Chapter 1: The Basement

Dianne lay on her four-poster bed, reading her favorite novel, though she had read it 10 times already. Holidays had started so they lay about doing nothing and wandering around the house aimlessly.

Aunt Melinda wasn't helping cure their boredom either. She kept dropping hints about a trip to Italy, which Dianne found extremely annoying.

Dianne was a girl of about 16 with sleek black hair braided into plaits. She had a thin face, a pointed nose, and soft brown eyes. She was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Adams, an ancient family living in the corner of Britain. Her parents were often on excursions to other countries and were seldom home. Dianne was by nature a bookworm and naturally came with her love for antiques and her room was full of them, like stamps, old letters, typewriters, etc.

She put the on the dresser and flumped back on the pillow, and was just beginning to sleep when her younger brother, Joseph burst into the room.

Now Joseph was the exact opposite of his sister. He had flyaway hair which he never liked to comb and he was rowdy and annoying, or so Dianne thought. He hated studying and anything related to it, like book reading or stamp collecting. He said once, 'Books and stamps are for the old people and I don't like 'em.'

'What do you want?' Dianne said lazily.

'Oh, nothing…' said Joseph with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes.

'Joseph… Don't you dare do it! '

Joseph sped into the hall with the book of stamps and Dianne ran after him. They didn't notice where they went and soon found themselves in the basement of the old mansion.

This house had belonged to their great-great-great-grandfather and there were a lot of things in there which Dianne found extremely fascinating. There were old trunks, boxes labeled things like 'Photos', 'Books' and 'Jewelry', furniture and a wardrobe with the initials R.A. carved in its door.

There was a door beneath the lamp which lit up the basement and Dianne knew that there was an ornate mirror in that hall because she had seen the housekeeper taking it out to clean. She cautiously opened the door and Joseph stood watching her. The mirror was still on its platform and looked a little dustier than when she had seen it last time. She walked up to it and was convinced she heard whispers ensuing from it when Aunt Melinda's voice echoed through the halls,

'Where are you, children?'

They shot each other panicked glances and rushed out of the basement. Aunt Melinda said suspiciously,

'Where were you two? I was looking for you all over the place, and here you are.'

'We were down in the kitchen, Auntie.' Dianne said innocently.

That night Dianne kept wondering about the voices that were coming from what seemed like inside the mirror. She had not begun to think about it much when her head lolled over and she fell into a deep slumber.

…

'Dianne? Dianne!'

A pair of pale gray eyes were hovering above her when she was roused. Joseph was sitting on her bed and the curtain was wide open. A streak of dancing sunlight was shining on her face.

'Whazzamatter?' she mumbled, half asleep.

'Come on, Aunt Melinda is calling us down for breakfast.'

'OK, I'm coming, I'm coming.'

During breakfast, Dianne was planning to go back and investigate. She didn't want Aunt Melinda to know anything about the mirror and her fears about it yet, because she was sure to panic.

Fortunately, Auntie was going over to a friend's house tomorrow and Joseph's holidays had ended, so he would have to go to school. She would have the whole house to herself! She decided that she should call her friends, Aura and Rachel to help. She couldn't bear going there alone. It just felt suspicious...

She waited eagerly for tomorrow and didn't sleep at night either. She kept tossing and turning in her bed, the thought of going down to the mirror again excited her, as well as made her a bit nervous. Aura had already come over and Rachel would come the next day.

While she chatted with Aura about the mirror, they discussed what they would find there and were extremely excited. But as the night rolled on, their sleep became more powerful than their desire to stay awake and they were sleeping before the clocks had struck one.

Dianne woke up abruptly in the middle of the night. Someone was calling her, but it wasn't a voice she recognized. It was like a child's voice, but slightly raspy, it called to her. She was itching to go and see who was calling her, but she decided to wait till tomorrow, just a few hours left.