The Secret of Spellshadow Manor 4 by Bella Forrest (life books to read TXT) 📕

eyes flashing. He seemed too disgusted to tell them the actual crimes these other necromancers had been imprisoned for, but the emotion lacing Vincent’s voice reinforced the certainty that it was bad beyond words, whatever it was that had led to their incarceration.

“What kind of necromancy did you do?” pressed Jari, his eyes as wide as saucers.

Vincent grinned oddly. “Those are not tales for mortal ears.”

Alex felt disappointed he wasn’t going to hear the nitty-gritty of what had put the strange man behind bars.

“Shall I take it from here, dear heart?” Agatha asked.

Vincent nodded, his thin neck bobbing with unexpected grace. “The floor is yours, dear lady.”

Agatha seemed a little eccentric, but far too nice to be a criminal. Alex couldn’t imagine her committing any misdeed worthy of as harsh a punishment as Kingstone.

“Well, cherubs, I was put in this place many moons ago for the petty crime of theft and the somewhat larger crime of trying to kill a royal… though I didn’t know he was a royal at the time.” She winked. “If I’d known, I’d have tried twice as hard. I’m not even anti-royalist—well, I wasn’t before they put me in here. I sure am now!”

“What did you steal?” asked Ellabell shyly, pushing her spectacles back up onto the bridge of her nose.

“Just the question I was hoping for!” Agatha cried with delight. “I stole a diamond as big as a Thunderbird’s egg—oh, you should have seen it! It was a beauty. I saw it through a window, and it was in this glass box, just sitting there, sparkling away, calling my name, and I couldn’t just walk past it. So, into this great big house I slipped, and I nabbed it, and on the way I ran into some problems, what with alarms and guards and whatnot. That’s where the almost-killing part comes into play. But I held that glorious diamond in my hands for a good hour before they could pry it away from me. I can still feel it now, if I close my eyes and wish hard enough.” Accentuating the point, she squeezed her eyes shut and rounded her palms, as if she were holding an invisible egg. A smile spread across her face. “It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”

“Impressive.” Ellabell grinned. Alex could see why; it was hard to imagine this old hippie as a jewel thief, no matter how unsuccessful she’d been.

“Oh, you’ve no idea how lovely it is to have some young blood wandering freely about the place, with the blooms still freshly in your cheeks and your whole lives ahead of you. Goodness, what I wouldn’t give to be your age again. The things I got up to!” She cackled mischievously, and Alex could only imagine what this woman had gotten up to at his age. On second thought, he wasn’t sure he wanted to know. “I say that, but I suppose it can’t be so lovely if you’re in here, can it? It’s devastating when they bring those youngsters through from that fancy-pants school. Terribly sad, the way their minds depart for greener pastures, leaving only the wild-eyed husks behind. Is that why you’re here? I do hope you don’t end up the same way, cherubs. You’re such dear things!”

“These ones are more like guests than prisoners,” Demeter explained. “They’re here purely to make a pit stop while they build a portal home. And, with your assistance, they’re going to be able to do it all the swifter,” he added in a low voice.

Both of Demeter’s friends shared a smile at this news, which made Alex feel even more hopeful as they pressed on, moving deeper and deeper into the keep in search of the essence that would take them home.

Chapter 5

As they walked, it began to dawn on Alex that the keep was far bigger than he had imagined. Taking a quick look out of one of the nearby windows, he could count at least ten other windows descending beneath, but that was only what his eyes could see. The more they mapped out, the more he realized just how vast this place was.

Passing hallways upon hallways of cells, Alex noticed there was a small vestibule at the end of many of the corridors, and each one had a long, cylindrical contraption attached to the wall. Sometimes it was beside an open window, looking out on the bronze fog; sometimes it was in the center of a solid stretch of masonry. The contraptions themselves were built from pure gold that shone in the torchlight. Alex wondered what purpose they served, thinking that, perhaps, they were some kind of alarm system that alerted the guards when a prisoner escaped. It would certainly explain why they seemed to be at the end of most corridors.

Coming into a space with a dozen or so tunnels stretching out from the central point, they passed another of the large, golden cylinders, clinging to the wall beside a wide, open window that looked out on the many stories below. Alex wanted to pause and take a closer look at the object, but the others had already powered on. He thought about following, but the cylinder called to him. Knowing he would catch up eventually, he placed his beetle beacon down beside the tunnel through which they had passed and walked over to the strange gold object.

The outer shell was embossed with swirling designs, which seemed out of place in the dank misery of the prison. He let his thumb trace over the shapes of flowers and vines. Something sparked against his skin, like an electric shock, and he jerked his hand back. He knew he really shouldn’t be going around and touching random things.

Listening closely, he could hear the sound of something whirring within. There were six small screws along the length of the golden exterior, making Alex think it might be made of clockwork. He was desperate to know its purpose. However, he stopped short of prying