The Keep (The Secret of Spellshadow Manor #4)(33)

“Of course,” said Alex. He stood, almost in a trance, and hurried from the room.

He ran toward the doorway, up to one of the small turrets he had passed days before, and pounded the stairs to the summit. Bursting out into the cold evening air, Alex stepped up to the very edge of the wall and screamed at the top of his lungs.

“ELIAS!” His voice echoed until he had no air left, his chest burning. “Elias, come out and face me, you coward!” he yelled, hot tears prickling his eyes. “Face me! Face what you did! Come out and admit your crime, you monster!” He slammed a fist into the wall, feeling it crackle against his skin as he screamed and screamed, the tears running down his cheeks.

Nothing made sense. Why had Elias bothered to help him, when the shadow-man had been keeping such a vile secret to himself all this time?

As his screams echoed into the ether, Alex became aware of a shadow loitering at the very edge of the steps behind him.





Chapter 10





Siren Mave stood at the entrance to the turret.

An initial shock rippled through Alex, seeing the toady woman standing there, her cheeks ablaze with liberally applied blush. But his gaze quickly moved elsewhere, driven by frustration. He didn’t want to see Siren Mave; he wanted to see Elias.

“Oh dear, Alex Webber, what a state you’ve gotten yourself into,” she murmured quietly, her voice not unkind. Cautiously, she approached.

“You?” he snapped. “What are you doing here?”

“I go where am I needed, Alex,” she replied simply.

He glowered in her direction. “How can you even be here?”

“I go where I please,” she said, making Alex remember her appearance at Stillwater too.

“It’s not you I want to see… Where is he?” Alex growled, completely beside himself. This wasn’t what he wanted—Siren Mave was no good. He wanted the shadow-man, and nothing else would suffice.

“You know I’m not going to tell you that, not with you like this,” she said firmly, adjusting her horn-rimmed spectacles. “Let’s try some breathing, see if we can’t get you to calm down.” There was a slightly patronizing note in her voice that set Alex’s nerves on edge.

He shook his head. “I don’t need to calm down, I need to see him. If you stand in my way, I will take you down too,” he hissed.

Siren Mave sighed like a henpecked mother. “You won’t, Alex, and as much as I’d love to see you try, I don’t think you’d come out of it too well,” she said, amused. “You really do need to calm down—getting worked up like this will do nobody any favors, least of all yourself.”

He glared at her, wishing she would go away and disappear into the hallways of the keep, as she had done in all the other hallways in all the other havens. Why was it that the one time he least wanted to see her, there she was? He thought about saying so, but held his tongue, reserving his venom for Elias.

“I don’t have time for this. I need to see Elias, now!” he yelled, growing more impatient by the second.

“How about we begin with you telling me what has caused all this?” she said, gesturing at Alex, a mass of beaded bracelets jangling heavily on her wrist. She mimicked the state he was in by puffing out her rouged cheeks, making herself look somewhat ridiculous. “I’m not going anywhere, Alex, so you may as well speak to me. I can be of help to you, but it’s a two-way street,” she added, with a note of frustration in her voice.

Alex wondered what on earth she had to be frustrated about. She wasn’t the one who had just found out his father was dead, and learned that the creature who killed him was the very same creature that had been his constant guide throughout all of the madness that had become his life.

“Why should I tell you anything?” he spat.

“Because I’m the only one who can understand,” she replied, staring intently at him through the thick lenses of her glasses, her eyes almost bug-like.

Alex scoffed. “You can’t understand what I’m going through.”

“You won’t know if you don’t try. Are you a quitter, Alex Webber? You never seemed like a quitter to me— definitely not one to shy away from a challenge,” she said.

“Do you even know who I’m looking for?” he asked bitterly, realizing he had never heard her mention the shadow-man before, though she had seemed to know whom he meant when he asked where Elias was. Were they in cahoots too? It didn’t sit well with Alex; none of it did.

Siren Mave laughed sarcastically. “The things I know about that shadowy pest—I could tell you stories that would make your toes curl and tales that would split your sides with laughter. Do I look dumb to you?” she asked, raising a drawn-on eyebrow. “Mm, perhaps you should not answer that in your current, heated state. Let’s not get into flinging childish insults—that’s more Elias’s style. In short, yes, I know who you are seeking, though I would like you to explain why. Think of me as a reluctant mediator.” She smiled, her thick lipstick cracking slightly.

“He killed my father,” Alex whispered, pushing away tears.

“You have seen it with your own eyes?” she asked curiously.

He nodded. “I have.”

“Pesky necromancers, always meddling,” she muttered. “I presume it was the necromancer who showed you?”