The Keep (The Secret of Spellshadow Manor #4)(81)

The other two agreed, sharing a grim look as they followed Alex’s lead. They set off into the unnerving halls of the keep’s inner sanctum, moving slowly so as not to disturb the bats that slept overhead. As they walked, the cries and shouts of the inmates seemed to be dying down. Either that, or they were getting too far away to hear them anymore, edging deeper into the unknown.

Alex was so focused on keeping his eyes on the shadows and focusing on the path ahead that he almost tripped over Aamir, who was passed out in the hallway, a livid red gash rising up on his forehead. It seemed like a bizarre thing to assume, but it looked unmistakably as if he had run into the wall and knocked himself out. Concerned, Alex crouched and shook Aamir awake.

With a pained blink, the older boy came to, glancing around with a puzzled expression, as if trying to grasp at a slippery memory. More surprisingly still, he seemed to be entirely himself, with no need for Alex’s anti-magic. Whatever had knocked him out had clearly knocked the fog out too.

“What happened to you?” Alex asked.

“The last thing I remember was seeing a portal home… and trying to run into it,” Aamir admitted, albeit reluctantly.

Ellabell and Jari helped Aamir to his feet. As they hurried down the hallway, Alex could taste the finish line. It was within reach now, and once they crossed it, they could get back to the task at hand—that of locking Alypia away where she belonged.

We might actually fix this mess after all, he thought anxiously.

Now, they just needed to find Natalie.



Once they reached the subterranean floor of the keep, Alex paused in front of a familiar, empty cell. He was certain Caius would have moved the cot back into place once he’d left the pit.

But there was nothing covering the staircase to the catacombs now.

With a sudden surge of panic, Alex imagined Natalie stepping through the door at the end of the hall below, falling unawares into the pit itself, driven over the edge by imaginary monsters. He could picture the misty swarm of a billion vaporous particles, snatching at her essence, wanting to tear it out of her. Of all the places in the keep, how was it that she had found the most dangerous one? He had a feeling dark magic was responsible.

He motioned for his friends to follow him down the staircase, wasting no time on an explanation. The other three shared a look, but followed anyway, and they stormed down into the catacombs.

In the narrow corridor, the torches were flickering, and Alex was slightly relieved to find the large door at the end closed—it was one of the smaller side doors that was open, light spilling out. He raced toward it. Inside, he was met by the sight of a luxurious chamber, decidedly out of place in the dank, foreboding setting of the prison around them.

The chamber was softly lit with stained-glass lanterns that pooled a multicolored luminescence onto the plush, rug-covered floor and tapestry-draped walls. The place was adorned with soft, rich furnishings, including full bookshelves and many other beautiful things—shining jewelry boxes, sleek wooden trunks with brass fittings, exquisitely carved statuary. It might once have been a charming place, but much of the furniture looked as if it hadn’t been used in a long time, and a musty, mildewed scent clung to the air. Had it not been for the lack of windows, it would have been hard to tell that it was a prison cell at all.

Alex staggered backward, the others jumping in fright. Natalie was in the room, though he hadn’t seen her at first. She crouched on the floor by the rotting remnants of a four-poster bed, moving unnaturally around a bottle in the center of a ruby-red rug. She was singing something quietly in an alarming, throaty whisper, her eyes entirely focused on the small, smoky black bottle that Alex recognized as a bottle of essence, though he didn’t have a clue where she’d found it, nor was she in a state to tell him.

“All my friends are dead, now to kill the Head,” she sang over and over, her voice low and disturbing, her eyes like saucers.

The others watched her in silent horror, but Alex’s eye was caught instead by the sight of a slim, wooden door at the very far side of the room, half-tucked away behind a velvet curtain. His gaze flitted back toward Natalie, remembering what Caius had said about the harmful nature of the essence here; if the warden was right, it wasn’t safe for Natalie to be so close to it. Tentatively, he walked toward her, bolstering himself with a protective layer of anti-magic as he neared.

In a split second, she turned on him, lunging up from her haunches, trying to grasp his head in her hands, her nails raking at the soft flesh of his face.

“You will pay, pay, pay!” Natalie screeched.

Alex managed to twist out from under her grip, some of his hair ripping away in her clenched fist. “You have to snap out of this—” he began.

Lunging again, she screamed in his face, clutching her hands to her chest as if they were burned, making Alex glad of the layer of protection around him that was keeping her slightly at arm’s length.

The others edged closer, taking Alex’s lead.

“Natalie, it’s us—your friends,” Ellabell said calmly.

“You know us, Natalie. Come on, come back to us,” Aamir added, holding out his hand to her.

“Natalie, buddy, come on! There aren’t any monsters. It’s just us,” Jari soothed.

Natalie wasn’t having any of it. With each reassuring utterance, she charged toward them, leaping uncomfortably close, her face twisting into a feverish grimace, only to pull away at the very last moment. Her teeth gnashed together with a loud snap, her eyes flashing wildly, and she looked both terrified and terrifying, her hands moving quickly, creating something strange beneath her palms. Alex could feel that, whatever it was she was making, it wasn’t natural. She was as far from herself as he had ever seen her. This was worse than any curse.