The Last Riddle

"... and that door over there leads to the deck."

Jack nodded and followed Shancus through the door he had just pointed. After introducing himself, Shancus had explained he was in charge of giving him a tour of the ship and Ingoldstadt castle once they arrived. In other words, and as Shancus had bluntly put it, Jack was supposed to stick to Shancus as an over-chewed bubble gum until he could manage not to bump his head on invisible walls. Shancus had also noticed the curious glances the wizard gave him and had laughed before explaining that he was half-human, half-snake. This had puzzled Jack even more and Shancus went on explaining that his father had been born from normal humans, and that his mother was a half-blood witch, so no one knew where the condition had come from. As far as Shancus was concerned, he, his father and his little sister were the only snake-people in the world. Curiously, they couldn't speak Parseltongue.

When Jack had told Shancus that he was a Parselmouth, Shancus had reacted the exact opposite way than most witches and wizards did. "You can speak to snakes?" he had said. "That's so cool! I wish I could speak to them, too... hey! Maybe you should come over to my place and speak to my snake! I've always wanted to know why she sleep-crawls..." he had continued to babble excitedly about Jack being a Parselmouth and all the things he had wanted to ask his pet snake and Jack had found himself smiling. It was rare to find someone who talked about snakes the way the snake-boy did. Most people were either afraid of them or found them disgusting. But then again, Shancus was half-snake so...

"Hey, Von!"

Jack and Shancus turned to the source of the voice and saw a Chinese girl with straight black hair and tan skin. There was an orange haired boy trailing behind her.

"Hello, Yin," greeted Shancus. "Jack, this is Yin Iwase. Yin, this is Jack Riddle."

Yin and Jack shook hands. "Pleased to meet you," said Yin before turning to the orange haired boy behind her. "This is Kenichi Oosaki. Oh and, Kenichi, this is Shancus Von." Kenichi and Shancus shook hands and then the Oriental boy shook hands with Jack. The now sapphire eyed boy noticed that Kenichi's eyes were amber.

"Where are you from?" Yin asked Jack.

"From right here," answered Jack. "Ebur."

"Then you didn't have to travel!" cried Yin. "You're so lucky! Imagine the ones who came from Russia or Egypt! The time difference is huge!"

"Actually," said Jack. "I had been living in England for five months before returning to Ebur three days ago."

"Hmm..." said Shancus. "Riddle doesn't sound like an Eburian surname."

"That's because my father is... was British," explained Jack. "But I was born in Ebur."

"Oh," said Yin, but didn't mention anything about Jack's slip. "I'm from China. Beijing."

"I'm Austrian," said Shancus. "But my family travels around a lot, so my siblings have different nationalities. What about you, Kenichi? Where are you from?"

"Japan," replied Kenichi. "My family lives in Kyoto."

"Sorry for asking," said Shancus. "But why aren't your eyes slanted?"

Kenichi sighed, as if he had been asked this question many times before. "My mother was a Magi," he said simply.

'That explains the hair and the eyes,' thought Jack. 'Wait... was?' He thought it would be better not to ask. After all, no one had asked about his father.

"So..." said Kenichi turning to Shancus. "You're Shancus Von what?"

"Just plain Von," answered Shancus. "Unless you want to call me Shancus Von Austria, and that sounds a bit weird."

All of a sudden, dozens of children and teenagers started piling into the deck to wave good bye to their family members standing on the port.

"Looks like we're leaving," commented Jack.

"Yep," agreed Shancus. "Shall we go and wave good bye as well?"

"You guys go," said Jack. "My parents aren't here," he said almost to himself.

"I'll stay as well," said Kenichi. "My father had to leave early in the morning."

"Alright," said Yin. "Just don't wander off so we can find you." Having said that, she left, closely followed by Shancus.

"So you're half Magi?" asked Jack to start a conversation.

Kenichi seemed glad that the silence had been broken. "Yeah," he replied. "My father is a wizard but Mother was a fire Magi. Apparently I am, as well," he added. "What about you? Are you half-something or a pureblood?"

"Well," started Jack, thinking of how to best answer the question. "My father was a wizard and my mother a witch, but my grandparents were kind of mismatched. My paternal grandparents were a witch and a Muggle, and my maternal grandparents were... weird. I think one of them was a pureblood and the other had a distant elven relative... but I'm not sure. I never met any of them."

Kenichi nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I never met my grandparents either. Seems we have something in common," he added with a grin.

