At first Catherine hesitated. She didn't want to step through the painting. What if something terribly wrong happened, and the painting trapped her soul within its bounds? What if it was a trick that the ghostly urchins were playing on her, and she ended up in some otherworldly place? She stepped backwards and immediately hit something hard and solid. The wall…it had closed in on her. She turned around and looked for the window, but it was no longer there. She was trapped! She stared at the portrait of herself with its dripping gooey paint, like blood. She wanted to scream, but her voice would not come. It was as if there was some powerful being in there with her that had its hands around her throat, choking her, attempting to rob her of her very life. She closed her eyes and started to pray silently, her lips moving to the words of the prayer, but no sound issuing forth. When she re-opened her eyes, she could see straight through the painting. She saw many children being held at knifepoint, and a man who was holding a girl over the banister of a very long, winding staircase. She recognized her brother, Jonathan, and Nancy among the children who were held with knives at their throats. She gasped in horror. Could this image be true? She looked past her brother and the other children and at the man who held the dangling girl, who she recognized to be Evelyn Carnahan. The man seemed to have horns growing out of his head. She didn't know if she wanted to step through the painting to the other side. What if these images were lies?
Suddenly there was a burst of heat behind her, as if someone had lit a fire and it had raged out of control, temperatures rising well into the hundreds of degrees. Catherine's robe and clothing stuck to the beads of sweat that clung to her body. The aura that had surrounded both the picture and her grew blindingly bright, transforming the girl, and she had to shut her eyes. Catherine stepped forward into the painting, her heart pounding…
The men that held the children captive lowered their knives and stared, mouths agape at the figure that suddenly appeared at the end of the hallway, seeming to come out of thin air. The figure was clothed in a white robe, and light seemed to emanate from her very being. In all of their time on the earth, the men had never seen this girl in their lives, and didn't know what to make of her. Was she some sort of angel? They had no clue. They just wanted to get as far away from her as possible. She had an air of Armageddon about her, as if she was the end-all of the conflict. Many of the men dropped their knives, let go of the children that they had been clutching, and ran for their lives. Several men stood their ground, particularly the ones holding onto Maryfaith, Tristan, Jonathan, and Nancy. The Keeper grinned evilly.
"So, you have come. I've been expecting you, my friend. But this time, you will not win." The Keeper said as he pulled Evelyn back towards himself so that she was no longer dangling over the banister. "This time, the chosen ones are mine. You cannot stop me." The Keeper took a menacing step towards Catherine. Catherine kept her ground. Somehow all of this seemed familiar to her though she didn't ever recall facing this man before in her life.
"Let them go!" Catherine spoke. She raised her hands towards the men who still held several of the children hostage. Suddenly without warning, bolts of pure electrical light shot forth from her hands and struck these men in their hearts, killing them instantly. The children stayed where they were, too afraid to move, not knowing what to make of the spectacular phantasm before them. Catherine took a step towards the Keeper. The children had to shield their eyes to keep them from drying up and burning out of their sockets. "Evil will never win this war. Now let them go." Catherine shouted.
"You are pitiful Catherine of the Nile." The Keeper said as he kept one hand clutched tightly around Evelyn's wrist, and dragged her over to where Maryfaith stood. "This time, I have out-smarted you. You cannot destroy me with the pitiful electric lightning from your hands." He then grabbed hold of Maryfaith. Both Maryfaith and Evelyn were in a trance, and didn't seem to be fighting to get out of the Keeper's grasp. "And now, since you barged in and ruined my little party, I'll just have to improvise." Both Evelyn and Maryfaith's faces grew very pale, as the blood left them. "All I need is their life force, and I'll triumph over you! Too bad Catherine… I am already winning, and you can't stop me!" He laughed maniacally. Catherine went to take another step towards him, and raised her hands, ready to aim lightning at him, but found that she couldn't move…