The Keep (The Secret of Spellshadow Manor #4)(38)

Alex laughed tightly. “Sorry for the letdown.”

“Leave him be, Jari, you wind-up merchant,” Aamir chastised. “This is exciting news.”

“I thought so,” replied Alex. “I’m hoping to start on the shields tonight, but I might need your help in case any of Caius’s curses decide to jump out and take us by surprise.”

Ellabell nodded excitedly. “Absolutely! I can’t think of a better way to spend an evening.”

“It’ll give us a chance to get some practice in, to flex our magical muscles before we bring the sucker down!” Jari chirped.

“Does anyone know where Lintz and Demeter are?” Alex asked, knowing the teachers’ power might be useful.

“I believe Demeter is with Agatha, tending to her. She was taken ill earlier, and he is keeping an eye on her until she feels better. Lintz is with them too, but he’s working away on the circuit jammers,” Aamir replied. “Shall I get them?”

Alex shook his head, recalling the image of Agatha rushing toward him. “Better leave them where they’re most needed. We’ll be okay, the five of us. It might sap a lot of my strength to break so many barriers in one evening, but I’ll need you all to be at your peak when the time comes to overload the cylinders—it’s going to take a lot of effort, but it’ll be worth it if we can get Caius to take the bait,” Alex said.

“Together, we are strong,” Natalie stated.

“After so many setbacks, I feel good about this. It’s our time,” Aamir said, though Alex wished he hadn’t spoken quite so confidently. It made him fear some sort of jinx being placed upon their plan.

“Caius will take the bait. We just need to make sure it looks juicy enough for him to bite,” Jari said, grinning wolfishly.

With that, the group moved from the warmth and comfort of the tower room and headed back down the steps. As they came to the first vestibule area, Alex stopped and moved toward the cylinder that clung to the wall. Using the screwdriver he had taken from Vincent’s sitting room, he unscrewed the detailed golden shell and placed it carefully on the floor, knowing that all of the covers would have to be replaced once the mechanism shields were down and the jammers had been fitted, so the modules themselves didn’t draw too much attention when Caius came to investigate. If the warden saw the deliberately broken mechanisms, Alex knew he might suspect an ambush before they even had the chance to strike, and disappear back from whence he came. With the covers back on, looking like nothing had happened, Alex knew Caius would have to come closer, for a better look.

Jari gave a low whistle over Alex’s shoulder as the inner clockwork was revealed. “She’s a beauty!”

“Isn’t she?” Alex said, glad to hear that someone else appreciated the intricate handiwork as much as he did.

Ellabell stepped up beside Alex. “This must regulate the flow of the barrier magic, keeping it working without the need for a mage. Once the magic has been poured inside, much like Lintz’s beetles, the system does the rest, holding the barrier magic in place, where it wants it. Very clever,” she said, taking a closer look, the golden shimmer reflected in her blue eyes.

“I imagine it must monitor the fog outside too, as part of the system,” Natalie added.

“Yeah, it sounds like it’s constantly in use—like it’s funneling the barrier magic, directing it this way and that, stopping it from escaping into the atmosphere,” Alex replied, watching the delicate cogs whir incessantly and move the metal arms and pumps that kept the magic flowing as it should, filtering it and sending it back out into the walls in an endless stream.

Ellabell squinted at the mechanism. “Do you think they’re in any specific order?”

“What do you mean?” Alex asked.

“Well, if this is, for example, number one, do you think the next one down is number two, and so on and so forth?” she said. “If there were some way of knowing what order they were in, we could make sure we were breaking the right ones, to take down one specific section.”

Aamir nodded. “If we could break, say, one to nine, one for each of us, then that would only take down that section of barrier.”

“But how can we know which is which?” Natalie cut in, her brow furrowed in deep thought.

Alex bent down and picked the golden cover back up, running his thumb along the carved detailing that coiled along the metal shell. Exotic flowers ran into twisting vines, and thorns protruded from long stems. He was hoping for some inspiration as he let his eyes follow the beautiful design. To his disappointment, it seemed to be solely decorative. Turning it around, he saw that not even the inside had any distinguishing features; it was simply smooth, blank metal. Frowning, he lifted it toward the glow of torchlight, hoping something might jump out at him as he took a final look.

Something did. At the bottom right of the gold cover was a small etching of a swallow, its wings stretched out as if in flight, and upon each wing was a number. On the left wing, the number one; on the right wing, the number six. This was module number sixteen.

“Guys, I think I’ve cracked it,” he said, grinning.

“How?” Jari asked, peering once more over Alex’s shoulder.

Alex pointed to the swallow. “This is module number sixteen. So, if we take down our nine modules, we should be able to make a decent dent in the barrier magic. It’ll certainly give old Caius enough to worry about.”