Jack grinned back. To anyone who knew Jack as the Dark Heir it would seem strange to see him interacting with half-bloods and half-breeds as he would interact with purebloods, but Lemuria was full of strange races and weird combinations, and Jack had grown to like or hate people for who they were rather than for what they were. He still hated Muggles, though. There was a short silence and then Kenichi said, "I think we've started to move."

"Indeed we have," answered Jack. The ship's sails were bulging with air and sure enough the buildings around them seemed to be moving. "I hope we don't go into any atmosphere."

"You mean, out of any atmosphere," said Kenichi looking at the sky. "I didn't like coming into this one."

"That's something else we have in common," said Jack looking at the sky as well.

"Had you heard of Ingoldstadt before?" asked Kenichi.

"You mean, before I got invited?" said Jack looking briefly at his companion. At his nod, Jack said, "Just in passing. I knew it was a school that very few people attended and that it was very well hidden, so most people know nothing about it. But that was it."

"I didn't even know that," said Kenichi turning to look at Jack, who was still looking at the sky as if hypnotized. "I wonder if the other people on the port can see this ship."

"Probably not," replied Jack locking gazes with Kenichi.

"Your eyes changed colour," said Kenichi, squinting. "They're lighter."

Jack blinked a couple of times and his eyes went back to sapphire. "They change according to my emotions or with what I'm doing," he explained.

"Cool," said a third voice. Both Jack and Kenichi turned to look at the speaker. It was a boy. He had sandy hair, green eyes, and his skin was slightly tanned. "I'm Tancred Torrson, by the way. Canada."

"Kenichi Oosaki. Japan," said Kenichi.

"Jack Riddle. Ebur," said Jack.

"Lucky you," said Tancred. "I came from higher up."

"I was actually living in England," said Jack.

Tancred blinked. "Why?"

"Hey, that's true," said Kenichi with a thoughtful expression. "What were you doing in England? Holidays?"

Jack bit his lip, wishing he hadn't mentioned it. "It's a long story. One that I rather didn't remember."

Tancred and Kenichi shared a glance and shrugged.

"Okay."

"No prob, mate."

"Thanks," said Jack with a small smile.

"Tancred!" called the voice of a girl. "I've been looking for you everywhere!"

Tancred winced. "I was just meeting people, Nora. I'm not a baby; I'm not gonna get lost!"

Jack looked at the girl who had called Tancred's name. She looked older than them. She had light brown hair, green eyes and tan skin.

"That's my sister," said Tancred. "Her name's Nora. But you may call her 'the Torrson tour guide' or 'the Torrson tornado'. Take your pick."

"Nora will do," said the girl with a small scowl. "And you are?"

"Jack."

"Kenichi."

"Nice to meet you," said Nora. "Why are you alone?"

"Our tour guides went to wave good bye to their families," answered Kenichi. "They should be back any minute now. In fact, that's them," he added nodding his head towards the approaching figures.

The three second years greeted each other and after a while they decided that the six should stick together, so Nora, Shancus and Yin led Tancred, Jack and Kenichi back into the ship and all the way to the 'dining room'. They sat at a table and the three second years started talking about teachers.

"Amundsen teaches Potions," started Yin. "She's pretty cool. Outside classes, of course, 'cause she loves Potions and she won't have anyone messing up her lab."

"And there's Edere, the Transfiguration teacher," continued Shancus. "She's neutral to everyone... unlike Obex, who picks her favourites and massacres the rest of the class."

The two girls shuddered when Obex was mentioned.

"Math's teacher. She's evil," said Nora. "Stay away from her if you appreciate your life."

"Yeah," agreed Shancus. "She's the kind of teacher who gets sad when you pass a quiz and gets happy when you fail."

"Charming," commented Jack dryly.

"You should have seen her last year," said Nora. "Poor Omar from Kyrgyzstan is clueless when it comes to maths. In our first quiz, he only managed to answer one question out of ten correctly. Obex's smile could have lit up the entire castle."

"I'm looking forward to meeting her," said Kenichi sarcastically.

"There're other teachers who are cross," continued Yin. "But they teach the older years, so we shouldn't worry about them... yet."

"I don't think there's someone worse than Obex," argued Shancus. "The way she looks at you, the way she explains, her voice... and she tends to tell you how stupid you are but she uses nice words so you won't feel too bad. As if!" he huffed.

