The Breaker (The Secret of Spellshadow Manor #2)

At least this way, Elias thought smugly, the Head can’t have it.

Thinking bitterly of the Head, his wounds still smarting, he swept effortlessly back through the hallways and paused for a moment in the Head’s office. He laughed as he saw that the door had been blown off entirely and the Head was still inside, launching things around the room in a fit of fury, his voice rising to a howling scream of rage. It felt delicious to Elias, to watch the Head so riled up.

The Head turned, as if sensing Elias’s mocking presence.

“This is all your fault, Elias! You let him get away! I needed him, Elias! I would not have killed him, and yet you stood in my way! You are responsible for what is going to come, you—”

Elias didn’t stay to hear the rest, making a swift exit as a train of expletives followed him. The words made their mark on Elias, however, as he glided over the desolate grounds.

Night had drawn in, giving him the freedom of the manor as a whole, not batted back by petty rays of sunlight. He manifested himself as a man on the hillside overlooking the Fields of Sorrow, watching over the vast expanse with its smoking heart and still-scorched earth. He grinned coldly, teeth flashing, as he convinced himself he could already feel the tremors of something beneath the earth, rising up.

What will happen now? he wondered gleefully.

“You can’t keep the evil at bay forever. A void must be filled,” he whispered to the emptiness, closing his eyes in delight at the prospect of its coming.

The only wrench in Elias’s plan was that the Head was still alive. He had been relying on Alex to surprise him, but had been left disappointed. Elias was certain the notebook he had given to Alex contained some mention about death magic, and yet Alex hadn’t delivered the goods. All that talk of silver light and shining heroes, and Alex still hadn’t called on a little death magic.

Elias felt dissatisfied, but blamed himself; he knew he had not given Alex the chance to play the martyr. He knew he had let the echo of his human feelings get the better of him. He had felt anger and gotten carried away, and now he wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do. With the stolen part of his essence back within his possession, he supposed he could go after the escapees if he wanted, since he was no longer tied entirely to the manor. He could see what else he could get them to do. But they had already done so much.

Alex had proven an excellent pawn, if a bit slower than Elias had hoped. He would think about it—after all, he had plenty of time. Where they had gone, they wouldn’t find much joy, Elias thought smugly as he stretched out his shadowy limbs. The magical world frowned upon fugitives.

In the meantime, he decided, he would revel in the Head’s misery and the glimmer of hope for what he wished to come crashing down around the manor.

No, not just the manor. His plans were far bigger than that.

A comeuppance was long overdue, and Elias had been so patient.