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THE SOUND of the lone note radiates throughout the large room. The piano was placed in an area with very little other furniture. There were a couple of chairs against the wall, the piano bench, and the instrument itself, but that was about it.

On their first day, the Porter children had each been lead to their rooms. They were larger than their rooms at home but simple. Each had a bed and bedside table, but they also had a particular decoration that set it apart from the others. Eleanor's room had a painting of a lion that she swore followed her with his eyes.

"Is it E?" Louis guesses. He was sat on the floor, his legs crisscrossed and a journal in his lap. He flips his capped pen around in his hand, glancing over at Eleanor. The eldest sister was sat at the piano bench, playing random notes one at a time.

"Close..." she says. "Try again," Eleanor plays the same note again, looking over at Louis. Lillian was sitting in one of the chairs, quietly reading a book she had borrowed from Pollys small library. Micheal, on the other hand, was sprawled on the floor, fiddling with a scrap piece of paper Louis had given him.

"I don't know... D sharp?" Louis guesses again.

"Right," Eleanor says, smiling softly and looking back to the keyboard. "How about-"

"I can't take this anymore!" Micheal interrupts suddenly. "This is officially the most boring game on earth," The boy pushes himself up with his hands, making a face at Eleanor and Louis. "You've ruined the piano for me! I hope you're sorry," Eleanor twists around in her seat to scowl at Micheal.

"Well, I don't know what else to suggest," She responds sharply. "We've unpacked, we've-"

"We haven't explored the house yet," Micheal cuts his sister off, smiling slyly. "Not properly, anyway," Lillian closes her book, keeping her finger in between the pages to mark her place.

"I don't know..." she says. "Is it morally ethical to go poking around Polly's things?" Micheal looks affronted.

"I never said anything about poking around her things, Lilly," The youngest boy counters. "Just the rooms," he grins, rather proud of his self-made logic. "Come on!" Micheal pushes himself up to his feet, grabbing Louis's arm and trying to pull him up as well. Louis doesn't budge, instead, exchanging a look with his sisters. "Come on!" Micheal says again, his tone already more irritated. "Pleaseeeee" The begging goes on. The three older siblings exchange glances, sharing looks, each of them considering if they wanted to comply or not.

"Okay!" Eleanor exclaims suddenly, getting up from her seat and smirking at Micheal. "Let's go then!" Louis finally allows his brother to pull him up to his feet. Micheal grins, beaming with pride at his success, as he raced to the door. Finally, they would get a good look at the house. Lillian sighs, getting up from her seat, and walks over to her older sister, giving her a 'really?' look. "I know," Eleanor says quietly. "But the sooner we get over with it, the sooner the whining stops," Lillian sighs softly, quietly agreeing.

"Be sure not to disturb Ms. Plummer though," she says, following her brothers into the hallway. "She's in the library, I believe, been there all morning." Polly Plummer was a strange woman, she had found, definitely odd. Micheal rolls his eyes at his sister, the expression hidden as he moves far ahead of the group, leading them to the right-wing of the house, which was far less familiar to all them. Nathaniel always told them not to bother with it- as it was where he and Polly primarily spent their time. He said it had nothing of interest... Micheal didn't believe that.

The young boy grabs a near handle and opens the door, peering into the room. A small boring room. Micheal moves quickly, trying different doors and scanning each room with an expression of boredom. Lillian and Eleanor walked together talking quietly to each other about a subject Micheal couldn't bring himself to care about. Louis, on the other hand, follows along with his younger brother, opening the doors on the other side of the hall. Boring room.... another boring room... Oh! This one was slightly interesting. It was covered in shelves with old books. Louis glances over Micheal's head and hums softly.

"Want to explore?" He offers, looking to the younger boy. Micheal frowns, irritated with the simplicity of this home. How could Polly have such a huge house and put nothing of substance in it? Nothing fascinating, nothing interesting, it was painful. Micheal pushes past Louis to advance further down the hall, grumbling to himself in irritation. The boy is just about to push open the next door when something catches his attention. Looking to his left, he notices a small side hallway that was almost hidden behind a long curtain of a nearby window.

Louis sighs to himself, going a bit ahead of Micheal to check out the next room. It had a trunk in it and a large window. Could be interesting, he supposed... Not really, but it was worth a shot. He glances down the hall, Micheal wasn't there... perhaps he was checking out another room, and the girls had stopped down the hall, both of them bored with this exploration. Louis shakes his head, going to the trunk.

