The Keep (The Secret of Spellshadow Manor #4)(9)

So it was an unexpected delight when Ellabell came over to where he lay and sat on the bed beside him, encouraging him to use her lap as a pillow as he curled up to rest. Whatever Natalie had said, Ellabell was wearing a fresh expression of deep worry as she absently stroked his hair, soothing him and willing him to sleep. It felt nice to have her so close, but he didn’t like to see concern furrowing her brow, especially when it was there because of him.

“What’s up?” he asked sleepily.

She smiled, brushing hair from his eyes. “Never mind me. You have to sleep now, Alex.”

“I’m not tired,” he lied.

“Sleep.”

“Why the frown?” he mumbled, teetering on the edge of slumber.

“I worry for you,” she whispered.

He reached for her hand, his eyelids sliding shut. “Why?”

“Oh, Alex, you fool,” she breathed. “I worry for you because…”

He didn’t hear what she said next, as he found himself drifting off into a deep, dreamless sleep, the sleep of the world-weary.





Chapter 4





The next morning, from the meager supplies Lintz had stashed away for them in the tower room, the group ate and drank quickly, talking very little between bites and sips. The food in their bowls was some sort of thin, gelatinous porridge, gray in both color and flavor, though the tea they had to wash it down with made it more palatable. Alex still felt on edge, but the nourishment perked him up slightly. A few times, he caught Ellabell looking at him with concern, but he smiled reassuringly at her, trying to let her know he was okay. Whether she believed him or not was another story.

After breakfast, Lintz was going to show them the beetles that would alert them to any opening portals, before Demeter introduced them to his friends so they could get on with their mission of locating the keep’s stash of essence. In a place full of necromancers and murderers, Alex couldn’t imagine the label “friend” being a wholly accurate one.

The group got to their feet, with Aamir holding out a hand to Alex. Alex shook his head, confident he was recovered enough to walk unaided.

“You sure?” Aamir asked, frowning at Alex.

“I’m fine,” he replied, more tersely than he had intended, though Aamir didn’t seem to notice.

After the first few minutes of walking, Alex found he could ignore the dull pain in his chest. As long as he kept moving one foot in front of the other, he could pretend he was okay. Slowly, he followed the others, with Lintz leading the way, until they came to the large common room below. A workbench was set up against the far wall, with a few of the beautiful clockwork beetles arranged on top.

“You’ll each need to take one of these,” Lintz said, passing out smaller variations of the beetles to everyone present.

Alex turned the intricate mechanism in his hands, marveling at the craftsmanship. The beetles themselves were no bigger than the palm of a hand and looked more like scarabs than their larger counterparts. The metal that formed the carapace had been tempered to look multicolored, the hue changing depending on how the light hit it.

“Incredible,” Alex murmured.

Lintz grinned. “These are my beetle beacons,” he explained. “I’ve been using them to inform me when a portal is detected. If one senses a portal appearing, it will flash and make a high-pitched siren sound. The lights work like a compass. Allow me to demonstrate.”

Lintz ran some of his magic through the mechanism. The scarab lit up, a shrill sound piercing the air. A light shone on each side of its shell, four in total. The alarm sent a shiver through Alex as he wondered what it would be like when the device went off for real, signaling the impending arrival of Alypia. He knew such an event was imminent, and that knowledge filled him with a cold dread.

“Now, you see, all four lights are flashing, but if a real portal had appeared, it would only flash in the direction of where the portal was opening. All you have to do is follow it, and the sound will grow louder the closer you get,” Lintz continued.

“And how do we turn it off?” Ellabell asked, covering her ears. The sound was irritating, to say the least.

“You simply press down firmly on the carapace of the beetle,” he replied. With his chubby thumb, he pressed down on the multicolored metal shell; there was a small click, and the shrill sound came to a grateful end. “So, say the two of you are on beetle duty,” he said, gesturing toward Alex and Ellabell. “You would follow the sound and light, reach the destination, and then pull away the portal. If you find yourself on beetle duty, you will need to carry fully charged big beetles with you, and once you have removed the portal, you’ll need to replace the used-up beetles with the fresh ones, and bring the depleted ones either to me or whoever is on magic-filling duty. And so the cycle will repeat.”

The process seemed simple enough, and Alex was eager to begin their exploration of the keep.

“So, you’re sure these friends of yours will be able to help us, Professor?” he asked.

“The two of them have been here for a very long time,” Lintz said, pocketing his own beetle beacon. “I daresay they know this place better than even Demeter or I by now.”

“They’ve been allowed out of their cells?” Aamir asked dubiously.

“They’re good people, and their doors are always unlocked because they’re important… associates… of ours, and so they have as much free rein of the place as we do,” Demeter said. “They’ll be expecting us shortly. Come on, we must strike while the iron is on fire!”