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

no worse for wear. Although he was thrilled by her arrival, he looked down in a panic, not wanting to leave his friends to the fate Julius had in store for them.

“Storm! Put me down!” he insisted, but she wasn’t listening.

He looked back down in time to see the cavalry arrive. Ceres and Demeter led the charge, circling around the back of Alex’s friends. However, it didn’t appear they wanted to fight Julius at all. Instead, they held out their hands, hauling Alex’s friends up onto the backs of the Kelpies before turning the beasts around and heading for the forest a fair distance behind them. The only rider with no passenger was Demeter, who looked up at where Storm was flying.

Just then, Alex felt the Thunderbird jolt forward. A pained chirp trilled from her beak as a flash of something tore past her, the edge of it catching her wing. They sagged a little in the sky, but she recovered quickly, struggling to pull him higher.

Alex turned, his eyes locking with Julius’s. The king was in the middle of forging a vicious-looking spear, the tip barbed with three glittering, magical blades. With a twisted grin, Julius hurled it with all the force he could muster, leaving Alex helpless to watch as it hurtled toward Storm.

This time, the spear didn’t miss its mark.

The spear tore through Storm’s body, and she let out a squawk of agony that made Alex’s heart break. With her beak agape and her eyes glittering, she struggled to flap her wings, refusing to let Alex fall. A mournful coo echoed in her breast, but still she strove, wanting to get Alex out of there.

Alex didn’t even see the third spear until it ripped through her, the momentum sending it straight out of her chest. She crumpled with a defeated chirrup, going into a tailspin, no longer able to hold up her own body weight, though she wrapped her wings around Alex in her final moments, in an attempt to protect him from the impact of hitting the ground.

“Storm! Storm, no!” he roared, trying to grip onto her.

They plummeted to the ground, her body breaking his fall as they hit. With tears running down his cheeks, he scrambled for her face, stroking the downy feathers tenderly, willing her to wake up. Her intelligent black eyes had lost their sparkle, staring vacantly up at the sky.

“Storm, get up!” he implored, stroking her desperately. But she was never going to wake up—Julius’s spear had hit its target.

He turned toward the approaching king, pure hatred making his eyes burn, the way they had before, when Jari’s life had been on the line at the Stillwater arena. Julius paused for a split second on the battlefield, seeing the silver shade of Alex’s eyes. Alex hoped with all his heart that it reminded the king of Leander’s eyes, that last day, when the Great Evil had been released. He wanted to instill fear into Julius for what he had done.

Before he could stride toward Julius, however, he felt a strong arm under his shoulder, lifting him up. Knowing it couldn’t be Storm, he looked back to see that Demeter was hauling him onto the back of the Kelpie he rode.

“Let me go!” Alex insisted, but Demeter clung on, forcing Alex to either clamber the rest of the way onto the Kelpie’s back or drag Demeter down to the ground with him. Not wanting another death on his conscience, Alex reluctantly clambered onto the back of the Kelpie.

Demeter dug in his heels, charging like the wind toward the forest closest to the encampment, evidently hoping to lose Julius and his cronies in there. There were six other Kelpies far ahead, bearing Alex’s friends, and Virgil, on their backs, but Demeter was catching up.

“Hold on tight!” the auburn-haired teacher warned as the Kelpie sprinted along at an alarming pace.

Turning back, Alex felt his chest grip like a vise. Julius had reached the crumpled form of Storm, her wings splayed out wide, her head turned to the side, her black eyes dead, her beautiful feathers losing their sheen. The king kicked her, hard, in the side, and Alex lost it—he screamed at the wind, wanting to jump down off the Kelpie that very instant and punch the smug, disgusting smile from Julius’s face.

“Save it for another day, Alex,” Demeter warned. “Store it all up, and use it when you need it most.”

Alex wrenched his gaze away, though it tore him up inside to do so. They were almost at the tree-line; Alex could see the shady trunks and dense canopy hurtling toward him. They were going to make it.

Something shot out of the sky, smacking Alex in the side and lifting him off the steed. He lost his grip on Demeter, the blow to his side too powerful, knocking him sideways, and his body tumbled to the ground with a painful thud. He rolled over and over, his body twisting under the momentum of the fall. As hooves thundered past him, stamping perilously close to his head, he tried to tuck himself into a ball, closing his eyes until the danger had passed.

Another blow hit him square in the back, rendering him immobile, though this one felt different. It felt sharp, then cold, the iciness trickling through his body with a feeling like brain freeze, making everything seize up and ache in the most peculiar way. Reaching up to see what had struck him, he felt the feathers of a dart in his spine. Where Spellbreakers were concerned, it seemed Julius had come prepared, knowing his magic wouldn’t be as effective on someone like Alex.

As his eyelids became heavy, the dart working the rest of its magic, Alex managed to lift his head, looking up to see if his friends had made it to the trees. Their bodies littered the ground ahead, Ellabell having fallen mere inches from the edge of the forest. All of them were writhing in agony, fighting against whatever cruel spell