The Keep (The Secret of Spellshadow Manor #4)(5)

“They can’t be helped?” Alex pressed.

Demeter shook his head. “Believe me, I’ve tried. Some seem fine for a while, but then their sanity simply leaves. It can take days, weeks, months, years, but every single one crumbles the same way. It’s like a disease—it starts slow, with secret whispers. Then the scrape of nails on the wall. Then their eyes go wild and their howls fill the air, and they become something more animal than human. I can’t stop it—they are lost to me, once the madness takes them.”

It shook Alex to think there was nothing to be done for those students who had been brought here from Stillwater House, especially as their assistance would have been appreciated, and he could have tried to repay them with true freedom, one day. But, if what Demeter said was true, they were lost for good.

A dread-tinged silence filled the room.

“So, you promised you’d tell us how you both ended up here,” Jari said, breaking the tension as he lay on the floor, propping himself up on his elbows.

“Ah, an excellent story. Well, this fine gentleman found me sprawled on my caboose after bounding through an ill-placed portal, following quite the hair-raising journey,” chuckled Lintz, nudging Demeter in the arm. “I’d had a rough time after high-tailing it from Spellshadow, once that devilish little weakling returned with his gang of cronies, and that darned other place wasn’t much friendlier. I barely got out in one piece!”

Alex assumed “that darned other place” was the mysterious fourth haven, Falleaf House. In his mind, the four havens were connected in a sort of ring, so it made sense that the next one along, the one between here and Spellshadow, should be the undiscovered realm of Falleaf. However, it didn’t quite sound like the sanctuary Alex was hoping to find. He wondered whether or not he’d ever get to see what Falleaf had to offer—and whether he even wanted to. Kingstone would have to serve as their escape route for now.

I suppose it’s better the devil you know, he mused.

“So after giving him a guard’s uniform, I made it so it was just the two of us on duty, so nobody suspected he hadn’t always been here. Our job is easy thanks to the barrier magic,” the auburn-haired man piped up. “I, on the other hand, was a former teacher at Stillwater, but I got sent here a long time ago for telling one too many Spellbreaker stories to my students… There were complaints.”

“Phooey! Your stories are wonderful,” insisted Lintz.

“Very kind of you. Alas, fortune favors the ignorant,” Demeter quipped. “Then, they have the audacity to waltz back through here, asking after me, wanting me to teach a student again. Naturally, I got on my high hat and said, ‘Not a chance,’ but then—”

“But I persuaded him otherwise. I had a feeling it was you, Alex, and I asked if Demeter here wouldn’t mind keeping an eye on you all, to make sure you were safe.” Lintz smiled encouragingly.

“Oh goodness, I was thrilled to be meeting a real-life Spellbreaker—if they’d led with that, I’d have been over there like a bullet, but it was Lintz here who told me what you were and who you were. And I have to say, you met my expectations and then some!” Demeter gushed.

Alex hardly thought himself worthy of that accolade. All he’d done in his lessons with Demeter was encourage the teacher to keep speaking so he wouldn’t have to do any actual work.

“Mind you, I made him promise to get you all out if anything bad happened,” Lintz added.

“Yes, then I was sent back for not toeing the line,” said Demeter, nodding to Lintz. “Alypia thought I was up to my old tricks…”

“Gosh, yes, quite the wrench in the works!”

“Fortunately, you seemed to have that all in your fingers, didn’t you, Alex?” said Demeter.

Alex wondered if Demeter’s dismissal had something to do with the reason he was being disciplined when Alex had caught sight of him in the windowless study room. He made a mental note to ask him about it later, in private.

“I’m not sure I had it quite in hand, but we got out.” Alex shrugged, subtly correcting Demeter’s phrasing.

“Ah, speaking of getting out, we need to get you all out of the magical realm as soon as possible,” announced Lintz. “It’s the only place you’ll be safe—”

“And we’re going to help,” Demeter said.

The group exchanged dubious glances.

“How?” asked Alex, staring at the two men.

Lintz met the eyes of each of his former students. “With a portal to the outside world.”





Chapter 3





The idea of creating a portal had been on Alex’s mind for a long time now, but they’d never had the opportunity to put that plan into action—or even figure out where to start.

After a dumbfounded silence, Natalie was the first to speak. “You… know how to build one?”

“A dear friend of mine happened to have a book on the subject, stashed away,” Demeter said. “Lintz and I had been studying it in preparation for your arrival.”

Lintz twirled his moustache thoughtfully. “It will be a difficult task, as portal-building usually is, made all the more complex by the fact that we’re starting from scratch. But with all of you here, we should be able to make it a success. Though, I should warn you that this type of portal requires one of two things—either a great deal of time and energy, or a great deal of essence.”