In a small house in London there lived a family. A mother and a father, though the father was off fighting in the war. It was a terrible time. At night fears of bombs dropping from overhead and so all lights would be switched off so as in hope that there was less chance of them being hit.
Also in the house, were their five children. Peter, the eldest, was 16. He was tall with blond hair and brown eyes and cared greatly for his younger siblings, though he often was a bit harsh and bossy.
Susan was the second eldest, being 15. She was what her two younger sisters and younger brother called her, a-know-it-all. She always acted very grown up and seemed to believe she was better than the others but she still loved them. She had long dark hair and brown eyes.
Then there was Edmund, he was 14 and always seemed to be getting into trouble and never did as he was told. He wished to be grown up and treated as such. Most believed he only cared for himself but he cared much for his family and mostly he cared for his sister, his twin. He had dark brown, almost black hair and brown eyes.
Dawn, who was also 14 and Edmund's twin sister and the younger twin. Was very adventurous and had a wide imagination which she shared with their younger sister Lucy. She loved books, like her older sister but was quite tomboyish and was closer to Peter and Edmund than she was to her older sister Susan. Her hair was long, down to her waist and was dark brown, very similar to Edmund's, though at times it could be seen to have a red tint to it. Her eyes unlike the rest of her family were a bright blue and she was quite small.
Last was Lucy. She was 12 and was very close with her sister, Dawn. They just understood each other better than the others did sometimes even more than Dawn and Ed. Lucy was very sweet and kind and always saw the good in other people. She never told lies and was quite smart for age. She had short brown hair and like the others (except Dawn) had large brown eyes. Lucy was the only one that had ever seen Dawn's hidden talents. Dawn could use magic.
Ever since she was born, Dawn was able to use her magic. She discovered it to be true when she was truly angry and accidentally set one of the living room curtains on fire. After that she practiced and soon she could control them and do what she pleased with them, though she was always scared to us them even in the tiniest ways just in case she was seen. As she grew her powers became stronger and she learned to master them. Lucy had seen her practicing once in their bedroom which they shared and Dawn had told her all about them and made her sware never to tell anyone.
When ever she used her powers, Dawn's blue eyes flashed bright gold. Dawn always felt like she didn't belong there on London or even England. She wasn't sure if she belonged anywhere. Were there other people like her? With magic? No, there wasn't and until she was proven otherwise, she was alone.
Late one night, all occupants of the Pevensie household were fast asleep. Until loud alarms started going off. Dawn ran from her room and straight into her twin brother. She quickly shuck him awake and once he was she ran back into her room to get dressed.
Dawn then ran off in search of her mother, she wasn't in her room and she could hear the bombs going off outside. It wouldn't be long until they were over head. She crashed into her brother Peter, "wheres-" but Peter had already fled down the hall leaving her by herself. She gave a sigh of irritation before once again dashing back down the hall.
It was only when she heard her mother scold Ed for something that she found her. Her twin had been standing at the window looking out. Their mother had found him and had pulled him back, "Edmund, get away from there!" she cried. "Peter! What do you think you are doing?!" asked their mother. Peter than flew past her and into the room. It was then she heard Lucy calling out from their bedroom. Dawn rushed past Susan who turned around calling after her, "Dawn, come on, we have to get to the shelter!" Dawn just waved her off and continued.
Dawn got to their room and grabbed her torch before seeing Lucy still tucked into her bed, her hands over her ears and looking terrified. "Come on, Lu!" Dawn said to her, pulling her by the hand out of bed and together the two ran out after their family.
They ran out into the backyard towards the shelter all in single file. Lucy was in front with Dawn behind her and their mother was calling for them to hurry as the sound of bombs got louder and closer. Suddenly, Edmund broke away and ran back to the house with a call of, "wait, Dad!" Dawn stopped and looked around after pushing Susan and Lucy in before her. Edmund and Dawn were very close to their Dad, a lot more then they were to their mum. Peter ran after him, both of them ignoring the cries of their mother calling for them to come back.
Dawn pulled on her mother's arm and was able, with a bit of help from her magic, to pull her mother inside. They had to keep the door open which wasn't the safest thing to do for those already inside the shelter but it would save Peter and Edmund some time with opening the door. Dawn went and sat with her two sisters who were huddled together under a blanket, shaking. Dawn wrapped her arms around their shoulders for comfort as she waited anxiously for her two brothers to appear. It was sometimes easy to forget that Susan was the elder girl and not Dawn as Dawn seemed to always be the one to comfort someone if they were upset or frightened.
