In the cold light of day, the memory of the night’s close shave with danger seemed all the more worrying. Alex’s heart raced as he thought of the dark-cloaked figure with the chilling mask, wondering how much the stranger had seen of Alex and what he could do. Obviously, he knew Alex could create a blockade of ice and snow, but Alex wasn’t sure if the figure had seen his face. If the dark-clad figure had recognized them, Alex knew they were in for a world of trouble. But, if what Jari had said was true and the Head was definitely gone from the premises, then he wasn’t sure who could be hiding behind the mask.
Alex wiped away the cold sweat that trickled down the back of his neck and prayed silently to whoever was listening that the fog and the blockade had been enough to stop them from being recognized, as much for Jari and Ellabell’s sake as his. If someone was out for blood for the trespass into the Head’s quarters, they could punish the other two to get at him, and Alex didn’t think he could bear the thought of Ellabell suffering any further because of their futile excursion.
After shaking Jari awake, Alex waited for his friend to throw on some clothes, and the two headed to breakfast. Jari wasn’t particularly talkative but didn’t seem too fazed by what had gone on, much to Alex’s chagrin, as they walked to the mess hall. Alex dragged Jari with him as he took a slight detour, wandering as casually as possible past the golden line in front of the Head’s quarters. He was surprised to see that it had been swiftly repaired, as if nothing had ever happened. It was crackling and buzzing as powerfully as it ever had, warding off any advancing students.
If the masked figure had gone to the effort of putting the line back together so quickly, perhaps there would be no more said on the matter, Alex thought nervously. His paranoia was off the scale as he stepped into the mess hall, convinced everyone was looking at him oddly as he picked up a bowl of fruit salad and hurried over to where Natalie was sitting, in their usual spot by the window overlooking a particularly bleak section of the gray, desolate grounds. He sat down, eager to speak to her.
“How is Ellabell?” asked Alex, testing the nausea in his stomach as he forced a grape into his mouth and chewed slowly.
“She is much better. She is just a bit shaken up,” she assured him, though her tone was somewhat distant as she sipped from her coffee cup.
“That’s good. I can’t help feeling responsible for what happened to her,” he admitted, swallowing the grape with some difficulty.
“She is fine, Alex. Nobody was hurt. You were lucky,” she replied, with a coldness Alex hadn’t heard before.
“Is everything okay?” Alex glanced at Natalie with concern, wondering why she was speaking with that tone of voice.
“Everything is fine. I am just tired,” she explained, her expression relaxing. “I am sorry, Alex. I was just worried about you all, and it has worn me out,” she added with a sigh.
“Sorry. We didn’t mean to scare you,” Alex said with a worried frown. He knew she was already exhausted most of the time, and they had gone and made matters worse by staying out all night doing dangerous things.
She gave a tired smile. “You are forgiven.”
As Jari sat down with his plate piled high with fried breakfast, Alex launched into a series of questions to ease his paranoia. He wished he could be as blasé about the whole thing as Jari seemed to be.
“Do you think we were seen?” quizzed Alex, feeling the grape rolling around uncomfortably in his stomach.
Jari shook his head. “We weren’t seen,” he said, shoving a forkful of omelet into his mouth with hungry glee.
“How can you be sure?” pressed Alex.
“I know we weren’t seen. We got away with it,” repeated Jari in between mouthfuls.
“Do you know who that man was?” Alex asked.
Jari shook his head again. “No idea, but he was a scary-looking thing,” he laughed casually.
“What man?” Natalie chimed in, her eyes glinting with curiosity.
“Some figure in black chased us, but I have no idea who he was,” said Alex thoughtfully as he attempted to chew a slice of apple, the sweet, fruity sugars turning sour on his tongue. “He didn’t look or sound familiar. Must be someone the Head keeps around for when he goes away or something.”
Jari nodded. “I think you might be right,” he said, swallowing an enormous bite of buttered toast.
“How did he get in?” asked Natalie, but neither Alex nor Jari could answer her.
“The back door?” suggested Alex, feeling acid rise in his throat as he forced the apple down.
“You think there may be one?” questioned Natalie with a sudden flair of excitement in her voice.
Alex shrugged. “Who knows? There are stranger things in this manor than a back door,” he mused with a grim smile.
At that moment, Alex’s attention was distracted by a student bursting in through the doors of the mess hall. The boy ran up to one of the small groups sitting closest to the entrance and whispered something urgently. A murmur spread like wildfire through the room. Alex waited for it to reach their table.
“The gate has reappeared,” muttered Billy Foer as he leaned back to pass on the message.
“What?” asked Alex in disbelief.
“Just now, the gate has come back,” replied Billy with a concerned look on his pallid face.
Alex jumped to his feet, abandoning his fruit salad as he and the other two raced from the mess hall and headed toward the front of the manor, just in time to see the huge iron bars of the gate swing open. The glowing golden line that usually blocked the way out into the gardens so early in the day had disappeared, permitting the students to congregate on the steps as they all rushed to see what was happening.
