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  “Now that you know all of this, of course, the gag has loosened a little—it’s frankly liberating. I should have roped a necromancer in years ago.” Elias chuckled, apparently missing the confounded expression on Alex’s face. “This isn’t something I signed up for willingly, by the way—my hand was forced a long time ago. I didn’t see the noose closing around my neck until it was too late. You should always keep your eye on the unworthy snakes slithering around you.” His shadowy lips curled into a grimace, his black eyes taking on an even more distant look. Shaking out his wispy limbs, he snapped back to the moment. “I suppose what I’m trying to say is, I have had to live with that decision, and you have to be sure you can live with your decision too. Or die with it.” He chuckled again, his teeth flashing.

  “I still haven’t heard an apology,” Alex said bluntly.

  The shadow-man froze. “I thought we had—”

  “You thought I’d forgotten you killed my father?” Alex growled. “Or perhaps you just thought I’d forgiven it? It’s been a long time since you were human, hasn’t it? Maybe you’ve forgotten what it’s like to be human, to feel the way humans do, to hurt the way humans do,” he spat.

  A flash of rage glinted in the abyss of Elias’s eyes. “I have forgotten nothing.”

  “Have you forgotten what you did to them—what you did to my father, my mother?” Alex pressed, feeling anger return to him, though he wasn’t sure it had anything to do with the barrier magic this time.

  “I’m sorry,” Elias said simply.

  “You think ‘sorry’ covers it?”

  Elias fidgeted with his wispy fingers. “You think me cold and unfeeling, but my intentions that day were good. I never intended for your father to get hurt. I attacked the man hunting him, and the level of collateral damage was worse than I expected—I hadn’t had to use my abilities for a long time, and the control I had over my power was not what it should have been. I was too strong, and it not only caused an innocent man to lose his life, but it caused an innocent woman unimaginable pain. You think me callous, but while I may not have a physical heart anymore, her tears and suffering made me feel as if I did. It broke for her, and it haunts me still. I am sorry your father got caught in the crossfire of my incompetence,” he said, with a greater solemnity than Alex had ever heard from the shadow-man.

  The admission affected Alex more intensely than he thought anything Elias said ever could. It was hard to hear, and as much as Alex would have liked to call Elias out for crying crocodile tears, the apologetic revelation sounded undeniably genuine. It wasn’t like Elias to feign emotion where he didn’t have to, and sorrow was emanating from the shadow-guide, the stars glittering more brightly in his galactic eyes, prickling the tear ducts of Alex’s own eyes.

  “You want my forgiveness?” Alex asked.

  Elias lifted his vaporous shoulders in a shrug. “I could not begin to expect it.”

  “I can promise a certain level of forgiveness for what you have done, or tolerance of you at the very least, if you will find a way to free me from this room,” Alex vowed. “I know you said you couldn’t, but you’re powerful, Elias. You must have something up those wispy things you call sleeves.”

  Elias’s face shifted into a frown. “They are my arms,” he remarked with a note of scorn. “And I’d love to help, I truly would, but I’m not supposed to interfere.”

  “I won’t offer forgiveness again,” Alex said evenly. “Anyway, since when have you been afraid of bending a few rules?”

  “Fine,” Elias muttered, slipping back up into the rafters and disappearing through the stone wall. If looks could kill, Alex was fairly sure he’d be dead.

  Alex peered through the grate as the shadow-man reappeared. There was a clatter as something fell onto the hard ground. A few unspecified noises followed quickly after, culminating in the loud scrape of the hefty table being hauled back into its previous position, before the door opened with a loud clunk.

  “Ta-da!” Elias whooped, as he swept back into the room with a flourish.

  Alex paused briefly on the threshold of the cell, an impulse making him linger a moment longer before he ran out to find his friends. With a warning in his eyes, Alex turned back toward Elias, any previous hint of softening resolve gone.

  “If I hear a whisper of you having any part, however small, in Ellabell coming to harm, then we are done,” he added, his voice low and threatening, rumbling gruffly from the back of his throat. “There will be no partial tolerance or potential second chances; there will be nothing. I will have nothing to do with you. Is that clear?”

  For the first time, Alex thought he saw fear in the oblivion of Elias’s galactic eyes, and they both knew why.

  Chapter 25

  As Alex sprinted from the cell, he pushed all thoughts of Elias aside. He had no time for further distractions.

  He ran through the hallway that led to the courtyard and stopped in the archway of the entrance. There was no sign of the guards, but Alypia was on her feet, glancing around in a disoriented manner. Alex wondered if that meant she was back to her usual self, but, as he approached, it didn’t seem as if she could see him. He crept toward her, hoping to use his mind control if he could get close enough.

  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 w
hen 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.

  Now for Lintz.

  “Help me,” he said to Demeter, who was just coming back around.

  Lintz lunged at Alex, grasping him by the shoulders and shoving him backward. It sent him flying against the nearby wall, his head slamming against the stone, but Alex didn’t let it faze him. He dove toward the professor, forcing his hands onto the sides of Lintz’s head. Despite Lintz’s forceful attempts to remove him, Demeter managed to pin the old man, ensuring that Alex wouldn’t be thrown off again.

