Aamir turned with an expression of academic interest, his arms folding.
“Oh? What do you know?”
“I know Alex’s little secret,” said Jari.
Alex’s mouth went dry. “You do?”
Jari grinned. “He can’t do magic because he’s got something else on his mind. Or more specifically”—he leaned in conspiratorially—“someone else?”
“Oh, Jari…” sighed Aamir.
“Hey, it’s valid!” said Jari as he held up his hands. “When I had that crush on Ellabell Magri last year, I could barely muster any magic for a week, remember?”
“But you could at least produce something, even if it was pitiful,” said Aamir.
“I’m just saying,” replied Jari. “I think our boy’s problem isn’t of the mind. It’s of the heart.” He tapped his chest meaningfully.
Thinking quickly, Alex jumped on the opportunity.
“I think you’re right,” he said, and Aamir and Jari both turned to him in surprise. “I’ve been thinking a lot about someone—Natalie—but it’s hard to find somewhere to talk alone. If there were somewhere, maybe somewhere outside the manor, we could go…”
Aamir’s expression darkened instantly, but Jari’s face lit up like a Christmas tree.
“I know a place,” he said. “I can get you some time with her alone, away from prying eyes.”
Alex looked up at him, trying to keep the relief off his face. “I think that would be really helpful.”
“Great!” said Jari. “Tonight work for you two?”
Alex was about to reply in the affirmative when Aamir suddenly interjected.
“I will bring Alex to your romantic getaway, Jari.” He held Alex’s gaze for a long moment, his stare penetrating. “You can bring Natalie.”
Jari looked quizzically between Aamir and Alex, but then shrugged unconcernedly.
“Okay,” Jari said. “Let’s meet there after dinner.”
Chapter 14
The walk to the gardens was a strange and uncomfortable process for Alex. For one thing, he felt a little guilty for lying about his reasons for wanting to get outside. He still didn’t trust Jari or Aamir quite enough to confide in them, but he found himself wishing he hadn’t needed to fabricate a reason.
For another, the tall, severe boy at his side walked quickly and in complete silence, his disapproval coming off him in waves. He clearly had not believed Alex’s lie, and Alex had no idea why he had insisted on accompanying him. He didn’t even know if Aamir was really taking him to Jari’s “romantic getaway”. For all he knew, he was taking him straight to the Head’s office, though he felt that was in a different direction.
The hallways of the manor didn’t give any indication of what floor they were on, or which direction they were facing, so Alex found himself being led up a flight of stairs when he had thought they were already on the top floor of the manor, then down a flight of stairs from a hallway that looked like it was on the ground floor. Had he been trying to find the place on his own, it might have taken months of trial and error, opening doors until he finally found the one that led to where he wanted to go. They had likely been designed that way, intended to keep students trapped inside. The hallways didn’t move, but the illusions they created formed as good a maze as any he had ever known.
He focused hard on memorizing all the manor’s twists and turns, determined to remember the way out, but he was finding it far more difficult than he had imagined, and Aamir’s quick pace gave him little time to commit much to memory.
Finally, after several minutes of nothing but the sound of their footsteps walking down the long, empty hallways, and the stern gazes of the rows of painted wizards upon the walls, Aamir stopped before a door.
“The gardens,” he said dryly, throwing the door open.
Alex stepped outside for the first time in what felt like weeks, the fresh night air invigorating against his face. He breathed deeply, savoring the moment, feeling like liberation was just around the corner.
“Coming?” came Aamir’s voice, and Alex quickly descended a short flight of weathered stone steps to join him in the moonlight.
Glancing around, Alex soon realized “the gardens” must be an ironic term for this desolate place. If there had ever been proper greenery here, it had been long neglected. Untended trees grew wild, clawing at the sky with untamed branches that played host to the same gray ivy that seemed to blanket everything in the manor. Barren heaps of dirt might have once been flowerbeds, and what looked like old gravel paths now lay as flurries of scattered stones, as if they had been struck by a windstorm. Beyond the distant wall, the sky seemed to flicker, moonlight spinning out into a silvery cord that blended into sunlight in a sudden spray of gold.
Alex followed Aamir past blackened trees and benches reduced to shards of stone, over split, rotting logs, and around tangles of dry, thorny brambles. Aamir seemed to know exactly where they were headed, never slackening his pace, never glancing back to make sure Alex was keeping up. At least he really had taken him where he’d said he would, but it was far from what Alex had imagined. He observed his surroundings with mounting trepidation, sticking close to the older boy.
At last, Aamir stopped atop a small mound of earth overlooking a great field. In the middle of the field was a clearing, and Alex could see swirls of ash curling lightly in the breeze. Skeletons of toppled trees surrounded the place, looking as though they had all fallen outward, away from the clearing’s center. The moon’s pale light had a stark effect on the withered, upturned roots and the flat expanse alike, the shadows long and deep, the moonlit spots cold and still. Alex found himself shivering against the area’s hollow, haunted feel just as much as he did against the chill that had not yet left his bones.
After giving him a moment to take in the scene, Aamir spoke, his voice low and serious. He sounded strangely muted by the eerie landscape’s pressing atmosphere.
