The Chain (The Secret of Spellshadow Manor #3)(11)

He nudged the others awake.

“So, what do we do now?” Jari asked groggily, crawling over to inspect the vessel.

“We wait until it’s dark, using it as cover. Then, we row.”



As the last few rays of bronzed light disappeared into the horizon, giving way to the darkness, Jari and Alex lifted Aamir into the boat, making him comfortable near the bow. With the last remnants of creaking functionality from the wheels, the four friends pushed the boat on its casters toward the lake’s edge.

As soon as it had edged into the shallows, Jari and Ellabell hopped up onto the benches, taking up the oars as Natalie jumped in behind, leaving Alex to push it the rest of the way into deeper water. Having forgotten momentarily about the lake’s strange reaction to him, he was startled to feel a sudden burning sensation against his skin as he waded in deeper, at one moment boiling hot, the next sub-zero temperatures. Holding out his hands to the others, he let them haul him out of the odd lake and into the safety of the boat, where the sensations instantly stopped.

On the underside, small leaks had begun to spring, much to Alex’s dismay. He pressed his palms onto either side of the boat and allowed the silver-black tendrils of his anti-magic to run along the wood, forging a barrier over the hull to keep the water out. The leaks ceased, but the freshly conjured barrier seemed to have a curious reaction to the lake itself. It began to glow with a blinding silver light that was almost bordering on white. Naturally, the sight of this reaction alarmed Alex—not wanting them to be seen in the darkness. However, before he could remove his energy and have one of the others put up a barrier, the glow ebbed enough to ease his fears, though he still couldn’t shake the knowledge that it was a risk.

For some reason, the lake didn’t seem to tolerate him. Why? Alex couldn’t say. It didn’t seem fair to him that he was the one it rejected, when the bodies of his ancestors lay buried beneath. Something didn’t sit right with Alex, and, as he listened to the steady slap of oars cutting through the pitch-black water, he felt a familiar shiver of fear. What if they were headed somewhere far worse?





Chapter 5





The stars twinkled overhead, and the black water glittered back as Alex and his friends made the long voyage across the lake. The shadows shrouded them from sight, though every so often the boat would glow dimly with silver as it sliced quietly through the mirror-like surface, disturbing the darkness. Around them, the world was deathly silent, interrupted only by the steady slap of oars cutting through the water. Natalie and Alex had taken over the rowing duties for a while, but Jari and Ellabell were once more at the helm, moving in unison.

Clambering over to the stern of the vessel, careful not to lose his footing, Alex sat down on the narrow bench at the very end of the boat, leaning sideways against the blunt wooden edge so that he could gaze back toward the side of the lake they had come from. Not that he could see much by the pale moonlight. He could just make out the frothing lines of their movement through the lake and the spreading ripples that showed the path they had followed.

The rowboat glowed again for a moment, and Alex peered over the edge, down into the inky water below. Staring into the still surface, Alex at last understood why the anti-magic was reacting to the liquid with such volatility. Beneath the water, illuminated by the dim glow of the boat, pearlescent skulls stared up at him with dead, empty hollows. Silvery gray vines twisted around the sickening gleam of bones, pulsing faintly.

Anger twisted inside Alex as he watched the gruesome scene, unable to tear his gaze away. There were too many to count, scattered thoughtlessly and shamelessly on the lake bed, jumbled together in a terrible mass until no skeleton could be separated from the next. And those were only the ones he could see beneath the muted light. It pained him to see that there were skulls and bones of all shapes and sizes. Gripping the edge of the boat tightly, he closed his eyes only when his vision trailed across a heartbreakingly small skull, tangled among the wreckage of so many Spellbreaker lives.

The glow of the boat ebbed away to nothing, returning the grim frieze to the darkness.

It made sense now—the lake’s fierce reaction. It was his anti-magic responding to that of his dead ancestors, sensing the twisting vines of their silvery gray lifeblood within the water, feeling their loss connecting with the beating heart of his still-living body. Of course he couldn’t drink it or stand in it or touch it without feeling the agonizing effects of such overwhelming loss. How could he have even brought himself to do so?

As the boat skimmed through the water, he felt their ghosts all around him. There were eyes, following him in the darkness. Alex’s skin prickled, giving him the disquieting sense that they were trying to warn him—these phantoms, moving invisibly in the air all around him. Shivers ran up his spine as he felt them reaching out for him, brushing his skin with cold, unseen hands.

Every so often, the rowers would exchange places, Natalie switching more frequently. For hours they rowed, skimming easily through the night. Those who weren’t rowing tried to sleep, using the soft sound of the water lapping against the boat as a lullaby as they drifted off beneath the glitter of stars. Alex couldn’t, though. Every time he found himself with a break, he would move to the back of the boat and gaze out over the edge, desiring bitterly to see a glimpse of the sunken depths and foul secrets the dark waters held. He hoped the sight might spur him on, fortifying his purpose through whatever trials may come.