The Last Riddle

Chapter 2 - Ebur

----

"We will start sinking in a moment," announced Jaim.

Lemuria is a triangle of land located in the north of the Pacific Ocean. Its three points are marked by Hawaii, Easter island and the Fiji islands. It would be recorded in Muggle world maps if Muggles didn't believe it had sunk thousands of years ago. Well, it had, though not for the reasons they believed.

Jack glanced at the steely water. Sinking?

"How deep are we going, Jaim?" asked Andor.

"Er," said Jaim, scrunching up his face. "About... one and a half or two kilometres."

Jack glanced at Jaim and then back at the water. Had he really been living two kilometres underwater his whole life?

"We will stop in Ebur," said Andor.

"Alright." Jaim moved the tiller and the point of the boat started going underwater.

"How long will it be until we get to Ebur?" Jack asked.

"Between ten and fifteen minutes," answered Andor. "Now. Pay attention. Once we arrive, we are going to go to the capital to start on the list of things you have to buy." Jack opened his mouth to say something but Andor interrupted him. "Do not worry about the money, your father has you well taken care of." Jack closed his mouth and smiled. Typical of his father: always thinking ahead.

The boat was now completely underwater. It was surrounded by some kind of air bubble that allowed them to breathe and see their surroundings. Jack noticed that the boat's speed had decreased. Ahead, all Jack could see was darkness, and behind, the surface was fading. iFast./i Jack also noticed that the air bubble surrounding them emitted some kind of glow.

"What kind of animals live down here?" asked Jack.

"It depends on the time of the year," Jaim replied. "If we're in August and we're lucky, then we might see a sea snake. Not the common, Muggle ones, but the big, thirty metre ones."

"Thirty metres?" said Jack, aghast. "But that's huge!"

"Aye," said Jaim. "This is the Pacific, kid, what did you expect?"

Jack huffed. 'Certainly not something that big,' he thought.

"I suppose there are also whales and sharks here, Jaim?" said Andor.

"The biggest. Just like that one over there," said Jaim pointing.

Jack gasped. A white shark, about four or five metres in length, had started circling the boat, looking hungrily at them with its shiny black eyes. The boat was too fast for it, though, and soon they left it behind.

As they descended, more fish and other weird looking animals swam around them, but nothing as shocking as the great white. Animals didn't seem to like the boat's eerie glow.

"We'll be entering Lemuria's atmosphere in a minute, so we're gonna have a bit of turbulence," Jaim warned them.

Jack looked around him. Should he grab the side of the boat again? Because as far as he could see there was nothing else to hold on to. Andor seemed to be thinking along the same lines. Jack was about to comment when the boat shook and he fell to the floor.

"Remember to hold on to something. You might fall if you don't," said Jaim without looking at him.

"Thanks for the advise," said Jack sarcastically from under his seat.

Andor chuckled. "Easy, Jack. Now, why don't you..." But what Andor was going to say, Jack never knew, because the boat chose that moment to starting shaking like mad.

"Ouch!" cried Jack after bumping his head on the side of the boat. It was as if the vessel were alive and it were trying to shake them off it.

Andor cursed. He had been thrown to the other side of the boat, and Jaim seemed oblivious to his passengers' distress. He also seemed immune to all the shaking.

For a while, everything Jack could see, apart from the floor, was bubbles. Everywhere where the water used to be less than a minute before, anyway. Finally, the bubbles cleared up and the murderous shaking stopped, setting the stage for a marvelous view.

Above, was the clear night sky. Before them, lay the shallows, and beyond, the beach and a port that stretched for 2 miles. Everywhere, Jack saw wooden ships with white sails, some of them getting ready to make way and others just standing by. The magical counterpart of a sea gull flew on top of their heads.

"Welcome to Port Aquila," said Jaim.

---

"Blasted boats," Andor muttered.

Jack sniggered. "I thought you were enjoying the trip."

Andor huffed. "I was just keeping up appearances. I am going to sue the company one of these days, you mark my words."

Jack suppressed a smirk. "Of course you will," he muttered to himself. Andor ignored him.

They had just left the pier and Jack swore his robes had somehow absorbed the smell of dead fish. Andor said Jack had always smelt like dead fish, which didn't help matters much.

"Hold on to my arm, Jack," Andor instructed. Jack looked lost.

"Huh?"

Andor sighed in exasperation. "Hold on to my arm, we are going to Apparate in Downtown."

"Oh, right," said Jack. "Sorry. I've forgotten a lot about magic these last three years," he explained sheepishly.

"Understandable."

Jack grabbed Andor's forearm, and in a flash, they were gone. As expected, Jack soon felt like he was being pressed very hard from all directions; like being pushed through a very slim tunnel, then it stopped, and he was met with the familiar sight of Ebur's capital.

