...The Painter...

When Dylan and Aaron were in the hotel room, they were thinking about their next step.

- Tell me what the mummy said when it woke up.

- Alright, but don't tell even Sarra about it.

- Why?

- She won't be able to hide it from Laila, we must make sure that she won't know anything.

- Fine.

Dylan opened his notebook:

- Listen carefully... "When the light blinds your sight and the water becomes as black as night. The door will open and the truth will be shown.

Aaron sighed:

- And what is this supposed to mean?

- Well, there are two elements here. Light and water. We have to focus on these two first.

- There is a big pool in the garden of The Taj Mahal.

- Yeah, we must check it when we go back there. It could be the key to our next clue.

- What about the flower motifs?

- I still don't know about those yet, you said that you saw it on your father's grandmother's portrait?

- Yeah, I did.

- Let's give Alan a call, maybe he knows something about it.

- Good idea, let's do it.

Aaron and Dylan sneaked out of their room using the window and headed towards a phone booth.

Aaron seemed sad when he was calling his home number. He missed his wife and his son so much.

- Hello, who is this?

-.....Diana

- AARON? IS THAT YOU?

- Yeah, how have you been?

Diana was about to cry when she heard his sad voice.

- I'm...I'm fine. What about you and Annie?

- We are okay

- I miss you so much.

- I miss you too.

- What about Tarou? Is there any news about him?

- No, not yet, but we are getting closer.

- You know that I can come to you any moment if you need me, right?

- I'm doing okay, you have to take care of the children.

-.....

- Where is Alan? I want to ask him something.

- Wait for a moment I will call him for you.

.....

- Aaron, is everything okay?

- I'm fine. I just want to ask you about the portrait of your grandmother.

- How did you know about it?

- I saw it by coincidence. Anyway, the necklace that she was wearing. What does it mean?

- I don't know much about it since I was a boy. All I remember is that necklace was stolen by the painter.

- Really? The one that drew her?

- Yes, My grandfather was furious because a mere human deceived them. He searched for him everywhere, but he had never found him or the necklace. And that was the last time a human was allowed to enter the land.

- Who is this painter?

- No one knew. Je came and he disappeared like a ghost.

- Alright father, thank you. I must go...

- Wait!

- What is it?

- I know that I shouldn't worry you but you must know.

- Know what?

- Some of the young monsters started protesting against using the heart stone and sending them on missions. They don't want that anymore.

- But that's our tradition as monsters! that's the only way to gain our powers!

- That's the problem, they don't want to be monsters anymore.

- Dammit, this is not the right moment for this. We are getting closer to finding Tarou.

- Don't worry, I will take care of them. Finish your mission, then come back and solve this problem.

- Alright, I will do my best to find him as fast as possible and go back. Things started getting out of control.

- I will be waiting for you, goodbye.

Aaron hung on the phone while looking annoyed, he didn't expect such a thing to happen in his land.

- What's wrong Aaron?

- We must find Tarou and go back to the land. My father is facing some problems there.

- What about the necklace?

- It was stolen by the human who painted the portrait. He doesn't have much information about it.

They went back to the hotel room to wait for the right moment to move.

- Laila shouldn't know anything further. We must stay ahead of them.

- What will be the plan? She will surely come along.

Dylan took out some pills from his bag:

- The last time, she fainted. This time we will make her faint.

- She will suspect us

- She is already very tired, it will look like she fainted on her own, all you have to do is to leave me alone with her. If you noticed anything, don't say a word until we put her in bed.

- Alright...

Dylan put the pill in her bottle of water and waited for the right time. He never imagined that she will surrender herself to death that way, which make him feel guilty about deceiving her.

When she fainted in his arms, he gave her a forehead kiss.

- I'm sorry...