Chapter twenty three

Sara feels the darkness beginning to envelope them, creeping slowly up their bodies. She grabs Lexi's hand tightly as they start to move. Soon they begin to feel themselves floating around weightlessly. They have no idea how long they had been floating around. She feels Lexi's hand tighten around hers as they start to fall.

"Don't worry we are almost there."

They hear Aylana's soothing voice as they fall slowly. Sara tries to look around as they descend but an invisible force was holding her in place. She can feel the ground under her feet now and sighs with relief. She had never liked shadow travelling that much. She waits until the darkness clears away before she looks around.

"Mom where exactly did you bring us?" Amber becomes confused as she looks around. She had no idea where they were. "I thought we were going to Griffin's manor to rescue Sara's sister."

Aylana turns and smiles sweetly at her daughter. Amber can't help but to feel slightly confused as she looks towards Sara and Lexi for help.

"Sara isn't this where we came to rescue Julie when we found out she was in a hospital?" Her mind flashes back to when she had stayed behind at the diner to wait on Terri. "What are we doing back here?" She wonders out loud.

Sara looks around nervously. She didn't like being there. She didn't know what it was, but every nerve in her body was telling her to run.

"We shouldn't be here," Sara whispers as she looks back at Aylana.

Aylana just continues to smile as she stares off in the distance.

"It won't be long now," Aylana whispers as the wind begins to pick up.

Amber looks up at Lexi and Sara terrified as her mom grabs her arm suddenly, squeezing it tightly, hurting her.

"Sara something isn't right, we need to go," Lexi turns to look at Sara. "Sara?" She whispers, letting her see the fear in her eyes. "I'm really scared."

"Sara, Lexi, run, get away from here now!" Amber cries out suddenly.

She starts to say more but stops as her voice becomes drowned out by the wind. Lexi grabs Sara's arm and tugs on it, snapping her out of her trance like state.

"Come on Sara let's go," Lexi says, trying to make Sara move as a dark shadow begins to form in front of Aylana.

Amber takes one last look at Sara and Lexi before the darkness separates them from each other.

"We have to save Amber first," Sara cries out, starting to run towards the dark shadow.

Lexi holds onto Sara's arm tightly, keeping her held back. "We can't help her now Sara."

Sara turns to look at Lexi, confusion shown clearly upon her face. "We can't just leave her."

"Come on there is nothing we can do now. Let's just go," Lexi pleads as she tugs on Sara's arm.

Sara looks back at the darkness one last time with saddened eyes. The darkness has already begun to clear and as Sara looks back she can see Amber and Aylana standing perfectly still. Ambers face is a mixture of fear and sadness as Sara stares at her. Just before Sara turns to run she catches a glimpse of a third figure walking out of the darkness towards them. She takes one last look at Amber before turning and running off into the woods with Lexi.

~

"I thought we agreed that you would bring me both of your daughters in exchange for your freedom from the shadow realm."

Aylana stands there perfectly still as a man steps out of the darkness surrounding her and Amber. He takes one long, disappointing look at Aylana.

"Forgive me Anubis I have yet to find my other child, but I was hoping that one child would be enough for now to give me the strength I need to make my powers stronger." Aylana replies calmly, her grip tightening on her daughters arm.

Her fingernails begin digging into Amber's skin. Amber looks up at her mother terrified as Anubis walks closer to them.

"Mom what are you doing?" Amber panics, her voice full of fear. Aylana looks down and smiles at her daughter.

Aylana runs her fingers through her daughters hair. "Shhh, don't be afraid my child. Everything is going to be fine I promise."

"Mom please don't..." Amber starts as tears form in her eyes. "You can't do this."

"She doesn't have a choice she must fulfill her promise to me," Anubis smiles coldly, his voice coming out slightly hoarse and raspy. "Now come with me Amber."

He reaches his hand out for her to take.

"You are the guy that told Thomas to bring me to you earlier aren't you?"

Amber tries to hide the terror in her eyes as she looks up at her mom with tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Don't cry sweetie, this is for the best," Aylana whispers sweetly, her voice way to calm as she wipes the tears away from her daughters eyes before pushing her towards Anubis.

As she falls to the ground, Amber's heart begins pounding faster, beating rapidly against her chest. She starts feeling dizzy. She tries to stay awake but soon her drowsiness takes over and she closes her eyes. The last thing she hears before slipping into unconsciousness was Anubis laughing hoarsely.

