The Secret of Spellshadow Manor 6

by Bella Forrest

  Alex shook his head. “Please, continue.”

  Virgil nodded. “I have been told my voice can get a little soporific at times,” he said apologetically. “So, while Ceres is sadly under lock and key, the good news is, she hasn’t been punished yet. As you heard, my stepfather wants to let Hadrian deal with her, so we know she’s good for a while. That friend of yours and hers, the redhead—he has been captured too, but he’s fine,” he added, almost regretfully.

  Alex frowned at the skeletal man, wondering if he wasn’t a bit jealous of the flame-haired Demeter, and his relationship with the fiery Ceres. If that was the case, Virgil didn’t confirm it, quickly changing the subject.

  “As for your friends, they are indeed at the palace. So, getting them out is going to be a nightmare,” Virgil continued. “Julius really is keeping them as collateral, and I don’t think there is much to be done about that. I suppose they’ll just have to hope he keeps his end of the bargain,” he said, giving a tight laugh. Alex shook his head subtly, hoping that wasn’t the Head’s attempt at humor. If it was, Alex pitied the poor man even more. “Sorry, I realize that was in poor taste. I mean to say that there will be no other way of getting them out of this place. The palace is both a fortress and a labyrinth, and I could not even begin to guess where your friends are,” Virgil added, fidgeting uncomfortably.

  “So what did you mean when you said it won’t come to that, for the people at Starcross?” Alex pressed, shifting the conversation in the direction he wanted it to go.

  Virgil smiled his strange, discomfited smile, though it was cut short by a jolt of electricity. “Well, it has all worked remarkably in our favor. You see, all the soldiers who were formerly at Falleaf are now at Starcross, and nobody is watching Hadrian,” he said, getting a touch excitable. “Hadrian is going to rally his own students, and get the survivors out of Starcross, back to Falleaf, where he will shut the portal behind them.”

  Alex frowned, unconvinced. “What about the soldiers at Starcross?”

  “The army there is large, but they are lazy. Plus, Julius won’t expect it. He won’t have time to send backup—by the time he even hears they’re gone, the portal will be shut and a swath of his force will be stuck there,” explained Virgil. “Not everyone can do the impressive heavens-opening thing he likes to do, and only he can fly back the same way. He will be royally—pardon the pun—screwed.”

  Alex sat back, impressed by the skeletal man before him. It seemed Virgil had taken sides, at long last, and though it didn’t wash away the sins of all the terrible things he had done, it was clear the hybrid royal wanted to make amends, no matter the cost to himself. That, irrespective of how much he could actually absolve himself of, was something to respect.

  Alex whistled. “That’s quite the plan.”

  “I’m just sorry I can’t take your place,” Virgil said, sounding sincere.

  “Why the sudden desire for martyrdom?” Alex sniffed, wondering what had come over the Head.

  “It isn’t martyrdom I seek, Webber, it is redemption… as I have said,” Virgil began quietly, a solemn expression on his face. “I believe the shift came when you informed me of our mutual relation—my father. I was furious; I didn’t want to believe a word. To me, Leander Wyvern had always been a monster who razed villages to the ground, murdering innocents and suffocating infants as they slept—the nightmarish fables they told children to make them behave. I never, for one moment, thought to question it. I was told I was the product of an attack, though the man in question was never named. He was this spectral enemy who had hurt my mother and made my stepfather loathe my very existence.” He sighed with sadness.

  “Only, he wasn’t,” Alex said softly.

  Virgil shook his head. “No, he wasn’t. Stuck in those cells, in that windmill, my mother finally told me a story I had never expected to hear. It was a story about love… about a young man and young woman who loved each other more than anything else in the world, but they stood on either side of a dangerous line. They gave up their love to protect one another, only to find each other again during wartime, when they better knew their own minds. She loves him still, thinks about him still, but could never breathe a word to me about him. Julius had threatened to have us both killed, on the spot, if word ever reached him that I knew of my heritage. In fear, she kept it from me, though she had wanted to tell me, over and over, all these years,” he whispered, his voice tense with emotion. “Every time she’d heard me or him say a bad word about Leander, it had torn her up inside. The suffering she has had to endure, to keep me safe… I want to be redeemed for so many things, Alex. Knowing who I am has given me a strange sense of closure. When before, I was not ready for death, now I am. I wanted to do this, to take your place, for my father, for her, for the people I have killed.”

