Lysander Scamander and the Missing Mirror

9: Inferi

I climbed over some rocks and pulled Lily up next to me. She stepped down the other side and I followed. Although mine was more of step. She more or less jumped down.

"You want to take a break?"

"You want to give me a piggyback ride too?" she spit at me.

I raised my hands to my shoulders. Looking down at her, I apologized. We suddenly were interrupted when Riley stumbled into the tunnel ahead of us. She was out of breath and looked like a mess.

"It was- terrible!" she managed, "We were captured and tied up! I barely managed to get out of there! We have to get out!"

I stared at Riley, "What about the others?"

"Let the adults find them! We have to leave!" Riley said.

I shook my head, "My brothers there! I have to save him!"

And I bolt down the tunnel. Lily and Riley looked to each other for a moment before running after me. We reached the end of the tunnel when I fell. I tumbled down and splashed into some water. I heard Lily and Riley splash in the water behind him. Standing up, he felt Lily grabbed his hand to gain her posture back.

Riley stood up, balancing herself against Lily's shoulder. The three of us stood, shin deep, in cold water. I felt a draft hit my neck, sending a shiver throughout my nervous system. My socks were soaked to the point that I really wanted to get out of the water.

Drawing my wand, I held it up, "Lumos."

The tip of my wand ignited and illuminated the area around us. I saw dry land behind me, so I pointed to it with my head and headed over to it. The girls followed close behind. A rock fell out of nowhere and splashed into the water next to us. Lily jumped and grabbed my arm.

Riley snickered, which made me blush. Lily moved from my arm to my hand, squeezing it so tight, the circulation was basically cut off. I didn't complain. In fact, I didn't really notice it after a while.

Lily, Riley, and I stalked further into the underground.

"Riley. You're older. Do you want to lead us through? Just in case?" I asked.

Riley shoved past, illuminating the path ahead of us. At that moment, we were stopped by a humane figure. It looked like a rotting corpse.

"Inferi!" Riley screamed.

"What?" I yelled back to her as I shoved Lily behind me.

"Inferi! They're dead but enchanted to move! Whoever cast this spell was powerful!" she looked back to us, "You two go through! I can keep them at bay!" she pointed above her, "Climb up there! You can outrun them!"

I squeezed tightly to Lily's hand and bolted to the wall of rocks. I climbed up to the highest place and turned around to help Lily up. She grabbed my hand and started to climb. I felt a few rocks roll around under my chest. I braced my feet in a crack that I blindly found, so I prayed to myself that it would hold. Lily got to the ledge with me and stared at me.

"Guys! I know I've ruined a lot of moments, but now is not the time!" Riley shouted at us.

I agreed with Riley and got to my feet with Lily. We ran along the ledge as careful as possible until we reached another wide area. We turned back to where we left Riley. She was pinned to the ground.

"Riley!" I shouted.

The inferi rounded to me. Riley looked up at me.

"Lysander! Lily! Keep running! These inferi are stronger than I anticipated!"

I grabbed Lily's hand and ran down the ledge. Looking behind me, Riley was being dragged away. Lily ran forward.

"We have to go back!" I yelled as I skidded to a halt.

Lily jerked to a stop as well, "We have to keep going! What about the others, Ly?"

I remembered my brother and Alice. Looking back to where Riley had been, I nodded and followed Lily further down the ledge. I heard more inferi chase after us in a few following seconds. In moments, something grabbed my ankle and pulled me down.

"Lily!" I yelled.

The inferi engulfed me in all their rotting limbs to the point that I couldn't see anything.

"Lysander!!!" I heard Lily shout.

I drew my wand and pointed it out in front of me.

"Incendio!" I shouted, the inferi let go of me and I ran like hell. Lily and I ran side-by-side with her on the ledge and me on the floor when her foot hit the wrong thing and Lily tumbled to the floor. I dove at her and caught her in time before she hit the ground.

Lily grabbed tightly to my hand, and we ran off again. That's when I heard it again. I hadn't heard it in days.

"Lysander!" I heard calling to me, "Lysander! Come quick!"

Lily's mouth wasn't moving, so I could only assume it was the mirror. I pulled Lily along quicker. I suddenly hit a wall of something wet. Opening my eyes, they burned like crazy.

The Black Lake? Had we really run all the way to the Black Lake?

Lily swam up to me. I watched her gesture around with her arms. I didn't know what she was trying to tell me, and it looked like she was getting a little frustrated, so she grabbed me by the wrist and swam forward. She jerked slightly, so she shoved me forward. I floated backward as I watched her get dragged away.

I fell to the ground when I realized what happened.

"Lily!!!" I yelled as I got to my feet.

I stared at the water in front of me. It was cascading down, almost like it was a door. Looking around me, I saw an intricately carved corridor dripping water from small cracks where the seal was wearing off.

"Don't worry, guys. I'm going to save you."