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

If anyone could understand the bizarre world he’d been living in, it was his mother.

“And Natalie! You’re here too! Everyone has been so worried!” she shrieked, finally noticing the two others in the room. “And you, I don’t know you, but you are very welcome here,” she cried, enveloping both Natalie and Ellabell in a warm embrace.

“I am back, Mrs. Webber,” said Natalie. “And we have quite a story to tell you, once the police have gone.”

Alex’s mom nodded. “I have been on the phone to your family every day, trying to encourage them not to give up on you. I just knew you would walk back through that door one day—I just knew it!”

“How are they?” Natalie asked sheepishly.

“They are distraught, as you can imagine, but I know everything will be forgotten once they see you again, and hold you again,” Alex’s mom replied.

Natalie smiled nervously. “Perhaps I should call them?” she said, but Alex’s mom shook her head.

“I would wait until the police have been and gone. They will have a lot of questions, I’m sure. David has been keeping me up to date with the investigation, and they will be very intrigued to know where you have been all this time, just as I am,” she explained, coming back over to wrap Alex in another hug. “I can’t believe you’re home,” she sobbed.

“I was always going to come back to you,” Alex swore, holding her close. As she let him go, he realized she looked healthier than she had the last time he’d seen her. There were blooms in her cheeks again, the dark circles beneath her eyes no longer as prominent, her whole figure less skinny than it had been before. “How are you feeling?” he asked, puzzled by the change in her.

She smiled. “I am better, my darling boy. My treatment is working. David has been helping me, but I am on the road to recovery,” she told him, fresh tears pouring from her eyes.

“That is the best news I’ve heard in months!” he cried, clutching her hands and squeezing them tightly. After all the worrying he had done, his mother was getting better. She hadn’t been sitting at home, wasting away, getting sicker by the second. No, the universe had seen fit to offer her some hope in all of this. He couldn’t believe it—she was going to be okay.

A short while later, the police descended on the house like a swarm of flies, buzzing around the place in sharp suits, wielding notepads and pens. Some were there to take statements; others were there to take DNA samples and fingerprints, with one taking photos, while the rest stood around doing nothing, drinking Alex’s mother’s coffee and eating her cookies.

They set up a makeshift interview room in the kitchen, bringing Natalie and Alex in individually to ask them for their version of events. They tried to interview Ellabell, but seeing as nobody knew who she was, or where she had come from, the information they got was fairly useless to their particular case.

Once it was Alex’s turn to enter, the detective in charge of interviewing scrutinized him closely. Natalie had gone first, flashing him a wink as she came back into the den. Alex sat down in the familiar chair, putting his hands down flat on the kitchen table. He didn’t know why—he simply reasoned it made him look less guilty, if the cop could see his hands at all times.

“Would you like to tell me where you’ve been?” the detective asked, pressing the nib of her pen down onto the notepad she had laid out on the surface of the table.

Alex nodded, recounting the tale they’d agreed upon. It tumbled from his mouth easily, the words well rehearsed in his head by that point. The detective barely looked up as he spoke, scribbling it all down onto the paper. When he finished, she finally lifted her gaze to his.

“Amnesia?” she said, giving him a withering look.

“Amnesia,” Alex confirmed, trying hard not to smile.

She glanced over the notes she’d made. “And strawberry pancakes triggered your memories?”

Alex nodded. “My mom used to make them, and the taste of them must have brought something back.”

The woman sighed. “Very well. If that’s all you have to say to me, then you can go.”

Alex jumped up from the table and hurried back into the den, where everyone was waiting anxiously for his return. He said nothing, not wanting to give anything away while the police were still in the house. Instead, David was called out into the hallway, where the detective greeted him. Alex could see them through the crack in the den door, but he couldn’t hear what they were saying. Whatever it was, it seemed the detective was at the end of her tether, her expression showing her exhaustion. She gestured at the den, but David put his hands up, shaking his head. Finally, the detective shrugged, shoving her notepad and pen into her bag.

“Teenagers go missing all the time,” she said, her voice just loud enough for Alex to make out what she was saying. “Some come back, some don’t. Your new friend is just lucky those two did come back. If they’re going to tell us lies, there’s nothing we can do. If they’re okay, they’re safe, and they don’t seem to be hurt, what more can I give to this investigation? It was a missing person’s case. Those missing people have been found. As far as I’m concerned, my job is done,” she continued tersely, gesturing for her team to gather their things and leave.

Alex and the others remained in silence, absently watching the television, until the squad of police had gone, their cars disappearing from the road outside. The detective was the last to leave, poking her head into the room, a look of displeasure on her face.

“I have informed your parents, Natalie,” she said. “There will be a flight booked tomorrow afternoon, with your name on it. You too, Ellabell, though we