The Secret of Spellshadow Manor 3 by Bella Forrest (i can read book club txt) 📕

tried to reach up and stop him, but she couldn’t get near without hurting herself. A shield had appeared around him, swirling in the air in ripples of black and silver, bristling and thrumming with energy, keeping anyone who tried to stop him at bay.

Ellabell called to him, begging him to stop, but he was deaf to her voice, focusing only on the arena and the crumpled figure of Jari, who had fallen to the ground and did not seem to be getting up.

The face of every Stillwater student turned and watched him with dread, but Alex didn’t care. He barely saw them as he fired another pulse of pure silver energy toward the barrier, watching with satisfaction as the shield shattered around Jari and his opponent in a great blizzard of snow and ice. Jari’s adversary was still firing magic, though Jari was unable to fight back, his body bending and contorting with each blow. Enraged, Alex let his anti-magic flow toward Jari, wrapping the younger boy in a shield that protected him from his adversary’s golden blasts.

By this point, the student fighting Jari had stopped what he was doing to look in fear at the air pulsating around him, black and silver, and the flurries of snow that rebounded from the shielded Jari. Frowning, Alex noticed that the opponent no longer looked as perfect as he had previously. Somehow, the shimmering heat of his anti-magic had distorted the face of the Stillwater student.

Alex walked down the stairwell, his body pulsing with energy, his eyes still burning with a hot fury. His hands crackled with pure anti-magical force, and the students in his way moved swiftly from the terrifying power that gravitated around him. Alex saw that they, too, seemed to have lost their sheen of beauty, as he viewed them from behind the lens of his anti-magical shield. Which version was the truth? Alex was no longer sure.

Knowing he didn’t have time to mull it over just now, he strode down the rest of the stairs and out across the field. As he moved toward Jari, he caught sight of the Stillwater student, attempting to fire a spear of golden energy at him, but Alex was too fast. He turned swiftly and swiped the weapon away, managing to send it back toward the student. Ducking just in time, the returned magic skimmed past the student’s ear. A look of sheer terror passed across the young man’s face.

Alex walked over to where Jari lay and knelt on the ground beside his friend, reaching out for Jari’s hand. The anti-magic that flowed from his hand parted around Jari’s skin, so no fleck of anti-magical energy wounded him. Alex wasn’t sure how he had managed it, but he wasn’t about to complain, when it meant he could comfort his friend.

“I’m here, Jari. You’re safe now,” he whispered.

Jari wept softly into the grass, his weary shoulders shaking. When he looked up at Alex, a strange expression crossed his face—fear. Alex was taken aback, but he didn’t remove his hand. Fear of what? Alex thought. Of me?

As the flurries settled and melted from the shattered barrier, Alex glanced back at the crowd and caught sight of the Headmistress in her throne, smiling smugly, as if Alex had just confirmed what she already knew. He found that, in that instant, he didn’t care. Jari was safe, and if his own secret was the price for that safety, then so be it.

He frowned, however, when he saw the shrouded figure standing beside her. The figure moved as if to step into the light, but the Headmistress lifted her hand quickly, holding her arm out to prevent the shadowed being from doing so. The hood was familiar. Alex knew exactly who it was—the Head come to gloat, no doubt. Seething, Alex flashed a glare of hatred toward them both, casting it across the other students as well. Their altered faces and terrified eyes stared back.

It was only as the tremor of his anti-magic began to subside that their faces returned to normal, the sheen of beauty restored, though the fear in their eyes did not go away. They had seen something in Alex that had scared them, but he had the feeling there was more to it than just his Spellbreaker heritage. The burning sensation in his eyes and the pulse in his veins alarmed even him, not quite knowing where they came from. It wasn’t like any anti-magic he’d ever felt before.

“This is over!” he roared.

Lifting Jari to his feet, Alex carried the boy away toward the tunnels, knocking into Helena as they ducked into the entrance of the one on the left. She looked up in surprise and alarm as she registered the savage expression on Alex’s face.

“Where is the infirmary?” demanded Alex, the rage still thick in his voice.

It appeared that Helena had missed the whole debacle, as she glanced from Alex to Jari, her golden eyes going wide in surprise as she saw the state the latter was in. He was barely able to hold himself up, his body broken.

“I didn’t know, Alex—oh my goodness, I didn’t know!” she cried as she rushed to assist, looping Jari’s arm around her neck.

As they made their way back toward the villa, Alex refused to look back. If he did, he knew he would not be able to control the hatred he felt. If he kept his eyes forward, there was hope. Hope for Jari, hope for all of those who had watched and done nothing.

Chapter 27

Alex sat beside Jari in the infirmary, trying to stay awake as he watched over his friend.

Jari was asleep but alive, though the wizard on duty explained to Alex, with somber warning, that it had been a close call. He was recovering, but it was likely to take a while—the boy had taken a beating, and not just on the battlefield. From the bruises and welts all across Jari’s skin, Alex could tell that