"So we'll find everything I need for school here?" Jack asked.

"Of course," replied Andor. "Downtown Ebur."

"Cool," Jack said.

Downtown Ebur was an equivalent to Diagon Alley, just bigger, where the Dark Arts were not banned but respected and treated with caution. Every building reflected what it sold. The cantina was made out of bottles, the book shop had three huge books leaning on its left wall, and the shop that sold flying articles was floating three feet above the ground. The shoemaker's shop was even shaped like a shoe.

"This place looks more like a parade than Ebur's centre," Jack commented. "I don't remember it being so... um..."

"Personalized?" suggested Andor.

"Flashy," said Jack. "Even the apothecary has weird coloured fumes coming from its chimney... wait a second... are apothecaries supposed to have chimneys?"

"Well, the apothecary's owner seems to think so," replied Andor.

Jack rolled his eyes. "So... what's the first thing on the list?"

"Since your clothes seem to be in a good state for the time being," Andor started, "I think it would be a good idea to get your books first."

"Right. Let us begin our journey to the jumbo books of doom, then," sighed Jack dramatically, while pointing at the three huge books.

The book-shop was as interesting as the one on Diagon Alley. There were rows and rows of book shelves completely filled with the strangest looking tomes on Earth. Books as tiny as Jack's fingernail and books as big as the boat they had arrived on. Books made out of stone, books that bit you if you did not show them respect, books that spit flames... and the plain text books Jack and Andor were looking for.

"You will be taking Potions," said Andor. "Languages, Transfiguration, Charms and Hexes, Defence Against the Dark Arts, the Dark Arts themselves, Mathematics..."

"Maths?" asked Jack, clearly confused. "Isn't that a Muggle Subject?"

"Yes," replied Andor. "But Ingoldstadt students take it as an introduction to Advanced Arithmancy and Strategy. The same thing happens with Chemistry, which you will be taking in third grade, as an introductory course to Alchemy."

"So this is for real?" said Jack.

"This what, Jack?"

"Going to Ingoldstadt."

Andor laughed. "Of course. You will attend all eight years."

"They're eight years?"

"Yes, they are. Unlike Hogwarts, where there are only seven."

"Oh joy," replied Jack sarcastically. "More school to look forward to... How come Ingoldstadt has eight?"

"Well, you'll see," said Andor, while they walked down the aisles, searching for books. "The first seven years are a preparation for the eighth, in which you," Andor picked a book and studied it, "and your generation will travel across the world and apply everything you learnt the seven years prior." He put the book back in its shelf.

"We'll travel the whole world?" asked Jack, not daring to believe his ears.

"It depends on which languages your generation learns."

"Who's in my generation?"

"Don't you ask too much questions?"

Jack smiled sheepishly.

---

"Tired?" asked Jack smirking.

Andor glared at him. "I, unlike you, awoke in Lemuria this morning. That was almost twenty hours ago. For you it is just midday."

It was three in the morning, Ebur's time, and they were seating together at a table in a pub called 'Last Choice'. Jack was sipping from a butter beer and Andor from a glass of Ogden's. They had gotten everything from the list except for his school robes and his stone wand.

"You should get a room," said Andor. "I have a meeting to attend to." He stood up, placed a few coins on the table, and handed a little pouch to Jack. "Here is the money you will need to pay for the room and the items you are missing. Farewell!" One crack later, he was gone.

Jack sighed and stood up as well. He walked up to the bartender, whose name he later learned was Leander, and asked for a room. Leander led him to room 11 and bid him good night.

A few hours later, Jack awoke to birds singing and the glare of the sun on his eyes. 'Should have closed the curtains,' thought Jack to himself as he stood up and stretched. "Now what?" he asked no one in particular.

'You should try on the clothes you got yesterday,' came the answer. The problem was... there didn't seem to be anyone speaking...

Jack whirled around. "Who said that?" he asked cautiously.

'No one in particular,' the disembodied female voice answered simply.

Jack frowned and kept looking for the source of the voice. "What kind of answer is that?" he asked.

'None in particular.'

Jack turned to his left. He had definitely seen something on the windowsill. "Where are you?"

'Nowhere in particular.'

"Will you stop it with the particulars, please?" said Jack, beginning to get annoyed.

'Only because you said please,' answered the voice.

"Thank you. Now, I would be very grateful if you could tell me who... or what... you are," said Jack, still examining the windowsill.

'I am a werecat. And, were I you, I would stop looking at the windowsill and look behind me.'

Jack turned so fast he slipped and almost fell to the floor. There, sitting on the bed, was a great white cat. 'Hello,' she said simply.

"How did you get in?" Jack asked.

