The Secret of Spellshadow Manor (Spellshadow Manor #1)

The cat’s tail dangled off the branch.

“Elias,” it said. “Nice to meet you, Alex Webber.”

Alex stared at the creature, not even surprised it knew his full name. He wasn’t as disturbed by it as he had been the first time, but he was smart enough to keep his guard up around it.

“And what are you?”

“What indeed,” said the cat. “That, kid, is an excellent question. I wish I knew.”

Alex regarded it, gathering his thoughts, determined not to let the little creature get the best of him this time.

“Homunculus,” he announced.

The cat was silent for a moment, then tilted its head. “Perhaps…”

“Who made you?”

A grin of inky teeth. “Elias made me, and I am Elias.”

Alex opened his mouth, a question on his lips, but Elias chose that moment to slide off his branch. As he did so, he seemed to liquefy, spilling down in a cascade that settled into the form of a long-haired young man of Alex’s height, made entirely out of shadow.

Elias looked Alex up and down, folding his arms.

“I’m not your enemy,” he said.

“Then what are you?”

Elias laughed, clapping his hands together. “A benefactor, of course,” he said. “This time I’ve come strictly to help.”

Alex stared blankly at him, and Elias’s dark face contorted, looking hurt. “Come now,” he said, “don’t give me that. I wanted to tell you something, really!”

Alex was silent for a time, thinking carefully before responding. “And that is?”

Elias smiled, and the expression was somehow even more disconcerting on his human face than it had been as a cat. His lips lifted a little too far, splitting his cheeks almost up to his eyebrows in glee.

“Finder is dead,” he said.

“I know,” Alex said with a huff.

Elias nodded. “I know you know. You’ve been looking for information about necromancy.” He turned away, examining his fingers. “I may know where you could find a book,” he said.

Alex tried to still his suddenly hammering heart. “Where?”

Elias laughed. “What would you do with it?”

Alex observed the shadow coolly. He didn’t trust this creature a bit, and didn’t want to give away the plan he had been formulating since the day before. But he thought of Aamir, throwing himself at the cellar walls, desperate to escape his fate. He thought of Natalie’s desperation the previous day. He thought of his mother, alone and devastated. Their lives might depend on this book.

“Why do you want to know?” he asked, folding his arms.

“Call it curiosity,” replied the young man, also folding his arms.

We have to take some risks, Alex thought, looking Elias up and down. And he will just find it out anyway.

“We would destroy Finder,” he said finally.

Elias let out a low whistle. “That,” he said, “is an incredible plan. Really well thought out.”

“Well—”

“The book you’re searching for,” Elias interjected, “is in the Head’s office.”

Alex was silent for a long time. That was probably the least accessible place for a book they so desperately needed.

“But how do I get to it?” he asked at last.

Elias reached up, and his arm extended grotesquely to grip the branch of the tree before hoisting the rest of him skyward. The shadows swirled, then coalesced into the form of the cat once more.

“You’ve got your own little talents,” he said. “Naughty interloper that you are. Why don’t you use them?”

Alex had already opened his mouth when the cat lay down and melted into the tree. He knew before any words came out that Elias had disappeared once again, lost in the manor. What was Elias in his previous life? And why was he following him around, spying on him, giving semi-helpful advice?

Wondering how he would even begin to research something like that, never mind sneak into the Head’s office, Alex looked at the world around him. Ruins as far as the eye could see. Dreams that had stopped. A manor, ruled by a man who appeared to keep its rightful lord as an undead slave.

Alex made his way back inside, his hands brushing the Ouroboros handles. He walked slowly toward his room, thinking.

But if he thought his adventures were done for the day, he was wrong.





Chapter 22





A scream pierced the air just as Alex was turning past the door to the library. Suddenly alert, he stared down the vacant hallway in the direction the noise had come from.

The scream came again, jolting Alex forward. Before he knew what he was doing, before he could think, he was pelting off down the hallway, skidding around the corner to find a horrible scene.

A girl pressed herself against the wall, recoiling from where a boy lay, crumpled on the floor. Alex recognized him as Blaine Stalwart, a boy Aamir admired for his magical skill. His arms and legs were stiff, his face hidden in shadows.

At his feet ran a small, golden line.

“Oh my,” came a leisurely voice from behind them. “Somebody’s been bad.”

Alex spun to see Professor Derhin approaching with long, uncharacteristically graceful strides. He strode up to where Stalwart lay, then shifted a viperous gaze onto the girl.

“H-h-he said it wouldn’t be as bad as people made out,” she stammered. “That it’d sound an alarm. Some foolish nonsense.”

“Just sound an alarm?” Derhin said. “This isn’t a blue line, is it? It did sound an alarm, but messing with a golden line is exactly as bad as people make out. That’s why I’m here. To collect.”

He looked down at the body on the floor.

“Is he…?” the girl said.

“He broke the rules and got caught,” said Derhin pointedly. “He’ll be transferred to Stillwater House.”

Alex stared at Blaine. The boy wasn’t moving. He didn’t even seem to be breathing. Little curls of magical power spun over his skin, and Alex wrapped his coat tighter around himself. It was cold in the hallway. So cold.

Derhin turned, fixing Alex with a stare.

“Did you have anything to do with this, Webber?” he asked.

Alex shook his head.