Lysander Scamander: The Hall of Voices

4: Smythe

I sat in the library, banging my head against the table. It had been a week since I'd seen anything of the patchy man or Riley, and Charlie was no closer to leaving as I was to figuring out what was happening.

"Don't do that." Charlie's voice told him, "You might boggle your thoughts."

I looked at him, "That's not how brains work."

Charlie sat down, plopping a huge stack of homework down, "Sure it is."

I rolled my eyes and banged my forehead once more on the table. I wanted nothing more than see another image, but I couldn't. My guess was that trying to force one was my issue, but I could think of nothing else.

I turned my head at Charlie, my cheek squished, so the question was a little muffled, "How did you go six years without being noticed, Charlie?"

Charlie wriggled in his seat, "Well, I never liked new things and felt out of place here, so I decided it'd be easier for me to just slip into the crowds."

I traced my tongue around the inside of my mouth, feeling awkward for not paying attention to him for so long. Maybe he just didn't understand social queues.

"So, you don't have anything to do with Riley's disappearance?" I inquired shyly.

Charlie laughed in a funny way, "No!" he told me, "Riley's the only one that noticed me when I needed to be."

I stared down at the table, picking at my fingers. He stood back up and walked toward the doors. I focused on his footsteps fade away as I pushed my cuticles further down my nails.

"You doing okay, Ly?" Lily's voice rang like tiny bells in my ears.

I looked up at her with a smile, "Yeah." she shot me a glance of disbelief, which made me shrivel like a prune, "No."

As she sat down next to me, she ran a hand across my back, "Do you want to talk about your thoughts?"

I sighed and looked at her, her eyes peering over her glasses, a look of concern in them, "It's been a week and patch man hasn't made an appearance."

"Patch man?" Lily asked, a chuckle in her tone.

I chuckled, "Yeah, he's like a patchy ghost. Patch man."

Lily laughed at my description. I loved seeing her smile. It always distracted me from the things around me. But as I lost myself in her beautiful eyes, I heard him again.

"Lysander...." patch man said, angrily, ".... where does your friend keep it?"

I looked around at my surroundings, pitch black. In front of me stood Patch Man, looking the same as the last time I saw him. I puffed up my chest and took in a deep breath.

"Where's Riley?" I asked him.

Patch Man tutted his teeth, "I'll give her back when you give me what I want."

I narrow my eyes, "And what's that?"

Patch Man rolled his eyes, "My family locket!" he snapped, "I know she has it!"

"Why would she have it?"

"Cause we're family!" at my confusion, he added, "Grant it, distantly, but still. My niece was her paternal great great grandmother."

I frowned, "Your last name is Goldstein?"

Patch Man huffed, "No!" under his breath he said, "Despicable man." than he said loudly, "On her mother's side."

I furrowed my brow, "Then what is your name?"

"Just tell me where the locket is!"

"Not until you tell me your name!"

Patch Man huffed frustrated, "Smythe. Patrick Smythe." he told me, "Now where's the locket?"

I shrugged, "I don't know. She's never mentioned a locket."

Patrick's eye twitched before he disappeared. I finally woke up from my visional state encircled by Lily, Charlie, Erika, and Alice. Lily helped me to my feet and said knowingly.

"You saw him again?"

I nodded, "We have a name." I looked at Charlie, "Can you try and find out as much as you can about a Patrick Smythe? He'd be American." Charlie nodded and hurried off. I looked at Erika, "You and Alice look through Riley's room and look for anything about a family locket." Erika and Alice, though confused by what I said, hurried off. I looked at Lily, "And I know this sounds boring and not at all interesting, can you just.... stay beside me?"

Lily smiled and squeezed my hand, "That doesn't sound boring at all."

"I know that smile." I reminded her.

She rolled her eyes, "Fine, I wanted something to do. At least I'm with you."

I smiled and kissed her knuckles briefly before pulling her to the door. I needed to get to the Owlery to write Nana. She might be able to tell me about her maternal uncle. Lily kept a hold on my hand as I hurried to the Owlery. As we climbed the stairs, she finally asked.

"So, what are we doing?"

I looked at her quickly and said, "I need to write my Nana."

Lily tilted her head confused, "Why?"

I stopped in the open door of the Owlery and turned to explain, "Patrick Smythe is patch man's name. And he said he was the maternal uncle of Riley's great great grandmother."

Lily's face changed expression, "Which would make him your Nana's uncle too."

I nodded, "If he's telling the truth."

Lily folded his arms, "Why would he lie about that?"

I shrugged because I honestly couldn't think of a response. Instead, I turned back into the Owlery and grabbed one of the papers I had placed with my bird a while ago, withdrawing a pencil from my pocket.

As I scrawled out my letter to Nana, I tried to think about her possible response. I needed to know who Patrick Smythe was and why he assumed Riley would have what he wanted.

I'm just as related to him as Riley is, so why did he take her. Was it because she was a girl? Maybe it was because Riley was a Legilimens like her great great grandmother.

As I held the letter up to my owl's beak, my thoughts were scrambling themselves. Watching him fly away, I realized how blotchy my vision was becoming. The only proper thing I could recognize was Lily's hands taking my shoulders assertively and guiding me somewhere.

I somewhat heard her voice say, "We're at the top of the stairs, Ly. Sit down with me."

I sat down and rocked myself, nervously. She rubbed my back and I started to get my vision back. I stared at her shoes and felt my lip tremble, before leaning into Lily's embrace.