Prologue: London 1897

The palace is silent as she stares into the mirror. The startling white fur angers her; it will be an instant give away. She tries to darken it with a mixture she made following the recipe she had read in his monograph. Turning back to the mirror, she is pleased with the result. She straightens her navy bow which accents her eyes and turns away from the mirror. She hurries over to her closet and pulls on a simple dress that will easily blend into the background and is good for travel. She laces up the boots she had hidden under her bed and freezes as she hears a noise from the next room; the Queen must be going to bed.

She doesn't release her breath until the sounds cease and several moments have passed. She continues to lace up the boots then stands before the mirror again. A smile graces her lips; no one would recognize her now, not even the Queen. And a good thing too: she has a job to do that requires not being recognized. She crosses back to her bed and glances down at a selection of items to be placed in her small bag: a newspaper clipping, a brush, more of the mixture for her fur, and a handful of coins.

It's the newspaper clipping she needs to see, however. She rereads the article for the hundredth time: Famous Detective Solves Baffling Disappearance. She finds the part that lists his address and repeats it to herself. "221B Baker Street."

Confident that she will remember it, she carefully but quickly packs the bag with her small collection of items and pulls the bag onto her shoulder. Finally, she picks up a weatherworn cape from the bed and slings it over her shoulders to fasten at her throat.

With a final glance around her room, she silently slips out the door and sets off down the hall as quietly as she can. Knowing the palace as well as she does, she makes use of the many secret passageways to avoid running into a soul and makes it out of the palace without notice. Running across the grounds in the almost total darkness, she reaches the wall that surrounds the palace and climbs up. Sitting on top of the wall, she surveys the grounds for a mere instant before lowering herself down the other side and onto the street.

She had made it out of the palace…now came the hard part.

She had not been in the general city of London for many years and had no memory of where Baker Street may be. Making a swift decision to get as far away from the palace as possible, she hops onto the first handsome that rolls by and rides it until it stops to let its passenger off. She, too, leaves the handsome and tries to deduce where she might be. But it is a lost cause.

With no knowledge of the streets, she is hopelessly lost in the endless labyrinth of streets and alleyways that is London. She walks along for several moments until she comes upon a side street that seems to be off the main thoroughfare. Crawling into a discarded box at the end of the alley, she curls into a ball, wrapping herself tightly in her cloak and sleeps for the night.

The next day passes in her feeble attempts to somehow reach Baker Street and the endless internal debate trying to decide whether or not to go back. But she doesn't go back; she can't…not with how much is at stake.

That night, she finds another alley and curls up into the toe of an abandoned boot. She barely closes her eyes when she suddenly hears the sounds frantic bells peeling in the distance and the voices of terrified police sergeants in the main street:

"The Princess is missing!"

She gulps; it has begun.

Alright, I know there wasn't much to this chapter, but I couldn't wait anymore to publish it. This story will line up with the film, but, as the title suggests, there is a twist. Depending on response, I might make an original story following the conclusion of this one, so let me know what you think! I should have another chapter up soon!