Tom watches me from across the table. Cal is beside me and Eve, my best friend, sits on the other side of me. Cal's talking to Tom about Quidditch, a sport that I've never taken to. The sky is so open, you could just keep rising and rising until you're out of the atmosphere and what then? An endless universe. At least with the ocean, eventually you'll explore every inch and reach the end. Back when they believed the world was flat, they said that the edge of the world held monsters. They weren't entirely wrong. When the first seafarers went farther than they'd ever been before, they found my people. Not exactly my clan, but colder, wilder, larger kinds of us.
It's odd to think that one of those people is me. A creature of water surrounded by wizards of land. It's not something you see everyday.
A dark owl with a single blue feather on its wing lands in front of my plate. Abyss, my mother's owl, drops the letter and helps himself to some chicken. It's Tuesday and therein lies the problem.
"Your mum must miss you," Eve says sarcastically. Even she's noticed. Mother's letters always arrive on Fridays every single week like clock work. "Aren't you going to open it?" Eve stares at me. "Kelda… Do you think something's wrong?" Her french lilt comes out. She's known me too long to know when something is wrong.
I shake my head and pick up the letter. "I'm sure everything is okay," I lie. I know deep in my heart that something is wrong, that not everything is okay. It could be any number of things. My mother falling ill, or another family member, an attack on the clan. I'm only certain of one thing, it's bad.
Cal and Tom stop talking about the next match, sensing that something's happened. "I think I'll go into my dorm and study. I failed that last defense against the dark arts test and professor's threatened to assign me a tutor if I fail another one," I gather my things quickly, eager but also dreading what I will find in the letter.
Cal smiles and gets up, "yeah, I'll help you study."
"You!? You can't even disarm someone without poking your own eye out," Tom snickers.
I stop and lean towards Cal to whisper, "That wasn't code for follow me so we can have alone time. I really do need to study. Sorry babe." His face falls like one of those sad looking dogs that look like they're melting. "This weekend, you and me. We'll stay in while everyone's at Hogsmeade, okay? I promise."
Abyss flies away as I leave the Great Hall with the letter crushed inside my pocket. Eve will be upset I left her, but she knows my family and I have never always gotten along.
The dungeon is empty and so is my dorm room, even Annie is gone perhaps catching food. I lock the door and break the seal of the letter.
"Daughter,
Some of your essence has gone missing. You've made your stance very clear to me and I had promised to not say anything more about it. So when I walked into the essence cavern this morning and found that your pool was not full as it had always been, well, you can imagine my surprise. Daughter, whatever your reason or whatever has happened, know that I am so proud of you. You are finally accepting your destiny. I cannot wait to read all about it.
With all my heart,
Mother"
My eyes scan the letter over and over quickly, then I slow down and read each word slowly. My chest is tight and it's difficult to breathe.
My mother had made a man fall in love with her, but not just any man. He was a powerful wizard, one of the most powerful wizards in existence. And in order for my mother to make him love her, she had to give him a part of her soul. But my father fought for his free will and he did one thing that no man had ever been able to do when bewitched with our kind. He lived.
The realization of what I had done sinks inside me until it's so heavy I fall onto the cold stone floor.
Tom Riddle has a piece of my soul.