The Chain (The Secret of Spellshadow Manor #3)

Alex frowned as fear gripped him. He looked to Elias for further confirmation of the suspicions he’d had about Natalie, but the shifting, shadowy features gave nothing away. He loathed how vague Elias could be.

“It takes a lot of magic?” ventured Alex.

Elias moved the misty fronds of what should have been hands together in a silent, mocking clap. Seemingly, Elias’s favorite gesture. It irked Alex every time, which he guessed was the point.

“She used life magic?” he asked, wanting his thoughts confirmed once and for all.

“Ding, ding, ding! Give the boy a prize—how about the giant hippo for the lucky lady?” Elias smirked, his shadowy mouth curving up into an eerie smile.

“But she got better.”

Elias rolled his mysterious eyes in exasperation. “So, as long as it doesn’t kill you, that means it’s okay? I think I’m some sort of proof that’s not true.” A flash of something strange moved across his face, as if he had said something he hadn’t intended to, but the expression disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. “Anyway, that’s not the point. I’m just saying, books can be dangerous. Your power-hungry pal read that spell in a book and made herself ill because of it. Mind you, she was doing it to save you all, so maybe we shouldn’t be too hard on her,” he retorted. “And hey, she’s okay now, so that spell wasn’t any of the really, really bad stuff—but this stuff, in that book, is stuff you don’t want anyone you care about touching.”

“How do you know what’s in it?” asked Alex.

Elias paused. “I just know,” he breathed, his voice suddenly drenched in a sadness so heartrending, Alex wasn’t sure he could take it. From within the starry, shadowy form of Elias, a thousand echoed sorrows seemed to surge forward, whispering all around Alex’s head, creeping through him with shivering tendrils, until they had seeped into every cell within his body. “I know, firsthand, what that book can do, and I didn’t want her to have it.”

Elias made me, and I am Elias, the universe within the shadow-man whispered.

Alex wasn’t sure if Elias meant he was trying to stop Ellabell from reaching for a book on strong, terrible magic in order to protect her from it, or because he simply didn’t want anyone to know about such dark magic. As much as his suspicions told him it was the latter, there was an internal battle that Alex couldn’t balance. It was the sadness in Elias’s voice that made him think twice about the shadow-man’s intentions with the book—the sound haunted him. Yet, he could neither forget nor forgive what Elias had done to Ellabell. No matter what the reason, there was no excuse for the bruising and trauma that girl had suffered. Anger flared inside him once more.

“You can’t win me over with your sob stories, Elias. What you did to Ellabell was unforgivable. There were ways you could have done it that didn’t involve attacking her, but you chose violence and fear. You use them as weapons, to control people—it’s cruel and twisted, like you!” he shot back.

Elias’s eyes flashed with anger. “After all I have done? I expected better from you, Spellbreaker. Everyone turns their back on Elias, blinded by the tattle-tales of others,” he seethed, his supernatural voice making Alex’s bones tremble.

“You hurt her, for no reason but to keep her from saying something to me,” Alex hissed, his heart pounding. He thought of how Ellabell had avoided him all those weeks after the attack, of the bruises on her face, and he wanted to tear Elias to pieces. The shadowy figure wasn’t nearly so fearsome when he was struggling to hold himself together. Alex’s anger seemed to break him apart much faster, somehow. Rippling fronds snaked away from Elias’s body, fragmenting it sliver by sliver.

“I protect you, Alex—I help and I serve and I get stabbed in the back, every time,” breathed Elias, his voice somehow omnipresent. The black pools of his eyes glimmered with starry grief and sparking rage. “I didn’t mean to hurt her; I just wanted to stop her. It may have escaped your notice, but my motor skills aren’t exactly on point.” He flapped his shadowy arms almost comically, though Alex was in no mood for amusement. “What I’m saying is, I can’t always control what I do or how I do it—touch isn’t always easy, and sometimes I can overdo it, by accident. I know you won’t believe me, but I do not lie. If you knew what that book did, you would not be so quick to speak this way to me—you ungrateful little boy.” He paused, his inky teeth curled up in a grimace. “Well, when you’re no longer blinded by love, you’ll realize the mistake you have made. You’ll see—you will need me, Alex. You will need me.”

As Elias said the last four words, his figure became whole for just a moment, more human than Alex had ever seen the shadow-man’s form, before he disappeared in a snap of swirling black mist.

As Alex watched the space where Elias had been, he wondered where the shadow-man had gone. Had he gone back to Spellshadow, or was he still within the walls of Stillwater? Alex wasn’t sure if he’d ever find out, after that terse, cold ending.

Though he hated to admit it, Alex had a feeling Elias was right. It wasn’t a case of ‘will need’—Alex did need Elias. After all, without access to the Head or Elias’s books, Alex was back to square one as far as his heritage, his abilities, and his next move were concerned. Elias knew things. Elias had nudged Alex in the right direction, at every turn. Then there was Alex’s plan to see what he could do with the black bottles, and how to get the others home—the only one with access to that sort of information was Elias. The whys and hows of the schools and the magical world were all within Elias’s grasp; of that Alex was certain. They were not, however, within Alex’s grasp.

“I do need you… I hate that I do,” whispered Alex, feeling entirely alone in the empty, still library.





Chapter 16





Devoid of people, the library seemed more creepy than beautiful. Part of Alex wanted the shadowy shape of Elias to return, if only for some company. The route back toward the bell tower was foggy in his mind, and though the security of it tempted him, he knew he couldn’t simply run from the opportunity he had been given. All around him, row upon row of untapped knowledge met his eyes. Bitterly, he knew he had Elias to thank for this, yet again. Even if the shadow-man had ulterior motives, he still managed to put Alex on the right track.

The library was brimming with new information—knowledge that might not have been available at Spellshadow. Perhaps, Alex thought, noble mages were given more exciting things to learn. It would certainly account for their superior ability.