Summary: During the London blitz, a girl still becoming a young woman is sent to stay with her grandfather in the country. When children are evacuated, she meets four unexpected friends and with them finds an adventure beyond her wildest dreams.
Disclaimer: I own nothing of Narnia, none of the characters, none of the ideas, none of the places, none of the anything. The only thing I own is my OC. Everything else is the property of the estate of CS Lewis.
Please do take a look at the Author's Note at the end of the chapter, you can read it before or after the chapter, so whichever makes you happier. It explains some things about what, why, and how I'm writing. I will warn you though it's a whopper of a note.
Imagination, Reality, and the Space Between
Prologue: Safe Haven
She sighed, looking at the huge house from the outside. She liked the house; she really did, since otherwise, though she loved her grandfather, she wouldn't have come back every summer since she was ten. Of course, this summer she hadn't exactly been given a choice. They were beginning to bomb London, the Nazis were, and though they didn't actually live within London, her mother was worried. Too worried, really, but that didn't stop her from being packed off to her grandfather's house like she couldn't even listen to the wireless without breaking down into a mess of tears. She had older brothers, both fighting in the war now, so she certainly cared about what was happening, though truth be told, she was frightened but not so much by the bombs, but by the streets afterwards, the rubble where shop fronts and houses used to be. That was the terrifying bit, because the explosions only lasted for a few hours, but the damage they caused lingered.
But there was no turning back, no running after her mother driving away in the car, no crying that she wanted to go home like the first year, when she was seven and Mother and Father were taking Edward, her oldest brother, who had just finished thirteenth form and was going off to University in the fall on a trip, leaving her other brother James who had been ten at the time and herself behind. She had cried over nearly everything for the first week but eventually she had gotten over it.
After that, she had started to like the place. It was great for playing hide-and-seek for one thing, granted, that worked better when the housekeeper wasn't taking tours around the house… but that was irrelevant really. The house had really grown on her and so had her grandfather. He was an eccentric old man, but he was sweet, and he told the best stories.
Smiling slightly at her memories, she picked up her bags, (she had a full closet of things already here, but some of those things were too small now) and headed inside. She was sure that Mother had warned her grandfather that she was coming… except she wasn't. The house seemed dead, at least, more so than it normally was when she arrived.
"Hello?" she called out tentatively. There had to be someone there, the house was never empty. She listened for footsteps for a moment before hefting up her bags and heading to 'her' room. It wasn't exactly easy to carry two rather large suitcases up the rather narrow stairway, but she eventually made it. The dark wood of the floor creaked as it always did as she hefted the suitcases down the passageway to the room on the end. Once within the end room, she lay one suitcase atop the already made bed, and set the other at the foot. She contemplated unpacking for a moment, before deciding against it and choosing to look for her grandfather instead.
Quickly clattering down the stairs, she did what most people do when looking for someone. She called out for him.
"Grandfather? Are you here?" She said, knocking hopefully on the door to his study.
The door opened just as she was about to knock a second time. The shock of white hair and kindly face that emerged made her smile. The older man smiled in return.
"Grandfather, can I safely assume that Mother forgot to write that I was coming?"
"I would say so, Marilyn. Else, someone would have been out to greet you earlier…"
"I do believe that Mrs. Macready would have tried to run me off. I tell you, she doesn't like me very well."
"She doesn't like anyone that knows as much or more about the house than she does."
Marilyn laughed at the matter-of-fact statement. "You have a point there." She muttered amidst giggles. "It's good to see you again, Grandfather."
The old man smiled, with laughter in his eyes. Marilyn hugged him, deciding then and there that she would make the best of her time here, especially since this would probably be the near the last summer she spent in this house, since she was going into twelfth form next year, and then soon enough would be going off to university. As the thought crossed her mind, she hugged her grandfather tighter and decided to be content with being considered a child for just a little longer.
Introductory Author's Note: I created a forum for this. Go to my profile, then click on the forums link and then on the forum with the same title as the fic. It should be the first topic, titled The Important Things To Know.
