The Breaker (The Secret of Spellshadow Manor #2)(55)

When they reached a fork in the hallways, Jari came to a halt.

“I’m going this way. You guys should go explore the rest,” he announced without warning. He took off toward the right-hand route. Alex frowned, knowing the Head’s office was through the corridor that lay straight ahead.

“We shouldn’t split up!” Alex called after Jari, wincing as he heard his voice rebound off the walls in a loud echo, worried it would bring somebody to investigate.

Jari didn’t reappear from the darkness of the tunnel, his footfalls fading away to nothing as Alex stood at the fork, wondering whether to go ahead or turn left, to investigate some more. Who knew when he would next get the opportunity to roam around these parts so freely? But the purpose had been to seek out the Head. If he went left, he was going against that purpose. While he couldn’t understand Jari’s detour, Alex knew he had to at least keep to their target. It also helped slightly that what he was after lay within the Head’s office itself.

“Are you okay?” he asked Ellabell, who trembled beside him. It didn’t matter that she was a fierce young mage; he could understand anyone being scared of the Head.

She nodded. “I’m fine,” she whispered, her voice shaking.

“Straight ahead or left?” He gestured toward the two tunnels, leaving it up to Ellabell to decide.

“Straight ahead,” she replied firmly, glancing up at him with concern.

“Good choice.” He smiled warmly as he stepped toward the hallway ahead, with her following close behind.

It looked much the same as any of the corridors in the manor, although it lacked the grim portraits that could be found elsewhere. The only decorations were torches hanging in elegant golden brackets on the walls, the metal twisting up into the elaborate heads of serpents, which seemed to hiss at passersby with darting silver tongues. Alex speculated about who lit those torches when nobody was around, and his thoughts cast back to the plump, toad-like figure of Siren Mave, with her excessive blush and drawn-on red lips. He wondered if it was her—above everyone, she had seemed to have free rein of the place. Concern from this forgotten threat crept slowly through him, refusing to be brushed off, heightening his wariness as they moved stealthily through the halls. He very much hoped he didn’t end up bumping into her in the shadows.

In the low light from the flickering torches, doors began to appear in the walls. They were marked with brass lettering that had gone crusty with age, and, as they passed a door marked Library, Ellabell paused.

“Are you going on ahead?” she asked.

Alex nodded. “Yeah, the Head’s office is up there.” He pointed up into the abyss beyond the comfort of the torchlight.

“Then, would it be okay if you left me here?” She rested her palm against the stone wall.

“Are you sure?” he replied, his voice laced with worry. He didn’t like the idea of leaving her alone in this place.

“I know my way back from here—just in case anything happens. Plus, I don’t like the idea of going where you’re going,” she admitted shyly.

“I don’t blame you.” A hollow chuckle caught in the back of his throat as he gazed up toward the rest of the vacant hallway, though he still felt a twist of reluctance at leaving her by herself. “Are you sure, though? I don’t feel right leaving you alone,” he explained, hoping she didn’t think he was being too overbearing.

“I’ll be fine, but thank you. Now go on, we haven’t got time to chat.” She grinned at him, the expression lighting up her face. Not for the first time, Alex noted how pretty she was, with her bright blue eyes sparkling behind her spectacles and her curly brown hair bobbing as she spoke. Across the bridge of her nose, soft freckles dusted her skin, just above the deep cupid’s bow of her rosy lips. Her sharp intelligence and ready smile were captivating, and Alex felt his voice catch in his throat as he spoke again.

“Well, you know where I am if you run into trouble. Just yell or something and I’ll come running,” he told her, hoping he sounded confident.

“I’ll be sure to yell. Knock for me on your way back,” she replied, moving her hand to the handle of the library door.

“I will. Be careful, and keep a close eye on the door,” he warned, reaching out to take her hand and give it a light squeeze of reassurance.

“I will be. Take care.” Her cheeks flushed a deeper shade of pink at the touch of his hand on hers. She gave him a strange look, the expression turning into an anxious smile as she hurriedly opened the door and stepped inside, leaving Alex alone in the hallway.

As he walked on alone, he remembered the last time he had come this way, with the chambers of rotting four-poster beds with moth-eaten drapes that smelled damply of age and mildew. The rooms of people who had long since departed. He almost didn’t stop as he came to the door of the small chamber he had seen before—the stone chamber with the manacles dangling from the ceiling above a slickly covered grate. The pull of the strange room was magnetic to him. Alex pushed open the door. The metallic tang of blood and fear still rose pungently from within, filling his nostrils with the nauseating scent as he stepped inside. He couldn’t help but revisit this place, curiosity getting the better of him.

Yeah, and curiosity killed the cat, he thought dryly as he closed the door quietly behind him.

The room was little changed. Above the center grate, smothered in gray ivy, were the grim manacles, dangling limply from the ceiling. Beneath, the ground glinted with the same sticky, sinister residue as before, the smell of blood growing stronger as Alex drew closer to the grate. To the side of the room, the same foul painting of a gaping mouth with layer on layer of savage teeth and a lashing tongue still hung above the small wooden table, which was strewn with tools and something new that made Alex’s stomach turn. A wide-brimmed hat lay on the very edge of the tabletop, tattered and frayed at the edges—undeniably similar to the hat Derhin had worn on the day of his last battle, the hat that had given him a brief advantage over Aamir. Beside it were the bladeless knife and the ordinary-looking clipboard.