The Secret of Spellshadow Manor (Spellshadow Manor #1)

Alex raised his eyebrows. He hadn’t expected Natalie’s English to sound quite so polished. As he slipped out into the hallway and crept to the bathroom to take a shower, his mind was conjuring up images of what she looked like.

After he had washed and dried, he pulled on a pair of jeans and a loose t-shirt—his usual attire—and, after giving his hair a quick comb, returned to the hallway. Before moving to the staircase, he poked his head into the spare bedroom he had cleared out a few days ago. A large suitcase rested on the bed and the room was suffused with a pleasant flowery scent Alex couldn’t quite put a name on.

He turned and headed down the creaky stairs.

“Oh,” his mom’s voice announced, “I think somebody has woken up.”

Alex reached the bottom of the stairs, now in clear view from the kitchen, whose door had been left open. His immediate view was his mother, but as he drew closer, he caught his first glimpse of Natalie Chevalier, sitting on the opposite end of the table.

Alex’s first thought was that her voice perfectly matched her appearance. Her face was pretty and delicate, with large brown eyes, a pert nose, and framed by silky black bangs. Her skin was light tan and her build was slim and athletic. Although Alex couldn’t gauge her height too well from her sitting position, he suspected she was at least five foot eight.

“Hi,” he said, clearing his throat and entering the room.

“Hello, Alex,” Natalie said brightly, rising from the table and holding out her hand. He shook it, unable to help but notice how nice her skin felt. “Your mother has been telling me about you!”

“Oh dear,” Alex said with a small smile, before seating himself in one of the only two seats available, both—most likely strategically—positioned next to Natalie.

Natalie chuckled. “Only good things.”

Alex moved to busy himself with the pancake container, but before he could, his mom rose, supporting herself against the table with one hand, and served him.

“I told her that you’re a budding entrepreneur,” his mom supplied, and Alex looked back at Natalie.

He smiled placidly. “Budding being the operative word.”

“You know, I think that is so wonderful,” Natalie announced, beaming at him with genuine enthusiasm. “I don’t know anybody my age back home who is an entrepreneur. You make websites, yes?”

“Uh, yeah.” Alex glanced swiftly at his mom, who gave him a knowing look. He was a little surprised that she would’ve told her this already, since she didn’t usually encourage Alex’s extreme work ethic.

Though, Alex supposed there wasn’t much else to say about him at the moment. Other than working on his business and playing the piano, he currently didn’t have any extracurricular activities.

From Natalie’s build, he wouldn’t have been surprised if she was a member of a basketball team, or maybe a tennis player.

“Yes, websites,” Alex confirmed in a louder voice. “It’s not very interesting, though.” He’d been experimenting with building sites around narrow audiences in order to avoid competition and make it easier to attract traffic, which had led him to some very “niche” subjects that weren’t exactly sexy. From Halloween dog costumes to dating websites for farmers, Alex had probably thought of it.

“I find it very interesting,” Natalie replied. “I would love to see them—oh.” She paused, her eyes widening. “I completely forgot. I said that I would video-call my parents as soon as I arrived at your house.”

“Why don’t you go ahead and do that now?” Alex’s mom suggested.

Natalie ducked beneath the table, reaching for a backpack she had resting by her feet. She resurfaced holding a small laptop. She started it up and the sound of dialing filled the sun-streaked kitchen.

“Bonjour!” enthused a voice that sounded almost identical to Natalie’s, but older.

Natalie began speaking in rapid French, looking up constantly to Alex and his mom, smiling and flashing her pearly teeth.

Then she picked up the laptop and hurried to Alex, who had just been in the middle of his last mouthful of pancake. He quickly swallowed, managing not to choke as Natalie stood beside him, presenting him with the screen. Gazing back at him was clearly Natalie’s mother, father, and a younger girl who must’ve been her sister—perhaps middle school-aged, he guessed.

“Hello Alex!” the three greeted at once.

“Hi,” Alex replied, wiping his mouth with a tissue before giving a small wave.

“Thank you for having Natalie!” Mrs. Chevalier said. “I hope you both have a good time.”

Before Alex could respond, the young girl fired a bout of French at him. He blinked, uncertain of what she’d said, when Mrs. Chevalier laughed and translated, “Elena says to promise to look after her sister!”

“Ah, right.” Alex grinned. “We—I—promise. Don’t worry.”

Natalie chuckled and then moved on to Alex’s mom, where they had a similar, slightly longer greeting.

Alex’s mom eyed him with quiet amusement as Natalie ended the conversation with a flurry of air kisses. He averted his gaze to a strawberry.

“Now, have you had enough to eat, dear?” Alex’s mom asked after Natalie ended the call.

“Oh yes, certainly.” She leaned back in her chair and rubbed her stomach.

“And you, Alex?” his mom asked.

Alex looked up, frowning. “Uh, yeah,” he replied, unsure of where his mom was going with this.

“Well, I was going to suggest you take Natalie on a tour of the town while it’s so bright and sunny outside.”

Natalie sat forward. “That sounds perfect!”

He was an idiot to not have seen that coming. He thought of all the work he had planned to do this weekend, including that stack of homework, but he couldn’t refuse without appearing extremely rude…and if he was honest with himself, he thought a break from his laptop screen might do him some good. It was a beautiful day, after all.

Pushing his plate and cutlery away from him, he glanced at Natalie and smiled. “Okay, let’s go for a ride.”

His mother winked at him as the two of them left the room.