"Leaving Obex behind," said Yin looking pointedly at Shancus. "I'm sure you'll fall in love with Helen. She's the History teacher and she will make you call her Helen because 'Professor' makes her feel old. Watch out for her vocabulary. It's really funny hearing her talk."

"She's passionate, guys," said Nora. "Once she's started talking about a subject, she won't stop until the bell rings."

"She's particularly fond of the word 'terrible'," added Shancus.

"Talking about terrible," said Yin. "You do know that Ingoldstadt teaches the Dark Arts, right? Not just defence against them?"

Jack, Kenichi and Tancred nodded.

"Well, the class is given by a vampire," continued Yin.

"You never said one of your teachers was a vampire!" cried Tancred looking at his sister.

"I forgot," said Nora matter-of-factly. "His name's Swallowraw."

"How fitting," said Jack with a smirk.

"There're all kinds of races at Ingoldstadt," said Shancus. "Monsieur Leloup, the French teacher, for example, is a werewolf. And the Astronomy teacher is a centaur."

Jack laughed. "I'd like to see that kind of teachers at Hogwarts! The students would be terrified!"

"That's because they're all racists!" cried Tancred defensibly. "Dark creatures should be treated as equals! Not shunned out and be treated as animals!"

Jack gaped at the sandy haired boy. Tancred was actually standing on his seat and was starting to attract attention from the other students. Nora buried her face in her hands and shook her head but made no move to stop her brother.

"... ow would it feel if Dark creatures took control of the governments and high institutions and shunned them out instead, huh!? Don't do to others what you don't want done to you!"

An older student, probably a sixth year, rose a bottle of butterbeer and cried, "Hear, hear!"

"That's Sven, from Norway," supplied Yin. "He's a werewolf."

Jack and Kenichi watched in amazement how Tancred continued his speech on equality and the unfairness of the situation Dark creatures found themselves in, and how the rest of the students in the dining room started to applaud. When Tancred seemed satisfied with what he had said he sat down beside Jack, leaned back on his chair with his hands behind his head and closed his eyes.

"Where did that come from?" asked Kenichi looking at Tancred in awe.

"I'm a werewolf," he confessed. "And I don't like being stepped on because of it."

"That's what I love about Ingoldstadt," muttered Shancus. "It doesn't matter what you are, pureblood, half-blood, half-breed, Muggle born, Dark or Light, or an unnamed freak like me," he added bitterly, "Everyone at Ingoldstadt will treat you as an equal. Except for Obex, of course."

The six companions laughed at Shancus' obvious dislike of the maths teacher as the snake-boy started yet another rant about how horrible Obex was, and how she planned to brainwash the students with arithmetic. Jack just looked on and smiled, all the while thinking that he had finally found a place where he wouldn't be criticized, feared or hated for being Dark. A place where he fit in perfectly.

---

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world... Potter, Harry was sitting on a three-legged stool with a talking hat on his head. 'Are you sure? You could be great, you know - no? Well, if you're sure - better be GRYFFINDOR!'

---

Jack stared at the infinite blackness in front of him. During the last few hours, Shancus, Nora and Yin had been showing Jack, Kenichi and Tancred the whole ship. They had also met some students from the older years. Also, during the 'tour', the three second years had told them that there were only ninety-six students at Ingoldstadt per year, which they said was pretty cool but also very bad, because everyone knew who you were. There were no houses like at Hogwarts since the number of students was so low there was no point in splitting them up; instead, there were eight common rooms (one per year) and they were all connected to a central common room where students from every year could meet.

When there were no places left unexplored on the ship, Shancus and the two girls left Jack, Kenichi and Tancred to their own devices. They were now on deck, leaning on the railings and either watching the sea, the stars or, in Tancred's case, the floorboards. They had become fast friends, which was pretty unusual in Jack's case since, as an introvert, he tended to be a bit antisocial. Along the way, Jack had told his new friends that he was an orphan, though he didn't tell them who his parents had been. He didn't think they were ready yet. He had also discovered that Kenichi lived with his father and his little sister, Natsumi, because his mother had disappeared a few years after Natsumi's birth.

Tancred, on the other hand, came from a big family. His father, Edward, was a werewolf and had passed the condition on to Tancred but not to any of Tancred's five sisters. He had no brothers. Nora was the eldest, Tancred the second, then Olivia, then the twins, Chloe and Jade, and finally little Emily, who was three. His mother was a witch in a high government position who fought for the rights of werewolves and other Dark creatures in Canada. Apparently Tancred had inherited her political spirit.

