The Chain (The Secret of Spellshadow Manor #3)(101)

“What’s going on?” Jari asked.

“I used magic to keep Alypia at bay, but it’s going to wear off soon, so we need to get going!” explained Alex as quickly as he could. He would fill them all in on the minutiae later.

His ears pricked up as he heard the percussive beat of footsteps on flagstones, pounding beneath the shrill pitch of Alypia’s pained cries, signaling that others were coming to her aid, drawn by the haunting sound. They didn’t have long at all.

Kicking the door shut behind them, Alex grasped Ellabell’s hand and dragged her toward the portal, squeezing it tightly as he pushed her through to the castle courtyard on the other side. It was as easy as stepping through a doorway, with no troubling drop to worry about. He urged the others through, watching anxiously as they all made the short leap, but Helena was hanging back.

“Come on,” he insisted, trying to maneuver her toward the portal. “It’s easy.”

She pushed him away firmly, shaking her head. “I can’t go with you,” she whispered sadly, her eyes filling with bitter, frustrated tears.

Jari, hearing this, moved to the edge of the portal on the other side, sticking his head back through. “Please, Helena—come on. You have to come with us!” he begged. “I’ll take you dancing! You can paint with my mom and listen to all my dad’s terrible jokes!”

Helena smiled miserably. “I can’t come with you,” she repeated.

“Of course you can,” encouraged Alex, wondering what had caused this sudden change of mind. He wanted her to be free, and the sight of her holding back was a sad one to behold.

“I can’t—don’t you see?” She brushed away a hot, angry tear. “Now that she knows about the plan, Alypia will move heaven and earth if I go missing. If I come with you now, I am dooming you all. You’ve got more chance without me.”

Jari was beside himself, trying to get through the portal as the others dragged him back. “Alypia will kill you if you don’t come with us—you have to come with us! You have to!” he pleaded. “Please, Helena… please come with us.”

Helena smiled, with the look of a bittersweet farewell upon her pretty face. Of all the perfect creatures within Stillwater, Alex imagined that if the magic were completely removed, she would be the only one who still looked beautiful. He watched as she moved slowly toward the edge of the portal, leaning in for the briefest of moments to kiss Jari swiftly on the lips.

“My mother will punish me, but she won’t kill her only daughter,” she assured him, holding her hand against his cheek before stepping back into the room.

“You have to come, Helena,” insisted Alex, trying hard not to look at Jari’s dazed, heartbroken face peering through the portal.

Leaning close to his ear, she whispered her last words to Alex. “I know you will do what is right, no matter the consequences. Today, you’ll save the few. One day, you’ll save the many.”

Alex wasn’t sure what she meant, but he leveled his gaze with her strange gold eyes. He didn’t know if he could bring himself to leave her to face the punishment surely waiting for her, once her mother disentangled herself from the glowing beasts.

“No,” Alex said, shaking his head. “I can’t just leave you to that woman. I don’t care if she’s your mother or not—we’re not leaving you.”

“Helena, come on!” shouted Jari.

“Please, Helena,” Natalie added hopefully.

Helena sighed, sparking Alex’s hope that she was relenting and they could get the hell out of there. She seemed deep in thought, and Jari’s eyes went wide with adoring optimism.

“I’m sorry,” she said with a sad smile.

And then Alex found himself staggering backward as Helena pushed a barrier of fierce, unexpected magic at his chest, the blast knocking him squarely through the portal and out the other side. Sprawling backward on the hard ground of the castle courtyard, he looked back up in time to see that Helena was lifting her hand in a tearful farewell. Giving one last sad wave, her hands crackled to life, thrumming with a pink-tinged coil of golden magic, before a shimmer of light blinded them all for a moment, forcing them to turn their faces away.

When they looked back, the portal and Helena were gone.





Chapter 40





Sitting up properly, Alex checked the precious cargo in his bag, worried some of the bottles might have broken on impact with the ground. Thankfully, they were all in one piece, no life essence spilling out onto the courtyard.

Looking around, he could see they were, indeed, in a castle courtyard, staring at the now-empty wall where the portal had been.

Jari was in pieces. “She was the love of my life!” he wailed, rocking inconsolably on the flagstones.

The others seemed equally sorry to see Helena go. Alex knew they must have arrived at the same conclusion as him, realizing they had misjudged Helena at times, when she hadn’t deserved anything but their trust.

“I can’t believe she stayed,” said Ellabell quietly, her voice croaky. “I hope she’ll be okay.”

Natalie nodded, her brow furrowed. “I will miss her… She was a good friend.”

It was almost like a death, knowing they’d never see Helena again, and though Alex wondered if he could go back and get her, he knew there was no way to do it without figuring out portals. And that seemed more and more unlikely now that they didn’t have the help of Stillwater’s books.