"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"

A bit of relief washed over them. They knew that the shop was their go-to place to hang out, and if they were hiding, that would be the place they would go.

"If they're there, we can't just leave them there alone," Oakley said

"You're right," Zoricus said "We should go get them" he added turning to his best friend

"Oakley, stay here with Catherine, Alice and Oliver, Zoricus and I will go to the shop and find the girls," Alistair said to his son-in-law

"No, you two can't handle what's going on out there, you still look winded from the run. I'll go get the girls, you two stay here" Oakley said

The older men wanted to argue, they were the past guardians, if anyone knew anything about Caine, it was them. But Oakley was right, they couldn't handle what was going on. Their glory days were over, their powers and youth were gone. What could they do to help their granddaughters?

"Fine, we'll stay" Alistair agreed

"Be careful," Alice said to her husband, getting a peck on the lips as a response

Oakley made his way to the front door and opened it, but he quickly slammed it shut and pushed his back up against it after looking out for a few seconds.

"They're here," he said fear in his eyes

"Who's here?" Catherine asked

Before she could get her answer, the front door flew open, sending Oakley flying and landing right in front of his father-in-law and Zoricus

"Oakley!" Alice cried running to her husband on the floor

"Caine" Alistair whispered seeing his old friend standing in the doorway, his creatures standing behind him

"You have a lovely home," he said to Alistair then looked at Catherine, Alice, Oakley and Oliver "And a lovely family"

Catherine pulled Oliver to her side, all while glaring at Caine.

"Nice to see you again Cat," Caine said taking a few steps in, using her childhood nickname

"Stay away from them!" Alistair said

Caine turned his attention to Zoricus.

"And where is your lovely family?" he asked

Zoricus debated whether he should say something or not. The only blood family he had was Jacquelyn, and there was no way he was putting her in danger by letting Caine know she existed.

"Other than my brother..." he said referring to Alistair "...I have no family"

"That's too bad" Caine smirked "I always knew you and that little farm girl weren't going to make it"

Anger filled Zoricus, how dear he speak of his late wife! But he held himself back, Caine didn't need to know about her either.

"Is this everyone in your little...family?" Caine asked Alistair

Alistair had caught on to what his best friend's lie and knew exactly what he was doing.

"Yes" he answered

The less Caine knew, the safer the girls were.

"Very well," he said before turning and leaving, the door closing behind him by itself

Caine looked to a few of his shadow warriors that had come with him.

"Keep an eye on them. No one goes in or out without my permission" he said

With the instructions given, he left them to do their work.

The words of the Sun Queen before she banished him kept playing in his head. "Descendants", "New Guardians", "Defeat you!". There was no way he would allow that to happen. With Alistair, Zoricus and their families accounted for, it was time to find the other guardians. He was not going to let these descendants get their hands on that table.

°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°

Alianor and Jacquelyn were next to each other, walking down the hallway, their arms tightly hooked around each others'. Going through the passageway seemed like a good idea. An underground passageway didn't seem as scary as creepy looking shadow people, but now that they were walking through, they realized the place was just as frightening.

It wasn't the stone brick-covered walls and floor or the thin lumber lined ceiling that made the place frightening, it was simply the feel of it. It was cold for one. This was underground, they expected some warmth. For sure the brick-lined walls would have made it feel that way right? So why were there goose bumps on their skin? Why were there chills going up their spines every once in a while?

Then there were those self-illuminating torches that would light up when they were a few feet behind them. And once the had crossed it and were a few feet ahead, it would quickly go out. After walking for who knows how long, they had formed the habit of looking back every few minutes to catch one of the torches go off.

Generally, the place had a weird feeling, and they couldn't wait to get to the end of the passageway.

"Do you think it's magic?" Jacquelyn asked

"What?" Alianor asked, being brought out of her mind, she was willing the lights to reveal the end.

"The torches, do you think they're magic?" she clarified

Thinking of their grandfathers and the fact that at some point in time they did have some sort of magical powers, she knew that it was a possibility.

"Could be" Alianor answered

They continued walking, still stuck to each other like glue. After a few more minutes, Alianor's command was obeyed when stairs were revealed at the end of the hallway.

"Look, stairs" she pointed before pulling Jacquelyn along as she ran to it

The quick clicking of their shoe heels could be heard echoing as they ran, and soon they got to the stairs and began climbing. They were stopped by a wooden door above their heads.

"Is it locked?" Jacquelyn asked

"I don't know," her best friend answered "I guess we'll have to check"

The girls steadied themselves under the door and lifted their hands above their heads, their palms placed against the door.

"Push!" Alianor instructed and they did just that

The door lifted a bit, indicating that it was unlocked.

"It's open!" Jacquelyn exclaimed

"Keep pushing!" Alianor encouraged

More force was exerted from their skinny arms and soon, the door started to easily lift. They continued up the steps, pushing the door higher as they went. Eventually, they gave it one hard push, turning in on its hinges, causing it the fall with a thud on the sides of the opening. They dusted off their arms and climbed the remaining steps. It was then they were hit with a gentle breeze and a different scent in the air. Was that...trees?

"Where are we?" Jacquelyn asked

Her best friend began to survey the area. Turning around, she was faced with a tall wall, and behind it, was lavender sparkling waves.

"I think we're in the forest"

°~°~°~°~°~°~°~°

And there you have it, chapter 4! If you enjoyed it, be sure to vote. And as always, your comments are welcomed. Until next time.