The Chain (The Secret of Spellshadow Manor #3)

Glancing back toward the villa, his eyes scanned the exterior, but he saw no one. Turning his head away, he instantly snapped it back, unsure whether he’d seen a flash of something in the top room of the abandoned tower at the far edge of the building, the exact place he had watched the Ascension Ceremony from. He squinted, trying to make out a shape in the window, but if there had been something there, it was gone now. Turning back, Alex tried to convince himself it was a figment of his imagination—he would have managed it, too, if he hadn’t been able to sense the burning heat of eyes upon him still.

Reaching the amphitheater, he slipped around the back, hoping it would block him from the sight of whoever seemed to be watching. Sneaking along the rear wall, trying to remain unseen, he was hoping for a back way in. It appeared he was out of luck. Then he happened upon a narrow side door in the masonry. He skirted along the far edge of the curving structure. Opening it with some force, Alex moved swiftly into the belly of the amphitheater. Initially, in the dim light, it was a disorienting place to be, with all the walls and corridors looking identical. But as he moved along the tunnels, he saw two rectangles of light in the distance that he suspected were the tunnel entrances—the ones the combatants used to come in and out of.

It was dark beneath the arena, but, after stumbling about for several minutes, he came across a long hallway of doors. He cursed loudly, the expletive echoing—he knew it would take him ages to find the right one, if it was even there. Walking along slowly, he hoped the right door would jump out at him, but they all stared blankly back, each looking exactly the same as the next.

Through some of the grates in the doors, he could see manacles dangling over grills in the floor. The rancid scent of blood and fear rushed into his nostrils, but he couldn’t see any doors hidden away in the walls beyond the grills. He searched the length of the corridor, but none of the rooms contained the bottles he was looking for. There were no antechambers in any of them, and certainly no stashed essence. Perhaps, he thought, the bottles were hidden in a secret cellar or behind a trick bookcase, which meant his search was an entirely pointless endeavor.

Frustrated, Alex moved away from the doors and chambers and headed back out into the balmy evening, wondering with irritation where the Headmistress was hiding her stolen treasure of life magic. A thought came to him, as he mused upon one place she might be keeping them: her office. It would be just like Alypia to keep them close at hand, where she could view them at her grim pleasure, delighting in so much suffering. If they were in Alypia’s office, he realized, they may as well be on the moon—the Head’s office had been hard enough to get into, but he imagined the Headmistress’s would be a truly mighty feat. It didn’t seem difficult to enter, but that was the beauty of Alypia’s restrictions—nothing was ever supposed to look like a barrier. He wasn’t even sure he could remember the way to her office, the directions fuzzy in his mind.

The idea of the bottles being in her office perplexed him even more, and he walked back quickly, creeping beside the lakeshore as he tried to skirt around the obvious routes back into the villa. Still, he could feel the unnerving sensation of eyes on him.

Peering up at the wall, he wondered if it was Elias, keeping an eye on him, though when he looked up into the shadows to search for any sign of the shadow-man, he could see none—only impenetrable, watching darkness.

As he stole back into the realm of Stillwater House, panic jolted through him. Somebody had grabbed his arm. Turning, he half-expected it to be a guard or someone who had seen him creeping around the arena, intent on punishing him for his flouting of the rules. Instead, with some relief, he saw that it was Helena, though she looked less than pleased to see him.

“What are you doing?” she hissed.

“I was just out for a walk.” He shrugged, not wanting to give up too much information.

Helena didn’t look convinced. “You shouldn’t be out there at night,” she warned.

“Why not?” he challenged, wondering if Helena knew more about Alypia’s offers than she had been letting on.

“It’s not safe. You never know what might be lurking out there,” she replied, half-disappointing Alex. It seemed she didn’t know about the additional provisos, after all.

“How come you’re out here?” He smiled wryly.

She raised an eyebrow at him. “Well, if you must know,” she said, lowering her voice to a whisper, “I’ve just come from where they took that prisoner.”

Alex’s eyes lit up. “You know where they are?”

She nodded. “I do.”

“Will you take us there?” he pleaded.

Another nod. “I can get you all to the prisoner. If I come and get you in a few hours, will you be ready?” she asked.

“I’ll go and let the others know.”

“I’ll see you then. Make sure you’re ready to go,” she insisted, leaving Alex alone in the villa.

He took off with a lightness in his step, excited to tell the others what he had learned, though he couldn’t stop wondering who it was the guards had brought in. Whoever it was, they would find out soon enough. He just hoped the others were up for a midnight adventure.





Chapter 34





True to her word, Helena came to get them in the middle of the night. They had all gathered in Alex’s room, though conversation was lacking thanks to the anxious tension that had settled between them. It was quiet enough to hear a pin drop, but they still didn’t make out Helena’s stealthy approach. She was so silent, the knock on the door sent them jumping out of their skins.

They recovered quickly as Helena beckoned for them to follow her. The girl led them through a bewildering labyrinth of hallways and tunnels, stretching below an area of the villa Alex wasn’t at all familiar with, until they eventually ended up in a prison of sorts. He knew it was a prison because he remembered the slick, dripping walls and the stale stench of unclean bodies and despair.

“Down there,” whispered Helena, pointing to a door at the very end of a long, dripping corridor, the walls covered in a thick, moss-like substance. Alex was surprised to see that there were no guards patrolling the area. Helena, he presumed, had taken care of that detail for them.

Alex walked down the corridor, checking the door with a firm push of his shoulder. It was locked, as any good cell ought to be.

“Here, let me try,” said Natalie, moving past him to slip her magic into the lock. Golden light surged for a moment, but the lock would not break. “There is something blocking it,” she remarked, trying again. It was as if there were some sort of barrier, compressing any kind of magical energy used on the lock. Before Alex could offer up his services, Helena presented a key, sliding it into the lock and turning it smoothly. With a clunk, the door unlocked.

Alex shot Helena a look, but she swiftly gestured him inside, her eyes downcast. He pushed the door open. A collective gasp susurrated through the corridor as they saw the huddled figure on the dank, dirty floor of the prison cell.