The Chain (The Secret of Spellshadow Manor #3)

The familiar sound of a key turning in the lock made Alex’s tired eyes snap toward the door of the grim cell. He had moved back to its center, to give himself more distance if he found himself with the opportunity to bum-rush whoever was on the other side, but the thought stopped dead in its tracks as he saw the figure standing beyond the door. It was not someone he had been expecting.

Siren Mave stood in the hallway, holding a weighty bunch of keys, peering at him over her horn-rimmed spectacles.

“If you’d like to follow me, Mr. Webber,” she instructed. “Peacefully, if at all possible. I’ve had enough of strugglers for one evening.” She flashed Alex a warning look, puckering her overly painted lips in displeasure.

Alex nodded, cautiously following the plump little woman who had waddled on ahead. “What are you doing here?” he asked, still in shock.

“Oh, you know, keeping things interesting. Sometimes I’m here, sometimes I’m there—I go where I am needed,” she replied cheerfully. “Though you have significantly reduced my enrollment duties at Spellshadow Manor. Quite the little scallywag you turned out to be, hm? I knew you were different when you arrived. There was something about you—the rest are always plain as punch, but in you came, and I just knew I’d be seeing you again.” She smiled strangely, readjusting her spectacles as they turned a corner.

“I wouldn’t say I—” Alex began, but Siren Mave cut him off curtly.

“No use denying it, Webber—quite the state you left that place in. I wasn’t sure whether to be impressed or appalled,” she cried. “Mind you, I suppose I do have you to thank for being more part-time now. More time for myself, you know? I always meant to do it, but you’ve done it for me,” she mumbled as they walked through a few more corridors.

Alex had been so surprised to see her that he found he no longer felt the previous trepidation coursing through his body.

As they passed through another set of hallways, he felt a spike of curiosity; it struck him as odd that, along the way, there were so few guards. What was there to stop him from running away? He couldn’t see any walls or barriers either.

“Don’t even contemplate it, Mr. Webber—don’t even begin to think about contemplating it. I may be small, but I can take you down without moving more than my pinky finger,” she warned, somehow preempting his train of thought.

Glancing at her, with her dumpy frame and elaborate spectacles, and her cheeks glowing from too much blush, Alex thought she didn’t look like a typical magical ninja, but there was a confidence in her voice that alarmed him, making him reluctant to test her. A flash in her eyes told him not to dare, and for once he felt he ought to listen.

“Where are the others?” he asked, once all thoughts of escape had ebbed away.

She waved her hand, which twinkled with hefty jeweled rings that seemed much too tight for her chubby fingers. “They are safe, although they weren’t nearly as accommodating as you,” she replied. Alex couldn’t tell if she was mocking him, or if that was just her voice; there always seemed to be a hint of some private joke on the tip of her tongue.

“Yes, but where are they?” he repeated, with growing frustration.

She turned, meeting him with a stern glare. “They are safe. That is all you need know.”

Turning back around, she strode off down a side corridor until they reached an unassuming wooden door at the very end. Twisting the handle, Siren Mave pushed it open and stepped into an empty room. It was a plain, square chamber with high stone walls and a bare stone ceiling, with no furniture except for a bench that ran along one side. There didn’t seem to be another exit, or any windows either, but Siren Mave seemed to be searching for something against the far wall. Alex frowned, wondering if this was a holding room of some sort.

It quickly became apparent that this was merely a brief stop-off, as Siren Mave held a black doorknob to a section of wall and twisted, revealing another doorway behind it. It reminded him of his first day at Spellshadow, when he had met Elias for the first time, only this seemed less strange to him now. It was almost par for the wizarding course, to see doors and entrances where they shouldn’t be. As she opened the door, she wasted no time in ushering Alex through it, forcing him past the threshold with a firm shove in the back.

The door opened out onto an antechamber, with a set of large, white double doors ahead. They were tall and imposing, and Alex wondered if, somewhere along the line, he had actually died and this was his arrival at the pearly gates. It would make a lot of sense, he mused wryly as he followed Siren Mave, pondering with amusement whether that made her a squat archangel of some kind. A sudden glare from her alarmed him, leaving him wondering if she could hear his thoughts. However, he didn’t have time to think about the strange little woman rooting through his brain, as she knocked on one of the vast doors and shoved him through, before disappearing behind him with a twist of her magical door handle.

The whole journey had left him truly disoriented, and it was only made worse as he stepped into the most beautiful office, which looked more like a greenhouse than a place of work. Above his head, there was a glass ceiling that let in the hazy glow of the daylight, bathing everything in golden sunshine. Exotic, fruit-bearing trees and plants were growing healthily all around the room, which was especially warm, encouraging the lemons and limes and oranges to swell to a tantalizing plumpness. There were olives too, and some fruits Alex didn’t recognize, though everything looked ripe and inviting. The whole office, in and among the foliage, was tastefully decorated in white and chrome, the lines crisp and clean, and there was an impressive white marble desk at the very head of the room, set in front of a large window that looked out upon the lake.

The sight of it made Alex bubble with rage, to note that the Headmistress’s window, too, looked out onto the lake filled with the buried remains of his people. He wondered bitterly what their obsession was with such a gruesome trophy.

Does it make you feel almighty? he thought sourly as he watched the water shimmer beneath the sunlight.

Alypia was sitting behind the desk, her white hair almost glowing in the warm sunlight, like a halo around her beautiful face. With a slender, graceful arm, she gestured for Alex to come and sit too. He walked forward, his hands still manacled, and sat in a large, high-backed chair that was covered in pure white fur from an animal Alex couldn’t identify. In keeping with her murderous theme, he thought as he plonked himself down on the soft upholstery.