"Remember our deal Aylana if you want to be free and live in the mortal world again then you must bring me Olivia too," Anubis extends his arm towards Amber's unconscious body. "The next time you summon me you better have what I require." He begins to smile as the darkness begins circling around him and Amber. "See you soon." He laughs as he disappears into the darkness.

~

"I can't run anymore Lexi I need to rest," Sara cries out as she stops, trying to catch her breath. She has no idea how long they have been running, but she needed to rest.

"Sara we need to keep moving." Lexi stops and turns back around to look at Sara. "We have to get away from this place."

"I'm sure we are far enough away by now Lexi I can't run any more. I've really got to rest."

Sara sits down on the soft dirt and leans back. Lexi walks back to where Sara is resting and sits down beside her.

"How could Aylana just hand her daughter over like that Sara?" Lexi wonders as she looks down at the ground.

Sara raises back up and looks over at Lexi. "I don't know Lexi it seems like we can't trust anyone in the shadow world."

Sara sighs as she looks up at the sky. How am I even sure that I can trust Lexi? She thinks as she looks back towards her friend.

"No matter what happens Sara I will always be by your side," Lexi smiles reassuringly as she smiles at Sara. "What are we gonna do now though Sara?"

Sara looks at her for a moment before standing back up quickly.

"We are going to find a way to rescue my sister," Sara says, reaching her arm out towards Lexi. "I know we can save her, we just have to figure out where Griffin is keeping her."

"And how are we supposed to do that Sara we don't know where his manor even is," Lexi takes Sara's hand and stands up.

Before Sara can respond they begin to hear someone running towards them. The two girls duck around the nearest tree, hiding behind it as a man runs past where they were just resting. He pauses to catch his breath, looking around like he is searching for something.

"Its Chris," Sara whispers as the guy looks towards her and Lexi.

"What is he doing out here?" Lexi shivers nervously as she stares at Chris curiously.

"I don't know but maybe he can lead us to Griffin," Sara whispers, they watch as he pulls a folded paper out of his back pocket and unfolds it.

"Where are you Sara I know you are close by," he smiles as he looks down at the piece of paper.

Before Lexi or Sara can say anything else, Chris starts walking towards them.

"Sara what are we going to do?"

"Stay close to me, we are going to find out what he is doing here," she takes a deep breath and steps out from behind the tree.

Lexi follows closely behind, not taking her eyes off of Chris.

"There you are Sara, I have something for you," Chris reaches into his front pocket and pulls our Terri's amulet. "I was told to give this to you."

"Why was you told to give me that?" Sara becomes leery as she looks at the amulet in Chris's hand.

Sara do not touch the amulet. She hears Julie's voice inside her head.

She hadn't even realized she had been reaching for the amulet. She yanks her arm back quickly.

Chris smiles as he keeps his arm outstretched. "I was told it would help you save your sister."

"And who told you that?" Sara keeps an eye on Chris.

Don't listen to him Sara. Julie's voice rings through her mind again.

"I'm not sure exactly who it was. I just kind of heard this voice in my head telling me where to go and what to do."

Sara looks from the amulet back to him. "How did you know where to find me?"

Sara looks at him questioningly. Chris hesitates for a moment before holding the piece of paper up. As Sara looks at the piece of paper she realizes that it is a map of the shadow realm.

"Where did you get this?" Lexi takes the map from him quickly and begins looking over it. As she stares at the map, she begins to see lots of names and dots popping up all over it. "Who gave you this?"

"I got it from Michael. He said his father gave it to him. It's how I managed to find you so easily," he explains quickly, still holding the amulet out to Sara.

"Look Chris we are trying to find a man named Griffin. He has my sister locked away somewhere in his manor," Sara explains to Chris. As he looks at her, a confused look begins to appear upon his face. "And as for the amulet why don't you hang on to it for now."

"Well wherever your sister is at this map should show you where she is," Chris places the amulet back inside his pocket.

"Lexi can I see that map please?" Sara demands, holding her hand out. Lexi looks over the map one last time before placing it in Sara's hand.

Sara we are close to each other. Julie's voice enters her thoughts as she looks down at the map.

She studies the map for several moments, noticing all the names and symbols beginning to pop up on it, but for some reason she never sees her sisters name anywhere on it. She sighs and looks at Lexi.

"Her name isn't on there is it Sara?" Lexi guesses as she looks up into Sara's sad eyes. Sara looks back into Lexi's eyes and sighs again.

"No she's not but I can feel we are close to each other," Sara smiles slightly at Lexi.

