited in the hallway for him, the first room Jari showed Alex was a small study chamber, complete with bookshelves and a fireplace. Several other students sat in chairs around the mostly empty tables, some reading books, others just staring into space. Alex noticed one bored-looking boy spinning a tiny loop of flames around his finger.
“This is the study hall,” explained Jari. “It’s where you come to read books and generally be uninteresting.”
Aamir made an irritated noise.
They stepped back out into the hallway, and Alex paused. The hallway was different than it had been a minute ago. The lights on the walls had a pinkish glow now, flickering slightly as dawn’s first smear of red light pressed itself against windows overlooking a great lawn below.
“Did we come out a different door?” he asked, feeling disoriented.
Jari cackled in glee. Aamir sighed and put his hand to his brow, looking exasperated.
“The hallways take some getting used to,” he said to Alex. “They shift on you a little.”
Alex stared out at the grass. “Shift? They move?”
“No, no,” replied Aamir hastily. “They don’t move, not in terms of the manor itself. The doors will always be in the same places, and look the same. The hallways themselves, though, they don’t seem to have any sense of where in the building they are located, or, for that matter, where in the world…The manor’s surroundings change, you see—the view from the windows can look as though we were located in any number of places, or countries.”
Like the Head’s hands.
Apparently the whole world was out there, but in here was madness.
So the first step to escaping would be to figure out how to navigate the manor.
Jari looked down at a shining watch affixed to his wrist. He adjusted a few knobs on it, and it whirred, clicking and snapping until it let out a little chime.
“Looks like this hallway is somewhere in Southeast Asia,” he said brightly.
Alex raised an eyebrow, but Aamir just clapped him on the back.
“Jari is much more adept than he may at first seem,” he explained. “I keep him around for a reason, you know.”
Jari tutted.
With a curious eye on Jari’s watch, Alex followed them onward.
The dining room was an intimate place, with a few dozen little round tables spread out over a shag carpet, walls hung with hides of strange creatures that reminded Alex of the griffons in books of mythology, and lizards of improbable sizes.
The alchemy labs, located behind a small door with a crystalline knob, were filled to the brim with blue-green smoke when the group entered, only to be hastily shoved out again by a student with a panicked expression on her face.
Alex was still wiping at his stinging eyes when they reached their next destination. Jari drew up at a door of dark wood, embellished with swirls of golden paint. Alex noticed that Aamir stood up a little taller at this one, his hands fidgeting at his sides.
Before Alex could ask what the new room was, Jari pushed the door open with a flourish, and a wave of musty air poured out over them, washing Alex with the familiar smell of books. Silence came with it, settling like fresh snow into his ears and dampening all sounds.
“This,” Jari said, his voice sounding strangely distant and muted, “is the library.”
The room inside was almost beyond comprehension. Three giant pillars rose up to the ceiling at the room’s center, each lined with shelves and shelves of books. Iron walkways crisscrossed the pillars’ surface in a lattice of stairs and ladders, and paper lanterns hung from above. Alex stared in awe as a student pulled out a book halfway up one of the great pillars, then vaulted the railing, flipping the tome open in his hands as he fell, his feet tapping against the floor as lightly as if he were a feather.
“Marvelous, isn’t it?” Aamir said, reverence in his voice.
It was. Alex filled his eyes with the magnificent room, feeling a buzz of excitement.
There must have been hundreds of thousands of books here, framed by a great wall of glass that overlooked the front gates of the school. And surely one of them would be helpful in his escape.
“Bit stuffy,” said Jari absently. “And the noise-dampening magic is a real killjoy.”
Aamir grimaced. “I’ve been trying to figure out how to permanently apply it to Jari,” he said to Alex. “But so far, no luck.”
While the two descended into bickering, Alex continued to look at the books. Yes, there must be answers to many of his questions here. He could learn what this place was, hopefully what its weaknesses were. He scanned the shelves with wide eyes, thinking ahead to when he and Natalie would return home.
His gut twisted painfully as he thought of his mother. She would know they were missing by now. He imagined her alone in the house. It had been months since her hospitalization, and she could manage on her own, but it killed him to think of the stress his absence would be putting on her heart.
r /> He had to hurry.
Jari broke through his thoughts as he grabbed him by the arm again with a smile.
