The Keep (The Secret of Spellshadow Manor #4)(55)

“I heard shouting. Is something wrong?” he asked, letting go of Alex’s wrist as the ball of anti-magic evaporated.

Alex exhaled. “It’s Ellabell—she’s gone missing. Nobody has seen her since this morning, and I know it sounds presumptuous, but I think someone may have taken her. I can feel it.”

Vincent looked worried for a moment. “Not presumptuous at all, young Spellbreaker—very shrewd, in fact. This place is not for wandering, and nor should we ever ignore an odd feeling. Let us not forget, our bodies are more in tune with the world than we think; we simply choose to drown out the connection. If it is telling you she isn’t safe, then I trust your instinct. In fact, I believe I may have seen two figures disappearing beyond the barrier not too long ago. Their forms were shifting in the distance… I did think it a little strange,” he said grimly.

“Who was it?”

“That, I can’t say. I couldn’t make them out clearly through the fog, I’m afraid. If I’d had the gift of foresight I might have looked closer,” Vincent said, his long fingers tapping together with apprehension. “Alas, I did not, though I recall thinking it might be Caius and a prisoner he fancied torturing in person—it has been known to happen on very, very rare occasions, and Caius does so love the forest.”

“Caius,” Alex hissed, the word burning like poison in his mouth.

It was the confirmation he needed. Hearing what Vincent had seen, Alex was convinced Ellabell wasn’t in Kingstone Keep anymore, and that the one who had spirited her away was none other than the elusive Caius.

It has to be punishment for what we tried to do, he told himself bitterly.

Fury pulsated within him. He would track the warden down, retrieve Ellabell in one piece, and find the information he needed about the essence—and once he had those things safely in his grasp, he would kill Caius. The thought of murdering someone made his gut twist, but he refused to make the same mistake he had made with Alypia and leave another royal to pursue him.

“Don’t be reckless, Alex,” warned Vincent.

“I have to go,” he replied.

By the time Vincent opened his mouth to say more, Alex was already gone. Running to the turret where he had held Ellabell beneath foggy moonlight, he knew what he had to do. There wasn’t time to turn around and tell the others. If he lingered any longer, seeking approval, it left more time for Ellabell to be hurt by the vicious man who had taken her. After all, Caius was known for his love of torturous spells and his joy in others’ suffering, and if the warden shared even a sliver of his brother’s cruelty, Alex didn’t want her anywhere near him. Alex was the only one who could get past the barrier and out into the forest, where she had gone, and it didn’t make sense for him to waste more time they didn’t have.

Alex coiled the strands of his anti-magic into his body, folding his solid form in on itself, and disappeared with a snap. As the world fell away and the sky rushed around him, he forced his mind to focus on the edge of the forest, pushing back the racket of a million racing thoughts. With a thud, he landed in front of the gatehouse.

I really need to get better at landing, he thought absently, brushing the dirt from his trousers.

Sprinting toward the windows of the gatehouse, he pressed his face up to the glass, checking for any sign of Ellabell in the room beyond. To his frustration, it was empty, but his keen eyes noticed that the map was missing from the desk. Inspired, he reached for his roughly sketched copy of the map, still crumpled at the bottom of his trouser pocket, and scanned it.

There was an indistinct track that led through the dense forest, toward a settlement just below the mountains. Alex figured it was as good a place to start as any.

He ran, following the overgrown path through the woods, snagging his feet on the coiled roots, shivering at the soft caress of creeping vines against his neck. It was a dry day, but the sky above was overcast, not a single patch of blue to be seen in the endless gray. To his left and right, he heard the crack of twigs and the rustle of unseen creatures in the undergrowth, startling him every time. He pushed away his fear, focusing only on what lay ahead, hoping he would find Ellabell before something horrible happened to her. With each step, his rage at Caius burned more fiercely.

The forest came to an abrupt halt. Ahead, the crumbling skeleton of an ancient settlement stood beneath the shadow of the great mountain that rose up behind, a towering tombstone to a ghost town. Black clouds swirled around the summit as the air shuddered with thunder, followed by spidery bolts of lightning that dashed the mountainside, flaring for a moment before fading to nothing. It was too far up for Alex to see the damage it had done, but the storm didn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon, lingering gloomily upon the peaks.

Nature had begun to reclaim the derelict buildings and broken sidewalks, flowers pushing up through the cracks in the cement and crawling across the decaying masonry. Walking through the deserted town, scattering rubble with every step, Alex glanced over the peeling names of storefronts and street signs leading to neighborhoods that no longer existed. He saw the name “Thunder Road” painted on a signpost that pointed toward the mountain. It reminded him of an old song his mother used to listen to while she danced around the kitchen, and he smiled with bittersweet remembrance, the memory urging him forward.

Passing what looked like an old tavern, Alex could make out lettering that spelled “The Feather and the Sword.”