The Chain

by Bella Forrest

  She won with ease, reminding Alex of the terrifying female warriors from the Battles book Elias had given him—the Gilded Vipers.

  As the field cleared, Alypia stood up from her throne at the center of the amphitheater, opening her arms wide as she made her announcement. The rest of the students fell silent, going still with anticipation as they watched one of their own run out from the tunnel beneath them. He waved at the crowd, garnering an enthusiastic cheer.

  “And now, I give you the main event!” Alypia bellowed.

  All eyes turned to the arena floor. A slow-moving figure walked out from the other tunnel, his head bowed.

  Nobody cheered.

  Horror flooded Alex’s senses as he saw who it was. There was a golden glitter rippling down the stooped back of the figure, forcing him to walk forward, even though Alex could see that he was trying to fight it with all of his might, twisting against the magic that pushed him on.

  Alex turned to the others. They were staring at the arena too—an echoed expression of horror on their faces.

  Jari had entered the arena.

  Chapter 26

  They had been enjoying themselves, and, all the while, Jari had been beneath the stands, tormented and tortured into walking onto the arena floor, for the amusement of the Headmistress and her merry band of zombie students.

  Once inside the circular lines of the arena, the thrum of the barrier went up, trapping Jari inside with the Stillwater student. From where he was sitting, Alex could see that Jari was already on the brink of exhaustion, his stance sloping, his knees shaking, his face drawn and his blond hair lank.

  Alex’s gaze flitted anxiously across the amphitheater, trying to seek out Helena, to ask her what the hell was going on, but she hadn’t yet returned from her stint on the battlefield. Suspicion prickled up Alex’s spine—Helena had promised him that Jari hadn’t been hurt, but he looked pretty hurt from where Alex was sitting.

  Alex watched in horror as the Headmistress gestured for them to begin. With terror distorting his face, Jari backed desperately up against the barrier, trying to claw his way out, only to be hurled forward by a blast of energy from the barrier itself, forcing him into the fray. He crumpled to the ground, lying still for a moment as Alex willed him to stand up again. Slowly, the blond-haired boy managed to pick himself back up, dragging himself to his feet as the Stillwater student sent strands of glimmering, vicious magic in Jari’s direction. As one sailed straight for Jari’s head, the younger boy succeeded in snatching it from the air and sending it hurtling harmlessly toward the barrier instead.

  More magic rushed toward him, in wave after wave of golden artillery, but Jari swiped the blows away, managing to duck whatever he couldn’t disperse. For the first ten minutes or so, Jari put up a good fight, not allowing anything to hit him, but Alex could see that he was faltering. With each swipe of his hand, Jari faded. Watching the vile scene unfold, Alex felt the familiar sensation of fury building inside him, burning brighter at the sight of his friend in trouble.

  He stood sharply, but Natalie grabbed his arm.

  “There is nothing you can do,” she hissed, trying to get him to take his seat again. “There are too many, Alex—you cannot help him. Think of what might happen if you were to reveal your powers in front of so many mages. Think of what they will do to you.” Her dark eyes begged him to sit down.

  Alex paused, sinking slowly back down to his seat in utter disbelief. Glancing toward Aamir for support, he saw that the older boy had turned his face away. Beside him, Ellabell was staring blankly down into her lap, not wanting to acknowledge what was going on below.

  Alex could not believe Aamir’s response to what was happening, after the lengths Jari had gone to when Aamir had needed help. Jari had always been there for his friend, and now his friend was turning his face away.

  “How can you let this happen, Aamir, after everything Jari did for you when you needed him?” snapped Alex. “How can you just sit there?”

  Aamir would not look him in the eyes.

  On the field, Jari was close to collapse, his knees buckling and his eyes rolling back into his head. Rage coursed through Alex—he knew his friend didn’t have long.

  It was the spur to action that Alex needed. He rose from his seat once more, anger seething through every cell in his body, strengthening his powers. A surge of pent-up angst and rage flowed inside him, coiling through his body like a viper ready to strike.

  As he blinked toward the arena, his eyes felt strange and hot, as his anti-magic swelled. Lifting his hands, he sent a bolt of pure, electric energy crackling through the air toward the barrier. The noise of it was like thunder overhead, booming through sky, shaking the ground beneath them. Natalie 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 he had been suffering long before he ever made it to the arena floor. Whoever had done this to him had wanted to make sure he was weak enough to fail quickly. Jari was a fearsome mage, and even though he had been pitted against a Stillwater student of superior ability, he would never have simply given up as swiftly as he had, without being broken to within an inch of his life. He would have kept fighting, kept taking the hits, until he had nothing left, but Alex knew Jari had walked onto that field already beaten.

  Alex had expected the Headmistress to come straight for him, but she did not. If she meant to torture him by stringing out the suspense, Alex no longer cared.

  On the other side of the bed, Helena sat in an identical chair to the one Alex sat in, trying equally hard to stay awake. She hadn’t left Jari’s side for a moment, her hands clutching his as he slept.

  “I feel so responsible—I should have known this would happen. I should have known they were lying,” she said quietly, brushing tears from her eyes.

  Alex turned to her. “What happened? You told me he was fine. You promised me he was fine.”

  “I thought he was. It’s what they told me. They said he was fine,” she replied miserably, shaking her head.

  “Who are ‘they?’” he asked, frowning.

  Suddenly cagey, Helena turned her face away. “Just somebody I know in the villa, who was supposed to be taking care of him,” she explained vaguely.

