The Element Table

Chapter 4: The Door to the Unknown

"What?" Jacquelyn asked confused

"It's a door" Alianor elaborated

"Oh"

The girls held on to the right side of the painting and began to pull as hard as they could. Soon, the painting began to move forward, opening like a door.

"It IS a secret passageway," Jacquelyn said with more excitement

When the door was halfway opened, they stopped pulling. They stood there and look into what looked like infinite darkness.

"Should we go in?" Jacquelyn asked

"Do we have a choice?" Alianor asked

The howls outside the door began to get louder.

"Nope" Jacquelyn quickly answered

The blonde grabbed her best friend's hand and pulled her through the threshold. As soon as they were through the door, it closed behind them.

"Ahh!" Jacquelyn screamed in the dark

Suddenly the area illuminated, catching the girls off guard.

"Whoa," they both said

There were torches on the wall, and it was as if they were magically lit. They could now see that right in front of them was a staircase. The torches lined the walls of the staircase and from where they stood, it looked like there was a hallway at the bottom of it, and that it was lined with torches too.

The two were brought out of their amazement when the horrid howls could be heard just outside the shop.

"Let's go!" Alianor said beginning to descend the stairs

Before doing the same, Jacquelyn turned around and looked at the back of the painting.

"Thank you Sun Queen, I owe you one"

She took off down the stairs behind Alianor, and one by one, the torches dimmed and went out behind them.

°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°

Alistair slammed the door behind him and instantly leaned on it for support as he breathed heavily. His days as a young guardian was certainly over.

"He's really back," Alistair thought to himself

Once his breathing calmed down, he looked around. He was in the foyer of his house, right at the front door. He ventured further in and spotted his family and best friend.

"Is everyone OK?" he asked

"Yes" he heard from everyone

On one side of the foyer was his daughter Alice and her husband Oakley, who were consoling their young son Oliver. On the other side of the room was his wife Catherine and his best friend Zoricus, who were still trying to catch their breaths. He searched the rest of the room, looking for the other members of his family.

"Where are the girls?" he asked

Now noticing their absence, eyes started to scan the room.

"I don't know" Zoricus answered

"I thought they were right behind us," Oakley said

Worry immediately filled the room.

"What if those things got them?" Alice said, referring to Caine's creatures

"Oh no" Catherine sighed, thinking of the possibility

"I don't think so," Alistair said after thinking for a while "They're probably at the shop"