The Secret of Spellshadow Manor 5 by Bella Forrest (best biographies to read TXT) 📗

As he reached them, the whole room flooded with bright light. They were standing in the middle of a large chamber, crowded with figures wearing Japanese Noh masks, some in basic white with red lips, some smiling, some sad, but others wearing more demonic versions, adorned with horns and sharp teeth. Alex’s pulse quickened in fear as all the blank eyes lifted at once, focusing on the new arrivals.

They shifted toward the quartet, swaying to an unheard rhythm, closing in. The room was silent except for the faint padding of footsteps as the figures glided closer.

The group huddled together in a square, lifting their hands as if to conjure, not knowing if it would work in this particular part of the vault. To Alex’s delight, he found that he could weave his anti-magic around his fingers, and saw the familiar golden glisten of the others’ magic, though Aamir seemed to be having a bit of difficulty, with his hand the way it was.

However, as they fed their energies into their hands, the masked people began to move more quickly toward them. The more fear and retaliation they showed, the swifter the masked beings stepped. Alex suspected that if he released his anti-magic upon them, they would swarm the group.

“There are some masks over there,” said Ellabell, gesturing toward several Noh figures at the back of the crowd holding spare masks aloft. “Maybe if we take those masks and wear them, we might be safe,” she suggested, but Alex had already darted away from the group.

“Alex!” Ellabell shouted, which only served to bring the masked crowd closer.

Snaking through the heaving throng, Alex could feel that something had changed. Turning ever-so slightly, he saw that the Noh-faced people had turned to watch him, following his movements. The room began to split into two, with half of the masked individuals creeping toward Ellabell, Aamir, and Lintz, and the other half slinking toward Alex, who was watching them out of the corner of his eye.

Alex bowed in front of the masked people at the back of the room, then reached up to pluck the spares from their outstretched hands. He lifted one to his own face before moving a short way back into the crowd. Once he was sure he was close enough, he threw the remaining masks one after the other in the direction of the other three. Though they reached up to catch them, one fell to the ground with a sickening crack, the clay face splitting almost in half. Lintz picked up the broken mask, holding the sides together across his face, as Ellabell and Aamir grasped the other two.

“Sorry about that,” said Alex, running back.

Ellabell shook her head. “Why did you do that?”

“Do what?”

“I could have sent them back using my magic—one broke, Alex.” She sighed. “You just ran off before I could finish what I was saying. You keep doing that!”

“Doing what?” Alex repeated, bewildered.

“Whenever I try to do something, you keep—never mind, we need to get moving.” She strapped on her mask, hiding her face from sight and leaving Alex unable to read her expression.

Alex frowned. “Okay… I didn’t mean to…” He trailed off, not knowing what had caused Ellabell’s sudden outburst. He was going to have to ask her later, once they were away from this claustrophobic vault. Maybe the strain of the tasks was getting to her.

Aamir donned his mask quickly and joined the others. They moved through the crowd of masked faces, pretending to be unafraid, though Alex’s heartrate was through the roof. He looked at Aamir and Lintz between the restricted eyeholes, and saw that their masks were smiling. He hoped his was too.

Immediately, the figures came to a standstill.

Half certain they weren’t going to start approaching again, Alex and the others moved to pass through the crowd, toward the doorway that was just visible, near where Ellabell was standing. The masked individuals stepped aside, granting passage. Even as they moved through the crowd, however, Alex felt a shiver of trepidation. As if sensing it, a few of the Noh-faced people moved toward him again, but he couldn’t suppress the fear he felt. He just had to hope he could reach the door before they got to him.

He did, but despite the threat, he paused and turned back around. The creepy hands froze in mid-stretch, like a terrifying game of “red light, green light.” Something was drawing him back into the room, but he couldn’t put his finger on what it was. It was a need, a feeling like they had forgotten something.

It all seemed too easy, as if they were missing a piece of the puzzle. Looking around for inspiration, Alex’s eyes settled on two words, written above the heads of the people he had taken the masks from. The words were barely visible on the wall, only showing when the light danced upon it in a certain way. One said “Adapt” and the other said “Kindness.” It made sense now; they had only completed one of the tests in this room, and this was a two-task stage.

“Stop!” he called to the others, who had already gone through the door. They turned to him. “We’ve missed something.”

“What?” Ellabell asked.

“There are two tasks in here. See?” he said, pointing to the two words on the wall.

Lintz frowned. “Well, what the blazes is the other one? ‘Kindness?’”

Alex nodded. “It’s in here somewhere, whatever it is.”

In the silence, the sound of sobbing found its way to Alex’s ears. With the shuffle of feet from the marching Noh-faced crowd, he hadn’t been able to hear it before, but now it was clear as day. It filled him with anxiety, but there was something compelling about it too, something that made him think it was linked to the second test. It was too out of place not to be.

All the blank eyes were staring at him, the hands still frozen in a mid-air grasp, and the sound of crying was growing louder.

“We need to go,” said Lintz.

“I can’t