Lies in the Deep
Tom hurried down the dark maze of alleyways, trying to remember which

way the footsteps had gone. In the distance he could hear them echoing off the stone

walls, though he couldn't decipher the direction they were coming from. He ran up

and down the damp floor, turning right, left, right, right, losing his mind as his

thoughts dissolved into the shadows.

Then from behind, hundreds of black rats scuttled out of the darkness towards

him. Their yellow eyes filled with an appetite for fresh meat as they began to close in

on Tom. Baring their yellow fangs, the mob of rats hissed maliciously as they

trapped him in the far corner. Sweat began to pour down his cheeks as he convulsed

with panic. Thinking fast, he drew his wand waved it high into the air.

"Landivium Petrifus," he yelled. A bright red smoke shot from his wand and

filled the alleyway. As it began to clear, Tom was the only creature alive. All that

was left of the rats were hundreds of bones that littered the ground. He had used a

useful bit of dark magic that killed every living creature in the area except for the

conjuror of the spell. Even the torches that hung on the cave walls had extinguished

themselves and Tom now found himself in complete darkness. Where had Minka

run off? He had only wanted to talk to her. Why had she gone into this deserted

section of Tholem where a dark wizard could kill her at any second?

He began walking back to the city when he heard hushed voices nearby.

Tiptoeing down a narrow passage where the ceiling dipped low, he had to duck to

stop from banging his head on the dripping stalactites. He could hear two distinct

voices; one deep and scratchy, the other soft and smooth like water on glass. Then

he suddenly realized whom the voices belonged to. But no! It couldn't be…, but it

was. Peering around the wall, Tom could see two figures he immediately recognized

as Alastor and Minka. They were both cloaked in deep blue and their shadows

stretched out across the large room born from the flames flickering on Alastor's

torch.

"I think he's really starting to suspect us," said Alastor.

"Do you really think so?" asked Minka thoughtfully. "I think he is unaware

of our plans."

"Don't be stupid Natalia!" shouted Alastor. "This man is no fool. I'm sure he

suspects something. After all, no one is to know our operation."

Had Alastor just called Minka, Natalia? Were the two of them talking about

him-self? But they couldn't be…or were his shipmates lying to him?

"We have only one choice Natalia. We must get rid of him before it is too

late!"

Tom filled with rage. How could he have been so stupid as to trust these,

…these frauds. He had liked Minka or Natalia, whoever she was. And now, as his

heart stung with betrayal, the old Tom was returning from inside him. The cruel,

malicious Tom, who had murdered innocent students at Hogwarts. His cheeks

reddened as blood gushed to his face. His fingers tightened their grip on his wand,

though he decided to keep listening rather than finishing them both off with a bit of

dark magic.

"But Alastor," said Minka, now sounding upset. "I have begun to grow fond

of him. He is no harm to us, or our plans. I insist we leave him unharmed and get

back on the ship ourselves. Those dirty scoundrels will be expecting their shipment

soon, and I can't wait to get my hands on the two thousand galleons they promised

us."

Tom noticed Minka didn't have her accent any more. It must have been part

of her fake act she had put on for him. Who were the two of them anyhow? From

what Minka had said, it sounded as if they were smugglers and they didn't want

anyone to know about the big sum of gold they would be paid soon.

"Ye know, ever since I picked ye up three years ago in the slums of Paris I

knew ye'd be nothing but a nuisance to me…all I ever asked from ye was

cooperation. I fed you, protected you, clothed you and even shared some of my

spoils with you and this is how you repay me?" he shouted. "I should've left you to

rot in the sewers where you belong you little mud blood!"

"You're just jealous," shouted Minka back, trying hard not to cry, "That I get

all the attention wherever we stop."

"Jealous, am I…," said Alastor menacingly at her, "Well why don't I finish

you and Tom off. Then I won't be jealous of anyone!"

Tom was outraged. He still had feelings for Minka, even if she had lied to

him, and he wouldn't let Alastor treat her like that. He summoned up all his courage

and jumped out from where he had been eaves dropping to see Minka crouched

against the wall with Alastor pointing his wand at her threateningly.