  “I’m sorry you can’t take my place, too.” Alex laughed bitterly. “But Julius has spoken—I have to be the one to die, to pay for my crimes against the royals,” he added, putting on the king’s voice.

  Virgil chuckled, the sound a strange, raspy thing in the back of the man’s throat. “I would switch with you in the room, if I could, but Julius has insisted he be present, to ensure everything goes the way he wants it to,” he explained, sighing heavily. “He’s asked me to build a barrier, to protect him from any silver mist fallout there might be. I had no choice but to accept. I hope you can understand.”

  Alex nodded, though it was a bitter pill to swallow. Given that Julius was not the sort to change his mind, Alex realized, once again, that it was going to be up to him to get the spell right. More than that, it was going to be up to him to give his life for the cause, after everything he’d done to try to avoid it. At last, he could see why Virgil had been so afraid in the past, when he’d been forced to do the counter-spell at his stepfather’s behest. A twinge of sorrow made its way through Alex’s veins, making him feel a flicker of sympathy for the way Virgil had been forced to do the tasks, back when he was so much younger and so much more afraid than he was now. It seemed they not only shared a relation, but they shared the same fears too.

  “I understand why you want to do the spell, but there’s something I’m still not sure I get,” Alex said, voicing a thought that had been troubling his mind for some time, ever since it had looked as though Virgil was changing sides.

  “What is it?”

  Alex glanced at the Head, scrutinizing him closely. “Why the sudden change of heart, about me? I thought you’d be glad to see me go to my death, after all the trouble I’ve caused you.”

  Virgil smiled. “If you had asked me that question some days ago, I may have agreed. But I realized…” Virgil paused, seeming to collect his thoughts. “That I had forgotten myself. Spellshadow was never meant to be forever, but the years wore away, and with them, little pieces of who I was did as well. Then you and your friends broke the system, and I could see clearly again. I almost feel like I never knew myself, until very recently. So, as annoying as you have been, I have you to thank for that clarity,” he said, his eyes glittering. “Put simply, I want to lay all my ghosts to rest, my grudges included.”

  That much, Alex could understand, though his own ghosts were growing louder by the second.

  Chapter 24

  Virgil left shortly afterward, leaving Alex alone with his thoughts once more. He padded around the room aimlessly, though impulse made him go back over to the double doors to peer out. This time, the guards were back, their warning glances telling him to stay inside. Whatever deal Virgil had brokered to make them go away, it was evidently at its end.

  Reluctantly stepping back inside, Alex went to the balcony and sat out in the sunshine, enjoying the warmth on his face, wondering how many more times he would feel the sun’s soothing rays upon his skin. Looking up at the sky, he thought about his poor mother, waiting at home, not realizing the danger he was in. Doubtless she thought he was already dead, since he’d been missing for so long, but it didn’t make it any easier to deal with. He wanted a momen
t with her, just a moment, to say goodbye. Perhaps, if he wrote a letter, he could ask Virgil to deliver it? It seemed unlikely, but he knew he had to try.

  Sifting through the cupboards, back inside, he came across a small stack of smooth cream vellum and a pen and ink, stowed away at the back of a gold-handled drawer. He pulled them out, took them over to the dining table, and sat down, dipping the pen in the inkwell before holding it poised above the paper.

  Where could he even begin?

  Mom,

  I am writing this to you in my last moments. I never intended to leave you—I was trapped by a strange man, in a strange place, and now I’m afraid they are going to…

  A knock at the door made him stop, though he knew the words he had written would go straight in the trash. He didn’t want to frighten his mother, or bring her more sadness than she had already suffered. No, he would write something else, something lighter, something that might bring her peace in the dark days to come.