“We’re out of time,” he said. “Come on. We’ve got class.”
Alex swallowed and strode along, trying to push thoughts about his mother from his head. They wouldn’t help him now; only crush him with worry at a time when his mind needed to be open and sharp.
The richly patterned black door shut, and noise came rushing back. They were standing in a hallway, and the view through this window was a great cave, the roof glittering with glowworms, twinkling like tiny stars.
Chapter 10
They reached a classroom—a plain box of a room with no windows and a large set of desks arranged before a blackboard.
Aamir showed Alex to an empty seat, then settled down next to him. Jari plopped down in front.
“You two aren’t the same age, but you share classes?” asked Alex.
Aamir’s lips tightened. “Doesn’t make a lot of sense, does it?”
Jari jumped in to clarify. “The classes are more about strengthening and controlling your magic,” he said with a shrug. “The teachers will show techniques for reining in your power, and ways to draw it out. To hear them talk about it, it takes about four years to cover all the material. During that time, we’re encouraged to study specializations on our own, and are tested on our progress.”
“It’s utter nonsense,” muttered Aamir testily. “It’s like they intentionally teach us as little as possible.”
“Not everybody can have my prodigious levels of control,” Jari said offhandedly.
Alex was about to reply when the door opened and Natalie entered. His eyes widened as he saw her, her hair appearing freshly washed, braided, and tucked over one shoulder. A few other girls were walking with her, and one pointed to a seat, leading her farther toward the back of the room.
He hurried over to her immediately, trying not to make a scene but feeling indescribably relieved. There was no ragged figure near her, and she seemed bright-eyed.
“Alex!” she gasped as he approached. “Alex, you are here? But how?” She embraced him quickly, and the girls she had entered with started to whisper around them.
“I followed you,” he said in a hushed tone, bending to talk closer and putting a hand on her shoulder. She touched it lightly as she listened with bulging eyes. “I had to make sure you were okay. That gray, ragged man that was following you—it didn’t hurt you, did it?”
She looked confused, shaking her head a little and wrinkling her brow. “Gray, ragged man? No, there was no gray man. I’m not hurt. But Alex, I want to get out of this place!” She hissed the last part in a vehement whisper, her nails digging into his hand.
“Me too,” he replied, feeling confused as to why, even now, she was oblivious to the gray man. Maybe he’d cast some sort of spell on her? That still didn’t explain why Alex had been able to see him. “We will get out,” he continued, forcing his focus back to the conversation. “But—we can’t talk now. Later, okay?”
“Yes,” she replied, glancing at the students seated all around them. “Yes, later.” Still clinging to him, she followed him back to Aamir and Jari, who looked extremely surprised. They introduced themselves a little hesitantly, and shot him curious glances.
“You two know each other, I take it?” Aamir asked slowly, evaluating them.
“Yeah,” replied Alex, his voice low.
“We were at the same school,” Natalie added.
Aamir eyed them. “That is quite rare,” he said, and Alex wasn’t sure Natalie should have offered that information.
She stared as Aamir pulled a stack of papers, an inkpot, and three books out of his trim-fitting jacket, where they could not possibly have fit.
“Magic,” she mouthed at Alex, and he gave her a thin smile. Clearly she was still coming to terms with it herself.
At that moment, the door opened once more, and a reedy man with a stooped back and a wiry pair of spectacles shuffled in. He had a stack of papers shoved under one arm, and held a glass jar of fireflies in the other hand. The class quieted instantly. Alex, assuming this man was the instructor, watched with wary interest as he made his way toward the desk.
He felt a little more at ease with Natalie at his side. At least he had accomplished the first two steps of his simple plan from the night before.
Go in. Get Natalie.
Next would be: Get out.
Maybe this teacher would teach him about the powers the manor and its people owned, help him figure out how to thwart or avoid them.
The teacher tripped suddenly, falling forward onto his face. He somehow managed to twist, keeping the jar of fireflies held away from the ground, but the papers flared out into the air around him. He stayed like that for a moment, frozen in place, one leg up in the air and twitching. Then he scrambled to his feet, wiping at a line of blood dribbling from his nose and smiling sheepishly.
Aamir let out an exasperated sigh.
“That,” he explained, “is Professor Derhin. He’s one of the five instructors at Spellshadow.”
