the devil's redemption [tom r.]

34|| Split.

Like light in my veins

Darkness is sinking

Darkness is sinking me

Commanding my soul

I am under the surface

Where the blackness burns beneath

~Deep End by Ruelle

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WHEN SHE REACHED THE bottom, Tom offered her a hand, which she took gratefully to get up.

She looked around, and a chill went down her spine as she took in her surroundings. There were spots of water everywhere, as well as bones that cracked under her shoes. She could only assume, or hope, that it was just rats' bones.

She followed him silently, and it was then that it dawned on her. This was the Chamber of Secrets. She'd read about it a lot, especially while researching about Rowena Ravenclaw, since she always came across information about the other founders as well.

The fact that Tom knew about this place didn't exactly startle her. He was the heir of Slytherin after all.

They reached a round door with seven snakes engraved onto it. With the same hissing sound Tom had made earlier, the door opened immediately after the snakes started clicking and moving.

By now, they'd reached the real chamber; the heart of the chamber. On either side of the pathway, snakes' heads lined the walls, with their mouths open wide and their fangs bare and threatening. She would've been seriously intimidated if they weren't statues.

The place was definitely enchanting, but not in a very good way. Rosalind knew that despite the place being magical, it was eerily creepy and terrifying. She absolutely wouldn't want to spend here more time than necessary.

"So now, you wanted to know how I killed Myrtle," Tom began, still not looking back at her as he walked to the very front, and she assumed he was going towards the huge head that was engraved into the wall. Obviously, it was conceited Salazar Slytherin's head. Who else would create such a thing and then have a huge replica of his face on the wall?

But the way Tom said that sentence so nonchalantly, made her want to pounce at him. How did he not care about the innocent soul he'd taken?

Rosalind didn't answer, just watched as he rose his hand, and hissed a command in parseltongue. After the command, Salazar Slytherin's mouth slid open, and she could hear a slithering sound getting closer by the second.

"Close your eyes," Tom ordered, and she hated his tone, but didn't object as she closed her eyes.

"Well, how am I supposed to know now with my eyes closed?"

But Tom didn't answer. For the slithering sound was now inside the chamber, where they were standing. Rosalind heard a bloodcurdling hiss that was much worse than Tom's. She was rooted in her place, too vulnerable with her eyes closed, and too terrified with a possibility of a lurking monster nearby.

Tom hissed once again, and then he turned to Rosalind, "Now you can open," And for a second she hesitated, wondering if she really wanted to see the source of the sound, but she opened her eyes nonetheless.

She immediately took a step back, her eyes following the long body of the monstrous snake. A basilisk. Rosalind had read so much about those. Just the snake's gaze was lethal. And then she realised, the snake didn't look her way. It must've been at Tom's command.