Devil in Disguise [Tom Marvolo Riddle]

Chapter II: Cloaked creepiness & nightly duelling lessons

The library was empty, the only sound being Kim-Ly's closing of the door.

The flickering flames of candles reflected off the polished mahogany flooring and drenched the silent room in dim light. Shelves upon shelves, stuffed with tomes of every kind towered over Kim-Ly, emanating a pleasant smell of old books.

She turned left, going to the combat magic section and perused the shelves, smiling here and there if she recognised a book, so to speak, smiling at every second book she saw. After a while she decided on Advanced combat magic: The element of surprise, by Lan Anh Nguyen, after leafing through a few pages. It had grabbed her attention with its garishly coloured binding.

At the end of the row of bookshelves she arrived at her favourite spot in the library, which was by the windows.This was where she spent most of her free time.

At this time of night pitch black hindered her view on the valley, which by day could be seen from her spot in its beautiful entirety. She thought it unusual, for the night sky was usually jewelled by bright stars or illuminated by the sheen of the moon. But now, there seemed to be a lingering darkness in the air, an all engulfing threat of danger. A slight chill went through her body, making her shudder.

Perhaps I'm just not used to staying up this late, she thought to herself, turning away from the window. As the gloomy shadows cast onto the mahogany floor by the flickering candles did not do much to assuage her paranoia she made to leave the library quickly and hurried back to her clan temple. Maybe she would just stick to going to the library at brighter hours.

She felt so cowardly that she expected to sprout wings and turn into a chicken. Fortunately, she didn't.

During the day she always felt like ever the lion-hearted daredevil and would do the darnest things, but during the night, no thank you. The night was reserved for sleeping and not for dangerous endeavours.

———

Everyone of the tiger clan had gathered in the spacious room. To the side there stood a black grand piano at which, as usual, her fellow student was already tinkling the ivories. To his lovely tune sounded the soft soprano voice of his duet partner, whose form the pianist's eyes were latched onto. Kim-Ly could practically see the oxytocin and dopamine flooding his brain. Mate, you've exceeded the term obvious.

The two were prodigies, especially him. He would compose songs, even while everyone else was making one hell of a ruckus, seemingly thriving on the noisiness, and then the girl would perform his beautifully composed airs. Many were enjoying the music, gathered around the duet; some were even dancing to the tune.

Others were either playing wizard's chess, whispering among themselves in small groups, or sitting on the low sofas to the side of the room, nose-deep into a book. If she were not so tired Kim-Ly would have joined them, eager to drink up every detail from the book she had chosen at the library. And so, after wishing Linh Ti a good night, she dawdled over to the stairs, went up two flights and soon stood in the room she shared with Linh Ti and two other girls.

Everyone had their niche with each a mahogany desk on which a candle stood, a bed, whose beige sheets bore the crest of their clan animal, the tiger, and a chest of drawers to stack away their belongings. The ornate red rugs, spread over the dark grey slate flooring, brought colour into the room. It was nothing extravagant, but Kim-Ly liked the simplicity of it.

Her trunk stood beside her bed alongside her black violin case. On her bed lay her timetable, which she took a quick look at, to see what class she would be starting off the next day and came close to doing a happy dance when she saw that she would be spending the morning in the laboratory. The inward happy dance soon turned into a demotivated one.