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

of so many of them, but that was his tough luck. Alex wasn’t going to leave anyone to die.

“I can’t come with you to Falleaf,” Helena said suddenly.

“Of course you can! Come on, it’ll be fine,” Jari jumped in, touching Helena’s arm.

Helena shook her head. “If what you say is true, Alex, I need to take whatever essence we have left and bring it to Stillwater. If I can keep the Great Evil at bay there, we will be keeping our options open. Julius will find out what we’ve done with Venus, and if we only have one place to run to, the king will come down on us like a raging tempest,” she explained. “More importantly, I still have people there. I will not leave them to a fate like this, not if I can prevent it.”

A moment of tense silence passed in the group. If it had been his own people, Alex knew he would have done the same. Before he could speak, members of the Stillwater party began to announce their unyielding loyalty to Helena, their voices rising in a stirring chorus of support.

“We will return with you! We will make our school safe!” one cried.

“We stand with you, Helena,” another said.

“We’ll follow you!” shouted a third.

Helena smiled. “I shall be returning to Stillwater immediately—anybody who wishes to join me is more than welcome, but the others must follow Alex. He will lead you to a safer place.”

With that, the group split into two, though the returning Stillwater group was far smaller—less than half the army Helena had brought with her. The rest huddled with the Spellshadow students, not daring to meet Helena’s gaze, though it was clear the young woman understood their reluctance entirely.

“Here,” said Ellabell, handing Helena the somewhat emptier bag of Falleaf essence.

“Thank you,” Helena said, then turned to Alex. “Now go. We’ll try to meet you at Falleaf afterward. I’ll see you all soon.”

Helena and her downsized army sprinted toward the Head’s office, where the portal would be lying open. Alex watched them go for a moment before projecting his voice over the crowd.

“Follow me,” he shouted, lugging along the still-unconscious Virgil. The Head groaned as they began to move, but Alex ignored it, hoping the royal would have the decency to stay knocked out until they reached Falleaf.

A nervous energy trailed Alex, with the congregation keeping pace with him as they hurried through the hallways. As Alex began to tire, Natalie and Jari took the place of himself and the shadow-man, the latter seemingly using their gesture of kindness as an excuse not to help any longer.

“I’ll see you there,” purred Elias, before disappearing into the darkness of the rafters.

“You’d better,” Alex muttered.

They poured out across the front steps of the manor, ignoring the scattered bodies that lay on the front lawn. Alex turned in time to see Catherine de Marchmont’s red-rimmed eyes glance toward the spot where Jun Asano had fallen, but she dropped her gaze a second later, evidently unable to bear the sight.

A few members of the group cowered as Storm reappeared, dropping down onto the grass beside them with a loud chirrup of indignation. It was clear she hadn’t appreciated being left to her own devices while everyone else disappeared inside the stone walls of the manor, where she couldn’t follow.

Alex smiled, reaching a hand up to stroke the downy feathers on the side of her face. “Sorry, girl, we’ve gotten ourselves into a bit of trouble,” he whispered.

The Thunderbird gave a low, anxious coo.

“It’s okay, we’re getting everyone out,” he said, before clambering up onto her back. She opened her enormous wings, startling the nearby students, but Alex stopped her. “No, Storm, we just need to walk for now, toward the Falleaf portal,” he explained. With a bristle of the feathers at the top of her head, she folded her wings back in and began walking as instructed, in a strangely hypnotic motion, Alex riding on her back. It was clear it wasn’t natural to her, but she was doing it anyway. Alex smiled at the thought—he had grown exceptionally fond of his Thunderbird.

With him leading the way on his peculiar steed, the rest of the group followed, though they picked up speed as a great rumble tore through the ground, making several students stumble. The mist was rising, and they needed to get to Falleaf fast. Almost running now, they hurried through the desolate gardens with their tumbledown walls and warped trees, the fountains mossed over, the flowers long since withered.

Reaching the broken section of the outer fortifications, Storm flew over the wall and landed neatly on the other side, just as another quake shook the ground, chunks of wall tumbling down. The students ducked out of the way, prompting the group to push and shove their way through the gap.

“Single file!” Alex yelled, but nobody was listening. Behind them, debris was falling from the walled gardens, the ancient fountains cracking, and the manor, just visible in the distance, was shaking. The sound of breaking glass and splintering rock filled their ears.

Bigger students trampled smaller ones, forcing Alex to jump down from Storm and join his friends as they struggled to pull the squashed students from the gap in the wall, while more stampeded through. It was a mess, everybody out for themselves. There had to be around fifty students trying to push their way out of the walled garden, and though some called for order, the panicked screams and pained cries drowned them out.

“Storm, can you help?” Alex asked, desperate now. There was a small boy trapped at the very bottom of the gap, his hand just visible, but nobody could get to him and people continued to run over him, pushing him farther and farther down into the crevice.

Storm chirped her response. Taking a step back, she braced herself, puffing out her feathered chest. A beam of ice came hurtling out of her mouth, her wings arched behind her for support. The ice thundered