"Stop it!" cried Tom. His voice was harsh and full of threat.

Both their heads turned to stare at him in shock. Alastor's face had become

livid with fury, while Minka's was surprised and thankful he had come to save her

from this madman.

"What are you doing here?" asked Alastor in surprise and aggravation.

"I followed her," said Tom, pointing at the crouched figure in the corner. "I

wanted to talk to her but she ran away."

"Well you can bloody well get out of here!" shouted Alastor. "No one's

invited you to join our midnight chat. I suppose ye heard the whole conversation?"

he said accusingly.

"And what if I did?" said Tom. He wasn't going to let Alastor push him

around, and he was prepared to do what was needed to save Minka from Alastor's

rage. "You couldn't hide your little secret from me forever," he said, trying to sound

brave.

"So what are ye going to do 'bout it?" he asked jeeringly. "Turn us in? Ha!

Like anyone would believe we've got a load of unicorn blood stored on the ship."

"Oh, so that's what it is?" shouted Tom. "And they're only giving you two

thousand galleons? You're being cheated!" he forced a fake laugh. Tom wanted to

get Alastor angry, distract him so that he, Tom, could escape with Minka, who was

apparently thinking the same as him due to the fact that during this whole argument

she had been edging along the wall towards him.

"Don't talk about what you don't know," said Alastor warningly. "I think I'm

just going to have to finish you off. I can't trust you to keep quiet, and now I've

realized I dislike you too much to take along with us. I'm truly sorry things had to

work out this way…"

"What happened to the Alastor that saved me from the Quan River, and

laughed with me at the bar?" shouted Tom back. "What did you do to that Alastor?"

"It's all an act Tom," he said calmly. "Do you really think Natalia, or Minka

had feelings for you? It was all staged my lad. I encouraged her when I noticed it

distracted you from realizing who we really were. I told her to "play along". You

really thought she liked you?" he said laughing.

Tom glanced over at Minka, but her head was tilted the other way, and her

face was hidden from view. He could see tears dripping from her cheeks as Alastor

spoke. Tom's heart was bleeding.

"Fine," called back Tom. "We'll finish each other off. Let the best man win!"

he finished drawing his wand from his robes.

"So you want to play?" spat Alastor grinning. "Fine with me; I only hope you

fight as well as you speak or you'll regret it once I send you to hell!"

"We duel," said Tom grinning back at him. He was now trying to control his

anger from showing. He wanted to make his opponent think him fearless. Alastor

slowly drew his wand and raised it into the air, ready to duel. Tom cleared his throat,

"one, two…"

But Alastor had already begun.

"Expeliarmus!" he shouted, and Tom's wand flew into his palm. "It seems

I've already won!" he said victoriously pointing both wands at Tom.

"Not yet!" shouted Tom, ducking quickly behind a large boulder just missing

being hit by a spell, which ricocheted off the stone and vanished into the shadows.

Alastor began striding towards him, but Tom saw what was coming and jumped out

of the way again as three blue sparks shot passed him.

"This isn't hide and seek!" said Alastor more annoyed this time as he ran

towards Tom who managed to escape into the next cavern.

Tom was starting to panic. No wand, and nowhere to hide, he couldn't run

forever. But just as he was giving up, Minka turned up at his side and slid her wand

into his sweaty palm. He beamed at her and kissed her lips in gratitude, then rushed

out of the shadows, wand in hand.

Alastor looked at him in horror.

"That little witch," he said, his teeth clenched in fury.

Tom took no time to spare. "Incendio," he shouted as balls of flaming gas hit

Alastor's robes, which caught on fire. Using this as a distraction, Tom used Minka's

wand to summon a serpent with which he could kill Alastor.

"Aleo Pathencio," he began. "Serponsa Maklia Ornorosa Guibrius!"

Two gray boulders from the cave began to slowly transfigure into scaly

serpents. Their bodies continued to grow longer until each reached around six feet in

length. With red slits for eyes, the enormous snakes slithered toward Tom as their

hisses filled the chamber.

