Chapter Forty-seven:

Feel Like a Monster

Tom sat waiting for his potion to boil with a morose expression on his handsome face. Several times now his fingers had strayed up in search of the half of a heart he'd been wearing until Dumbledore had imprisoned him here. But of course it was not there.

He had no idea if Hermione was dead or alive. He had no idea if that evil git Dumbledore had actually spirited Horace Slughorn away somewhere to extort potions from him as well or not. He had no idea if his son lived or if he'd been murdered before he had even had the chance to live.

Perhaps it's better if he didn't, Tom mused. Perhaps it's better if he never lives to see his father become a monster.

"Riddle, snap out of it," Abraxas grumbled. "I've asked you three times now."

"What?" asked Tom with a deep scowl, irritated at the interruption.

"I said, I heard a strange noise," he replied. "Did you not hear it as well?"

"I don't believe I did," he snapped.

"Listen," he insisted. "There it is again. That strange sort of tapping. What do you think it means?"

"That's—that's Morse code," he answered. "Hermione taught me."

"You mean that silly Muggle dot and dash thing?" he scoffed. "Why would Hermione need to know that?"

Tom shrugged as he searched for a sizable rock. He stepped close to where the sound seemed to be coming from and pounded a few times until the other tapping stopped.

"Tom, what are you doing?" Abraxas gasped. "Do you want to attract the Ballywogs? I, for one, am in no mood to fight for my life at the moment."

Still not answering, Tom busied himself with the time-consuming task of deciphering and then answering the Morse code. When he was done, he finally turned to Malfoy.

"That was Hermione, sending the Morse code magically from within some cave," he explained. "She says she is well, and that they're off on a very important mission, but she didn't tell me what it was. She did not want to risk Dumbledore finding out."

"That makes sense," Abraxas said.

Tom sat down in the middle of the cave floor and hid his face in his hands. "Does it, Brax? Does it make sense?"

"Come now, Riddle, I've never seen you like this," Brax said as he came and sat down right next to him. "What's happened to you, then?"

"What's happened?" he repeated incredulously. "The blighter stole my family and put me down here, that's what's happened. He's trying to make me into a bloody monster, and damned if I'm not beginning to feel like one already. It's like I'm consumed with a rage and there's nothing I can do about it. I'm confused, and I'm alone, and yet as long as this thing resides in me, I'll never get to be truly alone ever again!"

"It's going to be all right, Tom," he said soothingly, and dared to reach forward and grasp his shoulder to give it a reassuring squeeze. Their two Horcruxes seemed to spark at the contact, and they both flinched uncomfortably as Abraxas let go. "Sorry, mate," he said as he scooted back slightly.

"If only I knew what the devil that silly girl's about, that would at least be something," Tom sighed. "She's all alone in a time that's not even her own, mucking about with things that could easily make this situation much worse."

"Don't you trust her, Tom?" Abraxas wanted to know.

"What do you mean? Of course I trust her," he protested. "I just don't trust him."

"We need to get out of this bloody cave," Abraxas decided then. "We need to get back outside, where we can stop the blighter in his tracks."

"Do you really think he took Slughorn?" Tom asked as he got to his feet.

"We can't concern ourselves with that, we just need to get out," he insisted. "Let the chips all fall where they may, we need to get you out of here, and get your girl, and spirit the two of you off to someplace safe."

"And how to you propose to do that?"

"Simply start walking, and hope like hell we find the exit, I suppose," he shrugged.

"As you so recently pointed out, there are Ballywogs out there—and worse," said Tom. "We need a better plan."

"And I suppose you've got one?"

"Why don't we use these Horcruxes to our advantage?" Tom suggested.

"How do you mean?" Abraxas wanted to know.

"Dumbledore explained why we were unexplainably attracted to each other, through our Horcruxes, but he never explained why we feel such a strong connection to him, now that his Horcrux is no longer inside him," Tom pointed out. "You feel it too, whenever we are near him, do you not? Perhaps our Horcruxes still sense him because he once housed one of them as well? Maybe we could follow that attraction up and out of here. It would be worth a try."

"Yes, you may be onto something," Abraxas agreed. "Let's gather a few things together and give it a try."

"Yes, let's," he agreed. "My extraction potion is done, and there's just enough for two. When we reach the exit to this place, you know what to do."

Grimly, Abraxas nodded his head. "I will do whatever it takes, Lord Voldemort," he said.