Title:	        Through The Looking Glass
Author:	        Lovesfox
E-mail:	        lovesfox@rogers.com
Rating:         R		
Category:       X-File, UST
Spoilers:       Up to and including Chimera.  With specific 
                references to Squeeze, Darkness Falls, How 
                the Ghosts Stole Christmas, Arcadia.
    
Summary:        Mulder and Scully go to Nantucket Island, MA 
                to investigate unsolved disappearances.

Disclaimer:     I'll say it again, unfortunately Mulder and 
                Scully are not mine.  Chris Carter and 1013 
                Productions have that privilege.

Author's Note:  I have never been to Nantucket Island, but 
                did do much research on-line.  I hope no one 
                is offended at my use of actual locations there, 
                and can forgive any discrepancies.  Starbuck 
                House is a figment of my imagination, any 
                similarities to an actual inn are a coincidence.


                Liza MacGregor is a character I created, and 
                her curse is mine as well.



XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
												
Through The Looking Glass
by Lovesfox

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX


For Beauty's grace
And thine own face
For this unfairness done unto me
I place this curse over thee

Upon this form of wood and glass
So shall this come to pass
Into the mirror souls to feed
Forever and eternity will it need

Thee and any child of thy line
To do so for all of time
Heed it not and thou wilst learn
Consequences of thy turn

Illness and death shall then result
And bring about mine own exult
By my tongue do I curse thee
So mote it be

- Liza MacGregor
  September 2, 1872 

***


Prologue

Nantucket Island, MA
April 29, 1997
11:45 PM


The driving sheets of rain made it difficult to see.  Difficult 
to traverse the rocky, muddy terrain –- the little-used path 
through the woods.  

Exhaling harshly, the man continued to struggle onward, his head 
ducked down, both to aid in placing each booted foot and to 
minimize the rain that struck his face with chilling precision.  
His companion followed behind him.

His burden was heavy, awkward.  Wrapped securely in tarp and 
slung over both shoulders in a fireman's carry, it was unwieldy, 
making for backbreaking work.  But very necessary work.

They'd had to stop three times already to rest, his muscles tight 
and straining with his exertion, and now stopped yet again.  This 
time he shifted his load to lie over one shoulder, instead of 
both.  Taking a few deep breaths, and tilting his head slightly 
to one side, he started onward once more.

Plodding forward, one step at a time, his mind carefully blank, 
all his energy concentrated on the task at hand.

The man grunted as the tarp started to slide downward.  Stopping 
to shift and readjust the load, he dropped the flashlight he had 
been carrying in his free hand in the process.

"I've got it!" he heard faintly after he had stopped, cursing 
lowly, and turned his head slightly to the right to see his 
companion yelling at him to be heard over the sound of the rain.  
She had been marching behind him the whole way, her strength not 
quite enough to carry the weight of the load to spell him, 
despite her determination.

Picking it up, she returned it to him, ensuring he had it firmly 
in his grasp.  "Keep going," she said next, her mouth forming the 
words exaggeratedly as she yelled again, and waved him on.  

He nodded, pausing just briefly to watch as her rain-blurred, 
slicker-covered figure bent down and picked up the shovels she 
had dropped in order to retrieve his flashlight.  She carried 
two, along with her own flashlight -- their weak beams able to 
cut through only a little of the gloom, illuminating perhaps a 
foot or so of the path before them.

This new positioning made carrying the tarp-wrapped weight 
somewhat easier, as he was now able to hold it more securely in 
place -- keeping it from sliding or shifting again.

It seemed like they had been walking for hours, though their 
destination was only about forty-five minutes from their home.  
The rain and mud had made the journey much more difficult, 
necessitating more stops than usual.  

They were finally there, however.  The hidden place deep in the 
woods, as familiar to them both as the backs of their hands.  A 
place of death and secrecy. 

Allowing his burden to slip from his hold and fall to the ground 
with a muffled thud, he positioned his flashlight on a nearby 
waist-high rock to illuminate the area he wanted, and held out 
his hand.  A shovel was immediately placed into his grasp.  A 
second later his companion's flashlight added further illumination 
as she placed it atop another rock.

They began to dig.

***

End Prologue...See Part 1