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

your escapees are. Until today, all I knew was there had been a disturbance at the portal. How was I to know you were in the throes of an uprising?” She shrugged. “Besides, my scouts didn’t find anything when they went to check the portal, so who knows where they are by now.”

Alex tensed at the mention of escapees, though he could feel the corners of his lips curving into a wry smile at the irony of it. If only the Head knew just how close he was.

“I didn’t come to ask about the escapees—well, not entirely,” the Head said. “I was wondering if I might borrow a student to turn into the new Finder instead.”

Alypia looked horrified. “No—absolutely not! I won’t spare another drop of noble blood on necromancy. It has to be one of yours.”

The Head sighed. “Might I borrow some of the essence from the ceremony then, at the very least?”

“I’m afraid not, little brother. You said so yourself: with things the way they are, we at Stillwater need to hold onto what we have, while we have it. If you’re short, you will have to start using your reserves—I know you have plenty,” she stated. “In the meantime, I will ask the others if they have any they can spare, though I’m sure you’re likely to get the same answer from them.”

The conversation seemed to concern Alypia, especially the part about the dwindling magic, but something else entirely concerned Alex. He wasn’t sure if he had misheard, but he was certain Alypia had just called the Head “little brother.”

“Thank you,” the Head muttered.

“Honestly, what would you do without your big sister?” Alypia smirked.

Alex definitely hadn’t misheard that time. His stomach sank.

The resemblance was more believable, seeing them side by side, though time and looks had been far kinder to the beautiful Princess Alypia.

‘Princess’ Alypia? Alex paused in horrified thought. What did that mean about the Head? Was he magical royalty too? How could he be related to Alypia? Alex couldn’t quite get his head around it. True, she had called him “little brother,” but it didn’t add up. The wrench in the works was Alex’s strong, almost certain understanding that the Head was half-mage, half-Spellbreaker, an improbable hybrid of the two, so how could he be related to the pure mage royalty of Princess Alypia? Was the Head a mutant, Alex wondered, remembering when he had thought himself to be one. Or was it simpler than that—was the Head the result of a forbidden affair between a mage and a Spellbreaker, making him a half-sibling, perhaps, of Alypia? There were so many possibilities.

It made Alex think back to the portraits hanging on the walls in the Spellshadow ballroom, but there hadn’t been one of the Head alongside them. Slowly, he counted them in his mind. There had been eight portraits on the wall, but there were supposed to be nine havens—or had been, once upon a time. Did that mean Spellshadow was the ninth haven and the Head the ninth royal, whose portrait should have been up there? It made a lot of sense to Alex that a hybrid would end up the black sheep of the family, especially a royal one. The figures in the portraits had all seemed fairly regal, with their crowns and tiaras twisting through the same white hair the two siblings shared. If the havens were manned by magical royals, Alex mused, it would explain why their portraits had been up in the school ballroom in the first place.

Somehow, in the confusing web of family ties, the Head was related to this stunning woman and seemed to be intimidated by her, which was something Alex had been sure he’d never see. The skeletal figure’s fear of her was almost weirder than them being related. It made Alex fearful too. If someone as strong and powerful as the Head was scared of her, then there was definitely something to be scared of.

“I think we should go inside and discuss this further,” Alypia announced. “These are things that should not be spoken of out in the open.” Her eyes glanced uncertainly around, including up toward the tower, and Alex ducked down below the sill.

Peering tentatively back over the ledge, he watched as the duo quickly moved away, heading through one of the archways that led from the abandoned courtyard into the villa itself. Desperate for more information and seeing a prime opportunity before him, Alex tiptoed as silently as he could down the staircase, past the sleepers on each floor below. Turning the key in the lock and letting himself out, he knew what he had to do. He was going after them.

Chapter 14

Alex slipped out of the tower and ran across the courtyard, following the path the two white-haired figures had just taken beneath the archway at the far end, into the school. The entrance wasn’t lit from the outside, and he almost stumbled headfirst into the corridor as his foot connected with a narrow step that led up into the villa. Pain shot through his leg, but he quickly covered his mouth with his hand so as to muffle his groan. Once the ache had subsided a little, he carried on through the dim light, hoping there would be a torch at some point along the way. His toe throbbed dully as he crept through the shadows.

He knew it was an incredibly risky move, following the Head and the Headmistress. Glancing into the darkness behind him, he wondered what the others would say if they knew what he was up to. Undoubtedly, they’d want to know what the hell he thought he was doing. Doubt niggled in the back of his mind; it wasn’t just himself he was putting in the firing line by going after the two figures. If the leaders of Spellshadow and Stillwater discovered him, he and his friends would be in a whole world of trouble.

For a moment, he thought about turning