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

the bird continued her gleeful display, twisting through barrel-rolls and corkscrews, until Alex felt sick with adrenaline.

Through one ill-timed loop-the-loop, Alex lost his grip on her bony handles and fell for a brief moment, only to be caught again with smooth precision. Storm chirped delightedly, even though the move had left Alex feeling decidedly nauseous.

“Please… no more tricks,” he pleaded.

Storm trilled, her eyes glittering intelligently as she looked back at him. He felt as if she were mocking him, and it made him grin. Surely, they were about to embark on a great companionship. The thought made him pine suddenly for his friends. While he was busy learning how to fly and having fun, he still had no idea whether they were safe or not. There was a reason he had learned to fly in the first place—to join Lintz, Ellabell, and Aamir at Falleaf House.

Alex maneuvered Storm back toward the mountain, trying out his amateur navigational skills. She followed the instruction easily, responding to the light squeeze of one leg, or the gentle pull of her shoulder-holds. It was simpler than he had expected, and he felt a rush of pride as she followed his lead, flying steadily back toward the ledge.

Landing, however, was a different matter entirely. He urged her downward, toward the rocky outcrop. She flapped wildly, trying to control her own movements while Alex squeezed her shoulders to steer her elsewhere. A loud squawk stilled his hands—he allowed her to do her own thing, and she dropped down onto the ice and snow. Alex awkwardly dismounted, sliding down onto the rock.

“Sorry, I’m still learning,” he said, stroking Storm’s feathers.

She ruffled them in disgruntlement, but her eyes told him that he was forgiven. His mind turned back toward his friends, and how he was going to find them. He pulled the beetle beacon from his pocket. A faint ripple of magic still coursed through it, but Alex didn’t know what good it would do him.

A vision pulsed into his mind, showing him how to feed his anti-magic into the mechanisms and smother the faint swell of golden magic within, in order to track its owner. Alex shivered. The train of thought was too precise and too coincidental to be from anyone but Elias.

The realization made him suddenly anxious again, about what had actually happened when he had tried to read Elias’s mind. He had thought Elias had vanished for good, but apparently the shadow-man wasn’t quite done pestering him just yet. The pain of the act had all but gone, but Alex could still feel a strange warmth in the depths of his chest, and he knew it had something to do with his shadowy acquaintance.

“I know you’re there!” Alex called, directing his words toward the rocky overhang. “Elias! You can come out now. I know it’s you!”

But Elias didn’t come.

It didn’t placate Alex, however. If it truly was Elias out there, the shadow-man would appear when he was good and ready, and not a minute before. The present moment clearly didn’t suit Elias, as much as Alex wished to get their reunion over and done with. He didn’t know how he felt about the idea of Elias still being around, especially after everything he had done, to his father, to Ellabell—all the deceit. It was impossible for Alex to shake the anger that still coursed through him, but he could sense Elias was near, and knew, with a sinking feeling, that he may not have a choice when it came to Elias’s continued presence in his life.

Now, he was convinced that something deeply unwanted had happened between himself and Elias back at Kingstone, and he could only guess at the repercussions. Wherever that creature went, Alex’s misery followed, and any help the shadow-man gave would surely come at a price.

Chapter 2

As much as he hated the source of the information, Alex decided to follow the vision he’d seen in his mind.

Holding the beetle tightly in his hand, he ran his anti-magic through the mechanisms, feeding the black and silver strands through the cogs and over the magic already within, coating the gold with the contrasting gleam of his powers. The two streams of energy merged, brightening for a moment before fading to a dull glisten.

Nothing happened.

Alex frowned, knowing he had followed the vision exactly as he had seen it. Frustrated, he shook the beacon, as if it might miraculously make the thing work, but still nothing happened within the metal carapace.

“I thought you were supposed to be helpful!” he shouted toward the shady overhang.

He waited a few moments more, and even fed a few more strands of anti-magic into the mechanism, willing the device to flash or beep or do something at least, but still nothing happened. With a growl, Alex threw the small oval of metal away, watching it arc through the air before it tumbled away into a snowdrift.

Annoyed at being back to square one, Alex sat down on the edge of the rocky outcrop and gazed out toward the horizon, willing it to grant him some form of inspiration. He wondered if he could simply get on Storm’s back and fly aimlessly, hoping to end up in the direction of Falleaf, but he had no idea where the fourth haven was, or if it could even be reached from this realm. It seemed hopeless, and with the potential threat of specters following in his wake, he wasn’t comfortable staying put. There had to be something he could do—a way to reach the others without the beacon.

Storm pecked at the back of his head. He pushed her beak away, but she was insistent, ruffling his hair and tapping lightly on his skull.

“Stop it!” he said, trying to duck away from her latest attack, but she would not stop. She nudged the side of his face like an overexcited puppy. Alex shot her an annoyed look.

With a high-pitched chirrup, she clamped her beak onto the back of his shirt and dragged him away