"Check that out," said Tancred with a playful smirk.

"What?" asked Kenichi.

"Over there, on the ship's bow," Tancred said.

Jack turned discreetly to his left, past Tancred's sandy head and saw a couple of seventh years making out. "Crap," he said. "You'd think they'd be smart enough to get a room. Apparently not."

"Gross," said Tancred with a shudder.

"I'll remember this day when I see you making out with a girl," Kenichi told Tancred. "We'll see if you still think the same way."

Jack laughed lightly as Tancred glared at Kenichi. "I will never, and I repeat, never be seen making out with a girl."

Before he could stop himself, Jack asked playfully, "Will we see you making out with a guy then, Tancred?"

Kenichi and Jack burst out laughing as Tancred attempted to punch both of them. Soon, Tancred was laughing as well and just trying to punch them for the sake of it. He got Jack's right shoulder but they were both laughing so much that Jack barely felt the hit. The kissing couple was so absorbed in what they were doing that neither noticed the fighting boys or how they all fell to the floor when the ship suddenly decreased its speed. They fell on top of each other, Jack at the bottom and Tancred at the top.

"We must be arriving," said Tancred.

"Would you mind getting off me?" said Jack in a slightly squashed voice. "You're kind of heavy."

Kenichi pushed Tancred off him and stood up, closely followed by Jack, who dusted his robes as he looked out on the ocean. "Is it just me or is it getting a little cold here?"

Tancred blew from where he was sprawled on the floor and his breath came out white. "It's a little cold."

"Let's go inside," said Kenichi. "And look for cloaks or something. We must be very far south if it's this cold out here."

Without further ado, the three boys scrambled into the corridor that led to the 'common room' where they had left their packs. When they got to their destination they found other students lounging on the armchairs. Some had their cloaks on; probably the ones coming from warm countries. There was a fireplace, oriental rugs, Japanese lamps hanging from the ceiling... the 'common room' was an amazing mixture of cultures. Jack spotted their bags beside an Inuit totem and led the way towards them. Each pulled out a cloak and sat on three armchairs near the fire. They had started to talk about what school would be like when Yin arrived.

"Thank Merlin I found you!" she said. "We're about to arrive. I see you got your cloaks. Good. Put them on; the Antarctic Circle is quite cold."

While Tancred didn't look surprised, Jack and Kenichi exchanged disbelieving glances. "The Antarctic Circle?" Jack managed to choke.

Yin laughed at the looks on their faces and said, "Put your cloaks on, grab your bags and follow me."

The three boys obeyed and saw Yin whisper something to her wristwatch. This time the three boys looked confused but remained quiet, nevertheless. They climbed a staircase and met Shancus and Nora at the top. Both had their cloaks on.

"C'mon," said Nora. "The ship's already stopped."

"Are we still underwater?" asked Jack. "'Cause I didn't feel the ship going through any atmosphere."

"Nope," replied Shancus. "We're above. We didn't feel any turbulence because the ship's too big. There're a lot of unmapped islands down here in the Antarctic Circle. Arx Crystallus is one of them."

"How big is the island?" asked Kenichi looking out on the steely water and the big ice chunks around them.

"That's a good question, actually..." said Nora thoughtfully.

"We can find out when we get there," said Yin. "C'mon, Rego is waiting."

"Rego?" asked the three first years at the same time.

"You'll see," said Nora mysteriously.

Jack, Kenichi and Tancred followed the second years through a ramp. Jack stuck his hands in his cloak's pockets to stop them from freezing and tried not to take deep breaths. The air was freezing! Anywhere he looked there was ice and snow and sleet. He couldn't possibly imagine where in this inhabitable place the school could be. His new friends seemed to be thinking the same thing because they were both looking around with confusion. The three second years, however, looked perfectly happy and, most confusing of all; they didn't seem to be cold.

"There's Rego," said Nora pointing at a dark figure wearing a green robe. "This is where we leave you, guys. We'll see you after dinner." The second years waved good bye and started walking inland. They were soon swallowed by the raging sleet.

"Let's meet this Rego person," said Jack. The other two nodded and they walked towards the figure Nora had pointed. The closer they got the more features they managed to see. Rego was a black woman in her late thirties. They could tell she was thin and unlike them, she wasn't shivering in the Antarctic cold. They could now make out other shapes around the woman: children their age, all shivering.

