Chapter One: The Prologue

            A little girl about five years old stumbled over to the dirty broken doll lying on the dusty flooring of the back bedroom in the small house she and her family lived in.  She bent over to pick up the doll with tears rolling down her food stained face.  Her tears hit the dusty floor uncovering beautiful hardwood flooring.  Something with a dull glimmer beneath the doll sparked the little girl’s imagination and curiosity, so she picked up her doll only to reveal a small, grimy glass shard.  She stared into it, there seemed to be movement and odd colors that did not look anything like the small room she was standing in.  Her eyes tried to adjust to the grime in order see into the glass more clearly, but someone stopped her young imagination.

 

            “Elizabeth, you know you’re not supposed to play in here,” a boy mocked her mother’s stern tone.  She looked at him with wary eyes before holding the shard up for him to study.  He was like a mountain; big, tall, and sturdy.  He was always there taking care of her, even when he had work to do.  He took the glass carefully from her, his eyes"the grey eyes that matched her own"study every centimeter of the shard before he wiped it carefully on his shirt. 

 

            “What, Ian,” the little girl asked as her curiosity peeked.  The boy laughed at her nickname for him since she couldn’t pronounce Dorian.

 

            “It’s the missing piece to my puzzle, Eli.”  He smiled.  “Would you like to help me put it in place.”

 

            The little girl nodded ecstatically as she held out her arms.  Her brother took her into his arms before walking over to a white cloth covering something unknown to Eli.  She reached for the cloth, Dorian laughed as he leaned closer.  Eli snatched the cloth revealing a mirror frame and all of the pieces except for one.  The colors of the pieces of glass matched the shard she found under her doll.  Dorian held out the glass for Eli to guide into the correct spot.  A tall man"with dark hair that fell around his shoulders, but pushed away from his face and eyes that were like little pools of perfect blue"appeared in the broken glass.

 

            “Dorian,” a woman’s voice shouted through the house.  “Dorian, where are you!”

 

            “In my room, mom,” he shouted his answer.

 

“I’m leaving for work.  Clean up around here while I’m gone,” her head poked through the door.  “If your father comes home keep the doors locked.”

 

            “Yeah, what about Eli, mom?  I’m going to have to go to work soon.”

 

            “Leave her with the neighbor.  I’ll pick her up after my shift.”

 

***

 

            Someone was banging on the Walker’s door.  A man smelling of garbage staggered backwards as he opened the door.  “What the hell do you want,” he hissed.

 

            “Sir,” Marilyn, from next door, started.

 

            “Nat, the door is for you,” the man barked.  Marilyn bounced the little girl on her hip.  The girl covered her eyes as she hid in Marilyn’s shoulder.

 

            “What,” Natalie barked as she looked towards the door.  Her eyes went wide.

 

            “I’m so sorry, Mary.” She gasped when she noticed the little girl.

 

            “It’s okay.  I figured Ian would have picked her up like normal, but I haven’t seen him in two days.”

 

            “We are going to file a report, but Dorian hasn’t come home.  He’s gone,” a tear made its way to Natalie’s eye.

 

            “We’ll I’ll be happy to watch Eli any old time ya’ll need me to.  Just don’t forget her too often,” Marilyn laughed as she handed the girl to Natalie.  She put the little girl on the ground and pushed her away from the door.

 

            “Thanks again, I really have to get back to the kitchen.  I’m sorry,” Natalie retorted.

 

            “Good luck finding Dorian,” Marilyn winked at Eli before turning away from the Walker house.

 

            “Elizabeth Walker, do you know where your brother is?” Natalie asked in her stern voice.

 

            “No,” Eli answered as she stumbled through the house. 

 

            She could hear her father cursing and her mother screaming.  She crept into Ian’s room, found the cloth on the floor where they’d left it, and all of the pieces of the mirror were gone.  She stared at the mirror frame for a long time wondering who the man was.  Did he take her brother?

 

           "Ian," she cried, but nothing happened.  She turned to lay flat on his dusty floor when she saw a glint under the dresser.  "I'll find you, Ian." she grabbed the shard and placed it in the bottom dresser drawer.  "I promise."