The Secret of Spellshadow Manor 4 by Bella Forrest (best e book reader android TXT) 📗

who killed him was the very same creature that had been his constant guide throughout all of the madness that had become his life.

“Why should I tell you anything?” he spat.

“Because I’m the only one who can understand,” she replied, staring intently at him through the thick lenses of her glasses, her eyes almost bug-like.

Alex scoffed. “You can’t understand what I’m going through.”

“You won’t know if you don’t try. Are you a quitter, Alex Webber? You never seemed like a quitter to me— definitely not one to shy away from a challenge,” she said.

“Do you even know who I’m looking for?” he asked bitterly, realizing he had never heard her mention the shadow-man before, though she had seemed to know whom he meant when he asked where Elias was. Were they in cahoots too? It didn’t sit well with Alex; none of it did.

Siren Mave laughed sarcastically. “The things I know about that shadowy pest—I could tell you stories that would make your toes curl and tales that would split your sides with laughter. Do I look dumb to you?” she asked, raising a drawn-on eyebrow. “Mm, perhaps you should not answer that in your current, heated state. Let’s not get into flinging childish insults—that’s more Elias’s style. In short, yes, I know who you are seeking, though I would like you to explain why. Think of me as a reluctant mediator.” She smiled, her thick lipstick cracking slightly.

“He killed my father,” Alex whispered, pushing away tears.

“You have seen it with your own eyes?” she asked curiously.

He nodded. “I have.”

“Pesky necromancers, always meddling,” she muttered. “I presume it was the necromancer who showed you?”

“I’m glad he taught me how,” Alex said defensively.

“Yes, as well you might be, but it has brought a whole lot of trouble my way,” she sighed. “Always fixing everyone else’s mess.”

“It’s good to see you haven’t lost your compassionate side,” Alex said mockingly, feeling angry at the stout, toady woman before him, who was making little attempt at empathy for his loss.

She stared down her nose at Alex. “Kindly remove yourself from your high horse, Alex. It doesn’t suit you,” she remarked curtly. “You see, the thing about necromancy, especially the way you see the spirit world, is you only get a snippet of the whole story. You make assumptions and fill in the gaps of what you don’t see, and you know what happens when you assume, don’t you?”

Alex frowned. “What?”

“It makes an ass out of you and me,” she quipped. “So, let’s agree not to assume anything, yes?”

“I don’t think witnessing a murder is an assumption,” he said tightly.

She sighed. “Okay, you’re clearly not in a cooperative mood, so how about you just listen for a while? You might learn that everything is not always as it seems,” she said, an unexpected touch of sadness in her voice.

It was a lesson Alex was already more than familiar with. Nothing was ever as it seemed, Elias included. He did not need a lecture on perception.

But he shrugged anyway. “I’m all ears.”

“Things didn’t happen exactly as you believe they did,” she began.

“How do you know?” Alex cut in, wondering what the relationship was between Siren Mave and Elias.

“Elias and I are not so dissimilar, as much as I hate to admit it—we are branches of the same tree, if you’ll excuse my flowery language,” she explained. “Our purpose here is the same.”

Alex tilted his head. “Purpose?”

She nodded. “At the time of your father’s death, we were both entrusted with the protection of the last Spellbreaker. He and I are… guardians of sorts, for lack of a better word. Mm, I wish I could think of a better word,” she muttered. “Anyway, Elias came into this ‘business,’ if you like, voluntarily. I, however, was drawn out of the void by the royals, when the imbalance was created in our world and they didn’t know how to fix what had been done, with the mists of the Great Evil coming for their kind. Silly name, if you ask me—not very original,” she remarked. “Still, they created me from the void. Like I said, always fixing other people’s problems.”

Alex took a moment to let Siren Mave’s words sink in. If what she was saying was true, then she had been aware of Elias for a long while. Perhaps she already knew Elias had been visiting him on the sly, feeding him information. What intrigued him more, however, was the idea of her being created by the royals—she seemed real enough, but did that mean she wasn’t flesh and bone, like he was? He had to wonder what she was forged from, if not the usual materials.

“How did Elias become what you are?” he asked, trying to understand.

She gave him a withering look. “He is not what I am. Do I look like a formless wisp to you? No, we serve the same purpose, but he created himself, as a guardian, to avoid a worse fate. Some might say it was a bold move; I would say it was… Well, it’s not for young ears like yours. The thing is, something must have happened during the metamorphosis, meaning he did not come out as solid as he might have liked. He’s come to love it, mind you—I know he finds a sick sort of pleasure in his mistiness, always sneaking in shadows and slipping from place to place, snooping where he’s not welcome. I lost count of the times I used to catch him hiding in Esmerelda’s chambers and had to shoo him out,” she said, her face puckering in distaste. “I digress—Elias was new to it all, still learning the ropes of seeking out hope for mage-kind, when the news came that a Spellbreaker had been sensed. It had been a long time since there was a confirmed sighting of one of you, and it was big news.”

“Looks like you didn’t do a very good job of keeping my father safe,” he remarked drily.

“Are we assuming things again?” she