The Secret of Spellshadow Manor 3

tried to leave?” pressed Alex, his interest piqued.
Helena shrugged. “It is a great honor to be here. We are blessed to be here. Why would we leave?” she said, but somehow, she didn’t sound entirely convinced. There was a monotone to her words that reminded Alex of his first days at Spellshadow, when Jari and Aamir had repeated phrases to him that sounded oddly rehearsed. A robotic, drilled characteristic.
“It’s very beautiful,” Alex acquiesced, though he was left with more questions than he had started with.
“I must be getting back now. I will bring you more sustenance tomorrow,” she announced, rising. “And please, sleep well knowing I will keep your secret.” She smiled her pleasant smile as she bade her farewell.
Seeing her leave, Alex was hit with a wave of inspiration. Getting up quickly, he ran after her, much to the confusion of the others. Helena was already some way down the shoreline when Alex caught up with her. There was something he hoped she could help him with, though he knew it was something of a bold move, in terms of trust.
“Is everything okay?” she asked, looking at him in surprise.
“Not really,” he replied, catching his breath. “The thing is, we have a friend with us who is very sick. You didn’t see him because he’s inside the cottage, but he’s getting worse every day and nothing we do seems to help. We’re all worried about him. I saw you out there on the training ground—you’re strong, and I was wondering if you might be able to help.”
She frowned. “What is wrong with him?”
“There’s a curse upon him. A really bad one. Now, I’m betting you have a pretty good library in that school of yours, and I was wondering if you could get us a spell-book that has instructions on how to break curses. Or, if you know of any way to remove it—perhaps you have something that would help in your medical center—we would be extremely grateful.”
As much as he had tried to suppress it, Alex couldn’t shift the weight of responsibility he felt for what was happening to Aamir. If he hadn’t cut that band, perhaps Aamir would be okay. Or maybe he’d still be the Head’s zombie. They’d never know. Whatever the case, they needed to fix him.
“I’ll work on a solution,” she said, flashing him a reassuring grin. “And thank you for trusting me. I know you didn’t have to.”
The words rang in his ears as he watched her hurry away into the night and scale the villa wall with the ease of a ninja. She was right. He didn’t have to trust her.
He just hoped he had been right to try.

Chapter 8
True to her word, Helena returned the next day with more supplies. She appeared from the dim glow of the sunset, managing once again to creep up on Alex and his friends unawares as she approached with her basket.
Alex was glad to see she hadn’t forgotten to bring drinks, and he reached instinctively for the bottle after she’d entered the cottage. So far, he hadn’t been able to find a spring or a stream in the narrow strip of forest that ran along the shoreline, and his throat was parched.
“Thank you for bringing this, Helena,” said Alex, remembering his manners.
“No problem,” she said, flashing her perfect white teeth.
“We really are so grateful,” added Jari, apparently trying to one-up the disinterested Alex in the gallantry stakes.
“You know,” murmured Helena, looking thoughtful, “if you were to move inside the walls of Stillwater House, I’d be able to get to you much easier, bringing you whatever you needed. It would be so much simpler for me to help if you were within the grounds.”
Alex cast her a look of suspicion.
“I just think it might be easier, especially with your friend requiring some help,” she added hastily, with a note of earnestness in her voice.
Alex had told the others why he had run off after Helena the previous evening, and although there had been a momentary grumble of displeasure at the idea, they had come around to it once they realized Alex was right. Helena had clear access to many areas of Stillwater House that they did not, and she knew her way around.
“We’ll discuss the option,” said Alex. If there truly was somewhere within the walls of Stillwater House where they could be safe and remain unseen, he knew it might be better to be hidden in plain sight than warily out in the open, as they were.
This news seemed to please Helena. For a while, an easy silence settled over the group as they ate. Jari shuffled over to where Helena was sitting beside Natalie, taking up the space between them as he offered the silvery haired girl a cake. She took it, nibbling daintily as Jari stared adoringly at her. Helena didn’t seem to mind. Alex wondered if this was just a normal occurrence for her, having boys moon over her. He imagined it was, though his gaze rested elsewhere.
“Oh, we’ve been on the run for a fair few days now.” Jari shrugged casually, responding to something Helena had asked. Alex’s ears pricked up.
“What is it you plan to do?” she asked.
“We just want to get back to where we’re from,” explained Jari with a dramatic sigh.
Helena frowned. “Where you ran away from?”
Jari shook his head. “No, no—we came from a school, but it’s nothing like this. The school we came from is an awful place.”
This seemed to shock Helena, and Alex eavesdropped with interest. He wasn’t sure he liked Jari giving away their information, but it was intriguing to see her responses to it.
“Awful?” she gasped.
Jari nodded. “It’s big and gray and depressing, and there are barriers on everything. It’s as far from this place as you could get—there is no beauty, only ugliness and cruelty. There are curfews, and the teachers are mostly vindictive, punishing us for the smallest thing. Even the nice ones are there against