  He was halfway to the door when Siren Mave burst in impatiently. He had been half expecting to see Virgil again, but the sight of the toady woman made him halt in his tracks, a sudden shiver of panic running through him. Was this the moment? So soon?

  “Don’t you worry, Alex, I’m not the executioner,” she muttered. “I’m just here to take you to a meeting that has been prepared.”

  Alex nodded, though fear had rendered him silent. He tried to put one foot in front of the other, but he was frozen to the spot, unable to move, his heart thundering in his chest. With an unexpectedly kind smile, Siren Mave came up to him, taking his arm like a kind grandmother, leading him toward the door of the bedroom. She kept hold of him all the way to their destination, helping him along the gilded corridors and hallways, though Alex saw little of their beauty. It was all he could do not to break away from her and jump through the nearest window.

  They stopped outside a pretty solarium, the glass sides revealing a veritable forest of beautiful plants and flowers within and a view of a golden city beyond, leading Alex to realize they must be on the opposite side of the palace, overlooking whichever royal city Julius held home dominion over. Two lemon trees grew on either side of the entrance, and there were slender plants everywhere, some sprouting long-flowing purple flowers, others bearing the most striking red flowers, the petals almost as long as Alex’s hand. Fluttering butterflies swept elegantly from blossom to blossom.

  In the center of the solarium, several rattan sofas had been set up in a circle, with figures sitting in them, but Alex’s view of their faces was blocked by the wall of greenery. Heading through the entrance, he saw them as clear as day. His friends were sitting there, awaiting his arrival, sipping tentatively at glasses full of peculiar purple liquid. Alex could sense Venus’s influence in this unexpected meeting.

  Aamir, Jari, Natalie, and Ellabell looked up at him as he entered, their faces relaxing into expressions of relief. Helena wasn’t with them, however.

  “Helena has been locked away in a different part of the palace, to receive a punishment more fitting of her royal heritage,” Natalie explained, evidently seeing Alex’s puzzled expression. “We have not seen her, but we know she is safe,” she added quietly.

  “They worried you’re going to up and run?” Jari teased, gesturing toward the large cluster of guards that had appeared beyond the glass walls of the solarium. There were even some standing out on the balcony, through the French doors that lined the front of the room.

  Alex smiled. “They know I have a thing for diving out of windows,” he joked, though the laughter felt tight in his throat.

  “Have you already met with the king, then?” Aamir asked solemnly, concern in his dark eyes.

  “Yeah, we’ve had words,” Alex said wryly, trying not to let his emotions overwhelm him. Still, he knew he’d looked away too slowly; they had seen the fear in his eyes. The room fell silent. It was clear they had been expecting the worst, but to understand how real it was, was a different beast entirely.

  “You’re not getting out of this?” Ellabell whispered, though she would not look up, her hands balling into fists.

  “Doesn’t look like it,” Alex replied quietly.

  “Do you remember when you first arrived at Spellshadow, and Jari was looming over you, bouncing around like a little kid?” said Aamir suddenly, cutting through the tension.

  Alex frowned, the memory bringing a small smile to his face. “I do remember that,” he chuckled.

  “I had to stop him from trying to shove you awake. He thought that if he could roll you off the edge of the bed, the impact of you hitting the floor would make you wake up quicker,” Aamir continued, laughter glittering in his eyes. “He wouldn’t listen when I said it might knock you out. If you hadn’t woken up when you did, I wouldn’t have been able to stop him.”

  Jari grinned. “Hey, it was a good idea! It would have worked, too, if it hadn’t been for you pesky kids,” he said, putting on his best gangster voice.

  “And that first lesson, when you could not do the aura! Derhin was so disappointed in you!” Natalie chimed in. “But when I made you crackle, it was like you had run a marathon—he was so happy for you.”

  Alex nodded, that memory somewhat tainted by the thought of what had happened to the professor after. “And that duel on the front lawn was pretty epic,” he said, flashing a knowing look at Aamir.

  The older boy smiled sadly. “It’s just a shame it led to so many terrible things.”

