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

How was he supposed to deal with ordinary life, having lived through the things he had?

Chapter 34

Anxiety settled across the group as they stepped over the threshold between realms, emerging into the world beyond. For a moment, Alex was confused, wondering if they’d come out in another part of the world. With the way the horizon had shifted scenery, seen from the library window at Spellshadow, he knew the gateway didn’t always lead out to the ordinary streets of Middledale, Iowa. This time, however, it seemed they’d hit the jackpot, timing it just right. He recognized the landscape instantly. Yes, this was definitely his hometown; there was no mistaking the quaint streets and uniform houses. The roads were quiet, although an elderly gentleman, in the middle of putting out his trash, eyed them curiously as they passed by.

Do we look different from normal people now? Alex wondered, feeling suddenly self-conscious.

The memories of the night he had followed Natalie and the raggedy gray phantom came flooding back as they walked along the streets, and Alex’s heart began to pound harder when he realized they were almost back at his family home. Turning onto the very road he had known all his life, nausea gripped his stomach like a vise. What if his mother was worse? What if the sight of him sent her over the edge?

Picking up a newspaper, left discarded on a neighbor’s lawn, he checked the date and was surprised by what he saw. If it was correct, only six months had passed since he had gone missing. Enough time to cause worry and distress, but not nearly as long as he had actually been away. He passed the paper to Natalie and Ellabell, pointing to the date.

“Is this today’s?” Ellabell asked.

“Even if it’s not, it’s recent,” Alex replied, looking again at the newspaper. It hadn’t browned, nor had the print faded. In fact, it looked fairly fresh off the press.

“How is that possible?” Natalie wondered, a nervous expression upon her face.

Alex shrugged. “Time must move slower here.”

Finally, he could put it off no longer. Standing at the gate that led up to his front door, he paused, his knuckles white on the latch. All he had to do was lift it up and walk along the path to the porch, but he was frozen to the spot. Moving beside him, Ellabell lifted the latch for him, swinging the gate open.

“You’ve got this,” she said softly, placing her hand lightly upon his arm.

Taking a deep breath, he put one foot in front of the other, forcing himself to make the short journey to the front door. Hesitating for a second, he knocked on the wooden surface and took a step back, waiting for the familiar face of his mother to appear.

Only, the person who answered the door wasn’t his mother. A large man stood in the doorway. Gray eyes peered at them curiously, set in a grizzled face, his dark hair short and flecked with silver at the sides. Alex’s heart sank, convinced something had happened to his mother, and this was the new resident of his childhood home. A moment later, however, the man’s eyes went wide with understanding.

“Alex?” he gasped, in utter disbelief.

Alex nodded. “Who are you?”

“I’m Detective David Cartwright,” he said, holding out his hand to shake Alex’s. “I’m a… friend of your mother’s. I’ve been helping with your missing person’s case,” he explained hurriedly, almost shaking Alex’s hand clean off. “And you must be Natalie?” he asked, spotting the French girl standing behind Alex.

Natalie nodded. “That is me.”

“Well, come in, come in,” the cop said, ushering them quickly inside. “Your mother is in the den. I’ll be with you in a moment; I just have some calls to make,” he added, looking over them again as if they were figments of his imagination. His gaze paused on Ellabell, like he wasn’t sure what to make of her, but urgency sent him toward the phone without saying another word.

Alex braced himself as he walked toward the den door. Quietly, he knocked on it, not wanting to burst in and give his mother a shock.

“David?” his mother’s voice asked.

Alex felt tears brimming in his eyes as he pushed open the door and stepped into the room. His mother was sitting on the sofa, clutching a pillow to her chest, her eyes listlessly watching the television in the corner. She looked up as the trio entered. For a minute, nobody said a word. Then, his mother screamed, jumping up from the sofa, before running into Alex’s open arms. She grasped at him, pulling him to her with such ferocity he felt she might crush him, but he understood the impulse. She wanted to make sure he was real. Wrapping his arms around her, he held her tightly, hearing her sobbing in his ear.

“Alex, Alex, Alex,” she whispered. “Is it really you?”

“It’s me, Mom,” Alex said gently, tears falling from his eyes. “I’m back.”

“Oh, Alex… Where have you been?” she breathed, hugging him tighter. “Where did you go? Who took you?”

He smiled, knowing the story was going to be long one. “I’ll explain everything later, but I think David has phoned the cops,” he said.

She pulled away. “You met David?” she asked, brushing the tears away from her eyes.

“Yeah, he seems like a nice guy,” Alex replied, not really knowing how to broach the subject of a strange man in his house, not when there were so many other things to discuss.

“Where have you been?” she asked again, more desperately this time. “You’ve been gone for six months. The police told me you were likely dead somewhere. I never believed them, but when you didn’t come back, I started to fear the worst.” She rattled off the words, as if she’d been storing them up for a long time.

He smiled, planting a kiss on her forehead. “I promise I will tell you everything later,” he said, and the funny thing was, he meant it.