The Secret of Spellshadow Manor 5 by Bella Forrest (book series for 10 year olds .TXT) 📕

nodded, though he realized immediately that he couldn’t be seen. “The word above the door said ‘Unity,’ so the way out of here must have something to do with us working together.”

“Maybe we could start by figuring out the shape of the room, to figure out where the exit is?” Ellabell said. He could feel her chin turning up to look at him, even though they couldn’t see one another.

“Let’s form a chain and map out the space,” Lintz suggested.

It seemed like a good plan, but Alex wanted to make sure Ellabell was close to him at all times. In the previous room, she had admitted her greatest fear was the dark, and she was shaking like a leaf. It was the first time he had sensed true terror in her.

“Ellabell, if you’ll be the lynchpin, the rest of us will stretch out from you, and see if we can touch the walls. See if we can’t find a door in this place,” Alex said.

Everyone moved into position, with Ellabell in the center, her palm clammy as she gripped Alex’s hand. Lintz was in the center too, with Alex and Aamir on the outer edges, encumbered with the task of feeling out the walls. Slowly, they began to turn, Alex snatching his hand back every time it made contact with something fleshy. The chains rattled harder whenever he came near, but he refused to let it put him off. They had to find the exit—there was no time for meekness.

Pretty soon, Alex realized that the room itself was only as wide as the four of them stretched out to their full capacity, as they rotated to feel out the shape. From this, they garnered that it was a perfect square. The stone walls were moist with something unpleasant, but Alex pushed away his disgust as he called back to the others what he had found. Aamir did the same, until they had a complete idea of what the room looked like. However, they had found no door on any of the walls.

“Any luck?” Alex asked.

“No door here,” Aamir replied.

“What if there isn’t one?” said Ellabell, her voice fearful.

“In the famous words of Sherlock Holmes: at a crime scene, always look up… or, in this case, down,” suggested Lintz.

It was a good idea. Following the professor’s lead, Alex and the others began to search the floor, keeping close to one another as they made their sweep of the terrain. There was a thick mulch of something on the floor, and Alex didn’t dare imagine what disgusting things he would see on his hands when they reached some form of light again.

“I’ve found something!” Aamir shouted. “It feels like a trapdoor.”

Alex’s heart pounded faster. “Really?”

“Yeah, but there seems to be a padlock on it,” replied Aamir regretfully.

“Is there a key?” Ellabell asked.

“Sadly not.”

Just then, Alex thought he heard a furtive whispering. It was nearby, too close to be from the chain-rattlers and groaning ghouls, and it didn’t sound particularly monstrous. It sounded human. Stranger still, Ellabell’s hand had stopped shaking.

“I think I know where the key is,” she said a moment later. A skittering sound followed her announcement, as if something metallic had been kicked across the ground.

“Ellabell?” whispered Alex as she let go of his hand, stooping to pick something up.

“I have it here,” she said. “Aamir, where are you?”

“Over here.”

Alex felt Ellabell move away from him, clumsily picking her way toward the spot where Aamir had found the trapdoor. Alex held his breath when he heard the sound of a key turning in a lock, followed by a satisfying click.

“It’s open!” said Aamir, delighted.

Alex exhaled, grateful it had worked, but still curious as to where Ellabell had found the key. He figured he’d ask her in a moment, when they weren’t in a room chock full of unknown creatures. There was no time to lose. He moved to where he thought Aamir to be, and found the empty gap of an opening in the ground. A rope ladder was attached to the side, and Alex clung to it as he made his fumbling way down, following the light that shone from below.

Task four completed; we’re a third of the way through, he told himself, dropping into the next room. They’d been lucky so far, moving through the challenges with relative ease, but, from here on, he had a feeling the tasks were only going to get harder.

Chapter 9

With everyone assembled, Alex was about to ask Ellabell how she had known about the key, but he had barely gotten through the first two words when she lifted her finger quickly to her lips and shook her head in warning.

At least she doesn’t look scared anymore, he noted.

Following her gaze, he saw why she had silenced him. The room was brightly lit, enough for Alex and the others to see the black dirt and reddish grime on their hands, but he barely had time to notice it. At the far end of the room stood an enormous mechanical Minotaur, flanked by two mechanical lions, their golden manes gleaming in the torchlight.

The whir of cogs springing to life had a similar effect on Alex, as he jumped into action mode. Throwing up his hands, he weaved anti-magic between his fingers, only to find his powers stunted again by the energies of the vault. Hadrian had warned them this would happen, but Alex hadn’t thought it would feel so frustrating. It seemed the others were having trouble too, as the golden glint of their magic fell flat, dissipating uselessly into the atmosphere. Alex had hoped their abilities might be returned to their full capacity as they progressed through the vault, but it seemed he was wrong.

Looking around, he saw that there were various medieval-looking weapons hanging from the walls, most likely intended for their use.

“Grab a weapon, my dears!” Lintz bellowed, his voice like a war cry.

The professor lunged for a hefty double-sided axe, tearing it from its fittings. He looked truly