You would think that being a princess would be amazing. But no. The dresses, the boring meetings, the suitors. They’re all exactly the same. “I am rich so you must marry me.” I’m only thirteen! I think I'm too young to get married. My mother? She has different ideas. 

 

   “Ebony. Pay attention.”

 

   I looked up. Nothing to see but another boring suitor. I groaned. There were so many other things I could be doing. But, no. There I was listening to this suitor who was probably a prince with a huge castle a kajillion miles away. I half listened as he went on about his money (who cares?), his land (heard that before), his collection of… sticks? That was new. There must be something wrong with this one.

After tons of boring facts that I didn't care about, he finally left. All that information about him just left my brain. I didn’t even remember his name. It’s not like I was going to need it. 

 

   “Can I go now?” I asked, then quickly added “Your Majesty.” 

 

   My mother, Queen Alice, dislikes it when I neglect to use her proper title.

 

   “Yes, you may take your leave,” she said, annoyingly queen-like and proper. 

 

   “Thanks,” I said, as I ran out of the room, eager to get away. 

 

   I pulled off both of my shoes as I ran, because, for one, they slowed me down. And for another thing they were extremely uncomfortable. I left them in the hallway for the kajillions of servants to take to my room. 

    I ran on the cold stone floor barefoot, skidding around corners and skipping down hallways. I ran past Prince Suitor smiling at him over my shoulder. He probably thought I was super weird now. I didn’t care in the least. 

   I stopped suddenly, almost falling over onto the floor. There, in the wall was a door. I had never before in my life seen this door despite the numerous times I’d gone down this hallway. Just like all the other doors in the castle it was made of solid wood with a metal doorknob. But unlike all the other doors there were the words ‘change awaits you’ carved into the door near the top. 

   I looked at the door for a minute. 

How had it gotten here? Why? Who did it? When did it get here? I don’t think it had been there that morning… Knowing my mother, whatever was inside I probably wasn’t allowed to see. But of course I wasn’t going to not go inside. I would just wait until later. 

   I continued down the hallway, walking now, deciding on the right time to open that door. 

   At the last door on the left I turned and entered. This was my room. I chose to have my room as far away as possible from the throne room, meeting rooms, and kitchens because down here I could finally get away from all the people and noise. 

   My room was rather big - much bigger than I needed - with a huge four-poster bed with numerous pillows that were supposed to stay on the bed… but I found them too soft to sleep on. So they were just thrown to the floor and scattered around the room. The servants had given up on putting them back on the bed since I would just throw them on the floor again. 

   On one wall were three bookshelves filled with books, half of which were boring books my mother had insisted I read. The other half were my adventure books. Oh, how I loved those books. All of them I had read several times, and their covers were worn and bent. But I didn’t really care. The stories were still amazing. 

   I sat down on a large pillow near the bookshelves and chose a book at random. It was a story of fairies and dragons and all kinds of magical creatures called Mysteria. I flipped through the pages and found one of my favorite chapters and began reading. 

                                                ✦✦✦

   Four hours later, I had flipped through six books. As I searched for a good spot in the seventh, there was a knock on my door. 

 

   “Come in,” I said, absently looking up from my reading. 

 

   One of the servants opened the door. “Princess, it is time for dinner.”

 

   “Thank you, I will be there soon. You may go.”

 

   “Yes, ma’am.” 

 

   Once the servant had left, I read two more pages then made my way to the dining hall. 

   Walking slowly, I wondered if the suitor had stayed for dinner. I half hoped he had. Then it would be less boring than it usually was with just me, my mother, and my little brother James. 

   James was nine years old and was almost constantly talking and asking questions. I would answer most of them as best as I could, but I didn’t know everything. James thought I did though. 

   With visitors here there would be more people who could answer his questions and mother would be inclined to join in the conversation as well. 

   I entered the dining hall and sat down in my chair. The suitor and his attendants, advisors, or whatever they were, all nodded respectfully. 

   As the meal began James began talking and asking questions. Several of the visiting advisors laughed and answered his questions. The suitor didn’t talk and I didn’t either. He kept staring at me, which I had learned to get used to with all the other suitors. It used to make me uncomfortable, but now I just looked down and pretended that I didn’t notice. 

   Dull conversation continued and I wished I could go back to my books. Or open that strange door. But I wasn’t allowed to leave when visitors were present, as my mother feared they would find it rude. 

   Throughout the whole meal all I could think about was the strange door. 

                                              ✦✦✦

 

   Late that night, I laid in my bed, wide awake. I glanced at the window across from my bed to check the time. It was late enough, surely everyone was asleep. 

   I quietly got out of bed, even though everyone was on the other side of the castle. I opened my door and looked down the corridor. The coast was clear. Re-entering my room, I pulled on a dress and comfy boots that mother didn’t know I had. She would have disapproved. 

   I softly walked down the hallways, staying alert for anyone else who might - for some strange reason - be up at this hour. 

   I came to stand in front of the strange door. Once again I studied the carving in the wood. “Change awaits you…” I read softly. 

   Beside the words there were also symbols that were probably some other language. One I didn’t recognize. 

 

   “Are… you okay? Princess? ”

 

   I jumped and turned to see that weird stick collector suitor. Just standing there.  

 

   “Oh… uh… hi!” I had almost called him ‘stick collector’ “Sorry but I can’t remember your name because I wasn’t expecting to actually talk to you..” 

