The Chain (The Secret of Spellshadow Manor #3)

“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 their will, so it’s pretty sad too.”

Alex watched as tears began to glitter in Helena’s eyes. Either she was a very good actress or Jari’s story was seriously tugging at her heartstrings. He couldn’t be sure. Jari himself, however, was giving it the full theatrical treatment, sighing heavily in all the right places, making sure he won Helena over with his tales of Spellshadow and how oppressed they had been.

“How horrible,” she whispered.

“The Head, too—he’s the worst of them all. He’s this strange, evil creature who hides beneath a hood so nobody can really see his face. He has fingers that are so thin they almost look like a skeleton’s hands, and he rules with an iron fist,” said Jari, his voice low, as if he were telling a scary story… which, Alex supposed, he was. “He’s probably after us right now. We caused a few issues for him, you see, when we escaped. But we couldn’t stay there any longer. We were tormented and miserable, missing our homes and our families. Running away was the only option—if we ever want to see them again.”

Alex noted a confused expression had crossed Helena’s face as she absorbed what Jari was saying.

“I don’t understand—why haven’t you seen your families?” Helena asked, concern furrowing her smooth brow.

“Students where we ran from are stolen from their homes,” said Jari.

“No!” gasped Helena, glancing for confirmation from the other members of the group.

Alex sighed. “Yeah… It’s true. There was another Head, not the skeletal one, who came out of the school into the non-magical world and snatched anyone who had magical potential, hypnotizing them and taking them back to the school against their will. Nobody was allowed to leave, once they had been taken inside—it was more of a prison than a school, really,” he explained grimly.

“Our families still don’t know where we are. As far as they know, we disappeared one day and never came back.” Alex was surprised as Ellabell spoke up, her voice thick with emotion. To hear his echoed thoughts coming from her lips made his heart twinge. It wasn’t something any of them spoke about much—their families waiting for children who never came home—but they all had them.

This news seemed to shock Helena to the core, her strange, pale gold eyes wide in horror. “How could they do that to you? It’s terrible! Nothing like that happens here. I can’t believe you have suffered these things—I am so sorry,” she whispered, her voice laced with empathy. It was the most genuine Alex believed they had seen her.

“So, that’s why we ran. We’re just trying to get home,” Jari concluded.

“You are lucky, to learn magic here,” Natalie remarked after a pause. “What is it like?”

“It is a great honor to be sent here to study. Though we are away from our families, we get to see them a few times a year when they visit,” she said shyly, clearly not wanting to rub salt into the wound. “Are you sure you want me to talk about Stillwater, after what you have just told me?”