  “Yeah, your moment of victory didn’t last very long,” Jari said, nudging his friend. “You were a total boss though, when you were fighting. Sneak attack master! It’s the one time since I’ve known you that I’ve actually thought you had a hint of cool in there somewhere.”

  “I fear I may have used up all my cool,” Aamir replied, laughing.

  “I think we have all done some terrible things and some cool things in our time here,” Natalie added, looking slightly sheepish.

  Jari nodded. “Yeah, Natalie, we definitely all thought you were going psycho at one point, but you came through it.”

  “The curse, the dark magic. You’ve been through a lot,” Alex agreed, looking at the French girl with warmth in his eyes. “And while we haven’t always seen eye to eye, you’ve always been a good person. Power is tempting. I know it now.”

  Natalie smiled shyly. “I have been a bit of a nightmare at times, haven’t I?”

  “Understatement of the century!” Jari whooped, eliciting a swift punch in the arm from Natalie. “See, there you go again,” he teased, as Natalie’s laughter rippled across the room. It was a beautiful sound, and one that Alex had not heard in too long.

  Aamir laughed. “We had no idea what was coming, back then, did we? I mean, do you remember that Christmas—how happy we all were? It feels like twenty Christmases should have passed by now, right?”

  The others nodded.

  “I just remember thinking you didn’t like me very much,” Alex admitted, glancing at Aamir.

  “You mean, when I took you up to the hill and had a go at you?” he asked, grinning.

  Alex smiled. “That’s the one.”

  “I thought you had potential, but I didn’t think you were taking magic seriously. Can you believe that?” Aamir said, shaking his head. “How wrong I was. It was all simple back then, wasn’t it? It was class and teachers and students, no different from being at high school. I think we thought, if we pretended enough, things would be okay.” His face took on a dreamy expression. “When you’re young, you think school is the world—you think it dictates everything you are, and everything you will be. It’s only when you’re out that you realize there is a whole other world awaiting you, and you have to deal with life as it comes, adapting and changing,” he added, a tinge of sorrow leaking into his words. “Without you, Alex, we’d have stayed there. We would never have reached beyond that idea of accepting it was our only choice, our only world; we would never have tried to leave.”

  So far, they had managed t
o avoid actively talking about what Alex was being made to do, but there was a peculiar undercurrent running beneath their talk of memories—good times and bad. It was their way of saying goodbye, without having to say the words.

  “Dude, way to bring down the mood.” Jari whistled, but there was a smile in his eyes.

  Aamir laughed. “Sorry, time in a cell, however plush, has made me somewhat philosophical,” he apologized, trying to bring the levity back.

  The only person who had yet to speak was Ellabell. She was sitting in her seat, her head down, her nails digging into her palms. An aura of angry sadness emanated from her. Even her body language was prickly, her shoulders hunched, a muscle in her cheek twitching where she was gritting her teeth. Alex couldn’t bear for her to be silent a moment longer; he wanted to hear her voice.

  “Ellabell? Do you remember when we first met, and you told me all about Jari’s attempts to woo you?” Alex asked, trying to involve her in the conversation.

  She lifted her head. “I remember everything,” she said simply, her eyes strangely blank.

  Aamir stood. “The three of us should be going,” he said, flashing the other two a knowing look. They stood quickly, though Natalie’s eyes were filling with tears.

  “Don’t leave on my account,” Ellabell murmured.

  “We aren’t, but there are discussions that aren’t meant for our ears,” Aamir replied kindly, resting his hand on Ellabell’s shoulder. She flinched, refusing to look up at him. Taking her point, he removed his hand and moved toward Alex instead. Without saying a word, he pulled his friend in for a tight hug, thumping him hard on the back. Alex gripped him hard too, unable to prevent a smile from creeping onto his face, despite the looming sadness.

  As Aamir released him and stepped back, Jari swooped in. “You’re the coolest guy I know!” he said, squeezing Alex hard before letting him go. “Honestly, a true hero.” He lifted his hand in a salute, forcing a wide grin onto his face, though it didn’t reach the eyes that were brimming with tears.