"Ah, the last three have arrived," said Rego. Her voice was rich and slightly musical and Jack felt a little drawn towards it, but he knew better than to trust someone at first sight. Once Jack, Kenichi and Tancred joined the circle of first years, Rego spoke again. "Welcome to Arx Crystallus. My name is Nyah Rego, Professor Rego to you, and I am the Deputy Headmistress. Behind me lies the path that goes to Ingoldstadt. You will be able to see it as soon as the twelve of you are keyed into the wards. When I call your name, step forward and write your full name into this book," she swished her hand and a book and a quill materialized out of nowhere and stood floating beside Rego.

"Bloor, Ralph."

The black haired boy Jack had seen in the robe shop stepped forward nervously. 'He's my relative!' remembered Jack with a pang. 'My cousin!'

Rego explained to Ralph, and to the others, that the only way to be keyed into the wards was by blood. The twelve children exchanged uneasy glances and Ralph gulped. Rego handed the black quill to Ralph and Ralph took a shaky step towards the aged book. He scribbled something down and then cried out in surprise. Jack stiffened at the smell of blood and his eyes automatically followed the thin trail of red liquid that was flowing from the back of Ralph's hand. He shook his head and the hungry feeling was gone. 'Weird,' he thought.

"Cooper, Amy."

The same process was repeated with the blue-eyed blonde, except this time Jack didn't feel drawn to the precious red liquid. Next went "Dubois, Zoé," who had black hair and grey eyes. "García, Isabel," had her light brown hair in a bun. She had happy honey eyes and a small frame. Actually, she was the smallest in the group. "Hadji, Neema," had tan skin, black eyes and black hair. "Khatabi, Otieno," was a black boy. He was bald. After him went Kenichi.

The half-Magi looked briefly at Jack and Tancred and walked towards the Deputy Headmistress. He took the black quill in his trembling right hand, which Jack now recognized as a blood-quill, and signed his name. Jack saw his friend hiss and step back. 'Bloody quill,' thought Jack smirking inwardly.

"Riddle, Jack."

Jack's heart skipped a beat but he stepped forward. Rego locked gazes with him and handed him the quill. As Jack took the bloody thing, he noticed that Rego's eyes were a very light green colour and that her black hair was short and spiky under her hood. 'Some Deputy Headmistress Ingoldstadt's got. I'd love to see McGonagall with spiky hair,' he thought smirking. He turned his eyes on the old book floating in front of him. Generation 5000 read the top of the page. Apparently they were going to celebrate the school's fifth millennium this year. He swept his eyes over the short list of names. Ralph Elliot Bloor was brown already, but Kenichi Oosaki was still very fresh. Jack licked his lips and wrote Jack Akor Riddle and winced when his name was cut into the back of his hand. A few droplets of blood escaped the cut before it healed again. Then, he stepped back to join Kenichi and watched how "Santos, Aura," a tan skinned girl with curly dark brown hair, stepped forward.

"Sunners, Aaron," was an Albino and after he signed, "Torrson, Tancred," was called. Jack and Kenichi watched in amusement how Tancred bowed to Rego and took the quill as if it were made out of crystal. He signed his name and handed back the quill with another bow. Now only an auburn haired girl was left.

"Vaskov, Lidiya," called Professor Rego.

The girl stepped forward and as she finished signing her name the murderous cold suddenly stopped. Jack, Kenichi and Tancred exchanged confused glances. Professor Rego closed the book and sent it back to wherever it had come from in the first place. Gradually, the ice they were standing on started to melt; the sleet stopped falling and the wind's speed decreased until it was only a breeze. The twelve new students watched in awe as the inhospitable land they were standing on transformed into a beach with white sand and palm trees that had sprouted from the ground. Behind Professor Rego was a cobblestone path that led into a rainforest.

"Now," said Rego watching their expressions with an amused smile. "Follow me."

The twelve youngsters did as they were told and followed the tall woman into the noisy tropical forest. Toads croaked, lizards crossed their path at amazing speeds, curious clabberts jumped from tree to tree above their heads and fwoopers flapped around. A distant roar made them all jump and Otieno Khatabi, the black boy, gasped.

"W-was that...a-a..." he stuttered. "...a N-Nundu?"

