The Chain (The Secret of Spellshadow Manor #3)

It wasn’t long, however, before the pressure of removing the curse inside Aamir began to show on Helena’s face as her breathing became labored. Even though she was a powerful mage, the curse seemed to put a strain on her as it fought back. She gritted her perfect teeth in determination, her eyes squeezed tightly shut as she layered magic upon magic beneath her hands, weaving further strands into the sweating, twisting body of Aamir. His mouth gaped like a fish, his eyes wild, but it did nothing to stop her as she persevered. The glow of his veins burned brighter, until Alex was certain he could see the shape of Aamir’s bones beneath the blaze.

The group watched as the minutes wore on with torturous slowness. Helena’s breath grew more and more labored as the first beads of sweat appeared on her brow, but still she did not stop. There was an admirable, fierce determination in her as she battled to dismantle the curse until, finally, after a long while and a great deal of exertion on her part, there was a quiet, eerie ripping sound. From the glowing center of Aamir, she seemed to physically tear the phantom entity of the curse and hold it tightly in her fist. The spirit creature writhed and wriggled in defiance, trying to escape Helena’s grasp, but she quickly placed her other hand against it and sent a ripple of something dark and inky into the burning phantasm, dispersing it particle by particle. It burst outward in an explosion of harmless golden dust.

Helena sat back, breathing heavily as sweat glistened on her pale skin. A broad grin stretched across her flushed face. Hastily, Jari ran toward her, brandishing a cup of water. She drank deeply.

“Thank you.” She beamed. It was Jari’s turn to flush a light shade of pink.

Aamir lay still on the flagstones, but Alex could make out the steady rise and fall of his chest, letting them all know their friend was still alive.

“I should warn you,” said Helena, drinking another large sip of water, “he will need time to recover, and he may not seem like himself for a long while after. He has been sapped of strength, but he will get better.”

“How strong was it?” asked Alex.

“It was one of the strongest I have ever seen,” Helena replied, the exhaustion of removing the curse evident on her face.

“And he will definitely get better?” Natalie asked.

Helena nodded. “He will, with time.”

Alex smiled at Helena, feeling gratitude swell in his heart. The knowledge that Aamir would soon be getting better was all the group had wanted to hear, for such a long time. With her help, it was now a reality—she had kept her end of the bargain, and although Alex still wasn’t sure how far he could trust her, he couldn’t deny the good deed she had done.

“I’ll take my leave of you now. I’m pretty tired.” Helena got shakily to her feet, brushing the dust from the back of her pants.

“Do you need help?” Jari offered.

She shook her head. “I’ll be fine. Here, you should have this,” she said shyly, handing the tower key to Alex. “I wouldn’t advise you to leave the tower, but I don’t want you to feel like I’m locking you in.”

It was a friendly gesture and one Alex appreciated. As he and the rest of the group followed her down the stairs to say farewell, key in hand, he noticed a tremble in her fingers and an unsteadiness in her gait as she clutched the banister tightly, her knuckles whitening.

“Are you sure you don’t need a hand?” he asked as they reached the ground floor.

“I just need a minute,” she assured him. As she waited for the wave of tremors to pass, she turned back to rest of the group. “I have to say, I’m glad you arrived when you did. You’ve come at a very exciting time.”

Alex frowned. “What do you mean?”

“You’ll see tomorrow,” she whispered cryptically. “Sleep well.” She flashed a grin at them before moving out into the dark courtyard and disappearing from sight.





Chapter 10





Being so close to the House now, Alex felt jumpy throughout the night. No matter what he did to try to distract himself, he found he couldn’t rest. He chatted with the others and flipped through a few of the novels Helena had left for them to read, but nothing seemed to work. Not having slept, with a thousand thoughts thundering through his brain all night, he was snappy and irritable, overreacting to the slightest thing.

Jari sat against the wall, munching on a gift-bag of crispy cookies Helena had brought—ones that were oddly lavender-flavored—and the sound of each crunch sent Alex’s nerves on edge.

“Will you stop it?” Alex snapped suddenly. The others glanced up at him with startled looks.

“Dude, I’m almost done with them,” Jari said defensively. “Do you want one?”

“No, I don’t want any of your stupid snacks. I’d rather hear nails on a chalkboard,” Alex replied.

Jari tossed the bag of cookies across the room. “Fine, I’ll stop eating them, you grump. Sheesh.”

“Why don’t you stretch your legs for a bit, Alex?” Ellabell suggested softly. “Walking up and down the stairs did wonders for me. It’s easy to get a little stir-crazy in all these small spaces.”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” Alex sighed, running a hand through his hair. He felt embarrassed by his outburst; he needed to distance himself from the others before he said something truly hurtful.

“Does that mean I can keep eating my cookies?” Jari grinned, and Alex rolled his eyes.

He decided to explore the tower as best as he could, but there were only four floors to investigate. It was like the lighthouse all over again, only there was no secret domed paradise at the top. Instead, there was a small room with a wooden scaffold in the middle, where the bell, presumably, had once hung. It wasn’t nearly as exciting as the lamp room, but it was far enough away from the others to give him a moment of the peace and solitude his tired, cranky self craved.