The Keep (The Secret of Spellshadow Manor #4)(6)

“Is this enough?” Alex asked, holding up the satchel he still wore over his shoulder. Carefully, he lifted the flap to show Lintz the smoky, black glass bottles and their pulsing red contents. Lintz gaped, moving toward the bag for a closer look. The shock on Lintz’s face remained as he let his chubby fingers trail across some of the bottles.

“Goodness… Are these from Stillwater?” Lintz asked breathlessly.

“Straight from Alypia’s study. Will it work?” Alex asked, more insistently.

Lintz sighed. “It will certainly help… but a portal to the real world takes an enormous amount of essence, given that you are essentially tearing a hole in the fabric of reality. Building one to another magical place is child’s play by comparison, as you are using an already established network and simply opening an old wound instead of creating a fresh cut… The quantity of essence in this satchel is not enough. With all your help, I believe it can be built, but it will take six months at the very least.” He shook his head, continuing to twist his moustache in contemplation.

Six months. That was out of the question, especially with Alypia at their heels.

“We need to speed up the process. We need more essence,” Alex said, glancing at his friends, who stood anxiously around him.

Lintz frowned. “Indeed, but it’s not possible to obtain more.”

“But you mentioned there was essence here at Kingstone? From the prisoners?” Natalie asked. “If what you said is true, it will be stronger than any we have come across.”

“Locating the essence will be no easy task, and Caius is not someone to mess with,” Lintz said. “The risks are too great.”

“The keep is riddled with booby traps and obstacles of all kinds, conjured from the darkest depths of a cruel mind, no doubt to prevent such snooping,” Demeter chimed in.

“It’s why I would never ask such a thing of you all,” Lintz concluded solemnly. “I don’t want you getting into needless danger, though I know you attract it like honey does flies,” he said with a grimace, half-amused, half-serious.

“But we have to get the portal built,” Alex pressed, trying to rally his friends to the cause. They looked to Lintz for a reply. “We don’t have any other options, Professor.”

“There will be no point in building a portal home if there are none of you left to go through it, having been skewered by giant magic spears or fried in a supernatural blaze or eaten alive by golden beasts or something equally vile, which is what would happen if I let you go hunting for the essence in this prison. Caius won’t allow you to find it, and I don’t want to risk you trying.”

“The risk is ours, Professor,” Alex replied firmly, “and you can either help us or hinder us. You two know this place better than any of us, and we could really use your help in mapping it out, to stand the best chance of finding the stuff.” Alex leveled his gaze at Lintz, then Demeter. He couldn’t gauge the latter’s feelings, his eyes giving nothing away. “Either way, we have to go looking for it. Am I right?” Crossing his arms, he turned to the others, expecting to hear their agreement. Their collective nod reassured him; this was happening whether Lintz liked it or not.

There was a moment of tense silence as they waited for Lintz’s response.

“You know he’s right, Lintz,” Demeter muttered. “If we don’t help, they’ll only end up dead, or worse… What other option do we have?”

Lintz groaned. “I see I am outnumbered…”

Alex let out a breath. “Thank you, Professor.”

“You won’t regret this,” Natalie added.

“Oh, but I fear I shall,” the professor mumbled. “Well… If we are going to look for the essence, we should get more hands on deck. Tomorrow, we can swing by a few old friends of Demeter’s before we head into a whole world of danger. They’ll be able to help lessen the collateral damage, I hope.” There was a note of vexation in the old man’s voice.

“There’s also Alypia to think of,” Aamir said grimly. “We have to keep her at bay until we find the essence and ready the portal.”

“There must be something we can do to prevent her from breaking through,” Ellabell spoke up, nervously adjusting the spectacles over her nose. “At least for a little while—to buy us more time.”

“That’s where my beetles come in,” Lintz replied, pulling one from his satchel to show the group. “They work like beacons, showing me where a portal is trying to break through, so I can run and close it before it fully opens. The only problem is they won’t work forever—they need new magic poured into them after every use. But they should come in handy.” He paused. “Now that I think of it, you may have to help me with that little problem too—keeping the portals from opening, and filling my beetles with magic as they deplete. It won’t be easy, when combined with the task of mapping out the keep and avoiding Caius’s traps. Caius himself is a rare sight at the keep, so hopefully we won’t have to meet him along the way. But his traps are most prevalent… and the keep is huge.” He grimaced, evidently realizing the enormity of the work that lay ahead.

It worried Alex too, making him wonder whether they had the required power to juggle so many taxing things at once. He wanted to get a closer look at the clockwork beetle, to see how it worked, but as he tried to stand, a wave of nausea crashed over him again, forcing him back down onto the dusty seat.