The Chain (The Secret of Spellshadow Manor #3)(10)

The sight of the rippling expanse of water frustrated and astounded him; it had all seemed so much smaller from the office window.

The vast distance made him think about magical travel for a moment, wondering if he could transport himself to Stillwater House via anti-magical means. Glancing back along the shoreline, he knew he couldn’t just leave the others, especially with Natalie and Aamir in weakened states. Then again, perhaps this world didn’t have the same barriers against travel that Spellshadow had.

Curious, he held his hands up to the empty air and fed his anti-magic upward, toward the atmosphere. There were some small sparks of resistance from the thrumming magic all around him, but it didn’t have the same cold, deadening feel as the ivy at the manor. It didn’t try to stop his energy—it merely seemed inquisitive. His interest was piqued, but he knew he’d have to get one of the others to test for an actual barrier, just in case it wasn’t responding to his particular brand of energy. After all, he hadn’t been able to sense the one that had sent Natalie tumbling from the sky, and he didn’t fancy a repeat of that. However, he knew he’d have to shelve the idea for a while, until everyone was functioning at full capacity; they couldn’t very well leave Aamir and Natalie behind.

Mulling over their options, Alex returned from the shoreline. As he neared the clearing, he saw that the others had moved back into the main space, though their eyes looked up in alarm as his shoes crunched on the pebble beach, signaling his arrival.

“They’re gone,” Alex announced, as his friends sighed in relief. “I followed them to see where they were headed—there is something on the other side. Only thing is, it’s pretty far away, and the only way over seems to be across the water.”

“Do you think we can do the shield trick and make a boat instead of a bowl?” asked Jari.

“I think that’d be a pretty tall order… I was thinking we could build something,” Alex replied. “I mean, we have a forest, right? And forests have trees. We can… cut some down, strap them together with vines, or something.”

“There might be something in the hut,” suggested Ellabell, pushing her spectacles back up the bridge of her nose.

Alex looked from her to the ramshackle hut, which was still locked. Even if nothing was inside it, they could try to do something with the wooden planks it was made of.

He made his way over to the structure. The padlock was a beastly thing, covered in flaking red rust. He fed silvery tendrils of energy through the inner mechanisms, opening his hand sharply to explode the decaying metal with a loud crack. What remained of the padlock fell to the ground with a heavy thud.

As he pulled the creaking, rotting door open to see what was inside, he became aware of Ellabell next to him, standing close.

It was dark inside the shack, but the sunshine glancing in through the cracks in the wood shed some light on the cave of wonders within. It was full to the brim with things. There were stacks of crates to one side and coils upon coils of fraying rope. Hanging from the disintegrating walls on the far side were a variety of lamps in different shades of stained glass, with bulging canvas bags hanging below them. On the other side of the wall were several shelves stocked with a multitude of rusting tins and cans in all shapes and sizes, their labels long since peeled away.

Alex stepped farther into the musty-smelling hut. Other knick-knacks and bits of random wood lay strewn about, not much use to anyone. There was one shape, however, nestled beneath everything else, that grabbed Alex’s attention. He could make out curved sides and chipped paint, poking through the dusty edges of a moth-eaten tarpaulin. Alex waded through the sea of debris, heaving boxes and crates and heavy bags from on top of the hidden structure and shoving them haphazardly onto the unstable piles of junk around him. Ellabell followed suit, moving around to the other side of the object, where she began to remove the bric-a-brac, stacking it neatly behind her.

Within a few minutes, their hands were filthy and their faces were streaked with dirt, but they had managed to clear the object of scrap, revealing the undeniable shape of a boat beneath. The tarp that lay across it had done little to keep the boat protected, however, as its state became apparent. It was more the skeleton of a boat, in dire need of work.

“What do you think?” Alex asked Ellabell, whose logical mind he knew would come in handy.

“It’s a bit of a mess.”

“Fixable though, I think…”

It was on casters, equally rusted and rotten, but there was enough integrity left in the wheels to get the boat out into the fresh air and space of the clearing.

“What’s that?” Jari mocked.

“A boat,” replied Alex, not taking the bait. Though, seeing it in stark daylight, he realized it really did need a whole load of work. He headed back into the shack and rummaged through the tins on the shelves. A few moments later he emerged triumphant, wielding a hammer, several tins of varnish, various types of glue, and a large container full of screws.

Armed with what they needed, the group set to work—Alex assuming the role of project manager. They toiled away throughout the day and deep into the night.

It was only when a snore from Jari pulled him awake, the sunlight shining in his eyes, that he realized he had fallen asleep at some point. They all had. The last thing he remembered was seeing the first hints of daylight overhead.

Alex quickly turned back to what he had been doing, and as the hazy glow of sunset bathed the shoreline in a dim orange light, he put the finishing touches on the boat. Surveying their masterpiece, Alex felt a slight glimmer of pride at what they had achieved. It was mostly held together with glue and varnish, but it was as seaworthy as it was ever going to be.