The Secret of Spellshadow Manor 6 by Bella Forrest (books for men to read .TXT) 📕

though he was now gone and his tyranny with it, that didn’t change the devastation that had already been wrought upon so many lives.

“Looking a lot lighter than the last time you saw me, I’ll bet?” Lintz tried to joke, though his heart evidently wasn’t in it. “Goodness me, you look as if you’ve been through the wars,” he remarked, peering more closely at Alex’s face. Given that Alex hadn’t looked in a mirror since he’d left the palace, he had no idea what he looked like. He could only guess it was just about as ghoulish as the way he felt.

“Something like that… Let’s just say it didn’t get any easier,” he admitted, nodding toward the drawer of the diorama, and the book within.

“No, I didn’t think it would, dear boy,” Lintz murmured sorrowfully. “Then again, I always knew you’d be the one to do it. As soon as I knew what you were, I wondered if you’d do marvelous things. Although, seeing as you’re here, did that mean the spell went awry?”

Alex shook his head. “No, the spell was a success. Julius is dead. The Great Evil is gone. And, somehow, I’m still breathing… more or less,” he said. “It’s a long story, and I doubt there’s time for me to tell it.”

“No, perhaps not,” Lintz agreed. “Something is troubling me, dear boy, and it would be remiss of me not to mention it. It seems there is something missing within you. I can sense it—a vacant space where something ought to be. Goodness, the things you have endured, my dear student. It should never have rested on your shoulders.”

Alex shrugged. “Better a half-life than no life, right?” he tried to joke, before realizing what he’d just said. “Sorry, Professor, I didn’t mean…”

“No, no, you’re quite right, dear boy,” Lintz said, an amused expression on his face. “So, tell me, what do you plan to do now?”

“To be honest, I thought I was going to die today, so tomorrow still seems like an alien concept,” Alex admitted.

Lintz nodded. “Mm, quite right. Just promise me you’ll take your time fixing yourself? Don’t go back out into the real world until you’re ready. I know it is no doubt calling you, and believe me, I understand the temptation, but you will want to return to your loved ones with as much of yourself intact as possible, no?”

“I wouldn’t want my mother to see me like this, if that’s what you mean.” Alex sighed, his eyelids growing heavy again.

“Look at you, dear boy.” Lintz tutted. “What have they done to you?”

Alex smiled tearfully. “I think they broke me, Professor.”

“I think you are too strong to be broken, my boy. You have already proven that,” Lintz replied. “If I could give you a bear hug right now, I certainly would.”

“Thank you. I could probably do with one of those right about now.” Alex laughed tightly. It was all much too sad.

Lintz’s expression softened. “Promise me you will take some time to put yourself first—you have given enough to others, for now.”

Alex grimaced. “Why do I get the feeling you’re trying to say goodbye?”

“Oh, my dear boy, it is not what I want, but I must go now. I have had a good run, but my time is through,” Lintz replied with a sad shrug of his ghostly shoulders. “I have been in this world far longer than I should have been, but because of you, I can go free. There is someone waiting for me, wherever I am going, and I shall be gladder than you know to see her.” He beamed, one side of his moustache curving upward. “So, you take care of yourself, and I hope I won’t see you for a very long time. Live a good life, Alex. You are owed that much.”

“Thank you, Professor, for everything,” Alex murmured. “None of this would have been possible without you.”

“I shall be sorry not to see the wonderful human beings you all shall no doubt blossom into,” Lintz bellowed. “I have already seen hints of it, and it warms my old heart.”

Alex smiled. “Then I guess I should say goodbye.”

“Adieu, dear boy, adieu,” Lintz said, bowing low. A second later he was gone, vanishing into the air like smoke on the wind.

With his tasks completed, Alex left the library, the side door of the vault slamming shut behind him. As he stepped back out into the cool shade of the forest, a wave of nausea crashed over him. He stumbled into the grass, his hands breaking his fall. He tried to get up, but his head was spinning.

He felt like a ghost himself.

With Virgil’s help, he managed to pick himself up off the ground and walk the long path from the pagoda to the cave, hoping all the while that the portal hadn’t been closed.

At several points along the way, Alex fell down, his knees buckling. Virgil tried to insist he stop for longer, but Alex wasn’t having any of it. He wanted to get back to Starcross. Only then would he be able to figure out what to do about his friends. After all, he had kept his end of the bargain—he wanted to believe Venus would honor her husband’s.

Reaching the slim entrance to the cave, Alex ducked inside, moving swiftly past the shelves of glass bottles until he arrived at the narrow opening at the far end. To his relief, the oval of the portal glowed ahead of him, its rippling surface showing the rolling fields of Starcross beyond. Not wanting to pause for a moment, though he no longer felt like any of his limbs belonged to him, Alex pressed on through. It was only when they began to walk toward the first field that Alex realized the journey to the camp was beyond him. He was too exhausted, every single part of him drained.

“I can’t do it,” he whispered.

Virgil crouched down, his bony knees cracking. “Can’t do what?”

“I can’t walk all the way to the camp.