The Secret of Spellshadow Manor by Bella Forrest (best way to read ebooks TXT) 📕

“Thing with the tree?”

“You know what I mean!”

Aamir smiled wanly, then ushered Jari away from the center of the lawn. Alex watched with interest as golden light began to swirl and rise around Aamir, his hands spreading, his brow suddenly glistening with sweat.

A rumble spread through the ground, and then, all at once, a great tree burst from the ground, even larger than the one in class. Bits of dirt and stone spewed out in all directions as branches unfurled from the trunk, and within an instant Alex was admiring a massive evergreen.

Jari dusted off his coat, shooting a disparaging look at Aamir. “Couldn’t you do that without making a mess?”

Aamir glowered at him. “It is much more difficult to use anima magic if you don’t mirror the natural process,” he said. “You know that.”

Jari leapt into the argument with enthusiasm, and Alex and Natalie walked a little way away, giving the two friends some space while they stared up at the huge tree.

Natalie didn’t speak, but spread her hands, her brow furrowing. One at a time, little lights began to pop into existence around the trunk, glowing red and green and blue, shimmering out from amid the tree’s needles.

Alex smiled appreciatively. “When did you learn to do that?”

Natalie laughed. “I’m making it up as I go,” she admitted. “It is good they didn’t burn down the tree. I sort of…It is hard to explain. I combined the illusion from your project with the fire from mine.”

The wind rustled the leaves of the tree. Aamir and Jari had turned as Natalie had begun to decorate the tree, watching happily as the lights appeared, and now they began to work as well. Jari crafted a golden star out of thin air and sent it up to alight gently atop the tree, while Aamir worked the air with his hands, throwing down garlands of shining light around the tree that wrapped it in a corkscrew of power. Before long, it lit the grounds around it like a miniature sun.

“It’s beautiful,” Alex said, looking at her.

“It is, yes,” Natalie agreed, staring up at the gleaming tree, but her voice lacked emotion. “It’s also…lifeless. Pretty things are easy, common. They are everywhere in the manor. It is full of wonders, and magic, but somehow…there is nothing there. It is empty, this prettiness.” She stared at her feet.

Aamir finished his garland and walked over, offering Natalie an encouraging smile. “This is your first Christmas away from home, isn’t it?”

Natalie nodded, a tear coursing down her cheek.

Aamir patted her on the shoulder. “Don’t worry,” he said softly. “It gets better. It just takes time.”

Jari stepped up beside them, little lights trailing him through the air. “He’s not kidding,” he said. “It gets better.”

Alex glanced over at where the small boy had stuffed his hands into his pockets. Little flecks of snow littered his golden hair, and his cheeks were tinted with pink.

Then, unexpectedly, Jari said, “You never stop missing family, though.” His eyes averted to the ground, and his lips formed a melancholy smile. “My dad was a real goof,” he continued, and Alex got the feeling from his distant expression that he was talking more to remind himself than inform them. “Always liked to pull stupid pranks on me and my brother. And Mom was an artist, always quizzing us on color and form.”

As if Jari’s openness had triggered something in Aamir, the older boy also began to reminisce. “My grandfather used to paint. He wasn’t very good, though my grandmother always encouraged him. He liked to say it was more about the act of appreciating beauty than creating anything worthwhile.”

“My mother is a firefighter,” Natalie cut in. Everyone glanced over at her in surprise—Alex included. Natalie grinned, her face lighting up with pride. “She is the only woman at her station and kicks my dad’s butt in the gym. She loved to take me running when I was younger.”

Three heads turned expectantly toward Alex, and although he was afraid he might choke up again, if Aamir and Jari could say something about their family at Christmas, so could he.

“My mom was an elementary and middle school teacher,” Alex said. “She stays at home now, though, mostly. She’s not well, but…I’m hoping she’ll get better.”

A long silence followed, and was broken only by Natalie giving a loud sneeze. She rubbed at her nose, her cheeks pink, her still-bare arms covered in bumps.

“Better cover up,” Alex said, thinking that he might finally be witnessing Natalie experiencing coldness. He took off one of his coats and offered it to her. “You might get a cold.”

She didn’t respond. She just looked up at the tree, the glittering lights reflected in her too-bright eyes.

By Christmas Day, Aamir had apparently decided he had engaged in enough frivolity, and had retreated to his corner of the study hall. And Natalie was nowhere to be found, which worried Alex. After searching for her for a while, though, he assumed she wanted her privacy, and he didn’t want to be invasive or disrespectful. As a result, Alex and Jari ended up alone in the library, playing chess.

It felt wrong to have Christmas with so little fanfare, with no gifts or holiday food. The only thing marking the day as special was the absence of classes, but even that only served to make the day feel emptier. Alex saw more than one student standing around looking uncertain. He had thought to use the day for more private research, perhaps regarding anti-magic, used only by those long-dead Spellbreakers. But he found he hadn’t the heart.

And then the day was gone, just another thing swallowed up by the empty building. Everyone returned to class, and it was like nothing had happened.

Chapter 24

“Chevalier?”

Professor Derhin stared toward the back of the room, his eyes squinting at Natalie’s empty chair. “Natalie Chevalier,” he repeated, as if he could summon her out of thin air with his voice.

Surprising nobody, she did not