Masquerade¹ → Tom Riddle ✓

chapter thirty-one

All of the trees were tightly knit, just one strand in a massive web of life. Green leaves, yellow leaves, red leaves. It was a rainbow of rich, autumnal colours. The scent of earth and water drifted through the air. It was a picture of serenity, one which would endure for many long years. Evelyn and Tom trekked for hours until the sun had dipped below the trees and the moon has risen to its peak.

"When do we stop?" Evelyn asked, her breath becoming raspy as she spoke.

"When we find the Diadem," Tom replied bluntly, picking up his face and delving deeper into the forest.

"I'm tired," Evelyn said stopping in her tracks, "We are stopping right now."

Tom turned to face her, "What makes you think I take orders from you now?"

"The fact that you just stopped." Evelyn smiled at him, his face scrunching and twisting in discomfort. Evelyn dropped her backpack on the dusty ground, reaching deep inside and pulling out a tent. With a swift movement of her wand, her tent assembled itself and stood upright.

She put down her bag and placed it inside of her tent before turning around to see Tom had already assembled his and was unzipping the tent door. "Goodnight Evelyn." He said, turning away and entering his tent without another word.

Evelyn felt the corners of her lips slowly turning upwards at the sound of his voice but quickly stopped them in their tracks. She was becoming far too attached to someone that she fully well knew despised her. She had to distance herself before she got too involved and got hurt.

She climbed into her tent cautiously and sat down. Tom and Evelyn had walked for hours and her feet were killing her, slowly she lowered her body onto the ground of the tent and the second her body hit the ground, she was out like a light.

Her sleep was surprisingly undisturbed. In her sleep, she was a child again. In her dreams, she had comfort, freedom and love. In her sleep, she had it all, everything she had missed and everything she had ever wanted or needed. She didn't want to wake up. A carousel of dreams continued through her mind, happy memories causing her lips to curl upwards into a smile. Evelyn felt blissful. She finally felt at peace.

Abruptly, her bliss was cut off by a sharp screeching sound. Her body instinctively flung upwards as though she was being pulled. Her mind was aching with curiosity as her body pulled her out of her tent and into the forest. It was as though there was a magnetic force calling to her, she wasn't in control of her body.

The forest was one of those places which had no palpable reason to exist. It was a creaking shack created by nature to serve as a reminder that things could always be much, much worse. The unnatural, choking mist that swirled and sprawled on the forest floor was the first thing that spoke of a strange sort of wrongness. The sickly white substance seemed to possess liquid properties which only reminded of the maggot-like texture of the eyes of a dead man who had been forgotten in his apartment for a few months, ready to burst at the slightest touch. The smoke made no sound however and only parted to swallow up her feet as she marched upon the giant dead, festering eyeball of the forest floor. The sound of mushy and dead leaves whispered from under the skin of the mist.

She was walking unusually slowly, almost robotically, as if her brain was struggling to tell each foot to take the next step. It was as if she were in a stupor; like someone under hypnosis. Her body pulled her out of the clearing and led her back along the path they took into the forest, Evelyn was retracing her steps. It didn't take long for the mechanics inside her to cause her body to grind to a halt. There was a tree whose bark swirled like water as if it had flowed from the deep earth rather than grown there. She followed the eddies and curls, half expecting them to move, or perhaps a beetle to float by in an acorn boat. She reached out to feel it upon her skin and felt her next breath go in a little deeper.

It wasn't until Evelyn had circled the tree four times that she realised what she had found. The eerie blue glow was focused on a far up branch and Evelyn knew she had to get it. Every bone in her body was tingling with excitement as she pulled out her wand and began scaling the tree. She felt young again. Climbing brought back memories of her parents and she cherished every moment, finally, she hauled her body up to a thick branch and breathed a heavy sigh.

Just visible by the light from her wand was a box. A box that to any other being would have seemed the most ordinary thing, but not to Evelyn. This was exactly what they came here looking for, what Tom desired so greatly, and now it was hers. Slowly, she opened the box, and before her shining brighter than the smile of a child on Christmas was Rowena Ravenclaws Lost Diadem.

Her hands reached forwards for it hesitantly, shaking from a combination of nerves and excitement. Tom would kill me, she thought. She shook her head, attempting to erase the thought before latching her fingertips onto the icy surface of the Diadem. A surge of power rushed through her body and everything felt just how it should. This was where the Diadem belonged, not with Tom, not with anyone else, but with her.

A rustle nearby startled her as though she were a frightened deer, her hands instinctively grasping onto the Diadem with a force like no other. She had to protect it, no matter the cost. She raised her wand, aiming it in the direction of the noise, a spell resting on her lips ready to be sprung at any moment.

Suddenly, a jet of bright amber light collided with her body at full force, pushing her from the branch and causing her body to tumble to the floor. The Diadem fell from her grasp and as her vision began to fade she heard a voice that she wished she hadn't. The realisation only truly sunk in as she drifted into unconsciousness.