Micheal, however, had chosen to walk into the little hallway, finding only one door there. Going inside, the boy finds nothing but a tall mirror. The looking glass was eloquently decorated on its border, different designs etched into the wood. Micheal approaches the mirror, naturally taking a look at his reflection, frowning at himself before looking back to the wooden outline of the glass. The carvings showed flowers, forests, and castles, but what drew the boy's attention the most was the repeated image of a lion. Micheal sighs, all the fantastic images just made him more aware of how stuck he was. Stuck here, in the middle of a war, in a big boring house in the countryside. It was just in that moment, where Micheal was wishing he was anywhere but here, that he glances back at his own reflection and gasped.

"Louis!" He yells, his voice mixed in fear and excitement. "Louis come quickly!!" His eyes were glued to what he saw. It was him, exactly how he always was; dressed in the same clothes and looking just the same, but he wasn't in the room. His reflection was standing in the middle of a deep woods. The trees were slightly swaying, their branches, as well as the entire forest floor, covered in snow. It looked incredible, otherworldly even, magical. It was a magical mirror and Micheal couldn't look away.

"Micheal?" Louis had been looking through the trunk. It was full of small boxes with rings in them. Odd if you asked him, but the boy wasn't one to judge a collection. However, at his brother's yell, he gets up, following his voice into the hallway. After looking around for a moment, he catches sight of the small hallway. Pushing the curtain away, Louis walks through the open door to the room with the mirror. "Micheal? What is it?" He didn't know what to expect exactly, but his brother stranding in a monthly bare room, staring at himself in the mirror, was defiantly not it. He slowly wanders up behind Micheal, glancing around the room to make sure he didn't miss anything. "Is this what you were yelling about?" He asks, unable to hide the skepticism in his tone.

Micheal tears his gaze away from his reflection, looking up at Louis with wide eyes. "Yes!" He exclaims brightly. "I can't-" Micheal stops short, having looked back to the mirror and finding... his completely average reflection. "W-What?!" Micheal exclaims, startled and upset by the disappearance of the world that used to be behind him. Louis rugs the back of his neck, confused by all the excitement.

"I mean, it's certainly interesting..." he offers weakly, scanning the border of the mirror. Micheal shakes his head furiously, turning to look at his brother.

"No! No, you don't understand!" He exclaims, looking back to the mirror. "It was magic! It was me! I saw me, but somewhere else!"

"Find anything good?"

Louis glances around at the door as Lillian asks her question, standing in the doorframe with Eleanor. Louis looks back to Micheal as the youngest brother struggles to articulate what he saw.

"Um.."

"Yes! Yes, we did!" Micheal shouts. His attention was back on the mirror as he presses his hands against the looking glass, looking at the empty room behind his reflection. He didn't understand. The woods were right there! They were beautiful! Where were they? "There were woods, and me, in the mirror!" He was frustrated now, trying to explain something that defied the laws of what was realistic. Eleanor and Lillian exchange a look. Micheal always had a big imagination. His three siblings were used to him making up little stories and playing pretend.

"Right," Eleanor hums. "Well, are you ready to play our game now?," She grins. "Lily and I think we should find some of Pollys fancy clothing and dress up all sophisticated!" Louis rolls his eyes. Micheal, however, looks furious.

"You're not listening to me!" He bursts out, whirling on the older three siblings. "It was magic!" Eleanor was exasperated at this point.

"Listen, Mike, it was cute at first but aren't you a little old for this? I mean, magic..? Aren't you more into realistic adventure stories?"

"It's not a story!" Micheal responds, practically yelling now. Lillian quickly shushes him, glancing behind her. If they disrupted Polly or worse, Nathaniel, they'd pay the consequences. Michaels frustration was now melting into hurt. "...Why don't you believe me..?" He whines, his eyebrows pulling together and his lip slightly pouting. He wasn't lying. There was really something in the mirror. Louis frowns.

"Micheal..." he starts, feeling quite sorry for his brother. He supposed he just wanted to play a game. They should all play along.

"Forget it," Micheal interjects, his expression quickly hardening again. He was so tired of being treated like a baby. The young boy pushes past his siblings and rushes down the hall. For a moment the three Porters are quiet.

"All that to avoid playing dress-up with us," Eleanor concludes of the outburst, rolling her eyes at Michael's immaturity. She wanted Micheal to shoot being a child, of course, but his frequent mood swings were quite irritating at times. It was hard, after all, to have to act as a mother figure for her siblings. She was only a teenager. Lillian laughs halfheartedly at her sister's comment.

"Let's go," She says, gesturing for the other two to follow her out of the room. "He'll get over it eventually. We better not get caught poking our noses around," Lily leads Eleanor back toward their bedrooms.

Louis, however, stays behind for a moment. Standing quite still, he findings himself looking back at the mirror, into his own reflection. Everything about the way he looked was completely ordinary, though, if he didn't know any better, he would've thought he saw the lion carving winking at him in the light.