The Secret of Spellshadow Manor 6, Bella Forrest [ebook reader online free .TXT] 📗

the spell, but there’s something I’m still not sure I get,” Alex said, voicing a thought that had been troubling his mind for some time, ever since it had looked as though Virgil was changing sides.

“What is it?”

Alex glanced at the Head, scrutinizing him closely. “Why the sudden change of heart, about me? I thought you’d be glad to see me go to my death, after all the trouble I’ve caused you.”

Virgil smiled. “If you had asked me that question some days ago, I may have agreed. But I realized…” Virgil paused, seeming to collect his thoughts. “That I had forgotten myself. Spellshadow was never meant to be forever, but the years wore away, and with them, little pieces of who I was did as well. Then you and your friends broke the system, and I could see clearly again. I almost feel like I never knew myself, until very recently. So, as annoying as you have been, I have you to thank for that clarity,” he said, his eyes glittering. “Put simply, I want to lay all my ghosts to rest, my grudges included.”

That much, Alex could understand, though his own ghosts were growing louder by the second.

Chapter 24

Virgil left shortly afterward, leaving Alex alone with his thoughts once more. He padded around the room aimlessly, though impulse made him go back over to the double doors to peer out. This time, the guards were back, their warning glances telling him to stay inside. Whatever deal Virgil had brokered to make them go away, it was evidently at its end.

Reluctantly stepping back inside, Alex went to the balcony and sat out in the sunshine, enjoying the warmth on his face, wondering how many more times he would feel the sun’s soothing rays upon his skin. Looking up at the sky, he thought about his poor mother, waiting at home, not realizing the danger he was in. Doubtless she thought he was already dead, since he’d been missing for so long, but it didn’t make it any easier to deal with. He wanted a moment with her, just a moment, to say goodbye. Perhaps, if he wrote a letter, he could ask Virgil to deliver it? It seemed unlikely, but he knew he had to try.

Sifting through the cupboards, back inside, he came across a small stack of smooth cream vellum and a pen and ink, stowed away at the back of a gold-handled drawer. He pulled them out, took them over to the dining table, and sat down, dipping the pen in the inkwell before holding it poised above the paper.

Where could he even begin?

Mom,

I am writing this to you in my last moments. I never intended to leave you—I was trapped by a strange man, in a strange place, and now I’m afraid they are going to…

A knock at the door made him stop, though he knew the words he had written would go straight in the trash. He didn’t want to frighten his mother, or bring her more sadness than she had already suffered. No, he would write something else, something lighter, something that might bring her peace in the dark days to come.

He was halfway to the door when Siren Mave burst in impatiently. He had been half expecting to see Virgil again, but the sight of the toady woman made him halt in his tracks, a sudden shiver of panic running through him. Was this the moment? So soon?

“Don’t you worry, Alex, I’m not the executioner,” she muttered. “I’m just here to take you to a meeting that has been prepared.”

Alex nodded, though fear had rendered him silent. He tried to put one foot in front of the other, but he was frozen to the spot, unable to move, his heart thundering in his chest. With an unexpectedly kind smile, Siren Mave came up to him, taking his arm like a kind grandmother, leading him toward the door of the bedroom. She kept hold of him all the way to their destination, helping him along the gilded corridors and hallways, though Alex saw little of their beauty. It was all he could do not to break away from her and jump through the nearest window.

They stopped outside a pretty solarium, the glass sides revealing a veritable forest of beautiful plants and flowers within and a view of a golden city beyond, leading Alex to realize they must be on the opposite side of the palace, overlooking whichever royal city Julius held home dominion over. Two lemon trees grew on either side of the entrance, and there were slender plants everywhere, some sprouting long-flowing purple flowers, others bearing the most striking red flowers, the petals almost as long as Alex’s hand. Fluttering butterflies swept elegantly from blossom to blossom.

In the center of the solarium, several rattan sofas had been set up in a circle, with figures sitting in them, but Alex’s view of their faces was blocked by the wall of greenery. Heading through the entrance, he saw them as clear as day. His friends were sitting there, awaiting his arrival, sipping tentatively at glasses full of peculiar purple liquid. Alex could sense Venus’s influence in this unexpected meeting.

Aamir, Jari, Natalie, and Ellabell looked up at him as he entered, their faces relaxing into expressions of relief. Helena wasn’t with them, however.

“Helena has been locked away in a different part of the palace, to receive a punishment more fitting of her royal heritage,” Natalie explained, evidently seeing Alex’s puzzled expression. “We have not seen her, but we know she is safe,” she added quietly.

“They worried you’re going to up and run?” Jari teased, gesturing toward the large cluster of guards that had appeared beyond the glass walls of the solarium. There were even some standing out on the balcony, through the French doors that lined the front of the room.

Alex smiled. “They know I have a thing for diving out of windows,” he joked, though the laughter felt tight in his throat.

“Have you already