  Alex had only intended to calm Lintz down the way he had calmed Demeter. However, as he ran his anti-magic into the professor’s temples, he found himself accidentally crossing over into the realms of mind control and spirit lines, combining the two as he searched within the professor’s mind, using what he had learned from Vincent and Demeter in a strangely complementary fashion. It was an odd mix of skills, but it seemed to work, easing Lintz’s delirious screams and violent arms. With it came an instant wave of memories and emotions. Through the sparks in Lintz’s fevered brain, Alex saw flashes of the professor’s life, as seen through the old man’s eyes.

  One fell upon a scene in which a woman of around thirty was speaking with Lintz. Glancing around, Alex realized they weren’t in the familiar stone setting of Spellshadow Manor, with the recognizable hallways and Derhin as his constant shadow. It was somewhere much more clinical, the wallpaper a muted jade green, linoleum on the floor. In the center of the room was a hospital bed, and sitting at the head of it, propped up by a stack of cushions, was the woman. She looked tired but happy, and in her arms, she cradled a small, red-faced newborn who snuffled softly in the throes of slumber.

  “What do you think of your baby sister?” the woman whispered.

  “I love her,” he heard Lintz say, in a voice much younger than the gruff old tones he was used to.

  The woman smiled. “Oh, my darling, she loves you too! You will be such a good big brother to her.”

  Alex watched as Lintz rested his finger beneath his baby sister’s outstretched hand, and felt the thrill Lintz felt as the tiny girl instinctively gripped it with surprising strength. She yawned, the sound soft and sweet, partway between a whisper and a squeal.

  “Isn’t she beautiful?” the woman asked.

  Lintz nodded. “Kind of.”

  The woman laughed. “But you will protect her, won’t you?”

  “I’ll be the best big brother,” Lintz promised.

  “Because you know I won’t be around forever, don’t you?” said the woman sadly, making Alex wonder if there was something more to the sick, tired look on her face. “And she’ll need you when I’m gone. You’ll need to make sure she grows up big and strong, knowing she’s loved. You’ll have to tell her about me, one day.”

  Alex could feel the sad uncertainty growing within the young Lintz, filtering through into his own emotions, and the understanding filled him with grief for the old professor, in the present day. Though he could only speculate, Alex realized that when Malachi Grey came for Lintz, that little girl must have been left alone somewhere, without her brother to look out for her, as he had promised to do. Alex imagined the prospect would have eaten away at the old man, over the years—in the same situation, Alex knew it would have eaten away at him. A similar one already was, with his mother and her illness.

  Alex wondered if that was why Lintz had endeavored to become a professor at Spellshadow Manor, on the off chance his sister would have the same magical capabilities and Finder would someday bring her to the gates, giving them a long-awaited reunion—but that hadn’t happened. That girl was potentially still out there somewhere, waiting for the brother who disappeared and never came home, though she would be elderly by now, Alex presumed, looking once more at the dated décor and the fifties-style pattern on the hospital chair. Lintz and his sister were just like the rest of them and their families, ever hopeful of a reunion.

  Feeling like he was violating Lintz’s privacy, Alex focused a few happy images into the forefront of the professor’s mind. The red fog faded away, the paranoia and the demons forgotten in the wake of Alex’s mental suggestions, which overtook the false images the haze had placed in the old man’s head, returning him to normality. Slowly, Alex removed himself from Lintz’s mind, certain that the fog had gone. Even though he felt a touch of guilt, he couldn’t deny it was nice to get a few flashes of insight about the professor’s much younger days, before he had ever been touched by the hands of the magical world.

  Lintz blinked, suddenly aware of his surroundings.

  “Goodness me, I am sorry!” he wheezed, struggling to stand. “Did I hurt you?”

  Alex rose to his feet. “No harm done,” he replied, eager to get moving again. There were still four people to find. “Could you look for Caius and let him know what’s happened? Alypia is here, but the fog took over her, and she ran off somewhere. I need to find the others so we can try to round her up.”

  “Oh dear, this has all gone a bit awry, hasn’t it?” Lintz said anxiously.

  Alex nodded grimly. “You could say that.”

  “We’ll find Caius, and if we come across Alypia before you do, we’ll try to get her safely locked away,” Demeter ass
ured him.

  “Go—find the others,” Lintz agreed.

  “Just watch out for traps. I don’t want any more fog going off,” Alex said.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll handle it,” Demeter replied.

  Alex turned toward the closest corridor and broke into a run. With the threat of Alypia fresh in his mind, he headed down a series of hallways, allowing his instincts to lead him.

  You think you’re hunting my kind, Alypia, but you’re wrong, he thought bitterly to himself. You are the prey, so run while you can—I am coming for you.

  Chapter 26

  With the taunts of inmates thundering in his ears, Alex raced through the labyrinthine keep, his mind focused solely on his friends. Some prisoners he found more difficult to ignore than others, especially the ones who called out things about Ellabell and Natalie, with one inmate noting how beautiful they’d be with their mouths sewn shut as he made a foul slurping sound. The rest of the comments were too repulsive to repeat, making Alex’s blood boil, though he knew he couldn’t stop to punish anyone, not this time.

  He ran on, skidding to a halt at the entrance to the corridor that held Agatha’s cell. With his heart pounding, he walked slowly down the hallway, pausing beside her door. Carefully, he reached out and checked to see if it was locked, pulling firmly on the handle. To his relief, he found that someone had been there before him and shut it tight, locking her in. He was glad of that foresight and guessed it was Vincent who had turned the key, given his concern about her relapse.