Chapter 1: Arrival

Elle:

I knew we were early, but we weren't extremely early. We were technically late anyway, considering we'd walked from the train. Stephen was supposed to be at the station; he was supposed to be waiting for us. He'd always been scatter-brained, but this was a step too far. He'd invited us to his flat for the weekend to try to make amends for some of his past actions. The past I could forgive him for, but forgetting that he'd invited his sisters to come visit him a month in advance was the last straw. I stamped my foot and sighed. Myra sat on Stephen's stoop, pulling out her cell phone.

"Stephen Michael Hart the fifth, this is your sister. I don't know or particularly care where you are. Get your skinny white ass back to your flat and let us in!" she said and hung up. /within minutes, Stephen came running around the corner.

"Sorry girls! Work, been busy," he said as he caught his breath.

"If you're so busy why did you invite us in the first place?" Myra asked and put her hands on her hips.

"Let's just go up to the flat, put on a pot of tea and catch up, yeah?" I suggested. I had learned to play mediator years ago. Stephen took a deep breath.

"Let me get your bags."

We walked up two flights of stairs to Stephen's flat while he carried up both of our weekend bags. I had a bad feeling that he was going to leave and I would be left alone with Myra. We were sisters, twins in fact, but we disagreed on so many things that we barely stand being in the same room most of the time.

"I'm really sorry, girls," Stephen started. Myra sighed.

"Really? You call us begging for us to come visit, and you plan to leave us here alone? You're a terrible big brother, Stephen."

"I swear, I'll be back in a matter of hours, I'm…on call for work right now."

"Can't we go with you?" I asked.

"No. No, it's …it's a complicated story, I really need to go; I'll be back as soon as I can."

He quickly hugged us both, planting a kiss on our foreheads as he did. Stephen had only been gone for half an hour when Myra had finished snooping and rooting through his flat. She came out it the living room with a ratty green scarf.

"I wonder who this belongs to," she said and wrapped it around her neck. She looked at herself and ripped the scarf off as she grabbed her shoes.

"Where are you going?" I asked her. She laughed and tossed my shoes at me.

"Come on, Ellie. We're finding out what Stevie's really up to."

"Myra, this isn't a good idea. We should go back." I wanted to know just as bad as she did, we simply acted in opposite ways.

"You're no fun, Elle. Lighten up!"

I followed her, trying to keep up. It had always been difficult to keep up with Myra. "How do you know where we're going?" I asked.

"Stephen's our brother; our family instincts will kick in and lead us the right way."

"That's not how it works, that's why animals travel in packs. Otherwise, they would lose each other."

"Oh, stop thinking like a science geek and start thinking like a sister."

"You make no sense, Myrianna." Myra stopped.

"Don't ever call me that. Ever, Elloise."

"Fair enough."

I Feel we should go down this alley," Myra said and turned. I sighed and ran after her.

"Myra! We shouldn't be back here!"

"Elle, we walking through one little alley, what could possibly go wrong?"

"This alley is long and dark and has no outlet! This is why I hate the city!" I raged.

"Oh, the city is wonderful; no one brings up your past, like your pregnancy scare or your boyfriend turning gay."

"Myra, that's only you," I laughed, "The city has no appeal to me, other than people."

I smashed into the back of my sister. She'd stopped abruptly and I didn't know why. I looked around her and found the reason she'd stopped. There was a large sparkling ball in front of her, with shards of color floating around it. We both backed up and instinctively I grabbed for Myra's hand.

"What…What is that?" I asked. There was a large sparkling ball in front of her, with shards of color floating around it. We both backed up and instinctively I grabbed for Myra's hand.

"Seriously…what is it?" I asked again. Myra shook her head. I looked a bit closer. It looked like the bricks in the wall were a cut-up picture, floating in shards. I touched it and my finger went through it.

"Elle!" Myra exclaimed. She narrowed her eyes, putting one hand to her temple. I looked at her other hand and found that it had disappeared into the light. I shot a panicked look at Myra as I heard people coming down the alley. Then, I saw Stephen among the group.