The Secret of Spellshadow Manor 2 by Bella Forrest (top ten ebook reader .TXT) 📗

smacking my head against one of the shelves. That’s why I screamed—I thought I’d seen a ghost. At least, I think that’s what happened.”

Alex listened intently, but the story didn’t add up. Nobody was that afraid of their own shadow that they would spend days in a twitchy, agitated shock. He had seen the panic in her eyes. It was not because of some self-inflicted accident. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out. And yet, as he watched the worried expression on her face deepen, he sensed it would be difficult to get another story out of her. It was the truth she had chosen to go with, and Alex had to try to respect that, though curiosity and guilt still raced through his mind. He knew somebody had hurt Ellabell, and though he had his suspicions of figures who kept to the shadows, he couldn’t be certain who it had been.

“Did somebody attack you, Ellabell?” he asked softly, trying again.

Her eyes went wide in panic.

“Is that what really happened?” he pressed. He didn’t want to scare her away, but he wanted to know who or what had done this to her.

“I don’t know… I didn’t see,” she murmured, her gaze darting around anxiously.

“I’ll find whoever did this to you and make them—”

She shook her head rapidly, her face etched with terror as she grabbed Alex’s hand. “No, you can’t… Anyway, it was an accident, like I said—just an accident. I need you to forget about it.”

“Is that why you’ve been avoiding me?” he asked suddenly.

She turned her face away, hiding her expression. “I haven’t been avoiding you.”

“In the corridors, in lessons, you seem to want to do anything to get away from me,” he said, hoping she couldn’t hear the wounded tone in his voice. “Did I do something to offend you?”

“I guess it’s because of what I saw and the things I know,” she whispered, turning back to him with a stern expression in her bright blue eyes. All traces of fear had gone, as if she had placed a mask over her face.

“What?” Alex drew back from her, alarmed by the sudden shift in mood.

“I know what you are, Alex,” she announced, her voice hushed. “I saw what you did. I know you’re one of them,” she added, a note of something close to displeasure in her voice.

“I don’t know what you mean,” he replied, playing the nonchalance card.

“You’re a Spellbreaker, Alex. I saw you,” she hissed.

Alex laughed. “That’s ridiculous. You said so yourself, there aren’t any of them left… You must have hit your head harder than you thought.” He felt his throat tighten up as he lied through his teeth, hating himself for using her bruise against her. It felt strange to hear himself called out for what he was, and he wasn’t sure he liked the sensation of hearing his secret out in the open.

Ellabell sighed, her disappointment evident. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep your secret, and maybe even help you out if I can. But I meant what I said. I want you to leave me alone from now on. I don’t want you near me unless we absolutely have to be in each other’s company, do you understand?” she asked, her voice trembling.

Alex knew he had been caught in a lie, and no amount of subterfuge would convince her otherwise. She knew the truth; he could see it in her eyes that she knew. It was out there, and Alex hoped fervently that Ellabell could be trusted with the secret. She seemed keen enough to keep her own, so perhaps it would be safe with her.

“Do you understand?” she repeated gently, her face oddly sorrowful.

Alex nodded. “I understand.”

“It’s for the best,” she whispered as she leaned in toward him and kissed him softly on the cheek.

As she stood up to go, Alex reached out to grasp her hand and squeezed it lightly. Squeezing it back, she flashed him a sad smile, then turned and walked toward the barrier of the walkway, leaping over it in one easy movement.

For once, Alex didn’t follow her to watch her leave.

In the pitch black of the dormitory, something awoke Alex with a start. He rubbed his eyes, checking the clock on his bedside table; it read two in the morning. Wondering what on earth had awoken him, his eyes fixed on a flash of gold and silver darting across the end of the bed, weaving and ducking behind the folds of the sheets as the creature made its way up and over the bent limb of Alex’s leg.

Curiously, he checked the top drawer of his bedside table to find it already open, the motionless mouse inside missing. A shiver shot up Alex’s spine. He turned back toward the scuttling clockwork creature. His heart pounded loudly in his chest as he waited for it to make its way up the rest of his body, once it recognized the familiar shape of him with its glittering black eyes. It was the same mouse that had been tucked away inside his drawer.

On the golden hind leg, Alex saw the small shape of a curled note, attached with a thin piece of twine. He gulped, holding out his palm for the mouse to run onto. Its feet were light on his skin. He lifted the creature up and carefully untied the miniature scroll from the back of its leg. Settling the mouse down on the mattress beside him, Alex lifted up the scroll and unrolled it slowly, squinting to see the words in the moonlight that glanced in through the curtains above his head.

Fear prickled at the back of his neck. His blood ran cold.

I warned you, was all it said.

Turning swiftly back to the mechanical creature on the mattress, he saw that the eyes had already gone dead.

Chapter 24

Alex sat alone at one of the tables in the mess hall, trying his hardest to eat a bowl of gristly, bland