CORRUPTED FILE [Lumina Chronicles Past Drafts]

Level Twenty-Six: Never Trust Police Officers

*Elle's PoV*

"You've already tried to get through the Door, it didn't work." Marcus said, following after me as I hurried through the forest in the direction of the Door.

"Well, I'm going to try again. And you're going to help." I wasn't in the mood for his negativity. For being a police officer, he wasn't doing a good job. He acted more like he didn't want Maggie to be found.

When I reached the Door it was, of course, locked. I took a bobby pin out of my hair and started attempting to pick the lock. I'd never picked a lock before, and only ever saw it happen in movies, so I wasn't entirely sure what to do. My attempt a 'lock-picking' was more 'putting-bobby-pin-in-keyhole-and-jiggling-it'. Needless to say, it didn't work.

Marcus stood off the side, just watching, and I shot him a glare. "You could make yourself useful and tell me how to do this, you know?"

He shook his head, "I don't know how to pick a lock, I'm usually the one stopping the breaking-and-entering, not doing it."

"Well how do you get into a locked place when you need to arrest someone?" I sighed in exasperation. Why was he being so difficult?

"Crowbar, usually. That or a hydraulic ram." He responded casually.

"And do you happen to have either of those things in your police car?" I pressed. I already knew what his answer would be before he said it.

"Not today, no."

I rolled my eyes, starting to become agitated. "Why are you so against me getting this door open?" I asked him, a hand on my hip. "Do you not want me to find Maggie?"

"Of course I want you to get your friend back, why wouldn't I?" Marcus responded quickly, "I just don't think this door is the way to go about doing it."

"And why not?" I snapped.

"Look, you can walk around the whole thing. If she's on the other side of the door like you say she is, you can walk around it and go find her." Marcus said, walking in a circle around the door.

"She's not on the other side of the door, she's through it." I corrected, "Don't ask me how, it's magic or something, but that's where she is."

Marcus sighed, "And you're sure about that?"

"Absolutely," I said with a nod.

"You have no doubts about it whatsoever? Not even a nagging worry in the back of your mind that you might actually be crazy? That all of this might be fake?" Marcus pressed.

What was his problem? "No, why do you keep trying to make me doubt myself?"

He shook his head, about to say something else, but then I heard my parents car pulling into the driveway. Oh llamas.

"This isn't over, Marcus," I called over my shoulder as I ran toward the house, desperate to get inside before my parents did. "I'm not giving up on Maggie, and nothing you say will stop me from getting through that door!"

I ran faster than I think I've ever ran in my entire life. I whipped off my jacket and chucked it into the closet on my way through the back door. I knew there was no way I would make it back up to my room before my parents got in, so I stayed in the kitchen and tried to act casual by opening the fridge and looking for a soda.

"Hello," My mom greeted me stiffly when she entered the kitchen. The icy distance in her tone hurt, and filled me with a sharp pang of desire to tell her the truth.

I bit my tongue.

"What are you doing?" She asked.

"Getting a drink," I replied and held up a can of Mountain Dew.

"With your shoes on?"

Oh. Hairy. Llamas.

"My feet were cold," I lied with a shrug. "It's nearly December." The weight of that sentence hit me moments after I said it. It was nearly December. Today's date, November 23rd, marked the one month anniversary of Maggie's disappearance. It was hard to think. Next week would be Thanksgiving, the first Thanksgiving I've had without Maggie since kindergarten.

It must have hit my mom too, because her expression turned sad and far away, and she nodded. "I suppose it is, isn't it?"

"Excuse me," I said politely, even more politely than normal, like I was trying to change her negative opinion about me. She didn't say anything else, so I exited the kitchen and headed up the stairs. I passed my dad carrying in groceries and didn't offer my help, as I normally would. He hadn't called me Stellie since I returned from California, and I was starting to worry he never would again.

Once in my room, I kicked off my shoes and flopped onto my bed with a sigh. My phone tumbled from the edge of my bed and hit the floor with a loud smack, reminding me of its existence. I rolled to the edge and reached down to pick it up, clicking the screen to make sure it hadn't been broken.

The little blinking letter symbol in the corner reminded me that I still had an email to read. I'd left before opening it, assuming in advance that it was nothing of significance.

I was wrong.

The message may have been one of the most significant emails I'd ever received. I stared at the screen for at least five minutes; eyes wide and veins icy.

No wait! There was something else I wanted to warn you about, something important to your own safety! That man, the one you claimed was your teacher, I knew I'd recognized him that day! You have to get away from him, Elle, avoid him at all costs because he's lying to you.

He's from beyond the Door. And I don't know what he wants with you, but it is nothing good.

STAY AWAY FROM HIM.

And of course Jared couldn't have started our email conversation with that lovely bit of advice.