The Secret of Spellshadow Manor 6 by Bella Forrest (books for men to read .TXT) 📕

It was a terrifying thought, made all the more horrifying by the fact that Alex knew she was right. Julius would follow them to the ends of the earth. They had his wife, they had defied him, they were a thorn in his side—it was only a matter of time before he caught up. But, at least for now, he had no idea where they were.

For the time being, they were a tentative step ahead.

Chapter 5

After ensuring the remainder of the Stillwater army was through, Alex and the girls followed, stepping into the idyllic realm of Starcross Pond. Hadrian paused in front of the portal.

“Vincent and I will stay behind. If we hear anything, we’ll l-let you know,” he said. The nervous royal looked perplexed, as if the weight of what was happening had just sunk in.

Alex nodded. “We’ll do the same, but could you do me one last favor before you go?”

Hadrian frowned. “What is it?”

“If you walk around the forest outside the cave awhile, you’ll see my Thunderbird—she should have arrived by now,” he explained. “You might have to call her name to coax her out. She’s called Storm. If you just tell her where I’ve gone, so she can follow, that would be great.”

“Tell her where you’ve gone?” Hadrian repeated, incredulous.

Alex nodded. “I know it sounds strange, but she’s a clever bird. She’ll understand.”

“Very well, I shall s-send your Thunderbird to y-you.”

“Oh, where are we going, by the way?” Alex asked, realizing they’d need to know. He’d only seen Starcross from the air before, and had no idea where this field was in relation to the survivors’ camp.

“Follow the r-river, and k-keep it to your righthand side. It w-will lead you to Ceres,” Hadrian said. With that, the nervous royal pressed what Alex presumed to be the lotus-shaped gem, and the false wall slid back across the portal entrance, hiding it from anyone who might accidentally wander into the cave.

“Thank you!” Alex called through, feeling bad for the amount of pressure he’d loaded onto Hadrian’s shoulders.

The group gathering on the emerald-green field had grown considerably with the arrival of the Stillwater students. Alex had been sure Ceres would accost them before they even set foot through the portal, but she was nowhere to be seen. He headed to the front of the group, where Jari and Aamir were trying to allay the fears of a few fraught individuals. They would have to follow the river that glittered just ahead, where the banks sloped down to meet the babbling water, until they found the survivors’ camp.

“Not much farther to go,” Alex promised, shouting to the gathered group. It was as Hadrian had said upon meeting them all in the Falleaf glade: they were all hungry, cold, and tired, with many of them injured. If they didn’t reach a safer place soon, they would lose their resolve entirely.

Alex led the way across the field, which was fringed by regal-looking eucalyptus trees that rose to monstrous heights around the edges, their silvery trunks gleaming in the low afternoon sunlight. After clambering over a fence, they set off across another field, this one brimming with row upon row of vivid lavender, the scent so overpowering it almost stung the nostrils. Alex kept the river to his right, using it as his compass, though his eyes flitted toward the distractions all around, from the graceful flap of a “cabbage white” butterfly, half remembered from his grandfather’s butterfly collection, to the sprawling wildflowers that seemed to take up every available patch of land. Across the river, fields of poppies stretched along the bank, the delicate scarlet heads dancing in the breeze, carefree and flourishing.

It didn’t seem like the kind of place that had once been overtaken by the mist, but then again, Alex wasn’t sure exactly what type of fallout had occurred in its wake. Did the Great Evil affect plants and animals in the same way as mages? Did it leave whole realms to wrack and ruin? Or did it simply kill and move on, like a rabid disease, sinking away once there was nobody left to consume?

“What is this place?” Ellabell asked, her blue eyes wide with awe, the bronze sunlight on her face making her look more beautiful than Alex had ever seen her.

“This is Starcross Pond,” he replied, reaching for her hand. “There used to be a castle here somewhere, but it fell with the rest of the havens that didn’t make it.”

“It does not seem very fallen to me,” Natalie commented.

Alex shook his head. “No, it certainly doesn’t.”

Such idle thoughts were cut short by the sight of strangely shaped figures moving toward them in the distance. They appeared small at first, but quickly grew larger, as if they were moving at a great speed. The earth shuddered beneath Alex’s feet. He froze, wondering if they had just made a colossal error. What if Julius had somehow guessed where they had gone, and was charging toward them this very minute, having trapped them exactly where he wanted them? It seemed unlikely, but Julius was an unlikely sort of man, prone to being dangerously unpredictable; it was part of his power, part of what drove people to fear him.

“Get ready for a fight!” Alex bellowed. They were standing in a field full of blackberry bushes, and though he knew the spiny leaves wouldn’t provide much cover, they were better than nothing.

Panic rippled across the faces of the group, but they rallied, moving into a rough formation, lifting their hands in the direction of the oncoming aggressors. Some dove for the cover of the blackberry bushes, curling up into balls at the bases of the plants, but most stood ready to fight, awaiting Alex’s orders. Alex and his friends took to the front line, standing side by side, while they waited for the approaching individuals, whose numbers seemed to be expanding by the minute.

As they neared, Alex realized why their silhouettes had seemed so peculiar. They were