It was true—the gate had reappeared, settling back into its position between the high brick walls, draped in flowing clusters of the omnipresent gray ivy. With the shrill creak of rusting metal, the vast iron gates swung wide to reveal the very real form of a black-clad figure stepping onto the front lawn. The same one that had chased them through the hallways the night before.
He was tall and broad-shouldered, his posture drawing him up with a certain dignity as the drape of his dark cloak moved elegantly with the movement of his body. Taking his time, he walked across the lawn with a new student in tow. The same misty-eyed hypnotism of every newcomer was evident in the face of the young boy beside him, who did not seem to know what was going on, let alone where he was or what he was in for.
The black-clad figure wore a hood, much like the Head’s, which shrouded his face from view, not that it could be seen beneath the delicate artwork of the mask he wore, painted gold and white in a distinctly Venetian style, his eyes made more menacing by the dark holes cut into it.
Seeing the gathered crowd of students, the masked figure stopped short of the steps with the new boy by his side. The boy swayed slightly under the trance that had been placed upon him, much like the one Natalie had been in when she had been taken to the manor. Tension bristled through the crowd as the glittering eyes assessed the students before him. Silence stretched unbearably as the figure chose his moment to speak, the students fidgeting beneath the discomfort of his intense stare.
“It is excellent to see your enthusiasm for your new classmate,” purred the masked figure, his voice rich and deep and without accent, though distorted ever so slightly by the mask over his mouth. “This young man beside me is Felipe Cortez, and he is to be the newest member of our fair school. I hope you shall welcome him with open arms and teach him the ways of this place. As you may have realized, he is not the only new face amongst your ranks. I must be a stranger to you also. Well, wonder no more—I shall be the new Deputy Head here at Spellshadow Manor while the venerable Head is on important business for the benefit of our beloved school. You shall refer to me as Professor Escher. I am to manage this manor, and, if you comply with the rules, we shall get along just fine. If you do not, you must not expect leniency. Rules are in place for a reason, and I expect them to be followed to
the letter.” His voice curled elegantly into the air, sending shivers down the students’ spines. There was an oddly sinister quality to it, despite its sophistication.
“I am not just to be your Deputy Head, however. I shall also be taking over some of the teaching duties in the wake of young Professor Nagi’s ongoing work outside the school, assisting our much-respected Head. You will find me firm but fair, and I expect nothing but your finest work in my lessons. I do not accept lax attitudes regarding education, and I will push you to work your hardest toward the glorious goal of graduation,” he continued, his arms gesturing with the fluidity of a dancer as he delivered his eerie speech. He clapped his hands lightly, making a few of the students beside Alex jump. “Now, back to work, all of you. The day has just begun, and we must get young Felipe oriented before his first day.” There was the hint of a smile in the way Professor Escher spoke the last words, sending a chill through Alex as he watched the new professor walk the poor boy up the steps and usher him into one of the side rooms, closing the door behind them with a firm slam.
The students on the steps disbanded in a buzz of curious chatter, but Alex and his friends remained on the top step, staring out at the huge gate with its sapping ivy and thick iron bars. The gate didn’t look as if it was going anywhere soon, with the arrival of the new professor to take the Head’s place. More students would be snatched from their lives into a trap they could never escape, and the realization made Alex burn with anger.
“Who the hell is he?” seethed Alex, hoping fervently that his icy blockade had caused a bruise or two on their new dictator’s graceful body.
“I don’t know, but you can bet things are going to change around here,” said Jari sullenly, sitting down on the stone step with his head in his hands.
“Do you believe he saw your faces last night?” asked Natalie, fresh anxiety lacing her words.
Alex shrugged. “If he did, we’ll soon know.”
Chapter 23
Though they shared lessons and sat in the same mess hall for their meals, often walking the same hallways, Alex could not get Ellabell to speak to him. She seemed determined to avoid him at every turn, her gaze permanently lowered to the floor, her manner jumpy. The smallest scrape or whisper of a spell sparking would make her head jerk upright in alarm, her eyes scanning the room with an anxious flicker. Alex watched her as closely as he could, worried by her behavior. The more withdrawn and agitated she became, the more he held himself responsible for the change in her demeanor, wishing he had stayed by her side on that night.
Each time he saw her at the end of the corridor, knowing they would have to cross paths, she would look at him for the briefest moment before turning swiftly and walking the other way, scurrying along with her head down. If they stood closely in the line for dinner, Alex would watch her remove herself and loiter toward the end, only rejoining it once Alex had moved away and taken his seat elsewhere. He had tried to speak to her a number of times, but she didn’t seem to want him anywhere near her. The realization stung him a little, but he could hardly blame her; he still wasn’t sure what, exactly, had happened to her, but the trauma of it lingered. Every time he thought of the thick sound in her throat and the blood soaking through the delicate pink fabric of the handkerchief, his stomach turned, knowing it was his fault. He wished she would at least let him hug her or help in some way, so that he could ease her suffering.
