In The Shadow of Our Choices

Chapter 98: The Witching Hour

Previously:
Anne's curse was broken! (As was Mrs. Pritchard's) After reeling from the relief of it all, the crew got back down to business. Classes were due to start the next day, so Gregorovitch demanded to be taken to Galdric's tomb that day. Upon entering the tomb, they found the entrance had closed itself, and the passage they'd taken before incurred a deep feeling of dread in Elizabeth. So, they followed the ancient magic down the center path, entering a large cavern with a forest inside. After Andrew realized that all the plants were dangerous in some capacity, and Gregorovitch realized that the trees were all perfectly harmless, they used blood magic on runes to progress.

Elizabeth

The next tunnel curved, angling upwards once more. If Elizabeth had to guess, it ran just on the inside of the cavern walls. The incline soon winded them all as it continued to steepen, but the tendrils of ancient magic streaked ahead, as enthusiastic as ever. Once again, this tunnel was free of the dreadful feeling the first had given her. She'd begun to wonder about that as they climbed - many muggle repelling charms worked by producing a feeling of anxiety in the muggles, making them think they'd missed an appointment. She was half inclined to think a similar spell had been laid over the tomb to deter robbers, but only she and Ominis had seemed to feel it. It irked her that she may never have answers, even if she did force herself back down that first tunnel - an idea she wasn't keen on.

Finally, they reached another door, its surface marred by time and decay, though it remained in better condition than the one to the forest. The hinges had rusted into place, and they were again forced to vanish the whole thing. Their wandlight spilled into the space, revealing a room that seemed to have once been a small study. She raised her wand higher, seeing dilapidated bookshelves and tattered tapestries that lined the walls, and finally, there was a large desk in the center of the room. Books and papers were strewn across this desk, spilling across the floor so thoroughly that it would be impossible not to trod on them. Elizabeth used the term books lightly, as they hardly looked as if they were in any state to be read. She crouched, surveying the moldering remains as Andrew tentatively stepped into the room, surveying the shelves. The air was thick with the musty scent of decay, and she looked up to find Gregorovitch wrinkling his nose.

"These are the books you promised?" He asked skeptically.

"No, no," she said, standing and shaking her head. "Those are in the burial chamber, this is... I don't know."

"There's another door across the room," Andrew said from his spot further in the room. "Perhaps there's another challenge ahead?"

The books on the shelves were so fragile that, as Ominis poked one with his wand, it began to crumble.

"This place is falling apart," Ominis said grimly. "I certainly hope we won't need anything that should have been here."

Elizabeth picked her way across the room, trying not to tread on the papers. She met Andrew at the door on the far side of the room. They were able to pry this one open and quickly found that, rather than the same tunnels that wound through most of the tomb, the path continued at the bottom of a ravine, the black abyss above oppressive. Even more startling than this, however, was that they were bathed in a golden light from a mist that hung a few steps into the ravine. Elizabeth didn't need Revelio to know it was some sort of magic.

"Does anyone know what that is?" She asked, glancing at the others, who had clustered in the doorway.

"I think it is Goldnebel," Gregorovtich said, cleaning his glasses briefly as he studied the mist from the doorway next to her.

"What does it do?" Elizabeth asked warily.

"It flips you," Gregorovitch said, using his hands to show something turning over. "It is not dangerous."