The Keep (The Secret of Spellshadow Manor #4)(18)

The back-handed compliment made Alex uncomfortable. He could take no pleasure in what he had done to her, especially as it didn’t seem to be stopping her pursuit of him. All he could derive from the experience was an intensified fear of her volatile retribution. The fact that Elias was taking such delight in it made him all the more nervous. Nothing Elias found joyful was ever something to celebrate.

“I’m not sure it did me any favors,” Alex said.

Elias swooped closer, scrutinizing Alex. “If you’re worrying about that old hag coming after you, don’t just yet. Don’t get me wrong—she’s beyond peeved, and you should see the state of her face, but she’s still a way off from a full recovery. After the havoc you wrought upon her, who wouldn’t be?” he murmured, his galactic eyes glinting. “She’s a strong mage, but nobody is strong enough to fend off two savage beasties and come away unscathed. Well, nobody but me,” he boasted. “I could have taken them on, though I’m not sure I’d have expected such moxie from a kid like you.”

Alex wasn’t sure how the shadow-man managed it, but every word from Elias’s mouth managed to make him feel disgusted and comforted in equal measure.

“Well, you’re wrong, because she’s already trying to get to me. She’s tried to make a portal a few times,” Alex said grimly.

“Lintz and his precious creepy-crawlies will hold her a while, you mark my words.” Elias’s shifting features tightened in a twisted expression of glee. “Those golden creatures were intent on her demise, and they went to town, believe me—the memory of it still brightens my day. I doubt you’d recognize the old girl if you saw her. I’m sure she’ll make herself decent before she comes for you—she’s not one to head into battle without her mascara on. If somebody is trying to get through, they’re doing it on her behalf. Some of her cronies no doubt, trying to curry favor with the boss—first one through wins a prize! I’ve seen the old witch with my own two eyes, and she is going nowhere just yet.”

Alex still found it difficult to stomach the memory of the injuries he had inflicted on Alypia, and the recollection of her blood-curdling screams still rang in his ears from time to time, whenever he allowed himself to dwell too long on what he had done. None of it made him feel particularly good about himself, and he knew he could never share the thrill Elias felt at another person’s suffering, no matter what that person had done. It had never been his intention to kill someone, and Elias’s words made him realize how close he had come to doing just that. It didn’t sit easy with Alex, though it led him to wonder whether he would have to kill somebody, before his time in the magical world came to an end. A shudder ran up his spine.

Thoughts of golden beasts and spilt essence and traumatizing screams made the pain in his chest return with a vengeance, the sudden jolt of it taking his breath away.

Elias’s face contorted in a frown. “Can I help?” he asked.

Alex wondered what the shadow-man meant, somewhat perturbed by the borderline compassionate note in Elias’s echoing, otherworldly voice.

“With what?”

“With that,” Elias replied, resting a shadowy finger on Alex’s chest.

Glancing down, Alex’s eyes went wide in alarm as he saw a dim silver light glowing beneath his skin. He found himself frozen to the spot, unable to pull away as Elias felt for the damaged pulse of his coiled essence, his wispy fingers sinking disturbingly through Alex’s flesh, into his ribcage. Alex could feel the cold chill of the dark mist moving through him, but as soon as Elias touched the broken edge of his soul, everything felt better, like smoothing a cooling ointment on a burn. What surprised him most, however, was the lack of snowflakes where the wispy creature touched him. Whatever Elias was made from, it wasn’t an ordinary sort of magic.

“It’s good I wasn’t wearing my nurse’s uniform, or this could have been really uncomfortable,” Elias cackled, making Alex laugh despite himself.

Elias removed the fronds of his wispy hands, the raw edge of Alex’s essence calming to an almost imperceptible ache. Even breathing felt easier, his chest relaxing, his shoulders loosening.

“Elias?”

“Yes?”

“How did you know Professor Gaze?” Alex asked, remembering that she had mentioned him before she died, telling them that she had adored him once. He presumed she hadn’t meant the wispy anomaly before him, giving rise to the question of what Elias had been before he was this. It was a question Alex had been consistently curious about, but to have heard Elias spoken about by someone else made the shadow-man’s humanity somehow more possible.

“Ah, that wizened old thing,” he said, though, to Alex’s surprise, the insult carried no malice. It sounded almost affectionate, though Elias quickly covered it with a languorous flick of his wrist. “A memory from a lifetime ago, no more, from a time when I was both more and less than I am now.” He tapped his vaporous foot against the floor, though it made no sound.

“She said she adored you once,” Alex murmured. “You must have known her well, at one time?”

“A tragic passing.” Elias seemed to nod, the words spoken through gritted, starry teeth, as if he hadn’t wanted to say it but could not prevent himself. “A fine mage from a former life.”

A vision returned to Alex’s mind.