At the front of the room, Professor Derhin was waving his arms. The papers all across the floor lurched into the air, then flung themselves into an untidy pile upon the desk. Derhin hurried after them like a nanny chasing unruly children, tidying them into a neat stack before turning to face his class.
He squinted through his glasses, regarding the room. “Are there…more of you than there were?” he asked.
Aamir shot to his feet. “We have two new students, Professor.”
Derhin’s eyes widened, flicking about until they found Natalie. He smiled faintly. “Young lady. Stand and tell the class your name.”
Natalie rose, her chin held high.
“My name is Natalie Chevalier,” she said, her voice soft but clear.
Professor Derhin wet his lips. “And, um, is there anything you’d like us to know about you?”
She paused, shooting Alex a nervous glance, then answered, “No, I think not.”
“Oh,” said Professor Derhin. “All right, then.” He nodded once, then turned to the board, apparently satisfied. “Today, we’ll be learning about—”
“Sir.”
Derhin looked back at Aamir with a weary expression.
“Yes, Nagi?”
“I said there are two new students, sir.”
Derhin’s jaw dropped. He looked about, then finally spotted Alex.
“Oh my,” he said, softly. “Yes. Quite so. Two.”
Alex rose, feeling Natalie’s eyes on him.
“Alex Webber,” he said shortly, looking the man in the eyes. “That’s about it.”
“Very well, then,” replied the instructor. “Thank you, uh…Alex. Now, let’s see…”
Aamir leaned over. “Perhaps you have noticed already, but Derhin is completely inept.” He threw an irritated look at the man’s back as he wrote on the blackboard.
“At least he doesn’t have a drinking problem like Lintz,” Jari whispered with a quiet laugh.
“Lintz is a good enough fellow,” Aamir retorted. At the front of the room, Derhin delicately cleared his throat, staring pointedly at them.
They hushed, and Derhin continued writing on the board. The topic of the day’s lecture was Alaman’s Inner Enlightenment and Fire, a strange process that originated in Papua New Guinea and appeared to involve a lot of gesturing and feeling. Derhin, staring intensely at his notes, seemed to want to copy the entire process, word for word, onto the board.
The man wasn’t even a fast writer, taking his time covering the blackboard in tiny marks and diagrams. Aamir glared at their teacher’s hand as if the intensity of his irritation could speed the man along his way, and Jari slumped lower and lower into his chair.
But to Alex, it was too surreal to be dull, sitting here in this cell of a classroom, learning about magical processes against his will.
Chapter 11
After class, Alex was determined to dash off
to the library immediately, to discuss escape plans with Natalie under the protection of the quieting charm. But Aamir, perhaps sensing that Alex was likely to take action he considered foolish, had other ideas.
“There is something I think you need to see,” he said to Alex, stepping in front of him. “Both of you,” he added, observing how close to Alex Natalie was standing. She was just as reluctant to leave Alex as he was to leave her, so Alex was glad Aamir had included her.
“What kind of something?” she asked.
“There are lines you should know not to cross,” was Aamir’s vague reply.
Curious and wary, they followed him.
Aamir led them down a hallway lined with lanterns hung from iron spikes. Alex didn’t recognize his surroundings, but tried to make a mental note. He was doing his best to create an internal map by which he would be able to navigate on his own. Without this, escape would be nearly impossible.
Once they had made it all the way down the hallway, Aamir held out a hand, indicating for Alex and Natalie to stop. They did so, glancing at each other uncertainly, and Aamir pointed to where a sapphire-blue line glimmered against the stone floor. It looped all the way up to the ceiling, forming a complete barrier through which one would have to walk if they wanted to proceed.
“Teacher’s line,” Aamir said authoritatively. “If you find one of these, don’t cross it unless you want an irritated member of staff to hunt you down within a few minutes. It’s strictly off limits to go past one of these.”
Alex nodded, looking at the line. He could feel an intense coldness wafting from it, brushing against his skin.
Glancing beyond the line, he saw a turn in the hallway a few yards farther down, shadows stretching out from the corridor beyond. Gray ivy hung heavily from the walls at that turning point, pooling in dark corners and filling gaps between bricks.
“Got it,” he said. “This line will call a teacher.”