A/N: I'd like to thank Violet Jones for basically Beta reading this. Lol.  Kudos to you, Dani! And check out her stories! They're funny, and her song is really cool. ^_^  On with the story, then, and don't forget to review!

You have beheld a smiling rose
When virgins' hands have drawn
O'er it a cobweb-lawn:
And here, you see, this lily shows,
Tomb'd in a crystal stone,
More fair in this transparent case
Than when it grew alone,
And had but single grace.

- "The Lily in a Crystal" by Robert Herrick

Prologue

Life is an odd thing. You can have it planned out to the very second, but everything could explode in your face, and you could end up doing something you never, ever planned or would even have dreamed of.

(Like falling in love with your enemy.)

I was one of those people. I planned everything; I was a perfectionist in many aspects. I knew what I wanted to do with my life, and everything that I'd need to do to get there. I must admit, now that I look back, that I was like something trapped in a glass cage. I was marveled at, yet always out of reach; I was oblivious to the cage, with all its spectral beauty. That was me. That was who I would always be.

            That was why it was so odd when a boy came along and painted the glass red so I could finally see it.

I guess you could say my life was completely normal life up until my eleventh birthday. I had a mother, a father, and a sister. We all lived in a nice house in Rochester.

My mother was a strict woman, although very family-oriented. She ran the household with a tight fist, and was very no-nonsense.

My father, on the other hand, was a cheerful man. He liked to crack cheesy jokes and laugh. I remember his laugh. It was loud and booming, yet a pleasant sound, and his eyes danced. I had my father's eyes.

I also remember the smell of him: tobacco – for he smoked a pipe – and vanilla. Why he smelled of vanilla, I never knew.

I loved my father dearly. He was my world. I was his favorite, it was obvious. My mother favored my elder sister, Petunia. Petunia and I were never very close, even though we were sisters.

Petunia was the opposite of me in every way. With her bony figure, horse-like face, and limp dishwater-blonde hair, she really couldn't be considered pretty. She was stuck-up and snotty to me, but I later realized that she was jealous.

You may wonder why my sister was so jealous of me. Sure, I was prettier than her, but I wasn't beautiful. I had long, dark-red hair, and large, emerald-green eyes. I was short and thin. In fact, I as very short for my age and very thin. I hated my diminutive height with a passion.

As for my personality, well ... I was smart, and I loved school. I studied like I would die if I didn't learn everything, and I was top in most classes. I had enough friends, but I certainly wasn't popular. I realize now that I was quite stiff and boring back then.

That's why I was like an animal emerging from its cave after years of deep hibernation, that's why it was like opening my eyes after years of being blind, when I received the letter. I just happened to awaken to a world full of magic, mystery, great friends, and danger.

I guess you could say I never really experienced life until I received that mysterious letter, addressed to 'Miss L. Evans' in shimmering ink the same color as my eyes…

And that is where my story begins, one warm summer morning in July of 1971. And this is where forever begins.