Chapter Nine: A Door Between Worlds (Also this is a special chapter. It’s told from Aunt Opal’s point of view and is shorter than the other chapters. ) I sat on my white couch, staring blankly at the wall. So much had happened lately, and I had no idea what to do. Cecily died, and Rook and Bishop came. I knew they'd come her eventually, but I thought I had more time. That maybe they wouldn't find the door, and the dark secrets that lay beyond it. I tried so hard to keep them away from all this, even letting Cecily raise them as her own. And in the end, it was all for nothing. They still found the door. Yesterday, I had looked all around the house when I couldn't find them. Then I had stopped in pure terror, wondering if they had gone through the door. My heart almost stopped beating when I saw the picked locks, and the still open door. I sunk to my knees, wondering how I had been so stupid. I hadn't even warned them. Both Bishop and Rook could be shadows by now. (Continue Below)
All because I was too afraid to tell them the truth. About the portal. About their father. About their entire lives. It was too late. It took James, and now that Cecily was dead, the only family I had. I desperately wanted to hold onto the hope that James would find a way back, but I knew that was hopeless. It had ten years since he had been imprisoned in the shadow world, and the shadows would have caught him by now, if they hadn't already. I knew that there was a way to get them, James, Bishop, and Rook, out of the shadow world safely. But it could destroy the entire world. If the shadows leaked into this world, then there wouldn't be a living soul that wasn't turned into a shadow. I couldn't do that, even if it meant leaving them in a world of shadows. Please be careful, I thought. There was a chance they could escape now that Rook and Bishop were there. It was possible they could find the portals, but I knew it was slim. I didn't know what to do. Would James want me to leave them there? What could I do to keep them safe? I already knew the answer. I thought that I could leave them all there, if it meant the world was safe. But now, imagining Rook and Bishop's faces as they turned into mindless shadows, I realized I couldn't do that. No matter how it costs the world, I'm keeping this family safe. I 'll give them a week, and then I'm opening the portal. Chapter Ten:
