The Secret of Spellshadow Manor 3

it was built from were staggered, making it more climbable than Alex had dared hope. Keeping flat to the wall’s surface, they climbed it with ease, the edges between the blocks giving perfect hand and footholds for a swift ascent.
Once on top of the battlement, Alex made sure to keep low, gesturing for Jari to do the same. Surveying the landscape ahead of them, Alex saw there were indeed a few guards set in small lookouts along the walls, but they seemed almost ceremonial. The guards themselves weren’t even looking up from where they sat, flipping through books or dozing off in the glow of cozy torchlight, and they certainly hadn’t noticed the appearance of two strangers on top of the ramparts. Seizing the opportunity, Alex scurried along the wall and halted at the lip of a wide, open courtyard. Jari almost knocked Alex off the edge as he bumped into him, not quite able to see properly in the dim light.
“Sorry!” he whispered.
Alex frowned, glad Jari hadn’t been running faster. As he turned his attention back to the villa below, Alex saw a few people moving across the wide courtyard, holding burning torches as they strolled through the grounds. There was no urgency, no pressure to the way they were moving. There was laughter too—bright and bubbling and genuine. A sound Alex hadn’t quite anticipated. As the groups chattered, Alex tried to make out what they were saying to one another, but they were talking too low for him to hear anything much. The only thing he could decipher was the cadence of their voices, which was as crisp and polished as they looked. Alex could hardly believe it: every single one of the people passing below was of the same caliber of beauty as the four scouts they had seen in the clearing.
Suddenly, Alex heard the surprising sound of a low, loud whistle behind him, as Jari’s eyes fell upon a particularly stunning young woman loitering beneath one of the archways that lined the courtyard. She was tall and slender, with pale, porcelain skin and gleaming hair that seemed almost silver beneath the torchlight. The pair quickly ducked down as the whistle drew the attention of the woman, who turned and squinted into the darkness, trying to make out where the sound had come from.
Scrambling swiftly back down the side of the wall, the pair collapsed on the grass, laughing until the tears rolled down their faces. It was the first time Alex had belly-laughed in what seemed like forever, and it felt good.
“I knew you were terrible at flirting, but I never thought it’d get me killed!” gasped Alex, clutching his ribs.
“I admit it—that wasn’t my smoothest moment,” Jari cackled, holding up his hands.
“What possessed you?” Alex asked.
“Did you see her? I had to!”
“For a moment, I thought someone was whistling at me!” joked Alex as he lay back in the grass, staring up at the stars twinkling overhead.
“You wish.” Jari grinned, doing the same.
It was the closest to being an ordinary teenager Alex had felt in ages.
Although they had risked being seen, the close shave had put them in good humor as they returned to the lakeside cottage, joking and teasing one another along the way. It was a balmy evening, and, had it been an ordinary lake, Alex would have waded in for a nighttime swim, but his knowledge of the lake kept him away from the tempting water’s edge. Still, it was a nice walk back, with the buzz of laughter still fresh in the air.
At the cottage, everyone was asleep except Ellabell, who had waited up for them.
“Hungry?” she asked, passing each of them a loaf of crusty white bread.
Alex looked at her in shock. “How did you—?”
She smiled. “Let’s just say I used my time wisely, instead of watching pretty girls,” she teased, though there was a strange undertone to her words that sounded almost like jealousy.
He wanted to deny it, wondering how she had seen them, hiding up on the battlements. He hadn’t seen her.
She is just full of surprises, he thought wryly.
“We weren’t watching pretty girls,” he said finally, trying to keep his voice as even as possible.
“If you say so.” Ellabell smiled triumphantly. “Either way, we have food now.”
“How did you get it?” Alex tried again.
Ellabell tapped the side of her nose. “I have my ways.”
“But how?” Jari chimed in.
“It was easy,” she whispered in a low, conspiratorial tone. The two boys listened intently. “I just found out where they chuck the food away at night.” Laughter rippled from her throat, bringing a smile to Alex’s face.
“I still think it was better to watch pretty girls.” Jari grinned as the three of them moved outside the cottage and sat up against the outer wall.
As the moonlight made the tiny ripples of the lake dance and shimmer, they chatted and watched the lap of the waves on the shore. The two boys ate the pilfered bread, tearing it off in great, hungry chunks, and Jari regaled Ellabell with the brief tale of his ill-timed whistle, gaining an eye-roll from behind her spectacles.
“You really need to learn subtlety, Jari Petra,” she said.
“Hey, I am the king of subtlety!” Jari exclaimed.
She raised an eyebrow. “Kittens—that’s all I’m saying.”
Alex laughed, nearly choking on a piece of bread as he remembered the first time Ellabell had told him of Jari’s less-than-welcome flirtations. Alex had barely known her back then. In fact, all of that seemed like a lifetime ago now.
“Who doesn’t like kittens?” Jari muttered.
“Nobody wants a room full of them. I still have the scars.”
“All right, so I was a little heavy-handed,” Jari sulked.
“A little?” Ellabell prodded.
“Fine, a lot heavy-handed. What are you bringing that up for again, anyway?” asked Jari. “That’s all in the past. I have my sights set elsewhere now!”
“Poor girl.”
“At least I let a girl know I like them!” Jari smirked, flashing a look at Alex.
Alex felt his throat drying up as Ellabell eyed him curiously. It certainly did