The Cousins

Disclaimer: I don't own Narnia.

Author's Note: If you haven't read my stories The Chronicles of the Bracelet Books 1 &2, this will probably not make sense.

Chapter 1: A Horse-Crazy Cousin

Joanna stooped to enter the hideout, glancing behind her as she did. Consequently, she didn't see where she was going. When she turned around, she had no clue as to where she was, but she knew she wasn't in Tennessee. She had explored the land around her enough to know that. She crept forward. There was a noise ahead of her. As she looked over a rise, she saw a castle below her. The scene before her was strange. She could see many children, two of whom looked around her age, being restrained. The girls except one were pried away from the boys. One of the men restraining them entered the castle, then exited quickly, dragging another boy behind him. One of the girls tried to attack him, but they held her back. Joanna puzzled over this scene.

"Jack!" Lecia called, attempting to save him.

"Lece! You can't!"

Lecia turned to Julia, eyes shooting flames at her. "You got your wish. He can't bother us now."

"I never wanted this to happen!"

"Well, whether you wanted to or not, it did." Lecia said as they, Susan, and Lucy were taken toward Calormen without Peter, Edmund, Adrian, Katieanna, and Jack.

Joanna followed the men with the men with the girls, but as she walked, something happened. Her clothes changed, and she received a sword, bow, and sparkling golden bracelet. She loaded the bow and leveled it at the leader of the men guarding the girls. TWANG! He fell dead. A few minutes and a few arrows later, all the men were dead. Joanna hurried out of her hiding place. "Are you all right?" Her voice faded as she recognized Lecia and Julia. "Lece? Julie? What are you doing here?" she asked as she untied them.

"Um... being saved by our little cousin?"

"Only little to you by two weeks, Julie. And don't you forget it!"

"Okay, can you two please stop arguing?" Lecia said, standing after untying Lucy and Susan. "Lu, Su, meet our cousin, Joanna. Joanna, meet Lucy and Susan."

"Hi!" she said.

"They're queens." Julia whispered.

Joanna looked at Lecia for conformation. Lece slowly nodded. "Wow."

Susan laughed. "That was what I thought when we were told that we would be queens."

"Shall we go back home?" Lu asked, pointing to Cair Paravel.

"That is your home?" Joanna asked, amazed.

"Yes. Hey, Lece, we need to introduce her to Ruby and-"

"No, we don't."

"I agree. We do not need that." Julia said.

"Why?" Lucy asked.

"Fine, we will, and you can see." Lecia said, rolling her eyes. They got back to Cair Paravel; then Lucy, Lecia, and Julia slowly led Joanna in the general direction of the stables. "This has 'bad idea' written all over it." Lecia muttered. They entered the stables, where Joanna nearly fainted. Then, when she didn't, she started running around like a crazy person. (Though she might have been.) "Jo! Calm down!"

"I'm actually inside a stable for horses, not cows!" she squealed, ignoring Lecia; that is, until Lecia grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her. "Joanna, if you don't calm down, I won't introduce you to any of them."

"You mean I really get to meet them!"Joanna exclaimed.

"If you calm down." Instantly she was still. "Well, that's progress." Lecia groused. "Joanna, this is Ruby. She lets me ride her. Ruby, this is my cousin Joanna. She's a little horse crazy."

"A little, Lece?" the horse inquired.

"Ok, maybe a lot horse crazy. What's wrong, Jo?"

"Did she just talk?"

"Oh, yeah. You've never seen a Talking Horse before. Yes, she did."

"Wow."

"Yeah, wow." The cousins and queen stood in the stable for a few more minutes before Lecia said, "Well, shall I introduce you to the rest of the horses?"

"Oh, yes, please!"

Author's Note: Yay! Book 3 begun! I have a poll on my profile as to how long this series will be. Please tell me what you think!