Fantastic Beasts and the One that Got Away

11. Fantastic Beasts and the Hollow Prints

After climbing the old staircase that led to the dimly lit second floor, Newt had turned down the hallway to the left. Alex made to follow him but was stopped by a flash of light. It was hardly visible, so she thought she had simply imagined it. When she began to turn back toward the hallway Newt had ventured down, the light appeared again. It only lasted a second, but it left the slightest ghost of an image in her eyes.

She turned back to tell Newt, but he was already gone. Not wanting to bother him with what was probably nothing, she continued toward the open door to investigate.

The room was as old and desolate as the rest of the house. There was a broken chair in one corner, and tattered curtains coated in dust in front of the window to her left. She saw that everything around her was coated in a solid layer of dust - except for one spot.

In the furthest corner of the room, near the partially shattered window, lay a pair of large shoe prints. The toe of the shoes faced directly toward her, leading her to imagine someone was standing at attention in the corner of the room. There was not a trail of shoe prints leading to the spot, Alex noted. There was just a single set of prints. They were perfectly cast in the dirt, almost as if the shoes were once there and had just been removed. She knew that was impossible, but her curiosity got the best of her.

She took a few cautious steps closer.

Her heart rate spiked when she heard Newt yell her name from the other room. She whipped around and saw him running towards her. He was a few steps from the door when it slammed shut. Alex rushed to the door and desperately pulled at the rusty handle. It didn't budge.

Newt's desperate screams pierced her eardrums. She knew she had messed up, but there was no time to dwell on it. She had to get out of the cage she'd found herself in.

Alex took her wand and attempted to apparate as she had a thousand times before. She shouldn't have been surprised when it didn't work. It was just her luck.

"Oh, you can't do that here, sweetheart," a familiar voice sounded from behind her. She slowly turned around and found the once empty shoe print in the corner now filled by a person, hidden in shadows. Her blood ran cold.  It was the one person she had hoped to never see again. Gellert Grindelwald.

"Do you like it?" He asked, a smug look overtaking his facial features. "It's a nice little trick I picked up on my earlier adventures. It keeps anyone but the original performer of the spell from being able to use magic within the boundaries. As long as you are in this house, you are but a mere Muggle." He spat the last word like it left a bitter taste in his mouth. He quickly recovered and took in the sight of Alex.

"Oh, how I've missed you. You were just a child when I last saw you. Now you're all grown up." He took a step forward. Alex took a rushed step backward in response.

"A lot has happened since you killed my mother." She didn't recognize her own voice through her anger. It was low, almost whispered. Her English accent was as thick as ever.

He raised his arms in response. "I had no other choice. She was trying to take you away from me. She wanted to stop me from gaining the power I so rightfully owned."

"You had no right to kill her or gain such power. It made you nothing but a killer."

"Only when necessary, my darling. Those that got in my way had to pay for their actions."

Her voice rose. "What about all of those Muggles you so carelessly killed? What did they do to you?"

He sighed. "A Muggle's existence poses a threat to the Wizarding World. If anything, I was doing them a favor."

"A favor? If anything, you were exposing the Wizarding World to the Muggles. You are nothing but a coward looking for excuses."

His demeanor shifted in the blink of an eye. "Enough. I will not stand here listening to this. You shall come with me." He hastily reached for her but she backed away, her back hitting the door that had once been open.

"I will go nowhere with you," she spat.

His lip curled, sending a chill down her spine. "Oh, but you shall. Unless you want something to happen to your little friends."

Alex's breath caught as she realized the hall beyond the door had fallen eerily silent, Newt's yelling had ceased.

A second later, the door swung open on its own. The sight made Alex feel sick.

Beyond the door, Newt was wrapped in a sea of thick, green vines. For a moment, Alex feared that Newt wasn't breathing. The vines were wrapped around all of his limbs, lifting him just off the ground. His mouth was covered in a thick, thorny vine, but his eyes still rose to meet hers. She caught a glimpse of something besides Newt and realized, hidden within the vines, was the missing Baker, Jacob.

She felt herself begin to rush forward towards her friends, but Newt's eyes quickly morphed into a look of terror. Alex grew confused, but from behind her, she heard Grindelwald speak. "Carpe retractum."

What were once free arms were now tied behind her back, unforgiving. She felt Grindelwald's calloused hand wrap around her arm behind her. Before she could process what had happened, the world around her fell into darkness as she was apparated from her place in the abandoned house and taken into the unknown.