Chapter twenty seven

"Lexi wake up," Chris leans down and begins shaking her shoulder gently. "Come on Lexi get up."

"No five more minutes," Lexi mumbles, rolling over onto her side.

Chris sighs and tries shaking her shoulder again. Lexi slowly opens her eyes this time, looking up at him scared.

"Come on Lexi we have to go."

Chris reaches his arm out to help her off the ground. She grabs his arm and pulls herself up slowly, hesitantly.

"Where is Sara?" Lexi looks around, noticing that it was just her and Chris standing alone in the woods. "Sara." She calls out, looking all around for her friend.

"She's not here. Somehow we got separated from her," Chris explains as he takes Lexi's hand in his. "Come on we have to figure out where we are."

"Why don't we just shadow travel to Haven?" Lexi wonders, looking at him strangely. "Maybe Sara is there."

"I'm afraid we can't shadow travel Lexi. I don't know what happened but I can't shadow travel anymore," Chris explains, looking around slowly.

"I'm sure we will find some way to get to Haven," Lexi looks up cheerfully as she grins at Chris. Chris looks down at her and smiles brightly at her.

"Come on let's just try to figure out where we are."

Chris had no idea what direction they were going though. Pretty soon the woods begin to grow darker. The trees are so close together now that the tree branches above them block out the sunlight.

"Chris I don't like this place can we please go the other way?" She shivers as something begins howling off in the distance. "Chris come on let's go back the other way."

She tugs on his arm, causing him to stop. He turns around to face her but she is looking away from him, staring at something moving slightly off to her left. A pair of red eyes stare at them from the darkness in front of them. Another howl erupts from behind them.

"Lexi stay behind me!"

Chris pulls Lexi behind him as a grayish black wolf like creature steps out from the trees in front of them.

"Chris I don't think hiding behind you is going to protect me," Lexi whispers, clinging to Chris tightly. Chris turns his head slightly to see three more wolf like creatures stepping out of the shadows. "Chris what are we going to do?" Her voice becomes full of fear and panic as the wolves move closer.

"I don't know but this isn't good," Chris begins to panic himself as the creatures slowly circle around him and Lexi.

Another howl erupts from deep within the woods. The wolves stop moving and start sniffing the air around them. The largest of the wolves turns and looks at Chris, slowly beginning to growl at him.

"You have nothing to be afraid of."

Lexi and Chris both jump when they hear a man's voice coming from within the shadows. Chris stares at the spot he thought the voice had come from, but he couldn't see anyone.

"Who are you?" Lexi's voice trembles slightly as she watches the creatures continue to circle around her and Chris, continuing to growl and snarl at them.

"I am Anubis," The voice calls out to them.

The wolves stop walking and lay down on the ground. Lexi shivers as a cold wind begins to blow around them.

"I know who you are you took Amber. She trusted her mom and she just handed Amber over to you."

"There are things you can't begin to understand happening here in the shadow realm," Anubis says, laughing as he speaks. "I'm not the bad guy though."

"Why don't you show yourself!" Lexi yells out furiously at Anubis. A black fog of darkness begins forming in front of Chris and Lexi.

"What's going on?" Chris stares at the fog as it begins to form into the shape of a man.

"You wanted me to show myself so here I am," Anubis holds his hand out to Chris. Chris looks down at Anubis's hand worriedly. He doesn't shake Anubis's hand however.

"Why don't you tell us the truth about what is really going on in the shadow realm," Lexi screams out, still hiding behind Chris slightly as she looks out at Anubis.

"I will tell you everything you want to know," Anubis grins as he looks down at them. "But first you have to come with me we have to leave this part of the woods at once."

"Why would we go anywhere with you?" Chris stays still, looking at Anubis strangely. "We don't even know that we can trust you." He cries out, trying to sound braver then he felt.

"Why don't you tell us what you did with Amber," Lexi says, stepping out from behind Chris.

The four wolf creatures stand up and start growling at her. Lexi pauses and looks at them with fear in her eyes. Anubis sees how scared Lexi is and waves his hand at the creatures dismissively. They look at him just before running off into the woods.

"Amber is fine I would never harm my own niece. I promised Aylana that I would help keep them safe," Anubis smiles and holds out his hand to her and Chris again. "Please come with me and you will see that Amber is fine."

Lexi looks over at Chris as he reaches down to take her hand in his. Chris shakes his head and tugs on her hand gently, trying to pull her away.

"Chris I have to find out if Amber really is alright. Besides how else are we going to get out of the woods we have no clue where we even are," Lexi whispers, looking up at Chris with pleading eyes.

"Fine but it's not my fault if something happens to us," Chris mumbles, looking into Lexi's eyes. She smiles up at him before turning around and taking Anubis's hand.

"Hold my hand tightly, it won't take long to get to my house," Anubis tells them as the darkness begins swirling around them.

