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

the hall, offering him a place somewhere. Maybe he wouldn’t have gone to college at all; perhaps his business would’ve taken off and he would be doing that full-time, saving up enough money to pay his mother’s medical bills and buy a bigger place for them, where she could be comfortable.

There might even have been enough money left over for plane tickets to Europe. A visit to see Natalie, maybe, if his initial crush hadn’t faded to simple friendship. If they had never come to Spellshadow, who knew what might have happened? He doubted she would be his girlfriend, what with the distance, but she might have been a summer romance, had they had the luxury of time. It felt strange to think of his friend like that, especially now he found himself drawn to Ellabell; she was one of the few bright lights in the darkness of walking through those Spellshadow gates, and if he had never followed Natalie that day, it was certain he would never have met the pretty, bespectacled girl with her freckled nose and sparkling blue eyes.

He knew his mother would adore Ellabell. More than pretty, she was intelligent and kind and funny too.

His reverie was disturbed by a scuffling sound within the cottage. Alex’s eyes snapped in its direction. Trying to see through the darkness, he wasn’t sure if it was friend or foe within the building, and, as Elias appeared near the entrance, he still wasn’t sure.

The crackling magic of the world around them still seemed to be playing havoc with Elias’s form, as he struggled to gather all of his pieces together. Most of him was still fragmented, and his shifting body was strangely translucent, like peering through a thin, black cloth, though he was more whole than he had been on his previous visit. Alex sighed dismissively, his head already so full of other things that he wasn’t sure he even wanted to see his shadowy acquaintance, who would no doubt fill his brain with frustrating thoughts and vague suggestions that would plague him for days. There was already too much going on; he didn’t need Elias adding to it.

“What do you want?” he said sullenly, turning his gaze back toward the lake.

“You’re a fool, Alex Webber,” snapped Elias. It seemed to Alex that his shadow-guide was on an accusatory objective, and it was not one he much cared for.

“What have I done this time?” he remarked sourly.

“I should never have trusted you to get on with things on your own. You seem to have a habit of making a royal mess of things. Not much else, but that you are an expert at!” Elias rolled his starry eyes.

Alex glared. “I seem to be doing just fine, thank you. My friends are safe—they know what I am, and I’m still not dead. I’d say that was pretty close to success.”

Elias sniggered. “That little display you put on has landed you in more danger than you know, Alex. Before you rose up, glowing like a Christmas tree, they were only curious about you—now they fear you. Fear is treacherous. Fear makes people lash out. Fear makes people feel out of control,” he warned, his teeth flashing in a stern grimace that was halfway between scowl and smile.

“Why would they fear me?”

Elias sighed, the sound like a million distant whispers. “You are different. They can’t control ‘different.’ It is unpredictable, and it threatens their existence—you are the fox in the henhouse, and they want you dead. Whether or not you believe otherwise is your prerogative. I am only here to make suggestions,” he purred, his shadowy mouth curving upward in a definite grin.

“They can’t do anything to me,” said Alex uncertainly, feeling dread claw at his stomach.

“You know that’s not true.” Elias smiled. “Just because you’re ‘special’ doesn’t mean they won’t use you—they already have plans for you. By showing your hand, you have become a pawn between the power-plays of the magical elite.”

“Are we playing cards or chess here?” muttered Alex.

Elias chuckled in the back of his wispy throat. “Don’t get smart with me, Alex. They are both games of patience, and they can be very patient if they need to be, but do not mistake their tolerance for acceptance. They will put their plans into action, the moment opportunity presents itself.”

“Who?” Alex frowned.

“Please tell me you’re joking,” said Elias, gesturing in exasperation with his floating limbs as he lounged against the wall. “I thought you’d picked up that book?”

“The royals?”

“All is not lost—there is hope yet!” he mocked, grinning.

Alex sighed. “I’ve been learning a bit about them, but I’ve not exactly had much time.”

“You know enough though, yes?” prompted Elias, his galactic eyes peering curiously at Alex.

He shrugged. “I know the Head and Alypia are royals.”

Elias whooped unexpectedly, startling Alex. “Perhaps you have not been entirely remiss while I’ve been away.”

“I’m not stupid, Elias. I overheard them talking, and Alypia called him ‘little brother.’ It wasn’t hard to put the pieces together,” he remarked, pausing as a thought entered his mind. “What actually is he—the Head, I mean?” asked Alex, certain Elias would know.

The shadow-man lifted his weightless shoulders in an attempted shrug. “He is an abomination, but one of royal blood, nevertheless,” he replied, in his usual, frustratingly cryptic way.

Alex clenched his teeth in annoyance. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Surely, the question is, ‘Why is that important?’ After all, you are as much a pawn in his game as you are in Alypia’s,” taunted Elias.

“How am I a pawn?” snapped Alex, his eyes narrowing.

“Think about it—what are you?” encouraged Elias with a twist of his shadowy wrist as he languished on the floor, contorting his fluid body to look up at the ceiling.

“A Spellbreaker.”

“Good. And your heritage? I know you’ve been thinking about it.” Elias smirked, tilting his head back at an unnatural angle so he could stare into Alex’s eyes.

Alex shrugged. “So what if I have?” he muttered, remembering his thoughts on Leander Wyvern and a mysterious, non-magical partner.