the moon is no door ↠ Tom Riddle

26

Knowing Tom would tell her anyway, Saffron didn't say anything.

"You've held up your side of the deal so far, so it's only fair that I hold up mine."

Any feelings of buoyancy immediately sunk to the bottom of Saffron's stomach. She realized he was talking about her mother. Dread seeped into her lungs as Tom ran his fingers over the stack of books and fished out a particularly large one.

He placed it face up for Saffron to see. It was green, with simple detailing on the front and the spine. It was titled Wonderful Welsh Wizards: Eleventh-Century and On. Saffron noticed that its author was Nikolaus Strauss.

"Notice who wrote it?" Tom asked, watching Saffron's face carefully.

"That's my great uncle's name," said Saffron.

"Your paternal side of the family is most well-known for being historians, right?"

"Yeah. They all have their own very specific topics they research and write dreadfully dull books on. My father specializes in ancient Nordic magical history."

Tom nodded. "Well, your great uncle specialized in tenth- to sixteenth-century British history and happened to write about the Maddox family. The Maddoxes were once one of the most well-respected and powerful magical families in Wales. Your mother was a Maddox. However, they've been declining since the beginning of the fifteenth century. Esther Maddox was the last one. Well, I suppose you and your brother are the last ones."

Saffron had absolutely no idea about any of that. But, she was embarrassed that Tom knew more about her family than she did, so she pretended this was all old news. "And...?" she asked, gesturing for him to continue.

"I was researching your mother's side because I had a feeling I read something about her family long ago. Here, look at this," said Tom, reaching forward and flipping the book open to a specific page. Saffron realized he'd been writing notes to himself in the margins.

It surprised her to see those notes. Maybe Tom was taking this whole thing seriously after all. It, somehow, gave her hope.

Tom had little patience for Saffron to actually read. Only a few seconds into the silence, he told her what he wanted her to know anyway.

"In the late fourteen hundreds, the Maddox family was feuding with their rival family, the Lloyds. Maddoxes lived in the North, Lloyds in the South. Carwen Maddox, the daughter of the head of the family, Derwyn Maddox, was tasked by her father to win the sympathies of Cadwgan Lloyd, the son of the head of the Lloyd family. She ended up giving him a love potion. They married, and he went to her to live with her in Maddox territory.

"When Cadwgan's father died and he became the leader, he surrendered his family's land to the Maddoxes. Cadwgan's sister, as revenge, cursed Carwen. It was a blood-borne curse, and it has plagued the Maddox lineage ever since. Every fifth female with a sufficient Maddox blood is destined, sometime before they turn thirty, to slowly lose their memories until they're no longer the same person. They then fall into a sleep they can't be awakened from and, after years and years of this sleep, they die. Esther Maddox, your mother, was the next in line to be affected."

Saffron listened closely. By the time Tom had finished speaking, she was trying not to let her emotions manifest in a way Tom could see. The mention of death made her want to burst into tears and curl up on the floor.

"This book says that the exact details of the curse are unknown, but, if I can discover more about it, I think I can find a way to counter it and save your mother. Based on the symptoms that are mentioned, I believe I will find a cure soon—surely before the end of the school year in June, but most likely even earlier."