The Secret of Spellshadow Manor (Spellshadow Manor #1)

“Uh, no, not so much. Just hanging out tonight. I'll bet you do, though."

"No, no, no. I'm here for you tonight, bro. Gonna show you how to live a little."

"Is that so?" Alex had to stifle a chuckle. He'd always thought Phil something of a brute, and they had never been what he would call friends, but in this more liberated environment, he found his behavior amusing. "All right then, do your worst." He was actually morbidly curious to see who Phil thought was his match.

"Okay," said Phil. "Well…" His gaze swept the sea of figures, and he frowned a little as he tried to decide how, exactly, Alex should live a little. "All right," he declared after a moment. "There's your girl. Constance. She's smart, right? Like you." He boldly pointed straight at Constance, who was seated primly at the pool's edge, chatting to her friend Jamie in an undertone.

Alex was surprised. He'd expected a much less thoughtful match from Phil. Constance was indeed smart, and quiet, and pretty. But she was also terribly shy, even now keeping her arms close to her and talking only to Jamie. And she was a little odd, too. Alex doubted Phil had noticed, but Constance often wore tiny pentacle earrings and a leather hex bag, or something like one, around her neck. Someone like Constance was unlikely to appreciate being bothered by a guy like Phil, and Alex threw out an arm to stop Phil lurching over to her. Luckily, she was too absorbed in her conversation to notice.

"Woah, Phil." He clapped Phil companionably on the back and steered him around to face the Jacuzzi instead. "Constance is pretty great and all, but—"

"All right, all right," interrupted Phil. "Tough customer, okay. Let's see…yeah! Check out Julia!"

Julia was sitting by the Jacuzzi, a towel drawn around her shoulders, bare legs glistening with pool water. Her laugh tinkled prettily, the noise clear and carrying, but Alex detected a note of insincerity. She was clever, friendly, and beautiful, yes, but a little self-absorbed. Nothing out of the ordinary for a girl her age, he supposed, watching the practiced way she flipped a shiny lock of golden hair.

He glanced at Phil again, noticing the way his eyes lingered on Julia's legs, the way his pupils dilated ever so slightly. He smiled to himself.

"Yeah, Phil, that's more like it. I think she's perfect for you."

"For me? Nah, I'm not—"

"She's looking over here! Go on, go talk to her!"

"What? Is she really?" She actually was, to Alex’s delight. She flashed them a smile before turning back to her friends, chatting a little more animatedly than before.

"Yeah, go on, man. You got this."

Phil collected himself fairly quickly and started for Julia, but stopped mid-step, seeming to remember he was supposed to hook Alex up.

"Okay, buddy, but come on…You really are going out with the French girl, right?" He grinned widely and gave Alex what was probably meant to be a light nudge before squaring his shoulders and heading in Julia's direction. At least Julia could handle herself if she wasn't as interested as she seemed.

Alex recovered quickly from the "nudge" and, upon straightening, immediately scanned the crowd for Natalie. She’d been longer than he’d expected her to be.

He spotted her as she stepped out of the house, looking a little flushed. Just as she began making her way toward the pool, he noticed something behind her that made him do a double take.

In a sea of flashy colors and swirling lights, the figure behind Natalie was almost comically different. Dressed all in gray, tattered clothes, the man stood three full hands taller than the girl he followed, who was seemingly oblivious to his presence, though she turned in his direction. His long fingers clasped and unclasped in front of him, stretching out toward her, and his chin tilted out as his papery lips moved as if to whisper. He moved slowly, hunching over and then straightening, swiveling his head back and forth.

"What the…?” Alex breathed, and jolted forward—just in time to collide with two dancing couples who swerved in front of him, blocking Natalie from view. When he searched for her again, to his surprise, she was moving toward the opposite side of the pool.

The man was still following her.

Alex surged ahead, grabbing Phil as he passed by him. “Hey, who's that weird guy following Natalie?” he asked, pulling him along.

"Uh, what?" Phil said, blinking. He looked where Alex did. "You mean Ben? He's not following her, he's just—"

Alex shook his head. Ben was following her, using the pretense of walking over to the drink stand, but that was beside the point. “Not Ben. That tall man in rags!”

“Rags?” repeated Phil, now sounding utterly confused. “I don’t see any…”

The figure was following Natalie along the side of the pool now. Nobody else seemed to be reacting to his presence.

Alex left Phil behind and continued pushing past people.

He had his answer: either nobody else could see the figure, or they were pretending they couldn't. Possible explanations flashed rapidly through his mind—it was a prank, it was a trick of the light, he'd been drugged—as he cut through the crowd, trying to keep Natalie in view. The worst-case scenario was that the girl had been in this country less than a day before managing to pick up a creepy stalker. And he'd promised to look out for her.

She was just around the pool's corner from him, just through another throng of people. He had almost reached her, but before he could push through, there came an enormous splash, followed by whoops of laughter. The crowd tightened around the pool, hollering and cheering, and he lost sight of Natalie once again. He craned his neck, but the teeming mass of people was now impossible to penetrate. Panic rose in his throat, humming there like a swarm of bees.

Suddenly, Natalie slipped through the crowd, appearing quickly at his side with a look of concern on her face.