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

He didn’t have much more time to investigate, as the vaporous being seemed intent on taking him over to the farthest stack. Alex followed tentatively, climbing up a precarious set of ladders as the shadowy mist shot up toward the very top of the stack. Looking down, Alex felt queasy as the ground plummeted away beneath him, and he suddenly doubted the security of his footing on the slippery wooden rungs. It was a nervy climb, his palms sweaty as he reached the second highest landing of the far stack.

Here, the misty creature bobbed along, waiting for him. Alex trailed after the being, wondering why he had put his trust in a wispy bit of fog. Making a silent promise to be less impulsive in the future, he walked along the platform, not daring to glance over the balcony, until he reached a small clearing in the stacks, where a few comfortable-looking armchairs were scattered around a sleek reading table. Suddenly, the shadowy wisp disappeared in a puff of inky smoke, leaving Alex alone.

Anxiety rippled through Alex as he scanned the area, wondering why the creature had brought him here, only to evaporate. Perhaps it had simply wanted to show him the library, he thought, though he knew that was a little naïve. When would he learn that magical things couldn’t always be trusted?

Alex waited for a while, expecting somebody to pounce at him from the shadows. When nobody did, he turned his mind to the exciting books all around him, reaching toward a few of the closest tomes and thumbing the spines with quiet admiration. As he read the titles of a few, he found himself squinting every so often into the darkness of the room to make sure there really was nobody watching him.

Panic shot through him once more as he realized there was something hiding in the darkness. It was in the corner of the reading cubby, appearing slowly. Alex peered closer, watching as a bundle of dark energy amassed—shapeless at first, but gaining definition as the moments passed. Alex stayed frozen to the spot, not sure whether to run and hide or stay and find out what it would become.

It didn’t take long for Alex to realize that the being was undeniably Elias, though he wasn’t as well-formed as he had been back at Spellshadow. There was a fractured quality to this iteration of Elias, as if he was physically trying to hold his various shadowy pieces together in one whole, and was struggling hopelessly. Alex wasn’t sure if his shadow-guide might be stretching himself too far from where he was supposed to be, leading to this strange fragmentation.

“How do I look?” the shadowy figure quipped.

“Not your best,” replied Alex.

“Charming! I drag myself all this way and that is the best you can do? At least lie to me—tell me you can see the stars in my eyes or something.” He grinned, his galactic eyes twinkling. Alex could see that, although Elias was struggling to hold his physical self together, he had lost none of his usual, sarcastic humor. “I’d have thought you’d be better at compliments by now, what with that pretty little troublemaker of yours,” he added, with a sour note.

Seeing Elias again, Alex couldn’t decide how he felt. On the one hand, Elias had done them all a great service in their last battle against the Head, but on the other hand, he had to think about what Ellabell had told him, about believing Elias to be the shadow who attacked her. Regardless, he couldn’t bear to hear the mention of Ellabell coming from Elias’s mouth, not after what he might have done to her.

Alex’s eyes hardened as he surveyed his shadowy acquaintance. There was an extra twinge of bitterness toward Elias that he hadn’t felt before. There was distrust, too—more than he had ever felt toward the shadow being.

“And here I was, thinking you’d be happy to see me,” teased Elias with a flash of inky teeth. “What’s with the pouty face?”

Alex glared. “I didn’t ask you to come.”

Elias smiled. “Always so ungrateful!”

“I’m not ungrateful, I just—you keep putting me in harm’s way,” said Alex quietly.

A flash of amusement sparked across Elias’s shifting features. “You’re the one who followed a weird, wispy bit of smoke through a strange school, in the middle of the night, without second-guessing it,” he purred. “I think it’s because you missed me—you secretly hoped it was me, so off you ran, into the night, desperate to see your shadowy friend.” An unnatural grin spread out across Elias’s shadowy lips. “You didn’t even wake up your little girlfriend to tell her you were off. I can’t imagine she’d be pleased about that.”

Alex’s cheeks burned in anger. “Don’t you dare,” he seethed.

Elias’s face morphed into something akin to a frown. “Temper, temper—where’s all this hostility coming from? I put up a decent fight back there so you had time to get free, and here is my thanks,” he sighed, a hint of annoyance creeping into his strangely distant voice.

“You did it all for yourself!” snapped Alex.

Menace glittered in Elias’s endlessly dark eyes. “What?” he whispered.

“You did it all for yourself,” repeated Alex, more quietly.

Elias gave a bitter laugh. “None of this is for me,” he said simply.

“Liar,” Alex muttered.

“If you would begrudge me my own life essence, perhaps you are not the man I thought you were,” said Elias sadly. “But that was not why—call it an unexpected surprise. I want you to succeed, Alex. That is all I have wanted and continue to want.”

“Then why hurt those I… care for?” demanded Alex, choosing his words carefully. Without Elias, Alex knew he’d be at square one; the shadow being had aided in helping him learn of his heritage, in helping challenge the Head, in so many things, but Alex was struggling to forget what Ellabell had said.

Elias’s eyes glittered with curiosity. “I don’t follow?”

“Why did you attack Ellabell the way you did?”