The Secret of Spellshadow Manor 3 by Bella Forrest (i can read book club txt) 📕

the sound of strange, whispered voices floated up through the window on the opposite side of the tower, distracting Alex. He rushed over to the slim sill and peered cautiously down into the courtyard below, trying to make out where the voices were coming from. It was dark in the abandoned section of the villa, keeping the speakers shrouded.

Only when a figure emerged from the shadows at the far side of the courtyard did he see that it was the beautiful woman from the night at the arena, though she was not quite as elegantly dressed now as she had been then. She still wore a gown of sorts, in white and gold silk, but it was more modest than the gauzy, dazzling dress she had worn for the Ascension Ceremony. Her white hair, too, was held back simply with a plain silver band.

Her voice was stern and irritated as she became more visible in the dim evening light. She kept glancing furtively over her shoulder, as if to make sure she was alone. Alex’s chest clenched in alarm as he saw her gaze turn briefly to the tower behind her. He hoped the others were being quiet in the rooms below, though he stopped short of calling out to them in case it drew any further attention from the glowering eyes of Princess Alypia. After a moment, she turned back around.

Alex’s heart thundered as another figure stepped out into the courtyard—the speaker Alypia seemed to be snarling irritably at. Shrouded in dark robes that swamped the spindly body beneath, the long, skeletal fingers of the figure reached out toward her from the ends of wide sleeves, gesturing wildly. The hood of the robe was pushed backward to reveal a sunken, otherworldly face and lank, white hair that ran down the back of the speaker’s skull in thinning strands. The new arrival was as familiar to Alex as his own reflection.

The Head had finally caught up.

Alex marveled silently at Natalie’s skill in moving the portal; it had clearly taken the Head some time to physically reconnect with Stillwater, but he had done it—as Alex had known he eventually would.

It was strange to see the Head without the hood obscuring his face. He was a thin, skeletal creature with a vulture-like neck and a gleaming skull. A vision of the younger Head, given to him when he touched Finder’s rotting skull, rushed into Alex’s mind. The Head had looked younger then, standing in the sunlight with a yet-to-be ghostly Malachi Grey, his white hair thicker, his eyes a stormy blue instead of the eerie, dull hollows they were now. Alex wondered how the years could have wreaked such havoc on the man. Despite what had gone on between them, Alex couldn’t help but think the Head looked almost pitiable.

The feeling only intensified as he watched the peculiarity in the Head’s actions—the figure was talking in a soft voice, and the long, skeletal hands were held up in a gesture of surrender. The Head seemed almost cowed by the chastisement of the beautiful woman before him, and he shuffled uncomfortably beneath the stern gaze of her glittering eyes, which shifted from stunning to ice-cold in an instant. Alex didn’t think he’d like to be on the receiving end of her displeasure either.

Listening more closely, he could make out some of what they were discussing, even though their voices were kept low. As far as he could tell, they were talking about the fight at Spellshadow and what had happened there. Alypia did not seem pleased by the outcome.

“Are you telling me you allowed your school to be overrun by a bunch of students?” she scoffed. “How could you let that happen? It’s ridiculous—I could put my florist in charge of your school, and she’d run it better than you ever could. Every time I think you are about to prove yourself worthy, you go and do something stupid like this!” she barked as the Head shifted awkwardly. “I thought your little peculiarities were supposed to make you stronger, not weaker.”

“It was out of my control, Alypia. I didn’t have a choice after they managed to get their hands on Malachi. So I hardly think that is fair!” remarked the Head angrily, though Alypia didn’t seem bothered by his sudden rage.

She brushed him off like an annoying bee. “You were an idiot to put your faith in that suck-up. He would have betrayed you the first chance he got, had he not been all see-through—don’t think he wouldn’t! You don’t know the Greys like I know them. They’re all snakes,” she declared. “You’re just going to have to find a suitable replacement. Pick someone and do to them what you did to Malachi Grey. That’s if you can still remember how to do necromancy?” She raised her eyebrow, mocking him.

“And what if they can’t do the job?” asked the Head sullenly. “I tried that with the new teacher—the one who escaped—but he couldn’t do it; he couldn’t seek out new recruits in the same way Malachi could. That’s how this all happened! Professor Nagi couldn’t manage it, so I had to go out there and find students myself. None of this would have been able to happen if I had been at the manor, but I wasn’t—it really was out of my control,” he insisted.

Alypia seemed bored. “And how is this any of my business? If you can’t run your school, that has nothing to do with me.”

“You know very well why it is your business, Alypia, so don’t try and play the fool,” he growled, his voice turning menacing. “Everyone knows that magic is dwindling in the nobles—without me and my school, you would soon struggle.”

What did that mean? Alex wondered. Whatever it was, it had gotten Alypia’s attention. Suddenly, she seemed more interested in what the Head had to say.

“Be that as it may, I still don’t see why you have come to me. I told you, I don’t know where