The golden Child

"We need to find the underground chamber from the vision," Jacqueline decided. "The answers we need are there, not in these manipulated 'scripts' they've given us."

As if responding to her words, the pendant rose higher, its light stretching into a thin golden beam that pointed toward the door.

"I think we have our guide," Blake said, his voice a mixture of awe and trepidation.

The five friends moved cautiously through the darkened mansion, following the pendant's guidance. Servants had vanished, and even the ever-present security detail was nowhere to be seen. The storm's fury provided the perfect cover for their exploration, thunder masking their footsteps, lightning occasionally illuminating their path through unfamiliar corridors.

"Where's Monique?" Laura whispered, her healer's instincts focused on the child's safety.

"Sleeping, when I last checked on her," René replied. "But I left one of the protective charms my grandmother gave me under her pillow."