Maledictus

Ch.49 - Doors

Alice looked around and then at their worried expressions.
They needed help, they needed her helped, and a lot of others did too.

"Henry?" she managed whisper, lifting her head slightly.

"ALICE!" he shouted excitedly, placing her gently on the floor.

"Where are we?" she asked, taking a proper look at the room and all she could see were doors.

"One of these doors will lead to our freedom" said Rue dramatically, trying to lighten the mood.

"Oh Alice, this is R-"

"Ms. Banks" Alice finished.

Rue and Henry exchanged glances.

"Long story. I'll explain later" she said hoping to her feet, before her knees buckled at she fell into Henry's arms.

"You sit down" he said, smiling at her enthusiasm.

Alice, using his head, got to her feet ignoring his advice to stay put and stumbled over to the nearest door.

Inside was a long tube, filled with a green slimey liquid and pink things floating around in it.

Alice quickly shut it, moving onto the next one, urging the others to do the same, and they did, opening one door after another.

Some had crazy animals, others had labs with hundreds of potions that were probably useless.
And one even had a chicken that was constantly changing into other animals.

Alice wondered what animal it was to begin with.
I mean it could've been anything.
A frog.
A duck.
A pencil.
Maybe even a man eating giant that had been trapped there for millions of years only because the wizards couldn't kill him, or her, giants can be women too.

Alice reached for the next door, and she already had a bad feeling about it.
A horrible feeling in fact.

But she opened it anyway, and she really shouldn't have.

It would have saved her much pain.
And her brother.

~*~

Harry and his friends had finally picked the right door after many tries and they were now inside the room Harry dreamed about many times.

It was giant.
The corridors seemed to press on for miles.

There were there, this was the place, they all had their wands raised, ready to attack when needed.

The roof was as high as a church and full of nothing but towering shelves holding many glass orbs.
They glimmered fully in the light issued by their wands.

Despite the many candles, the room was still very cold and Harry felt a shiver down his spine.

They headed to row ninety seven.

They crept forward, glancing behind them as they went down the seemingly endless rows of glass orbs.

Harry had the terrible thought that they were too late.
He felt his heart beat just below his addams apple and he gulped as they walked further away from safety.

Once they reached it, they couldn't see a thing.

"He'll be at the back, you can't see him from here" said Harry, leading them into the darkness that was only killed by the light of their wands, which wasn't as bright as they hoped.

But they couldn't find him.
Nothing.

Harry didn't want to look at any of them. He felt sick. He didn't understand why he wasn't here. He had to be here, Harry saw him.