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

Ceres raised an eyebrow. “Well, yeah, that’s why I brought you here.”

Alex flushed. “I was just agreeing with you,” he said. Something about Ceres always left him on edge. Sometimes she was the smiling daredevil; other times she was the sharp-tongued warrior who made him feel like an idiot.

“Ladies first,” she said, gesturing toward the open trapdoor.

Alex stepped down, descending into the earth. Ceres followed, her footsteps echoing behind him. At the bottom of the steps, there was a narrow door, but before Alex even pushed it open, he knew what he would see on the other side. He was not disappointed. A cavernous walkway led to a set of huge gates, and beyond that…

What should have been a lofty cave with a deep fissure in the center was in fact a lofty cave with no fissure whatsoever. The pit that should have been there had obviously, at some point after the mist rose, collapsed in on itself, rendering it unusable. Stepping closer, Alex saw that a golden bird lay still at the top of a pile of rubble, half buried by dirt and rock.

“Maybe the mist caused it to crumble so another spell attempt couldn’t be made at the same pit,” Ceres mused, crouching to grasp some of the dirt in her hand.

“You think Virgil sent us on a wild goose chase?” Alex asked, frowning.

Ceres shrugged. “Wouldn’t surprise me. I’m not sure he’s as eager to participate as he’s claiming; he’s probably trying to buy a little time. Wouldn’t you, if you had to do it?” she said, her tone surprisingly compassionate.

“I don’t know,” Alex replied, trying to put himself in Virgil’s shoes.

There was a scuffle in the shadows across the room, followed by the sound of someone clearing their throat. A figure slowly emerged, but Ceres was already sprinting over the rubble pile, barreling into the shadowy shape with all her might, taking it down before it could strike. In the confusion, Alex caught a glimpse of horn-rimmed spectacles and over-rouged cheeks.

“Ceres! Ceres, get off her—she’s a friend!” he yelled, though the squat figure of Siren Mave was doing a fine job of holding off the rampaging royal. A black cloud of magic was rippling around Ceres, lifting her up and away, though her limbs were flailing and magic whipped from her hands in wild motions.

“Siren Mave, let her go! We’re all friends here!” Alex cried. To his surprise, Siren Mave actually obeyed, lowering Ceres to the ground with an unceremonious thud before removing the cloud of magic.

Ceres stood up indignantly, dusting herself off. “Who is this woman?” she snapped, flashing a sour look at Alex.

“She won’t do us any harm,” he replied. “Sorry about that,” he added, turning to Siren Mave.

She gave an awkward curtsey. “No harm done. Nice to see you’ve got a useful protector for once!” she remarked tartly. “Anyway, I thought I’d drop in, seeing as you’re getting things all wrong again, and Elias seems to have gone AWOL. Looked like you could do with a little divine intervention.” She chuckled to herself, smacking her lips.

“Elias is busy researching,” Alex said, jumping to the shadow-man’s defense.

“Is he now? If you believe that, you’ll believe anything. He’s probably swinging from a rafter somewhere, pretending to be a hammock,” she scoffed.

“Anyone going to introduce me?” Ceres cut in, looking suspiciously at the squat woman.

Siren Mave stuck out a plump hand. “Siren Mave, pleased to meet you. And you must be Ceres, yes? I must say, what a wonderful operation you’ve got set up at Starcross—very quaint idea. Very heroic. Good while it lasted, eh?”

Ceres scowled. “What did you just say?”

“Ignore her,” Alex warned. “We have bigger things to deal with.”

Ceres didn’t say another word, though her savage expression said everything. Siren Mave smiled before turning back to Alex.

“Now, where was I?”

Alex sighed. “I’m getting everything wrong?”

“Of course!” Siren Mave nodded vigorously. “I just thought I’d come and say you were barking up the wrong tree.”

“Well, I can see that now,” said Alex, pointing to the caved-in pit. “You didn’t think to tell us before we came out here?”

Siren Mave shook her head. “Where would the lesson be in that? Anyway, now I have your attention, let’s have a little spot of history, shall we?”

Alex shrugged, while Ceres remained silent.

“Not the most enthusiastic response, but… Well, I’ll take what I can get. Both of you are right about the mist causing the pit to cave in, by the way,” she began. “This is what the tales mean about a haven ‘falling.’ Well, that and the destruction of anyone stupid enough to stick around while the mist is rising. But, mostly, it’s this. The mist rose, killing everyone, and the pits crumbled, along with the castle, given that the pit is dug into the foundations of a place.”

Alex frowned. “Why would they dig a pit into the foundations?”

“Only place to put them!” Siren Mave pronounced. “You see, the pits had to be dug as close as possible to a magical building, so a containment spell could be used to get the mist below the earth. However, without essence to feed it, the mist can only be held below ground for a short period of time. All the spells in the world can’t keep it at bay—aside from the obvious,” she continued, flashing an amused smile that showed specks of red lipstick on her teeth.

“How come it’s not here now, then?” Ceres asked, evidently too intrigued to stay silent. “The mist, I mean?”

“The big question, and one I’m glad you asked,” enthused Siren Mave. “The original containment spell was already beginning to fail, but it was exacerbated by Virgil’s failed spell attempts. It was around this point that Julius, in all his wisdom,” she muttered sarcastically, “decided to implement the essence system. An ill-advised advisor told him it would be the best course of action, and he naturally got a kick out of the idea. So, he went ahead