The Keep (The Secret of Spellshadow Manor #4)(24)

As his heartrate lowered, and he stopped fearing that Agatha was going to come running up the corridor after him, Alex found himself at something of a loss. Agatha had left his concentration in tatters.

Vincent smiled at him. “The mind needs rest in times of great stress, dear boy, and I feel you are suffering under the worst of it.”

“Something like that.” If the thought of a vengeful warrior princess forcibly finding a way to make him suffer wasn’t stressful, he didn’t know what was. He knew it stemmed from the feeling of being endlessly pursued, never being able to fully let his guard down and relax his mind; he wasn’t sure he could even remember what it felt like to be at ease.

“Perhaps your mind is in need of a welcome distraction?” Vincent suggested.

Alex nodded. “I’d give anything to divert it, even just for a few minutes. It would really help with… all this.”

“In such a case as this, with such a mind as yours teetering on the brink, I would be willing to breach a lifelong pledge never to impart my knowledge to another,” the necromancer said. “I will endeavor to distract your mind with a talent of great import, although the task will require a bottle of essence. Demeter has told me you have some in your possession?”

“Why do you need it?” Alex asked tersely, suddenly suspicious of the necromancer’s motivations.

“Nothing sinister, I promise—I merely require it as a teaching implement. Think of it as you would a ruler or a piece of chalk,” Vincent reassured. “Only if it can be spared, mind you. I’ll return it to you immediately after the lesson is over.”

“Will you?”

“Will I what?” Vincent raised a silvery gray eyebrow.

“Give it straight back?” Alex asked, seeking confirmation. It felt somehow wrong to trust a necromancer.

“I swear I’ll send you back with it, just as it was,” he replied with mock solemnity.

No matter how hard he tried, Alex couldn’t exactly picture the bottles of essence in the same way he did school chalk and stationery. He was undeniably intrigued by the strange man with the transparent skin, black eyes, and shock of gray hair, and the powers he possessed. Vincent may have been a necromancer who dabbled in a dark and dangerous art, but Demeter seemed to trust him in a way he didn’t trust the other imprisoned necromancers. Alex wondered if that meant Vincent was stronger or weaker than the others, or whether he was simply a different sort of individual altogether—a good necromancer, if such a thing existed?

For a moment, Alex’s mind dwelled upon the image of Demeter, rendering Agatha immobilized with just his palms. He could see that Demeter and Vincent were two fiercely strong mages whom he could certainly learn a lot from. He knew for sure he had underestimated Demeter, who was not only capable of endless Spellbreaker history lectures and the world’s worst dad jokes, but also of a magic far more useful than simple spells and shields. At last, Alex understood what Demeter had meant when he said he had a way of making Caius give them the essence—he could manipulate minds. It was a skill Alex knew could come in very handy when dealing with royals in the near future, including Caius, though he wasn’t sure he’d be able to convince Demeter to teach him how.

If only I could do mind control, Alex thought sardonically, I’d be able to make him teach me. For now, he’d settle for whatever Vincent had in store to help him.



Alex raced to the tower room where he had left his satchel of bottled essence. Eager to start the lesson—and get it over with quickly, so he could focus again on the modules—he hurried through the labyrinth of hallways, ignoring the beady eyes that watched him through the grates and the steady drip-drip of the moldy water falling from the ceiling and hitting the floor in a steady rhythm.

Passing through an intersection of hallways, Alex paused. Down the corridor to the left, which happened to be one of the corridors Vincent had pointed out as one to be avoided at all costs, he spied Natalie. She was pressed close to the wall, talking to someone through a grate in one of the wooden cell doors. Ducking behind the corner, he watched her for a while, unseen, trying to listen to what she was discussing with the person on the other side of the grate. A shiver ran up his spine as he picked up the sound of a low, raspy voice coming from within the cell, but what worried him more was the gleam of excitement he saw in Natalie’s dark eyes as she listened intently to what the man was saying.

Creeping closer to get a better look, Alex saw a repulsive, deathly pale face peering through at Natalie, with impossibly black eyes that flashed with malice. Alex guessed this must be one of the necromancers Vincent had been talking about when he had mentioned vile, despicable creatures who could not be trusted. There was a resemblance in the two men’s appearances, undoubtedly, but this individual radiated darkness in a way Vincent did not. This man’s evil was tangible in the way he sneered, his veins running vividly in a network of sickly black beneath his translucent skin. Alex couldn’t understand why Natalie wasn’t the least bit alarmed by the necromancer’s disdainful smile, and could hardly believe what he was seeing. He knew Natalie enjoyed the powerful side of magic, but this was beyond reckless.

Natalie caught sight of him as he edged closer, and her eyes narrowed in something akin to annoyance. She muttered a swift farewell to her black-eyed acquaintance before turning and walking straight past Alex, practically pushing him out of her way.