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

as long as you are near,” he said, batting eyelashes that didn’t exist.

“How come you’re not a zombie?”

“Because I didn’t have the same thing done to me,” Elias explained. “The spell used on me was a dark, vicious, nasty little thing, intended to create a supernatural being that could...” He trailed off, wincing, a look of sudden panic appearing on his face. For a moment, he went very still, as if expecting something bad to happen. Even Alex felt tense, watching the shadow-man frozen to the spot, awaiting a zap of light or a snap of electricity that would drag him away from the mortal world for good.

“Did you say too much?” Alex asked quietly.

Elias raised a vaporous finger to his lips, and the minutes ticked by in complete silence. Neither Alex nor the shadow-man dared break the tension, listening instead to the rustle of the treetops and the guttural laughter of the soldiers, way below.

After enough time had passed, Elias swept his hand across his starry forehead. “Phew! That was a close call! I have got to learn to keep this trap shut!” he said, chastising himself with a slap to the wrist.

“Maybe you can’t get punished while I’m carrying a pesky bit of your soul?” Alex suggested. It was a thought that had been bothering him for a while, especially once he had seen Elias moving so easily in the daylight, which he hadn’t been able to do before. Something had changed, and it had all started with the tearing off of the shadow-man’s soul. Somehow, Alex had made Elias hardier, less vulnerable to the vengeance of whatever otherworldly overlords he served.

The shadow-man seemed intrigued by this idea. “Could be… Hmm… Very interesting,” he remarked, tapping his chin silently. “Anyway, the long and short of it is, it was a different spell. I’m not saying where that spell might be, but if you really wanted to find it, I’m sure it would be easy,” the shadow-man said, making a point of opening his impossibly black eyes wide, to ensure Alex understood what he was saying without actually having to say it.

“Is it in the Book of Jupiter?” Alex prompted.

“Perhaps it is, perhaps it isn’t,” Elias replied.

Alex frowned. “But I asked a direct question.”

“Not strictly related to what you need to know, though,” Elias whispered.

“Are you going to be hanging around from now on?” Alex asked, secretly hoping the answer might be yes. If they were going to enter the fray, they would need somebody like Elias on their side, who could do things none of them could do, and could taunt the Head better than anyone else.

Elias grinned. “Perhaps I may, perhaps I may not.”

“Well, whatever you do, I think we might need you. If we don’t have any hope of greater numbers, we’ll need power, and you seem to have it in abundance, as long as you’re not saying something you shouldn’t,” Alex joked, deciding to be truthful.

The shadow-man looked taken aback for a moment, his gaze settling on Alex in the most perturbing manner. Elias almost seemed moved by what Alex had said, and Alex fought the urge to take back his compliments.

Alex grinned awkwardly. “What’s the matter, cat got your tongue?”

“Very well then,” said Elias, with no hint of sarcasm in his voice. “If you think you will need me, I will be there. You forget… and sometimes I forget too, but my job is to protect you as best I can, and I will uphold that task until the moment you no longer require my help,” he added, with uncharacteristic solemnity.

Alex smiled. “Thank you, Elias.”

“Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to catch the end of this conversation.” He flashed his teeth in a comical grin before slithering down the wall of the pagoda toward the congregated soldiers standing below, their laughter drifting upward.

With Elias’s attention diverted, Alex clambered back up through the window of the chamber. It was a tight squeeze, but he managed it, collapsing in a heap on the low divan that had been laid out for him. The room was pitch black, the torches blown out.

“Where have you been?” Ellabell’s voice pierced the darkness.

Alex grimaced. “If I said nowhere, would you believe me?”

Lighting a match that illuminated her face for a brief instant, the curly-haired girl lit one of the lamps that hung from the walls. A dangerous place to put a naked flame, so close to a structure built from wood, but so far nothing had gone up in flames, aside from Alex’s hopes.

“That would depend how you felt about lying to me,” she countered, fully illuminated now, as the lamp bathed the room in a soft glow.

“Awful,” Alex admitted.

Ellabell smiled. “Good. I’m glad. I know it’s none of my business, but I knocked and you didn’t answer. I shouldn’t have pried, but I opened the door and saw you weren’t here. You can’t just go running off without telling anyone. For all I knew, you could have been snatched by someone, or worse. It’s happened before,” she murmured, dropping her gaze to the floor. It wasn’t fast enough—Alex caught a glimpse of pain flashing across her eyes. Before he could offer any words of comfort, she continued. “There’s a price on your head, Alex, whether you like it or not, and you have to be conscious of that when you make these decisions. It’s like everyone keeps saying—the stakes are so high now, and if one of us goes missing, there’s no guarantee they’ll return safely.”

Alex walked toward Ellabell, holding out his hands for hers. With a shy smile, she reached out, interlacing her fingers with his.

“I didn’t go to the cave,” he assured her, knowing what she was thinking.

“I didn’t say you did,” she murmured as he pulled her to him in a tight embrace.

It had been a long while since they had been able to snatch a moment alone together, and it felt wonderful to have her so close. After the events at Kingstone, and the