Is it better?

Chapter two: Missing the Lamp Post

"Her-reee!" she could hear Tony shouting below.

"I'm looking!" was her reply. In truth, she was looking, just not for those hats.

Andrea shoved at the door again and was rewarded with a slight creak and a slight view of what could be a desk and a trunk. What was in the trunk?

Bracing herself, she gave a hard push. There was a loud splintering sound as the door fell open. Andrea slipped carefully into what must have been, at some point, a sort of office or study. It was rather plain and dusty with a few random boxes and simple every day objects lying here and there. One wall held a large window draped with heavy curtains, an old freestanding mirror, and an age darkened wardrobe. Against the opposite wall stood a large desk, suspiciously still covered in papers and opened books. Near the remaining walls were smaller desks, bookshelves, trunks, and other such things.

Childish curiosity drove her to the books upon the desk first. They were so covered in thick dust that she had to wipe it from the page with her sleeve before she could see the words. The script was hand written, curving across the paper in a language she couldn't read, but found extremely beautiful.

She moved to the wardrobe next. With a tug of the handle and a protesting creek, the doors swung open. It was, as one might expect, filled with clothing. But there was something odd about these particular garments. They seemed to be both medieval and oriental at the same time, and there was flow and grace around them she couldn't pin point, as if it was woven into the fabric, which wasn't of any sort she had seen before.

In awe, she pulled out a beautiful lilac dress that seemed to shimmer like flowing water. But the sight of the plain wooden back of the wardrobe made her sigh. No magic, no portal to somewhere that was not at all possible. She hung the dress back in its place.

That was when she first saw IT. The tiny spark of gold thrown in a corner of the room, barely visible. Cocking her head to the side, she walked over and picked IT up. IT was a tiara of made of finely linked golden chain hung with diamonds like a crystal rain. The middle diamond was shaped as a star, throwing rainbows across the graying room. IT didn't fit with the dust on the floor, and was clean, untouched by time. Closing her eyes, Andrea placed IT on her head. The world suddenly spun to darkness, and she was floating away with it. A voice, soft and feminine, called out to her.

What is your desire, Andrea? What is it you wish for the most?

"Someone to understand... somewhere to be where I can belong." The words came from her mouth without her consent, and she knew at once that they had not truly come from any direct thought she had had, though they were the complete truth.

Ah, that is an easy one.

The darkness spun.