Lexi squeezes both Anubis's and Chris's hands tightly as they are lifted into the air. They continue floating around aimlessly for what felt like an hour to them. Lexi looks over at Chris, squeezing his hand a few times to get his attention. She smiles warmly at him as he turns to look at her. As they lock eyes her smile quickly fades. They begin to descend, dropping towards the ground at an alarming rate. Lexi closes her eyes expecting to slam down against the ground any second. She feels herself stop falling suddenly but she couldn't feel the ground under her. She was still floating in the air.

"What's going on?" She opens her eyes only to find herself floating about a foot from the ground.

"I couldn't let you guys fall to your deaths now could I," Anubis grins, standing on the ground a few feet in front of her and Chris.

As Lexi raises her head up Anubis snaps his fingers and her and Chris float softly to the ground.

"Couldn't you have warned us or something about the fall?" Chris asks as he stands up, dusting himself off. He reaches down and takes a hold of Lexi's arm, pulling her to her feet.

"Thank you Chris," Lexi smiles up at Chris as she looks up at him. She can feel her cheeks starting to turn red as she blushes.

"I tried telling you to hold onto my hand tightly now didn't I," Anubis says, walking towards them. "You slipped when we started to descend."

"So where are we?" Lexi shivers as she looks around. The small town they were in looked really familiar to her.

"We are in Mason county," Anubis says, he turns and begins walking away from them. "Come on keep up. You don't want to be out here on the streets when it turns dark." He calls back to Chris and Lexi.

"This is the town we came to rescue Julie the first time wasn't it Chris?" Lexi whispers as they jog to catch up to Anubis.

"Yes it is at least now we know where we are," Chris replies as they follow Anubis down the streets.

Before long they were walking past several two story houses. Chris pauses and stares up at a big two story white house on his left. As he looks up at one of the windows on the second story he could have sworn that the curtains had moved.

"We are nearly there, come along Chris there's no time to waste," Anubis says, pausing to let Chris and Lexi catch up to them.

"I thought I just seen someone back there," Chris murmurs once him and Lexi have caught up to Anubis.

"What you saw was a ghost," Anubis tells him. He points towards a big manor in front of them. "That is where we are going."

"How many ghosts are there in the shadow realm?" No matter what way she looked she couldn't shake the feeling that they were being watched.

"Before Griffin was imprisoned in the shadow realm the dead were never here for very long. But once he arrived they stopped crossing over. Some of the ghosts have been here for centuries are beginning to change. Most of them have already became ghouls," Anubis explains as they step up onto the porch to his manor.

"Is that what you promised to protect Amber and her sister from?"

"I'm afraid things aren't as simple as that," Anubis replies as he unlocks the front door. "Let's get inside and I will explain everything to you."

"So where is Amber at I want to see her first," Lexi demands as she steps inside.

"Follow me," Anubis tells her, stepping past her and heading down the hall. Lexi follows closely behind Anubis, walking silently as they walk up to the second floor and down another hall, stopping in front of a closed door. "She is right in here." Lexi peaks into the room and sees Amber laying on the bed fast asleep. "Come on let her sleep and we will talk in the living room." They walk back down the stairs and into the living room. Anubis sits down in an old rocking chair and looks at Lexi and Chris. "So what do you want to know?"

"Tell me what you are really protecting Amber from," Lexi demands as she sits across from Anubis.

"Look Lexi this place is changing Amber. If you are brought into the shadow realm as a human you begin to change. Amber has been here so long that now she is becoming less and less human every day."

Lexi and Chris look at him confused.

"Will that start happening to us to?"

"I think you will be alright for now," Anubis looks from Chris to Lexi, a curious look on his face. "Now tell me something how did you two come to be trapped in the shadow realm?"

"I'm not sure how we became trapped here. Our friends Sara and Julie were put under some kind of spell that trapped them here. When Chris touched Sara's shoulder I tried to stop him and we were both brought into the shadow realm."

She can see the intrigued look on Anubis's face as she tells him how they became trapped in the shadow realm.

"Lexi for a spell that powerful to be put on your friends then the person that placed it would have to be in the house with you," Chris and Lexi suddenly looks up at him questioningly.

"So are you saying that one of us placed the spell on Sara and Julie. I don't think there is anyone of us that could have done this to those two girls," Lexi cries out defensively.

"No I'm not saying that any of you or your friends placed this spell. But whoever did place it was in the house with you," Anubis looks up at the ceiling for a moment. Lexi and Chris look up as they begin hearing footsteps above them. "It sounds like someone is up."

Lexi stands up and runs out of the room before either Chris or Anubis could say anything. She runs back up the stairs and runs back to Amber's room. She smiles as she walks into the room and finds Amber up, standing in front of her bedroom window.

"Amber how are you feeling?" Lexi asks as she walks over to Amber, placing an arm around her shoulders. Amber turns and gives Lexi a faint smile before turning back to look out the window.

