The Keep (The Secret of Spellshadow Manor #4)(42)

Lintz stepped toward the clockwork and lifted one crab-shaped jammer out of his bag, pressing the metal crustacean up against a connecting section of cogs and pulleys. Sparking into life, the bronze crab snapped its claws and grasped two nodes that stuck out at the top of the mechanism, clinging fast. The jammer-crabs might have looked small and weak, but they were surprisingly strong. Immediately, the clockwork began to struggle, the cogs stalling, the pulleys straining.

“Mechanism successfully jammed,” Lintz said, visibly unable to contain his pride in the miniature crustaceans. “Shall we move on?” he encouraged, though there was a tightness in his voice that belied his true fears. The group did just that, following Lintz as they left Demeter behind.

Natalie took the second module, with Aamir, Jari, Ellabell, Vincent, and Agatha taking the ones that followed. At each stop, another jammer was fitted, the claws snapping triumphantly into place. Alex took the penultimate module, and Lintz carried on to the final one in their chosen section.

Glancing around, Alex thought it was strange to be in such isolation in the midst of a collaborative task. The vestibule in which he stood was oddly silent, with nothing but the steady rumble of the day-to-day prison life filling the quietude. It made things all the more unsettling as he waited, head turned over his shoulder, in anticipation of Lintz’s signal. He tried to imagine his friends, lined up along the hallways, wondering if they were feeling as nervous as he was. There was excitement, too, that the plan was finally coming together, but it was all tinged with a streak of terror. If Caius took the bait, Alex knew they could have the essence in their hands by dinnertime, but he also knew there was a good chance they could be dead. Alex had to cling to the hope that it would be the former. If he allowed himself to think of Caius overcoming them, he knew he might just lose his nerve.

They had strength, they had power, they would hopefully have the element of surprise, but that didn’t mean anything in the realm of Kingstone Keep. Alex knew Caius could scupper it at any stage.

Behind him, a floating golden orb brightened into view, coming to rest in the center of the room. Alex’s heart began to pound harder. Taking it as his indication to move, he turned toward the clockwork mechanism and rested his hands on top of the cylinder. Glancing down, he saw that they were shaking slightly, as he conjured a vast ball of raw energy, feeling the swell and surge of it beneath his hands. Focusing, he pressed the anti-magic into the module’s mechanics, feeling it come up against the resistance of the jammer Lintz had fitted. Using that as a point against which to brace his anti-magic, he let the pressure build and build, using all his strength to push it harder against the jammer, feeling it grow to an extraordinary force beneath his hands. He was giving it everything, and still the mechanism wasn’t giving way. He could feel a trickle of sweat on his brow as he surged more and more anti-magic into the system, willing it to overload. Finally, with an enormous explosion that sent him sprawling backward, the mechanism relented, the whole thing breaking apart, releasing the hold it had on the barrier magic.

Alex scrambled to his feet, hearing the echo of explosions down the hallway. Rushing toward the mechanism, which was still searing hot from the blast, he picked up the golden cover from the floor and hurriedly fixed it back into place, burning his hands slightly as he tried to make it look the way it had before. Stepping back, he was pleased to see that it looked as if nothing had happened, save for the rush of red fog that was escaping upward, out of the keep.

His pulse was racing, and he could feel the sweat on his brow go cold as he braced for Caius’s arrival. The barrier was down; they couldn’t bring it back now.

For the first time, out of the window that stood beside the module, Alex could see out into the world, the bronze fog clearing to reveal the landscape beyond. He peered out over the ledge, soaking it all in, feeling the rush of cool, fresh air on his skin, trying to calm his nerves. In the near distance, a fair stretch from the moat, a lush, dark green forest ran as far as the eye could see, leading to the faint shadow of mountains behind, which rose up to meet the darkening sky. Closer still, nestled in the shade of the forest, where the trees separated to forge a rudimentary path, Alex could see a gatehouse, perfectly formed and almost quaint to behold. It stood a fair distance from the wide moat that surrounded the keep. It was just far enough away from the prison, Alex thought, which, to his mind, looked like a promising place for a warden to visit.

He wondered if that was where Caius would come from.

Breaking into a sprint, he ran to meet the others. Everyone seemed on edge, chattering anxiously, but their modules were suitably exploded, the covers replaced. It had already been a few minutes, and still Caius had not come.

“Any sign?” Alex asked, as Lintz, Vincent, and Agatha came up the corridor.

Lintz shook his head. “Nothing as yet, but it may take a short while.”

Alex didn’t want to wait any longer. He knew Caius needed to appear before they all lost momentum; they were ready for him now. There was no time to lose, and Alex felt the familiar bristle of annoyance ripple through him, mixing with his anxiety.

“It worked, right?” he pressed.

Demeter nodded. “It worked perfectly.”

“Then where is he?” Alex stared out the nearby window, scrutinizing the gatehouse in the distance.

As a frustrated sigh emerged from Alex’s lips, the ground shook beneath their feet, beginning as a small tremor, then descending into a full-blown, wall-shattering, earth-trembling quake. Shouts of fear erupted from the prisoners nearby. Alex grasped the wall, trying to stay on his feet. A deafening roar filled his ears, and he turned to the others, fear pulsing in his veins. If this was Caius making his entrance, Alex had never expected the warden to make such a violent arrival.