Clambering up the rungs of one of the library’s giant columns, Alex stepped out onto its middle platform and walked along the rows of books. He wanted to find out more about shielding and defensive techniques so he could try to invert them—but, as fate would have it, at the end of the row, drawn up against the stacks with her knees to her chin, was Ellabell. She looked as if she was muttering something to herself, her lips moving but barely a sound coming out as her eyes flitted distractedly across the pages of a book open on the ground beside her. She was wearing new glasses with square black rims that made her look as studious as she was, her fingers toying anxiously with strands of hair that had escaped the tight ponytail at the back of her head as she read over the book’s words, completely absorbed in the task.
“Ellabell?” said Alex softly, not wanting to frighten her.
Startled, she jumped back against the stacks of books, the shelves shaking beneath her desperate hands as she struggled to get to her feet. Her blue eyes were wide with panic as they looked up at him.
“Ellabell, wait,” Alex pleaded, but her gaze had shifted toward the barrier of the walkway.
Without saying a word, her book still open on the floor, she vaulted the banister and sailed through the air, landing with a light thud on the ground. Alex watched her go, feeling crestfallen as she raced off toward the entrance to the library, not once looking back up to where Alex stood.
Reluctantly, he tidied away the open book on the floor. It was a heavy thing bound in a peculiar, soft, silken cover that read Mistress Bodmin’s Guide to Mythical Creatures in uniform black lettering that seemed to have been seared into the jacket. Alex flicked through the first couple of pages, which featured intricate drawings of dragons with jeweled scales that glinted in a thousand facets of color and fierce jaws that grinned menacingly. Closing it again, he put the book back on the shelf, reaching up to fetch the volume he had been seeking on magical defense. As he descended the tower, walking past the spot where Ellabell had landed in her hurry to get away from him, he made a silent promise to himself to keep out of her way, until she was ready to talk to him. If that was never, then so be it.
Fate, again, it seemed, had other plans. As Alex took his usual seat at the back of Professor Gaze’s class, Gaze announced they would be doing something a little bit different, just to mix things up. With a cheerful grin, she explained that she would be pairing the class up to do a week-long project, to work on some of the shielding techniques they had been learning. They would duel and test the weaknesses in their defenses. The class groaned. Alex’s one of the loudest as he wondered how he would get around his magical shortcomings if he was paired with someone other than Jari or Natalie.
Gaze strolled around the classroom, shouting out the named pairs she had decided upon. Alex waited on tenterhooks as Gaze neared him.
“Alex and Ellabell,” she announced, frowning as she caught Alex’s wince of concern. “Something wrong with that, Webber?” she asked, lifting a scraggly gray eyebrow in his direction.
Alex wondered if Gaze had sensed the discomfort between the two of them, in her keen, perceptive way, and decided to step in. It seemed like a scheme to him, to get him and Ellabell together, especially as it meant separating him from the two people who could conjure for him. Gaze wasn’t stupid. There was more to this pairing than met the eye. In the meantime, he’d have to hope Jari and Natalie were paired with each other, giving them a chance to help him out, taking turns as he underwent his lesson-time counseling session, courtesy of Gaze.
Alex shook his head. “No, Professor. I just had a twinge in my neck,” he lied feebly, pretending to massage the inner corners of his shoulders. Gaze snorted with amusement and walked away. Alex didn’t dare look over to see Ellabell’s reaction, knowing it wouldn’t be a particularly favorable one.
She was sitting at the front of the classroom with her back to him, her shoulders slumped and her head hung low. There was a mug of something steaming in front of her, hand-delivered by the professor. As Gaze yelled for them to sit with their partners and begin, Alex was surprised to see Ellabell scrape back the legs of her chair, gathering her things from the worktop and placing the mug precariously on top before making her way slowly toward the back of the classroom, where Alex sat. Placing her things on the table, she pulled back the chair of the vacant seat to the left of him and sat down, keeping her gaze forward and her hands wrapped tightly around the ceramic of the mug, warming them.
Able to observe her more closely, Alex noticed two small, healing scabs at each corner of her mouth, thin, like papercuts. He frowned, only to be d
istracted by the sight of a large, discolored bruise on the side of her head closest to him, just above her ear and half-hidden beneath the curling sweep of her hair. He desperately wanted to ask her if she was okay, but the vibe she was giving off wasn’t exactly friendly. There was a frostiness to her manner, and Alex didn’t want to cause her any further distress with unwanted questions.
“So… where do you want to start?” asked Alex, flipping open one of the textbooks Gaze had laid out for them.
Ellabell shrugged.
“We could start with handheld shields?” he suggested, turning to the right page. It showed pictures of sketched wizards holding a small circular disc of a shield on their forearms, to rebound any incoming magic.
Ellabell nodded.
“Do you want to go first?” he offered, pointing to the page.
Ellabell shrugged again, lifting the mug to her lips to take a long sip.
“What did she give you?” Alex asked, attempting to divert the conversation.
“Tea,” she answered, her voice muffled and peculiar, as if her tongue were swollen.
“Peppermint?” He tried to smile, but she wouldn’t look in his direction.
“No,” she replied, shaking her head lightly. Her mouth moved like she was in discomfort, and seeing it made Alex’s concern want to burst from his lips. Pushing it down, he remembered his silent promise to himself and swiftly changed the subject back to the topic of shielding. At the end of the lesson, Ellabell bolted from the room before Alex could even say goodbye.