Chapter One – Revelation

Susan

Wind whipped my hair around my face. I stared at the cliff edge, too terrified to move.

A figure came up behind me and spoke. She wasn't actually speaking, though. Her words just appeared in my mind.

Jump, Susan. Jump. You know you want to. You want to defy their expectations of you. You want to be able to surprise everyone. I know you, Susan. Jump. Jump.

I sat up in a flash, sweating and breathing heavily. Lucy stirred in her bed next to mine, rubbing her eyes and looking very much like the innocent girl she was.

"The nightmare again?" she asked, yawning and stretching like a cat. I nodded. Lucy was the only one I could talk to about it. "What do you think it means?" she asked. I took a deep breath and let it out with a quiet sigh.

"I really don't know, Lu..." I replied, looking down at my hands, curled into fists around the thin blankets. They were still shaking from the wind, the wind that still seemed too real to be a dream.

I heard Lucy crawl out from her bed and pad softly over to mine, crawling under my sheets and curling up next to me. I lay back down next to her, and she nuzzled her head into the crook of my shoulder. She looked up at me, as though wanting approval, and I gave her a small smile and a quick squeeze.

"How long do you think we'll be here this time, Susan?" she asked some time later, knowing I was still awake. I had been pondering the same thing. It was a common fear of ours. I had battling emotions over what I wanted. However, during the battle against Miraz, I decided that Narnia was our true home. Finchley, though it had more logic around it's traditions and expectations, was slowly becoming a prison. A cell with bars, blocking out the rest of the world and keeping everything else in. There were hardly any trees there last time we were there, and just about everything was concrete and metal. I sighed and gave her the best answer I could as sleep finally came over me.

"Forever, I hope."

-NEXT MORNING-

"SUSAN! LUCY! GET DOWN HERE ALREADY!" Edmund yelled, loud enough that the entire castle most likely heard him and jolting us awake. Lucy and I looked at each other, then in perfect sync said,

"Breakfast."

Edmund wasn't one to be made hungry. It often ended disastrously. We giggled, and quickly slid into day clothes. Without bothering with my hair, I ran downstairs as fast as I could. Lucy hit the table with a large slap!

"I win," she laughed, and I narrowed my eyes playfully at her, pulling her into a hug and tickling her where I knew she was extra sensitive.

"Very queen-like behaviour again today I see, girls," Peter's sarcastic voice came from behind us. I looked at Lucy, and slightly tilted my head in his direction. She smiled, and nodded more visibly back.

"ATTACK!" she screamed, and we ran at him. Realisation dawned on his face, and he had just enough time to cover his head and take his stance when Lucy pounced on his back and I took his feet out.

"No! Stop! Stop it! Off!" he cried out helplessly as we poked him all over his chest, arms and back.

"Very queen-like," Edmund grumbled, just loud enough for us to hear, but we all knew that he was taking some evil pleasure in watching his brother trying to get away from our hold.

"I'll say," a distinct Spanish voice said from the door to the dining hall. We all stopped and looked over at Caspian, who was leaning against the door frame with a small amused smile on his face, arms crossed, watching Lucy and me. I felt a small blush come to my cheeks. Peter took his chance to escape from under our sister and me, making us both stumble and land on the hard floor. Lucy looked like she would be in hysterics if it weren't for the guilty smile on her face, barely containing her laughter. I stood up and offered her my hand, which she took. I shook my skirt off, while a breathless Peter made his way over to Caspian, and shook his hand.

"Thanks," he said, tilting his head to the side and taking a deep breath.

I snickered and gave Lucy a high-five.

"Breakfast is served," Caspian announced, and slid back into the dining hall.

"About time," Edmund grumbled, which got a small giggle out of Lucy.

-LATER-

After breakfast, Peter insisted that we all go out riding together. Lucy snickered a bit as he rubbed a bit on his arm that we had poked a little too hard.

"We can go past Spar'oom," he offered when Edmund hesitated. At the mention of Spar'oom, his face lit up and he hastily nodded, along with our sister and me. Caspian also agreed to come, if only to get away from the palace. Of course, after the battle, we only had four horses that hadn't been used and were fit to use for riding. Lucy and I offered that we would share a horse together. Lucy giggled that it was either that or Caspian and I share a horse, and we both blushed at that, avoiding each other's eyes. Edmund broke the awkward silence by sneezing loudly, causing Lucy to break into another round of euphoric laughter. Only I could hear the smallest twinge of fear in her voice. Fear that the temptation of Spar'oom would be to great for us, or that the wardrobe itself would suck us back to the human world.

-LATER-

"Don't you go telling me you've forgotten your way now, Ed," Peter laughed at his face, which was flushed with frustration, as he jumped off his horse.

"I know it's around here, Peter. Maybe you could try leading us the way, with all this rain," he offered cheekily. Peter fell silent and shot him a death stare.

Shortly after departing the castle, rain had come bucketing down on us, so heavy that even Edmund, who could find his way to the light post with his eyes shut, had taken a wrong turn and left us all smirking at him and a very smug Peter.

If we could find the light post, even Caspian would know the way back.

We had shown it to him a few times, and he had memorised the way already.

"I think we should get back soon," he said suddenly with a serious look once we found the light post.

"Why?" I asked, moving my wet hair away from my face. It had stopped raining, but we were still all soaked completely. He shifted, uneasy where he was, peering through the branches at the horizon of trees.

"Where did Peter say he was going again?" he asked, not so easily avoiding my question. I shot him a suspicious look, but still answered politely.

"He was going to try and find any kind of clearing where we can sit down and rest for a while," I said, crossing my arms, "Now answer my question. Why head back after being out such a short while? It's only been two hours,"

He shifted again, facing another direction, and said quietly, just loud enough to hear, "Because there's something I need to tell you all, something that we can only talk about in the safety of the castle. The trees around him shook and sent a wind around us that was quite fast, making it sound like an agreement. Great.

Caspian had already shared his confidential news to the trees, and even the wind was in on the secret.

Peter arrived again, and shrugged, meaning there wasn't any other clearing where the sun shone through for a while, and we'd have to travel by horse to get there. I turned away from him, Lucy now coming up to me and grasping my hand while Edmund shared a rushed explanation of our situation with Peter.

"Tell us now, Caspian. What's going on?" I asked, trying to force as much queenly power into my voice I could without it shaking. He was seriously starting to scare me.

"She's coming back." he said, barely audible.

"Who?" Lucy asked, fear now clearly in her voice.

"We didn't think she would be able to. However a secret council was formed in her honour, those who still believed in her, using the bare remains of her staff, and they are bringing her back from the dead."

"The White Witch." Peter said, understanding lighting up his face.