"Hello?" Towl called, glancing around the pitch black room. There was nothing there except darkness, but despite the lack of a light source, he could make himself out perfectly clear. He lifted his hand in front of his face and wiggled his fingers, testing to make sure that he wasn't just seeing things in the lack of light, but he was in complete control of himself. That's odd, he thought to himself, glancing around the void once again. A small shimmer caught his attention in the distance and he was quick to move toward the only sign of, well, anything.

As he drew closer, he recognized the object as an ornate mirror. Towl blinked and glanced at the reflective surface. In the mirror he saw himself. The tall, scrawny thirteen-year-old boy with the long, shaggy, dark hair that always got him into trouble at school. As usual, he was wearing his favorite hoodie and carpenter pants. There was nothing spectacular about his appearance. There really wasn't anything spectacular about him at all.

"Man, do you look good, though," he laughed to himself, pushing one of his dark curls out of his eyes. "It's no wonder that all the girls are after you all the time." He pulled off his hoodie and did some flexes with his thin, muscle-less arms. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the reflection started laughing and he jumped backwards.

"Dude, look around you. You can't even get a girl in your wildest dreams," it laughed. Towl turned red, embarrassed by the mirror's insult. "I mean, seriously. Not a chick in sight, bro."

"Screw you!" Towl yelled. The reflection began to laugh. Suddenly, its laughter was multiplied. It was as if there were twenty different voices.

"Towl!" a female voice whispered forcefully. "Towl, wake-up! Mr. Crenshaw isn't happy."

Towl opened his eyes and blinked. He lifted his head off of the desk and found almost everyone in his classroom laughing at him. Everyone except for the blonde girl next to him. He turned red and looked at Mr. Crenshaw, the English professor. The teacher was not pleased. "Towl, do you have an issue with the assignment?"

"Assignment?" Towl asked, dumbfounded. He hadn't realized that he was sleeping in class again. He wasn't even sure what he was supposed to do.

"The essay? I suppose if you don't find it important enough to pay attention to in class, I shouldn't have to repeat the instructions. However, I do think that it wouldn't hurt for you to spend an extra two hours after class to work on it." Mr. Crenshaw turned back around and started writing on the board again as if nothing had happened. Towl dropped his head back onto his desk as he heard a small snicker from the blonde girl next to him. Oh, NOW she decides to laugh... The blonde girl, who's name he could not remember, passed him a piece of paper. He took it hesitantly. After a quick glance to make sure Mr. Crenshaw wasn't looking, he opened the note and gave a sigh of relief. The girl had written down the instructions for their essay. Pick a piece of classic literature and write an essay discussing the political and social influences addressed by the author.

"Dang it," Towl whispered under his breath. Mr. Crenshaw gave him another glare, but this time he didn't say anything. Another small groan escaped Towl's throat as he glanced over at the blonde. "Thanks..." he muttered to her before putting his head back down.

After spending an extra two hours in detention, Towl finally packed up his bag to head home. His mother probably wasn't there. She tended to work late on Fridays as a waitress. The restaurant was always busy on the weekends and she almost always made a decent amount in tips from the tipsy customers. The sun was starting to sink below the treeline as he walked along the road toward his house. As he passed by the park, a small light caught his attention. A lightning bug? he wondered, a bit confused. It was a bit too cold out for them to be out and about.

"Hey!" Towl heard. He glanced around at the dark streets, searching for the sound of the voice. "Hey! Kid! Over here!"

"Who's there?" Towl asked, his heart racing. This was the kind of stuff you saw in movies before the character got kidnapped.

"Look right in front of you!" the voice exclaimed, impatiently.

"Huh? Woah!" Towl cried, falling backward onto his rear. "What the..." The small lightning bug hovered in front of him, but as it got closer to his face, he realized that it was a small person. A small, glowing, flying person. "Are you a fairy?" he asked, dumbfounded.

"Of course I'm a fairy, you nuts-for-brains! What else would I be, a goblin? Now get off your butt and follow me! You're needed immediately!" Before Towl could argue, the glowing light shot forward down the street and through a small grove of trees across from the park. "HURRY UP!" called a loud, squeaky voice. Towl quickly stood up and began running after the little pixie. Who just follows someone into the woods? That's how horror movies start! he thought to himself, but continued to follow the light anyway. Then again, it's not just a beautiful girl leading me into the woods. It's a fairy. I think that is a complete change in genre, so it's okay, right?

As they reached the end of the grove, Towl stopped and stared at the large Victorian mansion in front of him. "Wow..." he gasped, admiring the spooky, yet magnificent view in front of him. The walls were completely covered in vines and several of the windows were cracked. It was obvious that the old house had been abandoned years ago, but Towl couldn't understand why. The previous owners of the house could have made millions by keeping it up to date and selling it.

"Let's go, lily-sticks!"

"Lily-sticks? What does that even mean?" Towl asked, following the fairy toward the door. "Is that even an insult? Fairy! Where'd you go?"

"I do have a name, you know!" the fairy called out as Towl stepped through the door. She stopped in mid-air and gave him a sassy pose with her hands on her hips.

"Well, what is it?" he asked, but the fairy ignored him and flew into a large door down the hall. Towl peeked through the door and gasped at the largest music room he'd ever seen. It was even bigger than the music hall at his school. The room was full of instruments and stands and the walls were lined with books and folders, all of which he assumed were full of sheet music. In the back corner of the room, Towl noticed a large writing desk sitting next to a golden-framed mirror. On the desk sat a ticking metronome. On the metronome sat an annoyed fairy.

"It took you long enough, raghead!" she griped before swirling around the mirror and flying straight into the glass. Before Towl even had a chance to warn her about getting squished, she was gone.

"What the..." he muttered again, stepping closer to the looking glass. Like most mirrors, Towl was able to see his reflection on the other side. However, the background of the mirror was not like the music room at all. The ground was lined with mushrooms of all shapes and sizes. There were trees on the horizon, but one thing did strike him as odd... aside from the strange background, of course. He couldn't tell if some of the trees were extremely small... or if the mushrooms were just really big.

"COME ON!" called a familiar voice from the mirror. Towl blinked and leaned forward, placing his hand on the cold glass.

"How did you get in there?" he called, but, just as he spoke, his hand began to sink through the mirror as if it were a viscous pool of water. He slowly began to be pulled in, despite his efforts to retrieve his arm. "This is too weird, I really need to get home..." he muttered, tugging on his arm, but it was of no use. His entire body was already being sucked through the faux glass.