Sara I know you aren't far away from me now. Julie's voice says in her mind again.

Sara can almost hear the hope in her sisters voice.

There are other ways to find me on the map.

Sara looks down at the map once more, studying it more closely this time. As Sara keeps looking down at the strange map in her hands she tries hard to think of another way to find her sister.

"Sara if you can't find your sisters name on that map then wouldn't that mean that Griffin has some kind of spell around wherever he has her?" Lexi suggests as she places her arm around Sara and looks down at the map.

"If he does have her hid by a spell then wherever he has her hid would show up as a blank on the map to you right?"

"Its possible but there are blank spots all over this map," Sara replies as she continues to stare at the map in frustration. "How am I supposed to know which one is Griffin's manor?" She becomes frustrated, looking at Lexi as tears form in the corners of her eyes.

"I'm sure there's a way we can figure this out. Come on Sara let's look at the map together and see if we can't figure this out."

Lexi smiles softly as she begins to rub Sara's back gently. Together they stare back down at the map. After a few minutes Lexi smiles and points to a large blank spot on the map.

"Are you sure Lexi?" Sara stares at the large blank spot just outside of a town called Haven.

"It has to be there Sara its the only spot on the map that never seems to have anyone or anything around it," Lexi smiles brightly at Sara.

"That's a long way from here though. How are we supposed to get there neither of us really knows how to shadow travel," Sara replies as she folds the map up.

"Its not really hard to shadow travel. Here take my hand," he holds his hand out to them.

After a brief moment of hesitation Lexi and Sara reach out and place their hands on Chris's. Chris closes his eyes and smiles as he feels the girls hands touching his. He begins to picture where he wants to go in his mind. He opens his eyes and smiles wider as the darkness surrounds them. As they begin floating through the darkness Sara can't help but to begin to think about Terri. She had seen her name on the map and smiles as they head towards Haven.

~

"I think I may have found a way for us to enter the shadow realm," Jeffery sounds excited as he walks into the living room.

Kayla looks up from the couch to see him standing by the doorway holding an old looking piece of paper.

"What is that?" Kayla wonders curiously as he walks over to her. Without a word he just smiles and reaches the paper towards her. She looks over the piece of paper curiously. "How is this going to help us Jeffery?" She asks, trying to make sense of the strange symbols on the page.

"This was with a bunch of papers that Kendra kept his from Jerry. It seems to be a spell for entering the shadow realm," he smiles at Kayla as he takes the paper back from her.

"How do you know what it says it doesn't even look like any kind of real language?"

"Its not really hard for me to read, I can't explain it exactly but I can see some of the words forming on the page," he tells her, trying to explain it without confusing her. She still looks up at him oddly as he speaks.

"What if you get the spell wrong Jeffery, what if the symbols you can't make out clearly mean something else?" She looks up at him frightened, her voice full of worry. Jeffery looks back at her and sighs.

"I didn't think about that. Well we still need to find a way into the shadow realm," he looks slightly disappointed as he folds the paper back up and puts it in his pocket.

"There is one other way. I've watched Jerry do it once before," Kayla cries out, standing up suddenly. "Come on."

She grabs his arm and drags him towards the front door, pulling him out into the yard.

"So what exactly are we doing Kayla, how are we going to enter the shadow realm?" He wonders curiously as Kayla starts to draw a large circle on the ground.

"Just stay in the middle of the circle and whatever you do don't let go of my hand." Kayla explains as she steps in the circle and takes his hand. She closes her eyes and slowly begins to chant. Jeffery looks all around him as the wind starts to pick up. It begins to grow darker around them.

"Kayla what's..."

Jeffery starts, but the wind becomes so fierce it drowns out his voice. Soon he feels himself being lifted into the air. Everything begins to spin and he shuts his eyes. He grips Kayla's hand tightly as they spin around in circles. Jeffery didn't know how long they had been floating through the air but to him it had felt like hours. Just as he begins to think they will never stop spinning, he feels himself touch solid ground again. He opens his eyes slowly and looks around, slightly dizzy.

"Did it work, are we in the shadow realm Kayla?" He asks as he tries to shake off the dizzy feeling.

"I think so but I'm not really to sure," Kayla smiles warmly to him as she let's go of his hand. "We're still at the ranch house but it feels different." Kayla shivers slightly as she looks around.

"Well its good to see you again," a familiar voice says from behind her. A single cold chill runs down Kayla's spine as she begins to turn around. "Come we have much to discuss."