The Secret of Spellshadow Manor 5 by Bella Forrest (book series for 10 year olds .TXT) 📕

trickled down Helena’s face, her forehead slick with the exertion of continuous battle. Alypia wasn’t faring much better, damp strands of white hair plastered to her textured cheeks. Alex knew these two would fight it out to the bitter end, their skills evenly matched, despite it seeming as if Alypia had the upper hand. Perhaps all those years of hard training and tough love had finally paid off, at a time when Alypia least desired it. Alex frowned, watching the to and fro of the magic being hurled this way and that; he had a feeling the loser would be the one who slipped up first.

“You would be nothing without me!” Alypia roared as she sent a particularly savage spear of energy toward Helena’s shoulder. It glanced off, causing the girl to wince.

“Neither would you!” Helena retorted, taking a brief second to recover from the blow before sending a surging blockade of gleaming electricity in her mother’s direction.

Most of it hit the desk harmlessly, but a few sparks fell upon Alypia’s skin, causing a sharp intake of breath, as if she had touched something hot. In retaliation, she sent one back, the blockade consuming Helena whole. From within the glittering light that froze her to the spot, Alex saw Helena’s body convulse. It was violent and difficult to watch. Even Alypia seemed to show regret as she peered over the lip of the desk, flicking her hand to one side, taking the blockade with it.

The blockade smacked dully into the far wall, narrowly missing Jari, and Helena fell to the ground, collapsing in a heap. If it hadn’t been for the tiny rise and fall of her shoulders, Alex would have thought she was dead.

Cautiously, the Headmistress emerged from her hiding spot. Ellabell moved as if to strike, but Alypia raised her hand in warning, keeping the curly-haired girl back. She raised her other hand as Jari mirrored Ellabell’s movement, his body freezing like a statue. The warning was enough. Taking her time, Alypia approached the barely moving figure of her daughter. As it was, nobody dared to make any move toward her. There was an eerie impropriety in the idea of attacking the mother as she was coming to the slow aid of her daughter. It didn’t matter that Alypia was responsible for Helena’s current state—her concerned, pained expression of remorse said everything. When all was said and done, she was still a mother who loved her daughter, despite what the daughter might think.

Had it been in any other circumstance, Alex thought it might have been a touching moment, but he could not quite remove the image of the pair of them sending vicious bolts of magic at one another in a genuine attempt to inflict grievous bodily harm. Neither of them had been pulling any punches.

Slowly, Alypia knelt beside her daughter.

“Helena?” she whispered. “Helena, can you hear me?”

The girl was silent, her eyes closed.

“Helena, my sweet girl—please, wake up,” Alypia urged, still ignoring the group of individuals who were watching the scene play out, their minds filled with the worst-case scenario. “Let’s not fight anymore. If you wake up, I promise we won’t fight anymore.”

Helena mumbled something, but Alex couldn’t make out the words.

“What did you say, my dearest?” Alypia asked, bending closer to her daughter, enveloping the girl in her arms.

“I said, I am not done fighting,” Helena whispered, her head snapping up. With sudden force, she reached up to her mother’s temples and forced her magic through the skull beneath. Her intent was clear, and Alex just hoped she knew what she was doing, messing around in the minds of others. Alypia began to spasm in her daughter’s arms, and then she crumpled, her knees buckling and her pale eyes going blank. She fell to the floor, her head landing on the ground with a dull thud.

Alypia lay there, completely still, devoid of feeling or movement. It was akin to the catatonic state that Alex had seen Caius in, when he had raced from the clutches of the keep. Whether or not she would wake up from this sleep, he had no idea. Caius hadn’t, so why should Alypia?

“It had to be done,” Helena whispered, her voice tinged with heartbreak. A vacant look appeared in her eyes too, though it had not been brought on by any blow to the head.

And, though Alex knew she was right, he worried that the price for her capture was too high for the daughter who had paid it.

Chapter 25

Nobody said a word for a long time as Helena knelt on the floor, a mirror image of the position her mother had been in moments before. With shaking hands, the girl pulled Alypia to her, but no amount of nudging or whispering could make the still form move.

“I had to… I had to do this,” Helena said, rocking back and forth. She looked up at Alex and the others, her eyes panicked and desperate. Jari dropped to her side, grabbing her hand, and she clutched his fingers as if she were drowning.

Natalie knelt down beside her. “Yes. You did what you had to.”

Ellabell and Alex stood apart. Alex’s fists clenched at the sight of Helena so broken. He remembered when they had first met her and she had sung her mother’s praises—a result of the mind-altering magic, no doubt, but there might have been some honesty to it, once upon a time.

“We should take Alypia back to Kingstone,” Alex said softly.

Helena looked up, tears in her eyes. “No, I won’t leave her there.”

“It’s the only place we’ll be able to keep her safe,” Alex said, though he wasn’t entirely sure of that anymore. There was no telling what state the prison would be in when they returned.

She shook her head. “There are cells here at Stillwater where she will be just as safe. There are people I trust here, who can watch over her—I do not know these people you know, at Kingstone Keep. I cannot trust them