The Chain (The Secret of Spellshadow Manor #3)(40)

It didn’t take long for Alex to realize that the being was undeniably Elias, though he wasn’t as well-formed as he had been back at Spellshadow. There was a fractured quality to this iteration of Elias, as if he was physically trying to hold his various shadowy pieces together in one whole, and was struggling hopelessly. Alex wasn’t sure if his shadow-guide might be stretching himself too far from where he was supposed to be, leading to this strange fragmentation.

“How do I look?” the shadowy figure quipped.

“Not your best,” replied Alex.

“Charming! I drag myself all this way and that is the best you can do? At least lie to me—tell me you can see the stars in my eyes or something.” He grinned, his galactic eyes twinkling. Alex could see that, although Elias was struggling to hold his physical self together, he had lost none of his usual, sarcastic humor. “I’d have thought you’d be better at compliments by now, what with that pretty little troublemaker of yours,” he added, with a sour note.

Seeing Elias again, Alex couldn’t decide how he felt. On the one hand, Elias had done them all a great service in their last battle against the Head, but on the other hand, he had to think about what Ellabell had told him, about believing Elias to be the shadow who attacked her. Regardless, he couldn’t bear to hear the mention of Ellabell coming from Elias’s mouth, not after what he might have done to her.

Alex’s eyes hardened as he surveyed his shadowy acquaintance. There was an extra twinge of bitterness toward Elias that he hadn’t felt before. There was distrust, too—more than he had ever felt toward the shadow being.

“And here I was, thinking you’d be happy to see me,” teased Elias with a flash of inky teeth. “What’s with the pouty face?”

Alex glared. “I didn’t ask you to come.”

Elias smiled. “Always so ungrateful!”

“I’m not ungrateful, I just—you keep putting me in harm’s way,” said Alex quietly.

A flash of amusement sparked across Elias’s shifting features. “You’re the one who followed a weird, wispy bit of smoke through a strange school, in the middle of the night, without second-guessing it,” he purred. “I think it’s because you missed me—you secretly hoped it was me, so off you ran, into the night, desperate to see your shadowy friend.” An unnatural grin spread out across Elias’s shadowy lips. “You didn’t even wake up your little girlfriend to tell her you were off. I can’t imagine she’d be pleased about that.”

Alex’s cheeks burned in anger. “Don’t you dare,” he seethed.

Elias’s face morphed into something akin to a frown. “Temper, temper—where’s all this hostility coming from? I put up a decent fight back there so you had time to get free, and here is my thanks,” he sighed, a hint of annoyance creeping into his strangely distant voice.

“You did it all for yourself!” snapped Alex.

Menace glittered in Elias’s endlessly dark eyes. “What?” he whispered.

“You did it all for yourself,” repeated Alex, more quietly.

Elias gave a bitter laugh. “None of this is for me,” he said simply.

“Liar,” Alex muttered.

“If you would begrudge me my own life essence, perhaps you are not the man I thought you were,” said Elias sadly. “But that was not why—call it an unexpected surprise. I want you to succeed, Alex. That is all I have wanted and continue to want.”

“Then why hurt those I… care for?” demanded Alex, choosing his words carefully. Without Elias, Alex knew he’d be at square one; the shadow being had aided in helping him learn of his heritage, in helping challenge the Head, in so many things, but Alex was struggling to forget what Ellabell had said.

Elias’s eyes glittered with curiosity. “I don’t follow?”

“Why did you attack Ellabell the way you did?” he ventured solemnly.

For a moment, silence stretched between the shadow-man and his acolyte. Alex could see the thought gathering beneath the shifting, starry contours of Elias’s face, now even harder to pin down with his fragmenting form. As the silence continued, Alex convinced himself Elias was going to deny it. It was the shadow-man’s way.

“I was going to lie,” admitted Elias, “but I know you wouldn’t believe me.”

“So you did it?” Alex gasped. The truth was harder than the lie.

Elias moved his head in what Alex supposed to be a nod. “I did, but I have my reasons.”

“What possible reason could you have had?” spat Alex.

“Well, if you’d let me finish, you’d know,” quipped Elias, growing irritated. The shadow-man waited, the impossible oblivion of his eyes surveying Alex haughtily, like a teacher waiting for a class to quiet down.

“Go on,” said Alex reluctantly.

Elias smiled, flashing his inky teeth, though Alex wasn’t sure it was appropriate. “I did it because that curly-haired nuisance was reaching for a very dangerous book on dark magic.”

Alex raised an eyebrow, unimpressed.

“You’re telling me books can’t be dangerous? You’ve seen the damage those sorts of books can do,” he whispered with a sly grin.

Alex frowned. “What do you mean?”