Chapter 1. "Great adventures, unforgettable"

"I can't believe you managed to take me out to town."

"Correction, I dragged you out of your gloomy little den. After I cleaned off the spiderwebs and thick layers of dust off you." My friend Melinda laughed at her own joke. Haha, very funny.

"I was working. You know I can't take time off." I narrowed my eyes. Of course she wouldn't know, her family was so rich, she could have afforded to do whatever she wanted, party all day and all night long if she so pleased. She didn't notice my quick glower and went on.

"Work work work. Can't you have a little fun from time to time?" I was about to protest, to tell her again that my time was precious, but she cut me off. "Please, Liv, live a little." She giggled at her own joke again. Sometimes I wondered why I was still friends with someone like her.

We couldn't have been more different, Melinda and I. She had always been outgoing and popular ever since school. She always dressed by the latest fashion and the boys would swarm around her like bees around honey. It didn't hurt either that she was a pretty blonde with blue eyes, built like a super model.

I on the other hand had mastered the art of being invisible. If I hadn't been a translator, I would have been a ninja. I had average looks, neither ugly, nor pretty either. Maybe the guys would have noticed me more if I didn't disappear as soon as they showed any kind of interest. My mom had always said I would just end up a lonely cat lady. I would never mingle, I would never date, I barely interacted with other people. I was terrible at small talk and got very nervous around new people. But they say the best cure for a fear is to face it head on. Which is why I had let my best friend Melinda try to "socialise" me from time to time.

I snapped out of it when the waiter came with our order.

"Thank you!" my friend beamed up at the waiter and I just nodded, avoiding eye contact. I did notice the waiter's hand though, white and delicate, with long elegant fingers. A young woman, perhaps?

The waiter left. "Liv, you should have seen him, such a sweetie!"

I raised an eyebrow in surprise. So, a young man? I stole a glance back in his direction, but he was just disappearing behind a door. Tall and slender. Too bad I hadn't managed to see his face.

"This is exactly why you're still single." Melinda rolled her eyes. "A nice guy walks by and you don't even glance at him."

"Melinda, with you here, there's no point anyway. When I'm with you, I am invisible to guys. They all just look at you." The bees and honey image crept back into my mind. I was in the picture too, as a very unattractive lemon. I took a sip of my drink.

Melinda picked up a piece of paper off the table, where my glass used to be.

"This one definitely saw you!" She smiled teasingly, unfolding the note. I was half expecting it to say 'Please give my number to your cute friend.' She stared at it for a while, then handed it to me, looking puzzled. "I don't know, it makes no sense."

I read it aloud " 'Great adventures, unforgettable. Find your prince charming and change your life forever! 24 White Street.' " Was this some kind of joke? "Do you think maybe it's for you?" I tried, looking at Melinda.

"No, silly, it was under your glass. It sounds like fun though. You should go."

"No, I have work to do..." I protested. Yes, feebly. I was still worried about becoming an old cat lady.

" 'Oh, my work, my deadline!' " she mocked me. "This is officially your day off. Maybe it's a cruise, wouldn't that be exciting? I'll come with you, let's go!"

When she got going like this, it was easier to just go with it rather than try to change her mind. We dropped some money on the table for our drinks and left.

It was such a lovely spring day outside that I was almost grateful to her for making me take the time off. Almost.

White Street was just around the corner and our destination was a lovely white house. This was wrong, it was just someone's home, not a travelling agency. I was about to turn and leave, but Melinda knocked on the door. Damn it! Almost immediately, the door cracked open slightly.

An old man with a long beard peered from behind the door. "Yes?" He didn't sound friendly.

"My friend Olivia is here to meet her prince charming." Melinda chirped. Oh boy... The old man would definitely think we were crazy. I was about to blurt out an excuse and get out of there, but grandpa was quick.

He grabbed my arm, yanked me inside and closed the door behind us. I started to panic. I'd been kidnapped! It didn't help at all that it was very dark inside, with blinds down at all the windows and no lights on. I was blinded momentarily because of the bright sun outside. I started flailing my arms, trying to feel for the door, but it was as if it had disappeared. I was grasping at air.

"Where am I? Let me out, mister! You have no right to -"

"Calm down, little lady. You are in no danger." the old man said in a voice that was not particularly reassuring.

"Help, Melinda! Get me out of here!" My heart was throbbing in my chest. This was it, I was a goner.

"Spare your voice, little lady. She can't hear you."

My eyes were starting to adjust to the darkness and I became able to make out the silhouette of the old man.

"Let me out!" I yelled at him, not so loud this time.

He didn't reply, just flicked on a match and lit a candle on a table, then several others. In the growing light, I began to distinguish a large room, elegantly furnished, full of candles, on table tops and shelves.

"You can't get out. Not yet. And not through the same door that you came in." he replied, not turning to look at me.

"What do you mean?" I turned around, but the white door I had come in through was gone. Instead, at the far end of the room there was a stairway going upwards.

"You came here for the adventure, right?" He squinted at me. "And the prince charming, I suppose."

"You can keep them both. I want to get out." I tried to remember some kung fu moves from martial arts movies I'd seen. Grandpa had been quick earlier, but he didn't look that scary. Maybe I would have been able to knock the wind out of him and run for the stairs.

"The only way out is to go in first." Again with the cryptic responses! Let me out, old man!

"Fine, I will go in to go out. Please, lead the way."

He picked up a candle and headed for the stairs. I followed him.

"What is this place anyway?"

He didn't turn around. "Some people usually call it purgatory. Others call it wonderland. But you can call it whatever you like."