 

   “It’s Prince Alex,” he said, obviously slightly nervous to be talking to me, “But you can just call me Alex I guess… with you being the princess and all.. I guess you can call me whatever you want...” 

 

   “Okay… Alex it is. Well hi.” 

 

   He smiled “Hi. What are you staring at?”

 

   “Um,” I tried to phrase this as best I could without sounding crazy, “I’m just looking at this door.”

 

   “It's just a door… Right?”

 

   “Well,” I said, “This door wasn’t here this morning. And look at those words! Do you really think a door would just randomly say that?! Let alone anything?!” I was surprised at myself for actually talking to this guy. This weirdo with a collection of sticks. 

 

   “Okay, okay. This is an unusual door.” He studied the door for a moment, then turned to me. “Well, are you going to open it? Or have you already? I’m assuming you haven’t… but I’m getting curious as to what’s in there.”

 

   “If you want to know what's in there so badly, then you can open it!” I retorted, flipping a bit of my annoyingly short hair. 

 

   “Fine then,” Alex said “I will.” And with that he grabbed the doorknob, turned it and pushed the door open with a bit of effort. “Ladies first.” He said, smiling and bowing slightly.

I rolled my eyes. He was starting to annoy me. I walked through the doorway, stepping hard on his foot as I passed him. 

 

   “Ow! What was that for?” 

 

   I smiled to myself. Messing with him was fun. 

I looked around at the room. The one and only thing was a mirror. Well, and a sheet on the floor below it. 

   “Wow,” I said flatly, “what an amazing change. I was expecting something cooler. But no, we get a mirror. There are plenty of other mirrors in this castle! What’s so great about this one?”

 

   “It is a beautiful mirror though.” Alex said. 

 

   “Sure,” I said, rolling my eyes once again. 

 

   I heard a small clang of something metal on the stone floor. Looking down I saw a golden ring of metal that looked a bit like… my crown. I must have kicked it. I picked it up and fingered the intricate design on the metal. How was there another one of these? As far as I knew, mine was the only one of its kind. And had been passed down for generations. “Hey Alex, look at this.” 

 

   He didn’t respond. 

 

   “Alex..?” I looked up. “Alex! What are you…” 

I watched as he took a step towards the mirror, evidently unaware that I was talking to him. He kept walking closer and closer to the mirror, his hand reaching out to touch it. 

“Alex!” I yelled rushing over to him and grabbing his arm trying to pull him back. But, I was much too late. His fingers brushed the surface of the mirror and he was pulled away from me, into the mirror. 

   I screamed, stumbling back against the wall and dropping the crown that I had found. I turned to see the door to the room swing shut leaving the room in darkness, except for a faint light coming from the mirror that gave the room an eerie glow.

   My mind raced with questions. Where was Alex? What had just happened? How could I get him back? Was he okay?

   I didn’t know what to do. Alex had disappeared into a mirror and I had no idea if he was still alive or if the mirror actually did lead anywhere. 

   I began pacing back and forth in the small room, trying to calm down to think straight. Taking a deep breath I decided to ask for help. 

   I moved to the door and searched with my hands for a handle. All I felt was smooth wood. “Help! Someone! Let me out!” I screamed, hoping some person would walk by and hear me. I continued yelling until my voice was hoarse. 

   I was trapped, no way out, and barely any light. Not to mention food and water. I was going to starve in this small dark room with a glowing mirror that sucked people into it. 

   My breathing quickened as I thought of dying in this room alone. I sank to the floor, my back against the door. 

I stared at the mirror. It had a golden frame with intricate carvings of flowers. It really was a beautiful mirror. But now it had an eerie feel to it. And the blue-green glow that emanated from it wasn’t helping. 

   Beside the mirror on the ground was a large cloth that looked old, like it had been in this room for a long long time. 

   My eyes had mostly adjusted to the dark by this time, and I noticed the crown in the corner of the room. I slowly moved to it and picked it up again. 

   Taking off my own crown I compared the two. They were the same size and had the same engravings of flowers. Mine had black obsidian jewels embedded in the metal while the one I had found had white diamonds. 

   Putting my own crown on my head, I studied the other more closely. Fingering the engravings I realized that there was more than just the flowers that matched mine. There were music notes that were difficult to notice. But once I saw one, more made themselves apparent.  

   As I looked at the crown in my hands my hair blew in my face, and I brushed it away. But the wind just kept blowing it back in my face. 

   I froze.

   I was in a closed in room. There were no windows, and it had been stuffy in here just moments ago. But now there was a steady breeze coming from somewhere.

   I stood up looking around the room trying to find the source of this wind. My first thought was the door, but as I walked over to it, I realized that the wind was coming from behind me. 

   Turning, I looked at the mirror and found that the wind was getting stronger. My hair fluttered around my face as I walked towards the mirror. 

   How could this breeze be coming from the mirror? It just wasn’t possible. But the closer I got to the mirror the more I could tell that it was coming from the mirror. 

   Maybe there really was somewhere that the mirror led to… It didn’t seem possible, but what with Alex disappearing into the mirror, who knew what was possible.

   I took a deep breath then made the decision that would change my life forever. 

   I slowly reached my hand into the mirror, feeling it start to pull me in. I resisted at first, then I let go and touched the mirror. I felt weightless, as everything went completely black.