'You left the window open, silly,' the werecat answered. 'And I happen to be a curious creature, Jack Akor Riddle.'

"How do you know my name?" asked a surprised Jack.

'Do you know any Occlumency?'

Jack stared at the random question. "I'm sorry?"

'Do you know any Occlumency?' the werecat repeated.

"Very little," replied Jack.

'Hence, your answer.'

Jack blinked. "What's your name?"

'I have many names,' she answered cryptically.

"Well, 'I have many names'," said Jack sarcastically. "I'll follow your advice and try some clothes on."

'Gauri.'

"Sorry?"

'You may call me Gauri,' she said.

"Oh... ok," Jack said awkwardly. "I'll be back in a sec..." Once he said that, he took a set of clothes and went into the bathroom. 'A werecat...' thought Jack. It seemed his luck was finally returning.

A couple of minutes later, he went out and found Gauri licking her paw. 'What will you do today?' she asked him.

"Get whatever it is I'm missing," replied Jack.

'Alone? At your age?' asked Gauri.

"Sure, why not?" said Jack. He took the pouch containing the money, checked the money was actually inside, and went for the door.

'Wait.'

Jack turned. "Yes?"

'I'm coming with you,' said Gauri jumping from the bed. 'It has been a long time since I last had an interesting conversation with a human.'

'What first?' asked Gauri once they were out on the street.

"I'm really curious about the stone wand," said Jack. "So I'd like to see to that."

'You may want to keep your voice down,' advised Gauri

"Why's that?"

'Because it is quite strange for bystanders to see a boy talking to a cat.'

"Can't they hear you're talking to me?" Jack whispered.

'I find it amazing that you have not yet realized that you hear me in your mind,' said the werecat.

Jack blinked. 'Really?' he thought.

'Yes,' answered Gauri, clearly amused.

'You did it on purpose, didn't you?' thought Jack narrowing his eyes at the werecat.

'Did what on purpose?' said Gauri innocently as they walked towards the wand shop.

'Not telling me that you were talking in my mind.'

'Well, technically speaking, I could not have done it on purpose since I cannot speak. Therefore, I can not tell you anything.'

Jack huffed. 'Fine,' he thought. Gauri looked smug.

'This is it,' said Gauri.

Jack looked at the building in front of them. Even if it was the most normal looking building on the street it still had a distinct air about it. A wooden sign over the door read: 'Aldrick's finest customized wands since 200 A.D.'. The dark, dingy shop looked empty.

'What are you waiting for?' asked Gauri.

"Nothing," said Jack. He stepped forward and pushed the door open. "Hello?" he called. "Anybody home?" Gauri entered behind him and hid in the shadows.

"Why, yes of course," said a male voice from the back of the shop. "I'll be right with you."

Soon, a thin old man appeared before him. "How may I help you, Mr.... Riddle, perhaps?"

Jack's eyes widened slightly. "How do you...?"

The man, Aldrick, smiled slightly. "How wouldn't I? You look just like your father. I met him once, when he was a teenager. I didn't have the pleasure of meeting your mother, though. She was Ollivander's customer. Samantha, or your father used to call her Sam, right?"

"Um... yes, well," said Jack awkwardly. Those grey eyes were unsettling. "I was wondering if I could get a stone wand."

"Ingoldstadt, eh?" said Aldrick with a smile. "Which is you wand arm?"

"I'm ambidextrous," replied Jack. "Father insisted."

"No surprises there," said Aldrick. "Give me just one moment."

The man walked to a shelf and pulled out a box. He beckoned Jack and started pulling out small tablets of different colours and placing them on the surface of the counter. "Look carefully at the colours and tell me which feels best," he said.

Jack watched the thirteen tablets with interest. Yellow... too shiny. Red... nice but too vibrant. Green... didn't feel right. Black... appealing but there was still something missing. Grey... too damp. Pink... not in ten million years! Then, his eyes fell upon one of the last tablets. Yes... there was something about this one that drew him to it. "That one," said Jack pointing the one that had caused the effect.

"Ah... Indigo," said Aldrick. "Interesting. Especially in someone so young." Aldrick started removing the tablets.

"Why is it so interesting?" asked Jack good naturedly.

The old man's grey eyes bored into Jack's sapphire ones. "Indigo symbolizes self-mastery and wisdom. While blue is the colour of communication with others, indigo turns the blue inward, to increase personal thought, profound insights, and instant understandings. While blue can be fast, Indigo is almost instantaneous. Inventors use indigo skills for inspirations that seem to 'come out of the blue' as Muggles say. HA!"

Jack stared at the odd man as he turned around and walked to the back of the shop. Were all wand makers like this? He'd heard that Ollivander had a personality like Aldrick's. Perhaps they were related? Aldrick's return stopped his musings.

