The Chain (The Secret of Spellshadow Manor #3)

Staring down the walkway to make sure he truly was alone, Alex was surprised to see an enormous book at the end of the platform, opened atop a wooden lectern. He walked toward it, feeling a sense of familiarity as he realized what it was. From the size and well-thumbed pages, it could be none other than Stillwater House’s version of the Index, containing all the authors and titles of the books that filled the vast room.

Intrigued by the prospect of what lay within, his mind wondering about havens and Spellbreakers, much like the last time he stood in front of one of these, he decided to see if the Stillwater Index would be more forthcoming with information. Maybe it wasn’t just spells and advanced magic that the noble students had better access to, but history as well.

Heaving the pages to ‘H’ and ‘S’ respectively, Alex was pleasantly surprised to see there wasn’t just one or two, but many books on both subjects. Too many to read in just one evening, he thought wryly, wondering if he’d have another opportunity to come and absorb the library’s riches. No matter what happened, he knew he’d have to try. This place was a goldmine.

A curious thought came to him as he was tracing a finger down the dusty page, searching the list on Spellbreakers. Carefully, he lifted the Index pages until he reached the end of the ‘W’ section, hoping nobody heard the hefty slam as the weightier side fell back toward the plinth. His eyes ran down the browned page, until he saw the words he had been hoping to see: Leander Wyvern. He couldn’t believe it.

Is this why Elias led me here? he wondered.

Even when he wasn’t physically present, the shadow-guide was somehow helping. Hastily, Alex flipped back through the Index and tried to memorize as many of the numbers as he could, in order to check the stacks for the corresponding books. Fortunately, the system was much the same as in any library. Even in the magical world, books and libraries didn’t change.

Darting along the walkway and up to the top floor, he followed a short passageway down to the very back shelves and shuffled along a narrow set of bookcases before he found the number he was looking for. Half-expecting it to be gone, like the censored sections at Spellshadow, he couldn’t contain his excitement as his hand closed around the leather-bound spine. It was there. Bringing it down, cradling it in his hands, he brushed off a thick layer of dust as he read the title: Leander Wyvern, a Biography. A whole book dedicated to the man whose notebook Alex possessed. It was almost too good to be true. Alex flicked through the first few pages, making sure it wasn’t a hoax. To his delight, every page was filled with text. So far, so good.

Tucking it under his arm, he ran along walkways and climbed up and down ladders, in search of more. Adding to his collection, he picked up a book on havens entitled, rather helpfully, A Comprehensive Guide to the Havens, which seemed promising, followed by an entry entitled Spellbreaker Spells and How to Defend Against Them. Suddenly, the fact that the books were even here made more sense. If the students at Stillwater were to truly be the best, they had to know the ins and outs of their sworn enemies, even if they had died out decades ago. Strangely, it reminded Alex of a faded motivational poster stuck up on a wall at his old high school: “Fail to Prepare, Prepare to Fail.” He supposed that was why they read these books—to prepare, on the off-chance they should ever come up against a Spellbreaker.

Little did they know, the book could also be useful for a Spellbreaker, should he get his hands on it. Alex grinned, running his thumb over the embossed words, hoping it might give him some ideas for advanced spells he might use to fight mages. It was about time he came up with some new material.

Along another set of shelves, he came across a bright green tome called Spellbreaker Lineages and beside it, to his sardonic amusement, a book entitled The Royal Households. It hadn’t been on his list of titles to pick up, but in flicking through the contents page, it looked as if it might be useful. As far as Alex could tell, it was a detailed history of the royal mages. Intrigued, he added it to his growing stack, figuring it might give him some insight into the beautiful, white-haired woman and the mysterious hybrid of the Head, who was somehow related to that exquisite creature. He wondered hopefully if there might be a passage inside the book that explained how that had come to be.

With a decent haul in his hands, Alex moved back toward one of the small reading areas and set the books out on the sleek, circular table in front of him. Conscious of how exposed he was, out in the open of the empty library, he decided he ought to set up a perimeter around himself, to hide his work from prying eyes. Slowly, he let the twisting tendrils of silver and black coil around his fingers, before sending them out to form a thin, crackling sheet of anti-magic around him. It thrummed quietly in the air as he constructed a rudimentary shield around himself, making sure it wasn’t detectable as he dimmed its glow to an almost imperceptible sheen. It worked like a two-way mirror; he could see out, but nobody could see in—or so he hoped. If anyone came too close to the barrier, he knew they’d be able to sense it, but he hoped he’d be able to dart into the stacks and hide before that happened.

Once he was sure he wasn’t visible to anyone who might catch sight of him on the walkway, he reached out and picked up the biography of Leander Wyvern, desperate to start with the history of the Spellbreaker he felt he almost knew, from reading the words of his final days and learning of his fate. It wasn’t a huge book, but Alex could not quell the excitement he felt for what might be inside. Taking a deep breath, he opened it.

It began with Leander’s heritage and made mention of the six Great Houses of the Spellbreakers, one of which was the House of Wyvern. Reading the other, familiar names, Alex couldn’t help thinking about his own, unknown father, and hoping that somehow he had belonged to one of those Great Houses. Of course, there were hundreds of other Spellbreaker lines, but Alex wanted, secretly, for his father to have been from one of the Great ones, if only to make his own lineage more exciting.

He read through a bit more of Leander’s heritage, but it was information Alex had already learned. As he flipped through page after page, a sinking feeling began to creep through him, that there wasn’t much in the biography he didn’t already know. That was the problem with one-sided history—there was only ever one account, repeated over and over again.