"I'm fine I guess. I thought my mom had betrayed me but all she was doing was protecting me," Amber sighs as she looks out the window. The sun had begun to sink behind the other buildings. "It's sad isn't it?"

She begins watching as several ghosts begin to float around the streets. As Lexi stares at the ghosts several of them begin to change, turning into ghouls.

"Is that what you're afraid of, turning into a ghoul?" Lexi sees the sorrowful look on Amber's face as Amber turns to face her.

"Lexi I don't feel human anymore. I feel myself changing every day. It's only a matter of time before all of my humanity is gone," Amber sighs and lays her head on Lexi's shoulder.

"Amber I won't let anything happen to you," Lexi whispers reassuringly as she wraps her arms around Amber protectively.

She listens as Amber's breathing begins getting heavier. Her attention is drawn back to the window as she begins to hear a high pitched shriek. She stares at the window, staring into the eyes of a ghoul. She can't help but to feel sorry for the ghoul as it shrieks and begins clawing at the window.

"I feel sorry for them," Amber sighs, tears in her eyes as she stares at the ghoul. "I can feel its pain and sorrow." Lexi looks at Amber as she feels her shirt sleeve becoming wet with tears.

"Come on let's go downstairs," Lexi says, turning Amber around and leading her away from the window.

They hear another loud shriek and then a loud cracking noise. Lexi turns her head back around towards the window quickly. The glass had cracked where the ghoul had been clawing and hitting it.

"Time to go now," Lexi cries out, pulling Amber out of the room and slamming the door shut as the glass shatters, bursting back into the room.

"Ghouls shouldn't be able to enter this house," Amber tells Lexi as they hear the ghoul enter the bedroom and begin tossing and tearing up everything in the room.

It continues to shriek as it floats around the room. She looks over at Lexi nervously as the ghoul begins shrieking as it claws and slams itself against the door.

"Amber maybe we should go find your uncle," Lexi yells out, trying to talk over the ghouls shrieks.

Amber grabs Lexi's arm tightly and they look at each other worriedly. The shrieks begin to grow louder as the ghoul continues to try to make it's way out of the room.

"Come on let's go!" Lexi grabs Amber's arm and together they run back down the stairs.

"What's wrong with you two?" Chris jumps up as Lexi and Amber burst through the doorway into the living room.

They stand there, trying to catch their breath as Chris looks at them strangely.

"There's a ghoul upstairs. It came in through the window," Lexi stammers out, panting as she catches her breath. "I don't know how long it will remain trapped in the bedroom though."

"Where's my uncle, where is Anubis?" Amber wonders, looking around the room for her uncle. Chris looks around the room stunned.

"He was just here," Chris looks around, standing up quickly and walking over to Lexi and Amber. "Come on let's go try to find him." Lexi smiles as she looks up at him affectionately.

The three of them begin walking around the house, going from room to room.

"He didn't leave me here alone did he?" Amber cries out, looking at Lexi worriedly.

"I'm sure he's still around here somewhere we just have to keep looking," Amber looks over at Lexi, trying to smile at her.

"We will find him Amber, I don't think he would leave us," they walk up to the second floor and freeze.

Amber and Lexi look at each other terrified. The bedroom door the ghoul was trapped behind was busted apart. The ghoul was nowhere to be seen.

"What happened here?" Chris wonders out loud as he begins walking towards the room.

"Chris don't, that's where the ghoul was," Lexi tells him, grabbing his arm and pulling on it, stopping him. "It's somewhere in the house now."

They hear a loud crash come from down the hallway. Amber jumps and grabs Lexi's arm. She looks up at Lexi fearfully as she hears the familiar shriek of the ghoul.

"Amber take Chris and Lexi and get out of here I'll catch up to you guys soon," Anubis yells, racing past them.

"Uncle what's going on?" Amber cries out as she watches Anubis run towards the ghoul.

"The boundary spell is broken. I don't know how it happened. Just go I'll take care of it and catch up to you soon," he yells back, trying to hold the ghoul back as it tries clawing at him.

"Come on Amber there's nothing we can do," Lexi whispers as she pulls Amber back towards the stairs.

Amber turns her head and takes one last look at her uncle. He is on the ground with the ghoul on top of him, trying to claw him.

"Chris get over here!" Amber cries out as a mist of darkness begins to form around her and Lexi.

Chris runs over and grabs Lexi's hand as they begin to disappear.

"Take us to Haven!" Lexi cries out to Amber as she feels herself start to float off the ground.

"I'm not doing this!" Amber cries out as they begin spinning around in the air.

"Let's just hope we get to Haven this time. We need to find our friends," Chris mumbles to himself as they begin floating around aimlessly through the darkness.

"And I need to find my sister," Amber whispers, closing her eyes and trying to picture Olivia in her mind. Please take me to my sister. She thinks as they float through the darkness.