  Alex didn’t get to ask any more questions, as Jari stirred beneath the covers, interrupting their conversation. He awoke slowly, his manner groggy and his eyes swollen. He glanced around in confusion.

  “Where—?” he rasped.

  “You’re in the infirmary. You’re safe,” said Alex.

  “Alex! Thank you,” whispered Jari in a dopey voice. “Hey—your eyes were silver! I’ve never seen you do that before,” he mused deliriously as a grin spread across his face.

  Alex looked at his friend with confusion, putting the strange comment down to Jari being tired and disoriented after the suffering he had undergone. The exhaustion was still apparent on his face, but the boy seemed intent on fighting sleep as he gazed around the room, his eyes coming to rest adoringly on the face of Helena.

  “Are you an angel?” he asked slowly.

  She giggled. “No, Jari—it’s just me, Helena.”

  “So, you are an angel.” He grinned like an idiot, lifting his hands with slow surprise as he saw her clutching them. “Well, if I’d known this was how you got the girl, I’d have done it ages ago!” He chuckled to himself, hopped up on whatever spell the medical mage had run through him.

  Alex smiled, happy to see his friend hadn’t lost his sense of priorities.

  “Jari?” he said, waiting for the boy to make the laborious turn back toward him.

  “Alex, my man!” Jari giggled.

  “What happened to you?” Alex asked, trying to keep the smirk from his face. As much as he wanted to have a serious conversation with Jari, the boy was being amusing.

  “What happened to me? I’ll tell you what happened to me. That woman, you know, the big, tall, pretty one with the evil stare,” he began dramatically. “Well, she made me this offer, and I was like ‘Dude, I’m not taking that—no way, Jose.’ And she got real mad. It was like five years and then a fight to the death or some nonsense—I guess it was more like five minutes and a fight to the death, eh?” he cackled, clearly pleased with himself. “Thank you, by the way, for coming in guns blazing with your weird little eyes!”

  Alex smiled. “It was no problem, Jari. Did she say anything else to you?”

  Jari paused thoughtfully. “Yeah. She wanted me to spy on you and report back, like some dastardly supervillain. I was like, who do you think I am? The name’s Bond, James Bond.” He grinned, making finger guns as he dove headfirst into a poor Sean Connery impression. “Not sure why—something to do with powers and stuff. She was all like ‘I’ll kill Alex if you don’t do what I say,’ and I was like ‘Yeah, good one.’ I didn’t believe her because you’re too mega special to kill. Everyone’s always like ‘Alex is so special,’ ‘look at his special glowing powers,’ ‘super special Alex.’ Everybody wants you alive, man. I knew she was bluffing—can’t get nothing past me!” He grinned, trying and failing to wink as he turned back toward Helena, who was chuckling away in her chair.

  Alex laughed softly, though he felt responsibility weighing heavily on him once more. Because of him and what he was, a friend had almost died.

  “Hey, Mopey McMope!” yelped Jari, as if he’d read Alex’s mind. “None of this is your fault, man. I know you’ll think it is because you’re you and that’s what you do, but it’s not—you brought us the closest to freedom we have been. I could almost taste that sweet, sweet freedom, and we’ll still taste it, my man. You’ll see. Hope is not lost,” he assured Alex with another failed attempt at a wink, before turning back to Helena with adoring, dopey eyes.

  “And I can still help with the portals. I’m much closer to finding the book I need,” Helena chimed in quietly, much to Jari’s confusion.

  “Portals? Are we going back to Spellshadow? Why are we going back?” He flashed Alex a look of concern, though his eyes were somewhat crossed.

  “No, not Spellshadow. Helena has agreed to help find information on portals so we might find one or make one that can get us back to the outside world… to home,” explained Alex.

  The idea seemed to perk up an already perky Jari. “Can you really do it?” he asked.

  “It can be done. It will take a lot of energy and a lot of magic, but there are books on the subject, and I am trying to find them,” she assured Jari, squeezing his hand.

  “How about the library?” suggested Jari, suddenly speaking in a farcical British accent that made Alex and Helena laugh out loud.

  “Some books are kept away from students, you see,” began Helena, wiping the merry tears from h
er eyes, “so I can’t merely try the library.”

  Just like at Spellshadow. “Any way you could get a hold of those books?” asked Alex.

  She shrugged. “I can get into the private areas—they’re only really meant for teachers and the Headmistress, but I’ve learned how to sneak in without anyone knowing,” she murmured, looking as if she regretted imparting this information to them.

  “How?” pressed Alex.

  Helena looked as if she really regretted it now. She fidgeted. “I just know a way—it’s complicated,” she answered finally with a grimace, as if she knew it was a weak excuse.

  Alex wondered what Helena wasn’t telling them. She certainly seemed to have secrets of her own. He had wanted to come clean with her about his secret, but her caginess kept him from bringing it up. Besides, he was certain she’d find out what he was soon enough. Right now, Helena was probably the only mage in Stillwater House who didn’t know what he was.

  “Hey, how come you guys didn’t get all beat up like me? Did you have to fight too?” asked Jari, distracting Alex from his train of thought.

  Alex felt a twist of shame as he heard the hope in Jari’s voice. The boy, Alex understood, had yet to realize that he had been the only one to reject Alypia’s offer. The rest of them had been cowardly.

  Alex shook his head. “We took the offers, Jari. Ours were slightly different from yours, I think. She didn’t ask me to spy or anything,” he admitted sheepishly.