evelynn | t.riddle

14 | MASTER OF SHADOWS

Tom and Evelynn are out in the forest about a week after they arrive, with Tom trying to teach Evelynn how to speak Parseltongue at will - he's never tried before, and he learned to speak both simultaneously! All the times he accidentally wrote in Parselscript, the written version of the language, got him made fun of, but he eventually learned to speak both at will! Evelynn only learned English and slips into Parseltongue whenever she sees a snake or hears it told - not ideal, not if she wants to keep the ability hidden from most of the world. Hence, they're out in the forest, Evelynn practising talking in the snake language. Once they start talking in Parseltongue, she has no problem speaking the language - starting it is her problem.

They hear a branch snap, and Evelynn reacts first - fast as lightning, she pulls herself and Tom back until they're pressed against a tree with his back to her and her hand over his mouth firmly. And the coolness is washing over him suddenly - when he blinks, the world looks slightly hazy—Off-color, too - a washed-out grey colour, and it's starting to freak him out.

He starts struggling to get out of her grip - or, at the very least, get her hand off his mouth - but she tightens her grasp on him, whispering, "No, no, let them pass. They can't find us like this, but they'll see you if I lose physical contact with you."

Tom slowly nods, then grips her wrist to indicate he wants to say something. Her hand on his mouth slackens, even as the arm around his waist tightens, and he quietly asks, "Why can't they see us? A Wandless Disillusionment?"

Evelynn chuckles and says, "No. Do you remember the Hallows? And how I said I've been granted their powers, among other things?" Tom nods silently. "Well, this is the power of the Cloak. In my old life, it was practically indestructible. You couldn't hear anyone under it, and revealing spells wouldn't work either. Now, the Cloak is an ordinary Invisibility Cloak, if rather long-lasting, and the powers Death granted it that made it his Cloak are mine to use. Hence... this."

Tom thinks, then asks, "So...why are we whispering?"

Evelynn chuckles, shrugs, and says, "Old habit, I suppose." Or, the detail that it took her until Fifth Year to realize Dumbledore couldn't have known she was there with it unless he had some kind of spell on it because she went right past Umbridge and Filch, and they never so much as twitched.

Tom becomes immensely curious now, asking, "What else can you do? Summon the dead? Turn your wand into-"

"Yes, if I want to, and I'm already done. The instant my wand chose me, it became the new Deathstick and the Elder Wand crumbled to dust. Because the Hallows lost most, if not all, their powers when I arrived. The Hallows' powers are easier to use anyway, as opposed to the energy of the Void." And she sincerely hopes Grindelwald freaked out about that, the Elder Wand suddenly crumbling to dust.

Tom would turn to look at her, but given the detail that the Orphanage's biggest bullies - Billy Stubbs and his two lackeys - are only a few feet away, he'd rather not risk her losing contact with him. Even still... "What else can you do? Control death? Manipulate life?"

Evelynn shakes her head at once, saying, "No and no. Death can't be controlled; the term 'Master' of Death was a mortal convention that amused him enough to call it all. Yeah, he calls me Mistress, but... it's more that we're equals, according to him. Nobody who wanted actually to control Death, one way or another, would've been chosen by the Hallows. Antioch was apparently a braggart, and Cadmus would've ripped his wife back into the Mortal plane forever if the Stone let him, so they died instead of being chosen. And Life...Life is outside my abilities, for the most part. Healing spells, I can do. It takes practice, hours and hours of practice, but I can heal someone like that. And I can self-heal amazingly well. But manipulating a person's life force... yeah, no. Not in my abilities. I can, however, channel the Void - it's exhausting, so don't get me wrong. And I've yet to do so in this younger body since the last time I tried it years ago; I passed out for a few days."