Rego turned to face the twelve youths with a serious expression on her face. "Yes, there are Nundu here. This island has quite a considerable size and we share it with all kinds of magical creatures. There are very few Nundu in the island, however, and they all live on the east side. Only the seventh years enter that side of the island, for obvious reasons. You might hear them roar from time to time ("Who? The Nundu or the seventh years?" Jack whispered into Kenichi's ear and Kenichi was quick to turn his laughter into a cough) but as long as you stay out of the east side you'll be fine. Let's keep going."

They continued walking down the cobblestone path but they were now casting nervous glances into the seemingly impenetrable jungle. Soon, new kind of trees started to appear and little by little they found themselves walking in a forest. Owls hooted on the highest branches of the trees but apart from that, nothing seemed to be moving. Jack thought this was strange since the jungle had been brimming with life. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a black shape canter to the depths of the forest. Rego seemed to have seen it as well.

"What was that?" asked Jack quietly.

"What was what?" asked Kenichi.

"There was a black shape over there," said Jack pointing.

"It must have been a Xanadu," replied Rego. "They're black unicorns with golden horns. Almost extinct. Now, if you step a bit to the left you might catch the first glimpse of the castle."

The twelve youths moved all together in the direction Professor Rego had mentioned and were left speechless. "Oh. My. God.," Lidiya Vaskov managed to say.

"Whoa," muttered Jack. The castle before them was even more stunning than Hogwarts itself, which was saying something. Jack would never admit it out loud but he had been very impressed by Hogwarts. Ingoldstadt, however, was another story. Ingoldstadt was as wide as Hogwarts, but Ingoldstadt's highest tower was taller than even Hogwart's Astronomy tower. Yet, it was not Ingoldstadt's height that had left Jack open mouthed. "What is the castle made of?" he asked weakly.

Rego smiled. "Crystal," she answered simply.

"How can it be made of crystal?" asked Ralph Bloor gaping at the enormous structure. "Even if it's got an unbreakable charm on it..."

"The castle was built five thousand years ago, Mr. Bloor," answered Rego as she started walking again. "No one knows how it is still standing."

Jack stared at the shimmering material with an awed expression. It produced the strangest of effects, the crystal: It was colourless so you could see through it, but at the same time you couldn't. There were many turrets and towers but Jack counted seven towers that were bigger and taller than any of the others. The seven towers were arranged in such a way that, when viewed from the sky, they would form a spiral. Each tower had a different tinge, from red to violet. The red was the shortest tower out of the seven and the violet one was the tallest. Jack blinked. 'There are seven sources of power,' he heard Andor's voice echo somewhere in his memory. 'Seven very big sources of power. They are called the Keystones, and they are represented by the seven different colours of the spectrum. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. Violet being the one that holds the most power.'

Jack took a sharp intake of breath. Could the Keystones be somehow related to Ingoldstadt's seven towers? After all, Andor had said that the Headmaster or Headmistress of Ingoldstadt knew of the Keystones' existence. What did Ingoldstadt have to do with the 'sources of power'?

He didn't have more time to think because they had now left the forest and were walking on an open piece of land. The castle was now in full view and Jack couldn't help but gape at it again. How many secrets could be hidden behind those crystal walls? Five thousand years of history were bound to produce many, he reasoned.

Jack had always liked to solve mysteries. The need to know the truth was something that he had inherited from his father. Like the Dark Lord, the Heir would go to the end of the world just to find the answer to a question regardless of the obstacles. However, this need had gotten him into a lot of trouble with his parents. Tom and Sam never lied to their son, that was true; but the Dark Lord and the 'Dark Lady' kept many things secret and it frustrated Jack to no end. So the boy would often snoop into his father's study and carefully look for clues of things that Tom could be hiding. He had been caught once by his father, but instead of punishing him as Jack expected his father to do, Tom had sighed and cursed genetics, then asked his Heir what he had found. After listening to his son, Tom had warned the boy not to ever enter the study again without asking first if he wanted to keep himself intact. Jack never entered the study again. He knew how creative the Dark Lord could be when it came down to punishments.

He was jerked out of Memory Lane when his foot hit rock instead of cobblestone. The eleven children around him were chatting excitedly and swapping theories on how the castle could still be standing after all this time. He noticed that they were now walking down a bridge that was as wide as five elephants in line. Below, the lake that surrounded Ingoldstadt shimmered and rippled with gentle waves. Above, Ingoldstadt castle loomed like a quiet sentinel, daring the Heir to the Dark Throne to uncover its secrets.

If only he had known how those secrets would change his life...