The Prince

Disclaimer: I don't own!

Author's Note: If you haven't read my stories The Chronicles of the Bracelet Books 1-3 and The Knighting, this will probably not make sense.

Chapter 1: Returning

"Let's play! All you three do anymore is sit around and talk about secret stuff I can't listen to!" John begged.

"Fine. What do you want to play?" Jack asked.

"Maybe boys versus girls?"

"Um, okay." The girls ran, staying together. The two boys chased them, but Jack's heart was only half in it. He glanced up and saw pink in a tree. "Hey, John, why don't you go look that way, and I'll look around here?"

"Okay!" He scampered off, and Jack waited until he was out of earshot. "Okay, he's gone; you can come down now." All three slid out of the tree. "Thanks." Lecia said. "Hey. Where are we?"

"Not in Tennessee."

"Hey, could we be in Narnia?"

"Perhaps; perhaps." They heard people talking. A cliff was direct in front of them. They noticed an apple tree. "Wait; weren't there a bunch of apple trees in the ruins of Cair Paravel in Prince Caspian?" Lecia questioned.

"There were! Hmm. I wonder-. Shh. That's the Pevensies! Who's up for scaring them?" All 4 raised their hands. "Okay, let's hide in the bushes and jump out and scare them." Jack said.

"I say! I do believe that's an apple tree!" a young girl's voice said, almost as soon as the cousins were hidden.

"And this is not the only tree. Look there-and there." a boy's voice added.

"Why, there are dozens of them. This must have been an orchard-long, long, ago, before the place wild and the wood grew up." a different, older girl's voice said.

"Then this was once an inhabited island." yet another voice, another boy's, this one older, said.

"And what's that?" the first voice said.

"By Jove, it's a wall. An old stone wall." the last one said. Jack held up his hand and counted down on his fingers 3, 2, 1. The 4 jumped out and yelled, "Boo!"

"Ahh!" the first voice, Lucy screamed.

"It's okay, Lu. It's just Lece and cousins." Peter said, the last voice. "Do you know where we are?"

"Um, we do, but we probably shouldn't tell." Joanna said.

"Oh." There was a rustling in the bushes behind the kings and queens. "No, we didn't do that." Julia preempted the question. A young boy stepped out of the bush. "John!" four voices yelled. "What are you doing here?" Jack continued.

"The better question is: What are you guys doing here?" John replied.

"We've been here before."

"So was this what you've been talking about when I couldn't listen?"

"Yeah."

"Well, shall we explore?" Peter cut in.

"You bet!" Lecia said enthusiastically.