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

a whole lot,” he cackled, “I have decided that a book hunt is long overdue. You require answers, and I shall seek them out. Should only take me a few days, perhaps longer… Depends what else I find on my travels,” he said, with a sly wink.

“Why do you need books?” Alex asked, not quite following.

Elias sighed. “After all this time, you still don’t see the glory of literature. Everything is in books—people can’t help but write things down. Every little thing. If someone has successfully done this spell before, even if it only happened once about a million years ago, I will find it, and I will figure out if there’s anything else you did wrong, or anything else you need to know, to ensure it doesn’t go wrong again. So, ciao for now, Alex Webber—don’t miss me too much!” he taunted. With that, the shadow-man disappeared in a swirling vortex, leaving Alex alone with his thoughts.

Leaning his elbows on his knees, Alex was still trying to process his options when Aamir and Jari walked in wearing awkward smiles. Jari was munching on a handful of what looked like pecans, presumably found on his and Aamir’s exploration of the camp food stores.

Alex gave an apologetic wave. “Have you been waiting outside the tent?”

“We didn’t want to interrupt your chitchat. Sounded intense!” Jari said through a mouthful of snacks.

“How much did you guys hear?” Alex asked, slightly embarrassed. Elias always made him feel like a petulant child, and he didn’t like to think of his friends seeing him as anything but calm and collected.

“Only a little,” Aamir said, at the same time Jari announced, “Pretty much everything.”

“Great,” Alex replied drily.

“At least we know what needs to be done, right?” Aamir asked with an apologetic look.

“Yep, just need to strike a deal with the devil,” Jari said. “Easy peasy.”

Alex stood up. “Well, there’s one more thing I need to do, to make sure I haven’t overlooked anything important with the spell.” Even though Elias had gone to do just that, Alex couldn’t rely on the shadow-man being back in time, and, with Spellshadow exploding in a cloud of silver mist, they didn’t have the luxury of waiting anymore.

Aamir raised an eyebrow. “You want to talk to Virgil?”

As always, it surprised Alex how perceptive the older boy could be; he had assumed he hid his thoughts well, but it seemed he wore his heart on his sleeve more often than not.

“Exactly. Virgil has gone through this four times now, counting our most recent failed attempt,” Alex said with a sigh. “So if anyone knows the pitfalls, or has any ideas, it’s him.”

“I bet he’ll give you a hard time,” Jari commented. “I wouldn’t feel like talking to the person who hijacked my brain and almost got me killed. Although you could always just rummage around in his head if he doesn’t cooperate.” He waggled the fingers of his free hand.

“We can come with you, if you’d like,” Aamir offered.

“He might be more open to talking if it’s one-on-one,” Alex said, hoping that would be the case. Neither Jari nor Aamir seemed surprised at his response.

“Have fun,” Jari said, flashing a peace sign.

“And do let us know what you find out,” Aamir added with a knowing look.

Alex promised he would and assured them that he would be back soon, although he knew he had a somewhat bad habit of leaving his friends out of the loop. He just didn’t want to drag them into making tough choices, not if he could spare them the mental anguish he was going through when it came to the counter-spell. This wasn’t exactly a “problem-shared, problem-halved” kind of event.

If he wanted to talk to Virgil, he would first need to find Ceres. The vividly remembered image of her riding the Kelpie had also given him an idea.

Heading out of the tent, he turned toward the spot where he had left Storm sleeping, and emerged between the narrow passageway that led between the girls’ tent and the boys’. Sitting on the low fence that ringed the back of the two makeshift shelters was Ceres, her one good eye gazing intently at the sleeping Thunderbird, who was nesting beneath the shadow of the willow trees, oblivious to her watcher. Ceres turned as Alex approached, a serene look on her face; it was an expression he hadn’t seen on her before, and it knocked him slightly off guard. He had been expecting the brutal, no-nonsense Ceres, but this one was different.

“She’s something else.” The short-haired royal spoke first.

Alex nodded. “She certainly is.”

“Where did you find her?” Ceres’s attention moved back to the resting Thunderbird.

“She found me,” Alex laughed, though her interest made him curious. “How did you find your Kelpies?”

Ceres smiled. “Through a similar experience. They were thriving here when we arrived. I didn’t expect anything to be alive, and then there they were… beautiful creatures, just trotting around on the riverbanks.”

“Aren’t they dangerous?” Alex asked, not sure he’d call those monstrous beasts beautiful. Imposing, perhaps, but not beautiful.

“All wild things are dangerous, Alex. Your Thunderbird is dangerous, but she trusts you, and you trust her, and there is a partnership between you. People who don’t understand that unique bond would seek to domesticate her, but she should never be tamed. That’s where they went wrong, way back when—trying to domesticate creatures that should always be wild…” She trailed off wistfully, before snapping back toward Alex. “Anyway, what did you come out here for? Were you looking for me?”

Alex nodded. “I need to speak with Virgil.”

“I thought you might.” Ceres sighed. “Come with me. He should be awake by now.”

Alex did as he was told, trailing Ceres through the encampment, walking past the curious eyes that watched them as they went. A few people whispered furtive words as he passed, though he tried hard not to hear what they were saying.

“I hear he’s a Spellbreaker,” one muttered under their breath.

“I hear he’s something else entirely—neither mage nor Spellbreaker,” another breathed.

Before