A little note. For anyone who was attempting to read this story before, it may have been a little hard to follow because this chapter was MISSING! I made the mistake of mentioning the name of an author and a book that should never everbe mentioned on FFN. I apologize. I had written this chapter long before I joined FFN and had forgotten that the reference was in there. It wasn't really a big part of my story so I've taken the refernce out an reposted the chapter. Hopefully this will clear up any confusion you might have had. Read and review please!

We landed on the street with a thud. I had landed on my back and hit my head on the hard stone road. Ashley, who had fared a lot better than I had was already sitting up looking around and asking questions.

"Alright, where the hell are we?"

I moaned as I propped myself up on my elbows to have a look around. My head hurt sorely and I wondered if I was bleeding. I looked around and noticed people had stopped what they were doing to stare at us. Small wonder, I was still dressed in my costume while Ashley was in her PJ's.

"Great." I mumbled to myself.

Ashley was shaking as a gentlemen who had finally excepted our look came to her aid, trying to help her to her feet. I got up on my own and went over to the gentleman. I was at least wearing a dress so the gentlemen took me seriously. He gave me a questioning look referring Ash.

"She's an actor." I said coming over to support Ashley as well as I could. His face lit up in recognition.

"Oh! Of course." he turned around as if to announce to the crowd we had attracted. "She's an actor!"

"Oh!" was the unanimous reply of the crowd before they accepted the excuse and went back to what they were doing.

I helped Ashley to a side alley, hopefully out of site of anyone who would look on us in question of our clothes. I set her down and she leaned her head back against the wall. "How can this be happening?" She asked, her eyes filled with fear. "Where the hell are we? Why the hell is everyone dressed like they came out of a history book...and where in the hell did you learn to speak French?"

"What?"

"That guy...when you told him I was an actor you were speaking French." She gasped and put her hand over her mouth. "And I understood what you said... I can speak French..." She looked like she was going to go into shock.

"Ashley calm down. There is probably a good explanation for all this."

She looked up at me half-crazed. "A good explanation? A good explanation! Like what? Wizards? I hardly think that qualifies...No wait it was a rip in the space time continuum." She gasped again. "It was that damned mirror your crazy grandma sent. I knew it was gonna kill us!"

I held my very sore head in my hands and sighed. I was just as confused as she was, though I didn't want to admit it. "Ash just calm down."

"Were going to die aren't we? Just like in that one book I read where these people get sucked into a portal and...die... They all end up like that you know. Oh what did I do to deserve this?"

"Alright think. What did they do in those books first."

"What you mean before they died? Well they blended in to avoid suspicion. People are afraid of what they don't know and well when they do find people different from them they well..."

"Kill them?"

"Ya."

"Alright blend in. Hmmm... We'll need clothes." I reached into my medieval style purse-pouch that I had forgotten to take off after the dance. I pulled out something like fifty dollars. Fifty Twenty first century American dollars.

"Great. I hardly think they accept money that hasn't been printed yet."

Ashley looked at me in surprise. "I can't believe you. Here we are in, in...well nowhere we are supposed to be and all you can think about is shopping?"

"It's only temporary until we can find our way back home. Come on." I grabbed Ashley's hand and pulled her back to the street where we had first landed. Across the street was a glacier shop. Mirrors stood out on display reflecting the light of the sun. The mirror it all had to be connected. Maybe we could get back now. I stood in front of the mirror that we had supposedly come out of. The glass showed nothing but my reflection. I touched the spot I had touched on my mirror. Still nothing.

"Good evening." I jumped and turned to see a kind looking women watching us with interest. She obviously worked here. "May I help you?" She didn't seem alarmed at all by our strange clothes and I found that to be a little odd.

"I'm not sure..." I said my eyes still on the mirror.

The lady smiled warmly. "Well please come in. Perhaps I can help you find what your looking for." The tone she took implied that she meant more than what she said. I followed her in dragging Ashley behind me.

The woman stood behind a counter surrounded by mirrors of all shapes and designs. She took a deep breath as if she could inhale the essence of them. "Aren't they magical!"

"Some more than others. "I said under my breath.

The lady chuckled and a curious glint came into her eye. "You know, some people believe mirrors have the power to reflect your soul."

I was starting to get a little creeped out. "I'm sorry, but I don't think you can help us after all." I turned to leave the shop.

"Pity." she said. "You'll never get home that way. I turned back on her in surprise. "How did you..."

"Surely you don't expect to go tromping around Paris wearing that! She said as she stepped back and looked us up and down. "This is the greatest city in the world for goodness sakes!"

Ashley was shaking worse than ever and I thought I might join her in a minute. Meanwhile the shopkeeper had disappeared into a back room. She came back holding two dresses flung over her arm. "Come on you can change back here." She disappeared into the back room again, waiting for us to follow.

My mouth stood open, mirroring Ashley's shocked expression. I regained my composure and started to walk to the back but Ashley stopped me. "What are you doing? You're not really going to follow her are you?"

"Do you have a better idea? Look, she knew about what happened to us. She probably knows how we can get back home."

Ashley shook her head. "It's not that easy. It's never that easy." I could only assume she was making reference to her books again.

We followed the lady to the back of the shop. Like the other room, mirrors lined the walls. Hand mirrors, dressing mirrors, vanities. As we walked in our reflections passed smoothly from one mirror to another, it was as if we were always being watched. I shuddered. In the corner a changing curtain had been set up. Ashley went first and I was left to talk to the shopkeeper and explore a little more. Table stood at random places in the room covered with multicolored tablecloths and odd objects. A child's doll lay sprawled on top of an open book. I read the title at the top of a page. Silence of the Lambs. Glass bottles stood everywhere in every shape and color, including a beer bottle that had not had the label torn off all the way. I recognized it as a Budweiser. A shelf, the only one in the small room, was lined with wine bottles. They dated from 1871 to 1997. I tried to drink in all I saw. Plainly these things did not belong together if the shopkeeper was telling the truth.

I turned to her, but she held up her hand to silence me before I could say anything. She turned her attention to dusting a collection of random figurines.

Finally Ashley came out from the changing curtain. She had washed the green gook from her face. Good I thought we would probably have had a hard time explaining to people what that green stuff was. I couldn't imagine how she had figured out how to fasten everything. Maybe that's why she had taken so long. She wore a blue velvet dress cut, it seemed, to fit her perfectly.

I walked behind the curtain and changed into a red velvet dress with long tight sleeves that fanned out as they neared my wrists. The neckline was low, but not uncomfortably so. I came out to see that Ashley had made the same discovery I had. Perhaps she had seen the book

I came to stand in front of the shopkeeper beside Ash. She seemed about ready to give us an explanation, or so I hoped. She stopped dusting and turned to us. "The year is 1881. It is summer, soon to be fall. I suppose you've noticed the chill. "I suggest wearing a shawl," She said near to forcefully guiding us to the door. "Paris is not kind during the winter months." I opened my mouth to question but she had us in the streets before I could say anything

" No questions child, Your answer lies at the opera."

"What answer? Do you mean the other mirror?"

"No questions!". With that she left us confused and alone on the cold streets of Paris.