“What do you think happened here, Alex?”
Alex thought for a moment, his silence hanging in the chilly air as thickly as his breath did.
“It looks like something happened in the middle there, something devastating.”
Aamir nodded. “It does indeed look like that. Any theories?”
“Magic?” Alex suggested.
“Yes,” said Aamir, a hard edge to his voice now. “I think so too.”
“Why are you showing me this?” On the strange breeze, his own voice sounded thin and alien.
Aamir exhaled slowly and set his chin. “I do not think you take magic seriously, Alex Webber. It is not all conjuring leaves and glowing with pretty golden light. We can create marvels, yes. But there are those who also wield magic to destroy, and to destroy utterly.” His words drifted into the deadened landscape.
“I do take magic seriously,” Alex retorted. “Of course I do. I’ve seen how powerful it is. I saw what the Head can do.”
The older boy turned to face him and looked him deliberately in the eye, the moonlight casting half his face in darkest shadow.
“No, Alex. I do not believe you did.”
Alex paused. Had he been rushing headlong into a dangerous situation without considering the consequences? He didn’t think so. He felt he had played it pretty safe so far, and acknowledged that the manor was likely rife with unknown dangers. But he could see how Aamir could have gotten that impression. He had been secretive, and probably seemed reckless and desperate to the oddly rigid boy.
Aamir’s shoulders relaxed a little, his voice softening. “I don’t mean to frighten you. In fact, I completely understand. If you think you are the first student here to think of escape, you are mistaken.” He paused, gazing into the bleak distance. “I merely wanted to impress upon you the gravity of our situation, the power of the forces you contend with when you push too far.”
“What happened to the people who have tried in the past?”
Aamir shrugged. “Some never even find their way out here.”
“And those w
ho do?”
“They fail.” He looked down. “I cannot stop you from trying, Alex. But please, tread carefully. I should not like to see harm befall you.”
A silence settled between them, interrupted only by the sound of dry branches rubbing against each other in the wind.
“You mentioned graduation earlier,” Alex said eventually, thinking of the only certain way out of Spellshadow.
Aamir stood a little straighter. “So I did.”
“What does that word mean here?”
“That,” said Aamir, “is the right question.”
“And that’s not an answer,” replied Alex.
A strange look stole over Aamir’s face. “All we know is that those who graduate vanish completely. We never hear from them again, and they are never spoken of.”
Alex wet his lip. “And you don’t think they’re just off making their way in the world?”
Aamir scoffed. “Wouldn’t we have heard of them? Wouldn’t one of them slip up somehow, lose control? Wouldn’t the professors boast of their favorite students’ success? Wouldn’t we have role models, positions to which we should aspire? Wouldn’t their names at least be spoken?” His eyes flashed in the moonlight, his expression grim and tight, carefully controlled. “No. I do not think they are off making their way in the world.”
And suddenly Aamir’s odd vehemence when discouraging Alex from finding trouble, from pushing boundaries, made perfect sense.
Aamir was afraid.
Chapter 15
Aamir led Alex through the gardens once again, stopping near a tree that looked like it had been ripped in half. He bent down, wiping some gravel and dirt away from a patch at his feet, and Alex saw a small wooden door there. Aamir eased it up, and they gazed down a wooden ladder into the darkness below.
“This place is secret, as far as we know,” said Aamir. “But let me go before you, just in case.”
He lowered himself carefully down the ladder, disappearing into what looked to be a dirt cave. Alex stood alone in the garden for a moment, the silence and the moonlight beating down upon him, their conversation reverberating in his mind. Musty smells of wet wood and dust drifted up through the hole to him.
“Come on,” Aamir called. “It is empty.”
Alex turned, grabbing the ladder and descending slowly.
By the light trickling in through the hole, he could see Aamir squinting as he examined the dark. Then, Aamir made two swift gestures. A pair of torches at the far end of the room burst into flames, crackling happily, and the room came into focus.
It was a wine cellar. Or at least, it had been. Like everything in the manor, it seemed to have fallen into disuse, the great wooden racks now covered in cobwebs and dust, housing only a few bottles of wine now. The dirt ceiling was held up by wooden frames at regular intervals. Aamir looked around the empty space once more before moving toward the ladder.
“Jari and Natalie should be here momentarily. You are fine alone?” He paused, one foot on the bottom rung, waiting for Alex’s answer.
“Yeah,” said Alex, looking around him. “I’m fine alone.”
“Good.” Aamir left without a backward glance, leaving the door above open.
Alex stood in the empty cellar, thinking of Aamir’s warning. Maybe he should proceed with greater caution, be more fearful of punishment. But failure to escape Spellshadow was not an option. What else did Aamir know that he wasn’t saying? Alex had the impression that the older boy was holding back quite a bit.
He wandered over to one of the remaining bottles on the wine rack and idly tugged it free of the cobwebs and clinging dirt, trying to remember the way through the maze of hallways. The bottle fell into his hands with a puff of dust, and he turned it over to read the label.
Fields of Sorrow, 1908.
“Hello.”
