The Keep (The Secret of Spellshadow Manor #4)(77)

Alypia had other ideas, however. She suddenly lashed out with her hands, sending two vivid bolts of glowing light downward. They hit the earth, splitting the flagstones beneath Alex’s feet. He stumbled, staying upright, and continued toward her, his hands readied to reach her temples. With inhumanly fast reflexes, she caught him by the throat, her elegant fingers clamping around his bones, her nails piercing his skin as she leaned toward his face. He could feel her hot breath on his cheek.

“I have waited a long time to put an end to your misery, Leander Wyvern,” she hissed. Alex realized she must be seeing the face of his ancestor, instead of his own. He supposed it didn’t really matter, if she strangled him regardless.

He tried to speak, but her fingers only tightened, choking him. Black spots appeared in his vision, and he could almost feel his eyes bulging out of his head as the pressure increased. Although he was on the verge of blacking out, he found the energy to lift his hands to her head. Before he could do anything, something swooped from the shadows and knocked Alypia backward, forcing her to release her grip.

“Come here, you monster!” she shrieked, slashing blindly at the air with her hands.

Alex ducked out of the way, hiding in a corner, and looked up in time to see Elias disappearing into the masonry. He wasn’t sure whether to be glad or annoyed by the shadow-man’s interference, but he didn’t have time to mull it over. As much as he wanted to get Alypia into a cell there and then, he knew he wouldn’t be able to manage it alone. If he wanted to lock her up and complete the plan, he was going to need the others. But he had no idea where they were or if they’d even be in any state to help. He cursed under his breath, knowing he was going to need to rescue them, wherever they were, and remove the fog from their brains. He just hoped they hadn’t gone far.

Alex gazed at Alypia, who was still swiping at invisible beasts. He knew he couldn’t just leave her in the courtyard, in case she managed to stumble back through to Stillwater, but he also knew he wouldn’t be able to trap her anywhere, not by himself. She’d have his eyes out before he even got close.

As if sensing Alex’s thoughts, a manic grin spread across Alypia’s face.

“I will hunt you to the ends of the earth,” she whispered, her gaze resting on a spot in the courtyard ten feet away from him. “You will not escape me!”

A second later, she was hurrying past Alex and darting for the entrance to the courtyard, leaving Alex with no option but to leave his hiding place and run after her. She was fast, and as he reached the hall where he had been imprisoned, he found that she was nowhere to be seen.

Great, he thought, now I have to keep my eye out for her trying to attack me from the depths of Kingstone, as well as for the others. It wasn’t an idea he relished. It was bad enough when he knew where she was, but the worry of her jumping out at him, catching him unawares, was one that set his nerves on edge.

He glanced around, wondering which hallway to take. There were four in total, branching off from the main room, and with the clock clanging above him, impulse made him sprint through the central one.

The prison still echoed with screams that only seemed to grow louder, the cries of the inmates masking any sound that might lead Alex in the right direction, to the place his friends had disappeared to. All around him, the walls still crackled with a menacing ripple of energy. Keeping his head as level as he could, he hoped the bristle of his angry aura wouldn’t set the barrier magic off again.

A prisoner threw himself at the wooden door of one of the cells with a piercing shriek, startling Alex. Taking a moment to collect himself, Alex pressed on, though he quickly came to realize that it was only the first in a succession of escape attempts. With every door he passed, another inmate hurled themselves in his direction, gnashing their teeth at him through the grate, trying to grasp at him with dirty, scrabbling hands. It was like running a nightmarish gauntlet. Alex’s heart thundered as he tried to guard himself against the fear that coursed through his veins, but it didn’t matter that he was frightened—his friends were in danger, and he was the only one who could drag them out of their own personal nightmares.

Turning a corner, he breathed a small sigh of relief, though the hammering of inmates behind him still had him rattled. A short distance away, Lintz and Demeter were grappling with one another on the slick floor of the prison. Demeter seemed to have the upper hand, though Lintz had the weight advantage, as they tried to land savage punches on one another, golden magic rippling beneath their fists. Demeter roared in Lintz’s face, the professor’s mouth frothing with the exertion of the fight.

Alex gulped. It wasn’t an altogether reassuring sight, but he knew it was a start.

Two down, if they’ll let me get close enough.

Using the noise of the prison as cover, Alex inched toward them. Demeter was on top of Lintz, grasping the professor’s head in his hands as if he were about to smash it against the hard stone floor. Alex lurched forward, reaching out to grab Demeter’s shoulder. He ducked as the auburn-haired man whirled on him, lashing out with a blow that would have given Alex a decent bruise if he hadn’t dodged in time.

Seizing the opportunity while Demeter was off balance, Alex grasped the ex-teacher’s forearm and fed his anti-magic through the freckled surface of Demeter’s skin. Searching through the man’s body for remnants of the fog, Alex dissipated the glistening red haze. It didn’t take long for Demeter to return to normality, his paranoia eased. Like the last time, it appeared Demeter’s mind-control powers were helping him to recover more swiftly than those without his skillset.