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

school. The hallways were empty, save for the few figures who were still recovering from the effects of Demeter’s influence, giving them an easy route. Passing Billy Foer, Alex saw that the boy was still giggling uncontrollably on the floor. He hoped he hadn’t done any irreversible damage, but there would be time to see about those things later.

“We need to take him to the room with the manacles,” Alex explained.

Aamir nodded. “I thought as much,” he said, with a hint of remorse. It wasn’t somewhere that held particularly good memories for the older boy.

With Virgil still somewhere between asleep and awake, they reached the door to the chamber. The metallic scent of fear and blood seemed all the more potent. Pushing the door open, they hauled Virgil inside, and quickly clamped the manacles around his skeletal wrists. The Head offered no resistance, still suffering the effects of whatever Alex had done to him, but it was strange to see the thin, bony man dangling from the chains, looking so vulnerable.

Alex stepped back. It was a fitting tribute, he thought, considering all the others that Virgil had strung up here, with the sole purpose of stealing their lives.

“Could you leave us alone?” Alex asked, turning to Aamir.

Aamir frowned, looking dubious. “I’m not sure that is such a good idea, Alex. You don’t know how useful these chains will be against him when he wakes up.”

“Please… I need to do this alone,” Alex insisted.

“Alex—”

“Aamir, please do this. Please, leave us be,” Alex repeated, more determined than ever. “Tend to the wounded, fix those who have been brainwashed. Your help is needed out there, not here.”

For a moment, it looked like Aamir was going to stay, regardless of what Alex said, but, eventually, he relented, moving toward the door of the chamber.

“You must come and get us the moment you even think about doing the counter-spell. If you do not swear that to me, I will not leave,” Aamir said firmly.

Alex smiled. “I promise.”

With a reluctant sigh, Aamir departed, leaving Alex alone with the man who had caused so much suffering.

Chapter 34

“This has been a long time coming,” a voice whispered, the shadows by the entrance to the chamber shifting as Elias emerged.

The Head hung limply from the dangling manacles, still knocked out by the blast that had weakened him. Alex watched him closely, paying little attention to the shadow-man as he sauntered up to the skeletal figure. The Head’s hood had fallen away, revealing the pale skin and sunken cheeks Alex recognized. It was strange to see him so vulnerable, but there was a triumph in their achievement. They had done what they had intended to do, and now redemption wasn’t far off. Alex inhaled deeply, feeling the weight of the Book of Jupiter in the satchel slung across his body.

“He doesn’t look so powerful now, does he?” Elias mused, lifting a wispy finger to the Head’s face.

The contact, however gentle, made Virgil stir.

“He’s just a man,” Alex replied, more to himself than anyone else. It was true—Virgil was just a mortal person, with a history that had formed him into the being that dangled before them. In a different life, the Head might have been different. Had he been cherished, the way a son ought to have been, perhaps he would have taken an alternate path.

Elias touched the Head’s face again, causing him to stir once more. A low groan emitted from Virgil’s mouth, his strange eyes blinking slowly open, as if he had just woken from a nightmare. His head snapped up, those same eyes going wide as Virgil took in his surroundings, looking up to see the restraints that held him firmly in place. There was panic on the ghoulish man’s face, but Alex felt little remorse. No amount of sympathy for Virgil’s past could wipe the slate clean of the things he had done, and it was time for him to pay for those gross misdemeanors.

“Release me,” the Head croaked.

It was Elias who spoke first. “You will never be free again,” he hissed.

Alex glanced at the shadow-man, feeling the hatred radiating from the wispy creature. The ferocity of his loathing was frightening to behold, especially as Alex could now feel it coursing through his own body—an unexpected byproduct of their shared energy.

“Release me this instant!” Virgil demanded, pulling against his restraints. The chains rattled, but there was no escape for the pale figure. It was the Head’s own security measures that now held him in place. Nobody, Spellbreaker, mage or hybrid, could break free of the sapping energy of the manacles.

“I want you to beg for your life,” Elias purred. “I want you to plead for it, the way I once pleaded for mine. I shall show you the same mercy you showed me.”

The Head sneered. “You will never see me beg, Elias. You flaunted your power, and you suffered for your pride. I will admit… I made an error in judgment, listening to Derhin, but you would not cooperate. I asked you to volunteer and you wouldn’t. When I told you of my own suffering, you laughed in my face—or have you forgotten?”

“I have forgotten nothing, Virgil,” Elias replied. “I wasn’t responsible for what Julius made you do, but you only sought to weasel your way out of it. You saw me, saw what I could do, and thought you’d take it for yourself. You were jealous and idiotic, but you’ll find it’s me who gets the last laugh.”

Virgil gave a low, menacing chuckle. “You are mistaken. I will not beg, and you will not succeed in taking whatever it is you think you can draw from me. You are weak, both of you.”

Alex frowned. There was a defiance in the skeletal creature that Alex hadn’t quite expected. Having seen him cowed in front of Alypia, Alex had forgotten that the Head could actually be quite intimidating when he wanted to be, especially at such close quarters. There was resentment in him too, as