Alex jumped and looked up. Sitting in one of the slots meant for a bottle of wine was the small black cat. Its shadowy head was turned away from him, and as he watched, it let out a mighty yawn.
Alex stared at the shadow creature, replacing the bottle. So much for being in here alone, or this place being secret. He was getting the unnerving impression that you couldn’t really be alone at Spellshadow, no matter where you went.
“You have calmed a great deal,” the cat remarked.
Wondering whether it was wise to engage with the thing, Alex just put his hands in his pockets and narrowed his eyes at it. He was no less wary of it now than he had been at their first meeting. Perhaps even more so.
“Too good to talk to me,” said the cat, sounding hurt. “And here I came all this way just to give you a warning.”
“What?” asked Alex, too apprehensive to resist. “I’ve already had a warning tonight.”
“Oh yes, I know,” it purred lowly, flicking its tail. “And very interesting it was. But did it occur to you that there are many things in this place, seen and unseen, of which you should be warned?” A laugh that didn’t fit the little animal burbled out into the room, seeping into every corner. “And I know you now. I couldn’t place you at first, but now I recognize you.”
Alex pulled at his coat, feeling unsettled and even more chilled than before. It was so cold down in the cellar; he could feel it slipping down his fingertips like frost curling over a fresh blade of grass. He stared at the cat, waiting for it to continue, but it said nothing more, instead licking a paw and sending a spray of shadowy mist flicking off the tip of one long claw.
“What are you?” Alex finally asked. “What do you want?”
“Haven’t we already established that I may as well be a cat? As for what I want”—its ears swiveled—“I want nothing much. Mostly just to watch. I did want to tell you, though: do be careful. The professors…” It made a noise somewhere between a growl and a cackle. “They are not half as stupid as they might appear. And that goes double for the Head.”
Alex stared.
“This is no place for one such as you,” the cat continued. “So be careful, won’t you? I wouldn’t want you to graduate too soon.”
Alex wet his lower lip. “Graduate?”
The cat let out a low hiss of dissatisfaction. “Haven’t you figured it out yet?”
Alex looked up at the sound of voices and approaching footsteps above.
“I hear one of the old professors used to tend this place,” came Jari’s high voice. “Real green thumb.”
“What happened?” asked Natalie.
“She left, like all the rest,” said Jari. “Got replaced. Here we are! And down we go.”
When Alex glanced back, the cat was gone.
Chapter 16
Once Jari left them to head back to the manor, telling them with a wink that he would return in an hour, Alex and Natalie found themselves alone in the small, cold cellar. Hopefully alone.
Natalie looked tense and excited, her eyes shining. “Now we will escape, yes?”
“We’re going to try,” Alex replied. “I was thinking we should start simple, with the gates. That’s why I wanted to come out here. Well, that, and so we could talk with more privacy.”
She nodded, her hair gleaming warmly in the torchlight. “It’s a good start.”
They climbed back up the wooden ladder and headed across the devastated garden, picking their way around heaps of rubble and long-dead trees.
“It’s so creepy here,” Natalie said as they walked, holding her arms around herself. “It’s even worse than inside.”
“I don’t know,” Alex replied as he held back a leafless branch so she could pass. “At least the gardens aren’t trying to hide what they are. Inside, it’s pretending to be a school, but it’s not really, is it?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, the teachers here aren’t really teaching much, are they? They only ever cover focus and control.” He paused, hesitant to scare her with all he had heard tonight. She probably didn’t need to know about the dark crater in the garden, or Aamir’s deep-seated fear, or the cat-creature. “A
nd nobody seems to know what it means to graduate, but it doesn’t sound good,” he finished.
“You’re right. And it does not feel very much like a school. The students are strange and quiet, and it’s hard to make friends. Maybe everyone is scared.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised.” He remembered something he’d been meaning to talk to her about. “Hey, do you remember me asking you about a gray man in rags?”
“In Professor Derhin’s classroom?”
“I mean before that. In the nurse’s office at Middledale High.”
“No…I don’t remember very much from that time,” she said, sounding rueful.
“Well, I’m thinking that must be ‘Finder’. He finds magical people and enchants them to come here. That’s another creepy thing about this so-called school.”
“But he’s supposed to be invisible, isn’t he?”
Alex paused, and she nearly bumped into him. “Is he?”
“That’s what the girls in my dorm said. He’s supposed to be invisible, and nobody has ever seen him.”
They started walking again, Alex mulling this over. What did this mean?
“Alex,” Natalie said, stopping suddenly on a chunk of cracked pavement. “If we find a way to escape, if we succeed…We can’t just leave the other students here, can we? Haven’t they all been taken from their homes too?”
He sighed. He hadn’t yet asked Aamir or Jari for details about their personal history, though she was probably right. But a mass escape? How would they pull that off?
“Let’s just focus on how to escape at all first,” he said as they approached the gates.
The great gates of the manor were much as Alex remembered them. Rusting bars of iron as thick as his arm, covered in so much ivy that he couldn’t even see the world beyond through the slits. On either side, tall brick walls rose high above the garden, topped with treacherous curves of barbed metal.