"Kill him!" shouted Tom in parseltongue at the snakes, which began

slithering toward Alastor bearing their sharp fangs.

Alastor had extinguished his burning robes, but was now growing panicked as

his stunning spells reflected off the silvery scales of the snakes without weakening

them. He was forced to run away from them as none of his hexes or spells had

worked, though the giant snakes were gaining on him by the second.

"Natalia!" he screamed pathetically. "Help me Natalia!"

But Minka simply stood watching the scene in silence. From over his

shoulder, Alastor shouted "Avada Kedavra" pointing his wand at his pursuers,

managing to kill one of them. Though to his luck, the other snake slithered away into

the dark when he hurtled through a series of puddles. He stopped running abruptly

trying to catch his breath. Looking up at Tom, he realized he was no longer at an

advantage.

"Do we have to play anymore?" asked Alastor angelically. "Let's just say

you're the winner and we can all be happy."

"Don't play games with me," said Tom maliciously; his eyes had become red

slits like the snakes he had conjured. "Accio wands!" he shouted. From behind

Alastor's back the two wands struggled to escape his grasp and finally zoomed in

between Tom's long fingers. He pointed all three wands at his opponent as a wide

grin spread across his pale face. "I guess it's up to me now whether you live or die,"

he began. "You probably wish you hadn't been so foolish before."

This position gave Tom a lot of pleasure. He enjoyed being the bully,

watching his enemy's sweat drip on the ground, seeing them suffer. But what would

Minka think of him acting in this manner? He had wanted to save her, but now he

had been carried away by his innate evil to torture the man kneeling in front of him.

He didn't want Minka to think poorly of him…

"I will spare your life," he said. "Go back to Tholem, they'll have your ship

ready for you soon."

Minka and Tom watched as Alastor stumbled out of the cavern, looking back

constantly as if he thought they were going to attack him. Once his footsteps

dimmed, they sat in silence for several minutes. Tom was very happy Minka had

remained by his side, yet he was also hurt that she had lied to him. They had both

decided for Tom to continue calling her Minka rather that Natalia, because he was

already used to it, and she admitted that she had begun to like the sound of it.

Suddenly they heard a shrill cry in the distance.

"It must be Alastor!" said Minka worriedly.

"Let's go!" Tom shouted, standing up quickly.

Both of them apparated out of the room and materialized into a low chamber.

Here they both bumped their heads on the low ceiling and their eyes met a horrible

scene. The snake that had disappeared was circling Alastor with interest. It had

already bitten off one of his legs, which was gushing blood profusely. Minka

screamed in disgust, quickly took her wand back from Tom and shouted "Finite

Incantem!" The snake vanished, and both of them rushed towards Alastor to help

ease his wound. After some time, Minka managed to stop the bleeding with a special

charm that caused his skin to grow around it.

"Ferula!" said Tom, as bandages shot from his wand and wrapped themselves

tightly around Alastor's leg.

Tom magicked up a stretcher for him and they raised Alastor's limp body

onto it. Then using a tracking charm, Minka sent it whizzing in and out of the

alleyways back toward Tholem.

They started walking back through the maze of caves away from Tholem, not

knowing where they were heading. Several hours had passed and Tom had still

refused to talk to Minka. Finally they reached a stairway with the word "overworld"

carved into the stonewall above it. They climbed deep into the night, and had to stop

several times to catch their breath. Minka tried to strike up a conversation several

times, but Tom just hurried out of earshot. They stopped after a while to sleep. Their

minds had been diluted by the intense silence around them, and Tom began to fear

there was no way out. He was arguing in his mind whether he should ask Minka to

travel to Egypt with him. After all, she had already left her life with Alastor… Maybe

she would be happy to go with him. Well he would never know if he continued his

state of silence.

Minka suddenly shouted with joy as specks of sunlight trickled in through a

passage up above. He climbed up quickly behind her wanting to escape this world of

shadows that they had been trapped in for ages.