Chapter 63

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Ethan found himself in complete darkness.

"Is anyone there?!"

It was Tracey's voice. She was close to him. Before Ethan could reply, another voice he recognised as Weasley's spoke up: "Yes! Is this Tracey? Whatever you do, don't use Lumos!"

Ethan turned his head in Weasley's direction and asked, "Why?"

There was a short gasp from Tracey before Weasley said, "I take it; this is Ethan? I'm not sure what happened, but we might be standing in the middle of a trap that activates with light."

Ethan, who already had his wand out, asked, "Can you check for the trap then?"

The idea made sense to him. Weasley was a Curse Breaker, and his experience was already proving to be invaluable. Had it not been for him, Ethan would already have used the lighting charm.

Ethan heard the sound of a cork being opened, and Weasley said, "I have a DarkVision Potion." There was the clear sound of gulping down a potion. "There, don't move; I'll give you some-"

Ethan was already ready to refuse, as while he believed that the probability of Bill Weasley working with Rakepick in whatever she was trying to pull off was low, it also wasn't even near zero.

He did not have to, however, as Weasley stopped mid-sentence before muttering, "Why is it not working?"

While Weasley seemed confused, Ethan suddenly felt a breath tickle his ear. He started, extending his magical sense in the direction of the breath as he retreated, his wand at the ready.

"Wait, it's me!"

Somehow, the voice was once again right next to him, whispering in his ear. Recognising Tracey's voice did little to reassure him, though, as he started doubting whether he really was with Weasley and Tracey.

But as he extended his magical sense in Tracey's direction, it did feel like her. All wizards and magical beings alike had a unique magic within them—a magical signature that set them apart from the rest of the world. Most scanning enchantments relied on this signature, and even some spells, such as the Taboo spell Voldemort had put on his name, used it.

Ethan's magical sense was unfortunately not good enough to feel it and differentiate between individuals, but he could get clues. He could sense the approximate amount of magic a being had, as well as its nature, and from what he could sense, whoever was speaking to him felt extremely similar to Tracey.

She continued, "Stop looking at me like you're about to scramble my mind!"

Ethan paused. Actually, that was a good idea. Maybe it had been because of his earlier panic or the anxiety born from being in total darkness, but he had not thought about using his mind.

He spread out his mental energy like a net around himself and managed to catch onto two other presences besides himself.

One of them had strong mental defences, which he guessed was Bill. He was the eldest son of the Weasley family and a Curse Breaker, so he ought to have at least decent mental defences. Ethan did not mind being a little forceful this time as he examined his mind.

He did not try to read his mind, because that would just antagonise him, whether it was really Bill or something else, but instead looked at his mind's structure. Bill was surely feeling it, but at least Ethan got to confirm it was a human.

As for the second mind, however, there was something strange. On the one hand, it was devoid of any built-in defences, but as he approached it, he felt like he was trying to grasp at smoke. Not only that, but discerning where it was also felt much harder than it should have.

Still, in the end, it was not defended, so with a little persistence, Ethan managed to get a grasp on it and scan the surface thoughts. It really seemed to be Tracey. But if it was truly her, what was that thing around her mind? And how did she know what his face looked like?

"Tracey, can you see in the dark?"

He heard a groan, and Tracey said, "Yeah, and I whispered to you because I wanted everyone to know that!"

Ethan did not feel guilty.

"What can you see?"

"There's three of us. Weasley is patting his way to a wall, and you are looking over my left shoulder, intensely."

Ethan adjusted his sight to look at where her face should be, now more inclined into believing she really was here. He wanted to tell her to focus more on the room and its details, but Bill beat him to it.

"What about the room itself? Is there anything that stands out? What does the room look like?"

Tracey took a good look around the room, humming softly to let them know she was doing it, and after several seconds, she started describing the room; in her own way.

"The room's kind of like the rest of the temple. Old. We're in a small room; there's four pillars around us. That's about it. Nothing that really stands out."

"How many exits?"

"Just one."

Weasley stopped talking, while Ethan debated inwardly about what to do. He was almost sure Tracey's ability to see in the dark had something to do with the magical earrings, and that she was the one who had them.

He did not want Weasley to know she had them, so he could not ask her aloud, but while telepathy would stop him from hearing anything, Ethan still remembered his parents' strange message.

He had originally thought that it was about Rakepick, and maybe it was, but the vision he had earlier hinted at there being a bigger danger, hidden within the pyramid. Was it what his parents had been worried about since the beginning?

The earrings had to be connected in some way, since they not only were found within the temple, but also were shown to him within his vision. Whatever the origin of the vision had been, the earrings had to be important…

It was hurting his brain. There was a way to know for sure, to prevent what he had seen.

"You are making a scary face. Are you about to do something bad?"

Ethan felt like a glassy veil had been shattered within his mind as he heard Tracy's words. What he had just been considering was to use brute force his way through the problem, by mind raping the two with him.

The very idea of doing such a thing disgusted him, and alerted him to the highest degree. It was not just a matter of ethics, Ethan knew himself to be better than this. This would be the way of an animal, of a beast, something he was not.

These thoughts may have been his, but Ethan knew for sure that they did not originate from his true self.

No longer hesitating, Ethan extended his hand towards Tracey, and managed to grab her by the shoulder. His hand moved up to her ear, his fingers on her lobe. There was nothing there.

As for Tracey, she gasped audibly when Ethan grabbed her, but as his hand went to her ears she whispered, "What the fuck are you doing?!"

Knowing that his actions had been inappropriate, Ethan apologized softly,"Sorry. But I know you have the earrings. I just wanted to check whether you had them on or not."

"How did you know? Did you dad tell you?"

Ethan hummed, neither really confirming nor denying.

Meanwhile, Weasley said, "I don't think there's any traps here. Lumos!"

The previously dark room was suddenly lit up by a strong light. Ethan had to shield his eyes with his hand, which prompted Weasley to lower the intensity of his spell. The light dimmed, and coalesced into an orb that flew out of the wand, floating gently over Bill's shoulder.