"Now," said Aldrick, placing three different dark blue gems on the counter. "Which of these 'calls' you?"

Jack glanced at the stones. "I like the one in the middle."

"The Sapphire. Fitting," said Aldrick looking at Jack's eyes. "It helps to understand the intentions of others and to find the correct solution." He then put the three gems in a box and brought out another one from under the counter. He pulled out small bits of different rocks. "Feel free to do anything you like to these pieces and then tell me which you feel more comfortable with."

Jack passed his right hand over the hard materials, took a few, weighted them, tossed them from his right hand to his left... until he narrowed his choices to three: a pure black obsidian, a green and white combination of marble and a greyish black piece of marble with golden veins.

Aldrick was getting excited now. "Wonderful choices! Very powerful rocks, all three of those. Wonderful!" he said while he clapped.

Jack raised an eyebrow, but other than that, he decided to ignore the wand maker's behaviour. As much as he liked the green/white piece, he had to rule it out. He didn't know why, but he felt he had to. Now, he didn't know what to do with the two choices he had left.

"Those two will do," announced Aldrick taking both pieces from Jack's hands. "Come back in an hour and your wand will be ready. Good bye!" Then he practically skipped to the back of the shop and out of sight.

'Maniac,' said Gauri from the shadows. 'Let's go get your robes.'

A while later they were entering a building completely made out of cloth.

'Very original, huh?' thought Jack. Gauri snickered.

Inside, there were other five kids being fitted. "I'll be right with you, dear," said a young plump witch dressed in pale yellow. She took a measuring tape from her robes and led him to a footstool next to a pale, dark-haired boy about his age. "Which school are you attending?" asked the witch. Gauri stuck to the shadows again.

"Ingoldstadt Academy," answered Jack.

The witch gasped and stood straighter. "I'll go get the material."

Jack nodded.

"Hello," said the boy.

"Hey," said Jack.

"My name's Ralph. Ralph Bloor. I'm going to Ingoldstadt, too."

"I'm Jack Riddle."

"Riddle?" said Ralph. "Would your father happen to be Tom Riddle?"

"What's it to you?" answered Jack slowly. It did him no good going around spreading the news that he was the Dark Lord's son.

"You're kidding me!" said Ralph. "Haven't you ever heard the name Bloor?"

Jack frowned. "I don't... wait!" he said suddenly. "I have! Father did mention that name from time to time... some, Reuben Bloor..."

"That's my father," said Ralph proudly. "He's over there with my big brother, Manfred."

Jack followed Ralph's finger and his eyes fell on a black haired man in his late thirties or early forties. He was standing beside a black haired boy who was being fitted into midnight blue robes.

"You want to stay away from him," advised Ralph. "My father, I mean. He's always carried a grudge against Tom Riddle, though he's never said why."

"I see," Jack muttered. Apart from Tom being the Dark Lord?

"That'll be it, darling," said the witch who had been fitting him for a while already. She handed him a bag with three sets of midnight blue robes and smiled. "That'll be ten Galleons and five Sickles, please."

Jack handed over the money and hopped from the footstool.

"I'll see you at school," said Ralph waving.

Jack waved back and stepped out of the shop, Gauri in his wake.

For the next thirty minutes, they did nothing but look around the shops, waiting for the time to pick up Jack's stone wand. Finally, the hour came and they headed back to the wand shop. A bell announced their arrival.

"Mr. Riddle, is that you?" came Aldrick's voice from the back.

"Yes, sir," replied Jack.

Aldrick stuck his head out from behind a shelf. "Come over here."

Jack hesitated.

'Go,' said Gauri. 'He can't do anything to you.'

Jack nodded and walked towards the wand maker, who pulled out a box from his robes in a flourish and opened it, taking out a long and thin black rod.

"The core is made of Sapphire, the body of the purest black Obsidian, and the handle of black and gold Marble from Italy. 12,20 inches. One of the most powerful wands I have ever made. And it's all yours, my Lord."

Jack closed his hand around the handle to take the wand, but the wand maker seemed reluctant of letting the wand go, as if he were afraid of what the wand was going out into the world to do. After a few seconds, however, he let go. "Give it a wave," Aldrick said cautiously.

Jack raised the wand over his head and a small tornado of fire erupted from the tip and circled the wand a couple of times before disappearing.

"That'll be twelve Galleons, if you please," said Aldrick.

Jack placed the wand back in its box and pulled out the pouch with the money. He counted twelve gold coins and handed them over.

"Thank you," said Aldrick, taking the money. Then, he Disapparated.

Jack blinked in surprise.

'That has to be the most dramatic exit I have seen him perform,' said Gauri conversationally.