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

less from Ceres and knew she would be sure to carry out every threat. “So, you’ll keep Venus here, until we have either failed or won?”

She raised an eyebrow. “You had better not lose.”

“I’m just covering all our bases,” Alex admitted. “If it comes to it, and we do lose, it might be wise to use Venus as a bargaining chip. It might be your last chance for freedom.”

“You’re not as dim as you appear, are you?” Ceres flashed a half smile.

Alex shrugged. “That’s yet to be seen.”

“Will you stop staring at me?” she sighed, turning toward Demeter, who hadn’t been able to take his eyes off her the whole time they had been talking. Though he was still weaving strands of energy into Venus’s mind, the majority of his attention was on Ceres.

Demeter smiled. “I can’t, not after so long. I didn’t even know you were alive until a few days ago, and to see you again is like having all my lost hopes and broken dreams restored to me in one piece. You can’t know the joy I feel, seeing you again,” he breathed, overcome with emotion.

“I think I have some idea,” Ceres murmured, breaking eye contact.

Demeter did something that knocked Venus into a whole other level of slumber, though she still looked well enough as he lay her down on a nearby rug. For added security, he fashioned some cuffs around her wrists and left her to sleep.

Alex saw his opportunity.

“Do you have a knife?” he asked, aware that he was shattering a potentially romantic moment between them.

Ceres nodded, picking one up off a table and passing it to Alex, who took it gratefully. Moving over to the sleeping woman, he knelt down beside her and lifted her arm up. Just as he was about to press the blade to her pale skin, he paused, realizing he didn’t have anything to carry the blood in. An idea came to him suddenly. He pulled the sack of essence from his back and took one solitary vial from within. Taking out the stopper, he poured the glowing red essence carefully into the ground, watching as it sank back into the earth.

Breathing deeply, he pressed the sharp edge of the blade as delicately as he could into the queen’s skin, just above the dip of her elbow. Scarlet blood blossomed to the surface. Alex pushed the lip of the vial up to the viscous liquid, and it trickled into the bottle. Drop after drop fell into the black glass bottle, but he did not stop until he had a full spoonful sloshing at the bottom.

Better to be safe than sorry, he told himself. He tore a strip of fabric from his shirt and bound it around the wound.

Pocketing the singular vial, he strapped the bag of essence to his back once more, and stood. Turning to look at Ceres and Demeter, he saw that they were in the middle of a tearful reunion—one that made Alex feel slightly like a third wheel, and more than a touch reluctant to interrupt.

“After so many years apart, I will never leave your side again,” Demeter said defiantly.

Alex had to speak up. “You’re staying? You can’t—you need to come back with me.”

Demeter turned to Alex, shaking his head. “I won’t be coming with you, Alex… I can’t.”

“What if we need you?” Alex pressed, eager to be on his way back to Spellshadow.

“I am needed here,” Demeter replied. “I will keep an eye on Venus. If you want her to remain asleep, she is going to require constant attention from me, and so I must stay. You have proven yourself at every turn, and you will not fail now. I know it… I can feel it in my heart.” He clapped Alex on the back.

Alex had a feeling that convincing Demeter to leave Ceres was one battle he definitely couldn’t win. Glancing between the two lovebirds, he could see the happiness written all over their faces.

“It won’t be the same without you, and your powers will be sorely missed… not to mention you, yourself,” Alex said sorrowfully. “When this is all over, we’ll come back. Until then, I suppose the pair of you have a lot of catching up to do,” he added, grinning.

“We’ll meet again soon, Spellbreaker,” Demeter promised. “Now, go, before it’s too late.”

Ceres nodded. “Give them hell!”

Alex didn’t need telling twice. He tore from the tent and sprinted back across the field, weaving in and out of the crowd that still stood around Storm. They parted as Alex approached, and he jumped up onto her back.

“To Spellshadow,” he told her, but she was already running along the riverbank, building up to a take-off.

Chapter 33

Hurtling back through into the realm of Spellshadow Manor, the flight as violently turbulent the second time around, Storm didn’t slow as she swooped across the sickly woods, before thundering over the smoking field and soaring up and over the crumbling ruins of the walled garden. As they neared the front lawn, Alex could see that the fight was still raging below, though more people had come to swell the ranks on either side.

Alex’s friends and the Stillwater volunteers stood on one side of the grass, while others had joined Virgil’s side. Along with the professors, who were to be expected, Alex was surprised to see that a handful of Spellshadow students stood on the opposing side of the lawn. It seemed they were hedging their bets, going for the side that looked to have a better chance of winning, and the sight made Alex’s heart ache. As silly as it seemed, he felt a pang of betrayal to see so many standing with the Head. Jun Asano and Catherine de Marchmont, their golden bands forcing their loyalty, stood on either side of Virgil, with another standing behind, protecting him.

Golden creatures bounded through the melee, savage and snapping, but they didn’t appear to have much understanding of whose side they were on, striking whoever came near. The