The Keep (The Secret of Spellshadow Manor #4)(22)

“Welcome, welcome, to our little prison oasis—tea, my cherubs?” Agatha asked, offering a cup.

“No, thanks.” Alex shook his head, not turning in her direction. He felt too hot for tea.

“As you please. What brings you back into my loving arms?” Agatha asked, as she sipped from her own cup.

“Just a notifying errand, Agatha,” Vincent explained. “There’s a plan afoot to fiddle with the pesky barrier modules and bring dear old Caius into something of an ambush. I thought you’d want to be kept informed of such exciting goings-on.”

Alex reached the far wall, moving the carved sculpture aside. The gold glinted as he lifted a hand toward it, wanting to feel the cylinder’s smooth, ornate surface. Even at this distance, he could hear the thrum of something mechanical within, and knew he would have to pry the outer shell off somehow to get to what was inside.

Agatha inclined her head in a subtle nod. “I imagine the warden is currently out and about, darting among the shadows at the edge of the forest, no doubt inspired by the darkness. What new, vile methods shall he find with which to torment us next, I wonder? Anything to keep us like soldiers, all in a line, never setting a foot wrong,” she murmured.

“So this is a magic barrier module, here?” Alex wanted to double check, scrutinizing the screws that held the top cover in place, wondering how he was going to lift it off.

Vincent eyed the contraption with calm curiosity. “Goodness, in all these years, I had forgotten that thing was even in here. It has become such a part of the furniture,” he mused. “Yes, it is, though it’s a little bigger than the others, wouldn’t you say? How about we take a look at it?”

“I think it needs a screwdriver or something,” Alex said, tapping the metal. A spark stung the end of his fingertip, as he had experienced with the first module he had happened upon. He took it as a good sign.

“Agatha, would you be of any use to our new friend? I know you love a good lock-pick,” Vincent asked, glancing at her.

She shook her head. “Cripes, no! Don’t you remember the last time I gave it a try? Sent me flying halfway across the room!”

“Ah, yes, I knew there was something I forgot to mention about it,” the necromancer said, tapping the side of his head. “You don’t seem to be having much trouble, mind you,” he remarked to Alex, drawing a curious expression from Agatha.

“Thanks for the warning,” said Alex, with a note of sarcasm. If he hadn’t already had a brief encounter with one of these things, he might have approached it more carefully, had he known it could knock him back. Vincent was right, though—so far it hadn’t seemed to affect him much, save for a little electric shock. He frowned, trying to ignore the strange look Agatha was giving him. He wondered if the shock meant there was some sort of shield protecting the module. It made sense, given that it was placed within a prison full of criminals, and yet he couldn’t sense any magic coming from the shell itself.

Perhaps it’s something underneath?

“Well, we certainly have enough detritus lying around our beloved sitting room. I’m almost certain there will be something of use among the bric-a-brac,” the pale man assured Alex as he rose to seek it out.

Sure enough, in the depths of a dusty chest of drawers, Vincent found a screwdriver and brandished it aloft with a whoop of triumph, before bringing it over to where Alex stood. Alex took the tool gratefully, and set to work on the eight screws that held the larger module’s cover in place. He made swift work of it, the shell easily coming away to reveal a complex mechanism of gleaming clockwork within. It was truly a work of art, and Alex gasped as he leaned closer, wanting to inspect every cog, every bolt, every delicately placed bit of solder. Sure enough, the whole inner structure glittered with the threat of a protective shield, moving liquidly across the surface. Alex paused, wondering how to get around it.

Carefully, not wanting to set off something terrible, he fed delicate strands of his anti-magic through the glittering shield and let it flow through the mechanisms. As it took hold, he realized he could manipulate sections of the clockwork, making certain pieces stop, and other pieces work backward. However, controlling the entire mechanism was near impossible with the shield in place, making Alex realize they would have to come up with a way of breaking down the shields first, before they could even begin to think about manipulating the clockwork. Looking at the mechanism itself, he could also see that feeding Lintz’s jammers into the system wouldn’t work; it would help, but they were going to have to overload the mechanisms too, if they wanted to destroy the modules. Simply stopping them wouldn’t be enough.

Jari will be pleased, Alex thought. He’ll get his explosions.

However, they still had the protective shield to contend with. Alex could get around it using thin slivers of anti-magic, but that wouldn’t be nearly enough power to overload the system. Just as he was about to lose hope, becoming frustrated with the device, his eye was caught by the sight of something at the very top of the cylinder. Running along the top and bottom edges were two thin golden lines. It was a sight he recognized.

Reaching tentatively toward it, careful to avoid the glimmering shield, Alex paused. He wasn’t sure if it was the focus on barrier magic or the blazing fire or the thick walls, trapping the heat in, but the room had grown very hot all of a sudden, making him feel strange. His back was drenched in a cold sweat. Careful not to lose his footing, Alex moved toward the window that stood beside the golden module, to try to get at some of the fog-filtered air drifting feebly in, but he knew he wasn’t going to make it. He was going to faint, and it was going to happen any moment.