CHAPTER 1

'Please, Elliot, for me, do it for me...'

'Sir? Sir, are you all right? Sir?'

'What happened to him?'

'I don't know, I just came to open the store and he was hunched up by the door.'

'Sir? Can we get you some help?'

Elliot looked up at them, his arms wrapped tightly around his knees, hugging them against him. His eyes were red and slightly glazed with shock. 'I... I...' His shoulders began to shake and he buried his face in his knees again, sobbing.

'Sir, I'm going to help you stand up, OK?' Then, as an aside to someone else, 'best call the sheriff.'

'No...' Elliot shook his head vigorously as he felt someone take hold of his arms. 'Olivia...'

'It's OK, Sir, we- Oh my God!' The hands were snatched away. 'Sir, is that your blood? Where are you bleeding?' A frantic shout. 'Someone call 911!'

'What the...' Elliot opened his eyes and winced. He reached up and rubbed the back of his neck as he sat up, and his fingers came away bloody. 'Where...' He looked around. He was in a small room, about 5m x 5m, with a bright white floor, which glared almost blindingly as it reflected the bright spotlights set in the ceiling. He saw dozens of people sitting around him, and felt a wave of dizziness. He lay back down, waiting for his head to clear.

Something looked off... he squinted and then felt a cold shiver as he realised that every inch of the walls and ceiling was covered in mirrors, and that all the other people were just reflections. He saw a second figure in a long white nightdress reflected behind him, and his stomach lurched. 'Olivia!' He jumped up to run to her but his head span from the sudden movement and he sat down hard again on the floor. His body ached all over.

Elliot forced himself up onto his knees and crawled over to her. 'Liv?' He shook her shoulder and nearly cried with relief when she coughed and turned onto her back. 'Olivia, it's me, Elliot.'

'El?' Olivia opened her eyes slowly, then immediately squeezed them shut again. 'El, my head...'

'I know, Liv.' Elliot stroked her hair, and froze as he noticed something beneath it. He brushed her hair away to expose the side of her neck. There was a large burn marking her skin at the spot where her shoulder met her neck. It looked like it had come from some kind of stun gun. He reached around and felt the sore spot on the back of his own neck. 'Liv, wake up!'

'Hmmm...' Olivia put her hand up to shield her eyes. 'El, where are we... should be at home...'

'I don't know, Liv, but we'll figure it out,' he said reassuringly. He tried to remember how they had gotten here. He remembered getting home late the night before, collapsing onto the couch in his tiny Brooklyn apartment fully dressed and falling asleep. He was still wearing the suit he had worn the previous day to work, minus his shoes and tie and with the shirt untucked, several buttons torn off. Olivia wore only a nightdress, and lay curled up on the floor barefoot and shivering. 'Here, Liv, let me help you.' He managed to move her into a sitting position and tucked his suit jacket around her shoulders.

Olivia opened her eyes and looked around, trying and failing to focus her eyes on anything. 'How many of us in here, Elliot?'

'Only us, Liv, everyone else is only a reflection, the place is covered in mirrors.' He felt her body tense. 'What is it, Liv?'

'Mirrors?' She frowned, trying to shake off the lingering drowsiness.

'Yes, Liv, mirrors...'

'Elliot... the home invasions in Washington Heights... what the perp did with the mirrors...' She looked frustrated. 'He likes... to watch. He likes... them to watch.'

Elliot felt a chill as he realised what she meant.