The Secret of Spellshadow Manor 2 Bella Forrest (e novels for free TXT) 📖

down? Yes, of course. Good, yeah. I got on great. Found lots to be getting on with. That’s where we’re headed now, actually—to the mechanics lab,” he rambled, remembering the list of books she had given him, still stuffed at the bottom of his pocket with all the rest of his crumpled notes.

Her face seemed to brighten. “That’s great. I’m glad they were useful.” She smiled.

“They were—thank you.” Alex smiled back, relieved he had remembered in time.

“Well, I won’t keep you,” she said, shifting the books in her arms. “I’ve got all this to get through.” She laughed softly, her blue eyes sparkling with an infectious humor that made Alex’s smile broaden into a grin.

“Happy reading. And sorry for almost knocking you over,” he apologized again, trying to sound sincere as he reached out and touched her arm gently, giving it a light squeeze.

Ellabell’s cheeks flushed a pale shade of pink, and she looked back up to Alex with a frown. Her sweater was soft beneath his fingertips, and he knew he had lingered a moment too long. Alex removed his hand slowly, wondering at the sudden rosy tint to her face. It made her look extremely pretty, her blue eyes piercing.

“Well, I really should be going,” Ellabell mumbled, lowering her gaze as she skirted around the trio.

“Have fun,” Alex called after her, feeling slightly lame as he heard the words leave his lips.

Ellabell glanced over her shoulder, smiling shyly, before heading up the corridor away from them, her brunette ponytail bobbing as she walked.

“We’re going to the mechanics lab?” Natalie asked with a wry grin on her face.

Alex shrugged. “I thought it might take our minds off things,” he lied. “Plus, I need someone with actual magic to try and make the clockwork function.” He held up his own hands with a meaningful look. He was growing increasingly frustrated by how difficult it was to use his own powers, by constantly hitting a brick wall with his level of ability. With nobody around to teach him, it was proving tricky to be a self-taught Spellbreaker. After all, there were no textbooks on the matter to make it simpler. That moment in the cellar, when he had exploded Jari’s conjuration, had been a fluke; Alex had tried to replicate it a few times, to no avail. It had happened in the moment, at the perfect time, but he still wasn’t certain how he’d managed it. It was frustrating to watch his friends grow more powerful each day—Natalie shouldering some of the strain for him, doing the magic of two people—while he sat back, unable to show what he could do, or watch his own anti-magic grow in strength.

“You never mentioned the mechanics lab before,” Jari replied suspiciously.

“It just came to me. I’ve been meaning to get down there for ages. Now seems as good a time as any,” Alex replied brightly, remembering the small clockwork mouse he’d placed at the bottom of his pocket, smothered by countless crumpled-up bits of paper. He had been meaning to get to work on the mouse, and Ellabell had simply reminded him of it. “Why don’t we build some clockwork things instead of moping about, waiting for something bad to happen?”

“I suppose. It’s not as if we have much else to do,” Natalie said. They were supposed to be with Renmark for most of the morning, but since he’d been called away, they had the luxury of some spare time.

“Good.” Alex smiled, raising an eyebrow as he caught a sly look passing between Jari and Natalie. Ignoring it, he turned and led the way to the mechanics lab.

When they arrived, they were surprised to find the familiar figure of Professor Lintz sitting alone at one of the workbenches. He was the room’s sole occupant, his round frame hunched over something shiny on the wooden work surface. On a tight elastic band around his head, he wore a monocle-like magnifying glass, flipped down over one of his small eyes, as he focused intently on a miniature cog held between tweezers.

Alex, Natalie, and Jari held their breaths as they waited for Lintz to place the piece within the inner workings of his clockwork creation, all of them fascinated by the delicacy in Lintz’s pudgy hands as he maneuvered the piece into place. Lintz slowly removed the tweezers from the mechanical innards and used them to pick up the smallest screw any of them had ever seen, barely bigger than a grain of sugar, from a square of paper he had placed on the tabletop beside him. Gently, he placed the screw in the center of the miniature cog and twisted it skillfully into place, to hold the bits together.

Alex almost felt like applauding as Lintz laid the tweezers back down, wiping sweat from his forehead with the back of his robe sleeve.

Since Derhin’s disappearance from the manor, Lintz hadn’t been around much. Instead of his usual imposing figure, with his lively moustache jiggling on his upper lip as he spoke, the students had been left with instructions on a blackboard, the professor himself notably absent. Alex guessed this was where the professor had been—holed up in the mechanics lab, perhaps to take his mind off whatever it was he had done after taking his friend away that day.

As Lintz turned, becoming aware of their presence, the three students were quietly stunned by what they saw. His eyes had taken on a sad, vacant quality, his moustache sticking up at one end in a peculiar fashion, while the other curled downward. His rotund face was sunken in at the cheeks, adding to the fleshy jowls beneath his chin. His skin looked waxy and sickly, dark circles creating deep grooves beneath his eyes. He looked tired, but most of all, he looked finished—there was a lifeless quality to him, as if a curse had been placed upon him. Alex supposed there had been, in a way. Lintz must’ve been haunted by the ghost of a much-loved friend. He