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time, I promise, there’s nothing to be nervous about.”  
    Gabe nodded and followed Uri out of the room.  He was still awe struck by the calm Uri could bring over him.
    They turned right and headed down a large, burgundy carpeted, corridor; the walls were covered with old oil paintings.  Gabe admired the golden intricate antique frames around them.  He studied a number of the paintings as they walked by.  Angelic figures.  Children playing.  So much joy and happiness filled them.  They reminded him nothing of the carvings or tapestries he had seen in the room where he had slept.
    Two young girls passed them in the hall. Uri greeted them as they walked by.  Gabe blushed when the girls looked back at them giggling.  Turning back around and trying to focus his thoughts on what he would say to Michael, Gabe felt his stomach begin to twist again.  
    Uri had described him as one of the elders, wise and powerful.  The thought of the term elders made Gabe smile.  All this seemed so surreal.  ‘ I mean, who speaks like this?’   Gabe thought. Of course the way they spoke was the least of what concerned Gabe.  
    Gabe thought about the night before.  He wondered if perhaps they had drugged him at some point and the beasts had just been a hallucination.  Though if he was drugged, Gabe wondered how it could have possibly felt so real.  He could remember the smells, the sounds, poor Sophie lying in his lap.  
    Gabe may have only been sixteen, but he always considered himself to be a logical person.  He kept thinking there was some sort of explanation to the things he had seen transpire in the last twenty-four hours.  Perhaps Michael was the key to providing an explanation.  
    At last, Uri and Gabe came to stand before two large oversized double doors which arched up to a high point in the middle.  The old wood had been stained with a deep red.  The original wood grains had begun to show through.  There was iron detailing on the edges of the doors.  The frame was made of stone in which cherubs were carved.  
    Uri stopped and looked at Gabe, “Are you ready?”  
    Gabe took a deep breath and nodded.  
    Uri approached the over-sized doors.  Using a knocking device mounted halfway up the door, he announced their presence.  Gabe heard footsteps on the other side as well as muffled voices.  Moments later the door cracked and the light streamed out, blinding Gabe for a second.  
    An old, haggard man with a full bushy salt and pepper beard emerged from the opening.  He stopped and looked directly into Gabe’s eyes.  It was a cold and unwelcoming stare, the first such greeting Gabe had received in this place.  Gabe worried about what he had gotten himself into.  This man did not seem to be the welcoming and loving man Uri had described.  
    “Come in, gentlemen, come in.” A kind voice called from inside the room.  “Peter was just leaving.”  
    Gabe sighed in relief, pleased the man who had just glared at him was, in fact, not Michael.
    Gabe followed Uri into the large and open chamber.  He noticed it smelled like old books and wood chips with a faint hint of tobacco.  Gabe was surprised by the shape of the room; he was impressed by its circular design.  He had never seen anything so grand.  The ceiling came up into a great dome.  Gabe couldn’t help but stare at the beautiful mural of the sky with tiny angels dancing about that was painted on it.  
    There was a huge old antique desk on the far side of the room.  Inlayed in the floor, just in front of the desk, was the symbol Gabe had seen on Uri’s ring.  He wondered at the significance of it.  He would remember to ask when the time for questions arrived.
    Behind the desk was a huge window that stretched from floor to ceiling.  A figure stood before the window.  The light poured in around him.  Gabe thought how the streams of light almost looked like wings.  
    A moment later, the man turned and walked towards them.  As he came