Seconds later Edmund came flying in through the door and Peter came running in after him. Edmund fell down on the bed in the middle of the floor as Peter began to yell at him. "Why can't you think of anyone but yourself? You're selfish! You could've got us killed!" yelled Peter. Dawn left the bed and sat down with her twin and wrapped her arms tightly around him, knowing he need it most as their mother had now sat down with the other two girls.
"Stop it!" their mother cried and Peter's yells ceased. Edmund sat up as his twin sister held him tightly in her arms and smoothed down his hair. "Why can't you just do as you're told?" asked Peter. He was given no answer. When he discovered that no one was going to answer him and turned around and finally shut the shelter door.
Dawn's pov.
Over the next few days, mother seemed slightly nervous and on edge. We had all asked her what was wrong but we were never given an answer as she would ignore the question or change the subject.
With mother acting nervous, so did we. Finally she came clean and told us we were travelling with the rest of the children to live in the country where we could be save from the dangers of war. Edmund seemed the most upset about this and wouldn't talk to anyone but me. He was always angry. Lucy seemed rather upset and I knew she didn't want to leave home and mum. We all understood how she felt as we were all feeling the same way, it was just because she was younger that it effected her more.
The morning that we were to leave, I had never seen the train station this packed before. There were soldiers everywhere and I spotted Edmund looking around every now and then to see if our father was among them. I kind of guessed that he wasn't. We were all gathered together around mum as she placed our labels of where we would be staying on our jackets and checked that we had all our things. I stood in between Lucy and Susan, I clipped my own lable onto my bag as Mum helped Lucy with hers and made sure she was warm enough for the journey.
Edmund then said, "If Dad was here, he wouldn't make us go!" I sighed and wrapped my arm around Lucy, she leaned into me clutching her teddy bear closer to her chest.
"If Dad were here, the war would be over and we wouldn't have to go," retorted Peter. I rolled my eyes, Peter wasn't really helping with the matter.
"You will listen to your brother, won't you Edmund?" Mum asked him, but he wouldn't answer or meet her eye. Mum stood up and tried to pull him in for a hug but he leaned away and so she just kissed him on the head before turning to look at the rest of us and say her goodbyes.
First she went to Peter as he was standing next to Edmund, she pulled him into a tight hug which he returned. She whispered something into his ear and he replied but I couldn't hear them over all the noise that surrounded us.
She slowly stepped away from Peter and then walked over to Susan, "oh, Susan!" she said as she hugged her aswell. Susan's eyes were slightly red and puffy from crying. "Be a big girl," whispered mum to her.
Then she turned to me and she pulled me in aswell. "Look after the others, they'll need you more than ever now. Especially Lucy" she said quietly to me. She leaned away as I nodded my head and smiled, a few tears running down my face knowing it would be quite a while before we met again and I couldn't help but feel it would be a lot longer than we had expected it be.
She then stepped back and glanced around once more at all of us. "Alright," she stated, "Off you go." We picked up cases and headed towards the train. I was behind Edmund who was being dragged along by Susan. I looked back over my shoulder at Lucy who was holding Peter's hand. They checked our tags and then asked for our tickets. Peter who had our tickets was distracted by something and so when I noticed the woman was repeatedly asking for our tickets, I took the tickets from Peter and handed them to her and then pulled Peter by his jacket towards the train.
I followed the other two but kept glancing back to make sure Lucy and Peter weren't too far behind. I noticed Lucy looking around, trying to see over people but it was hard with her being so small. I guessed she was looking for mum. Peter stopped to talk to her and they then noticed me waiting for them. Peter let go of Lucy's hand and she ran to me and I grabbed hold of her now free hand. I smiled over at Peter and he smiled back. We boarded the train and quickly caught up with Edmund and Susan.
We finally found a free window where we could look for Mum. Susan looked out and was quickly joined by Lucy and I, and then Peter. We quickly spotted mum and we began waving frantically and yelling our goodbyes like everyone else around us.
The train slowly started moving and we soon lost sight of her. The train picked up speed and we decided it was about time we went in search of a compartment. We find one that was mostly empty except for two young children who looked to around Lucy's age or younger. We put our luggage up on the rack and sat down. I sat down next to Peter and lay my head on his shoulder, his arm wrapping around me. The train ride was very long as we had one of the last stops. We watched from our compartment window as the two kids we had shared it with were taken off to wherever they were staying. The other three sat across from us and we all remained quiet throughout the journey. Thinking of what the future would hold for us and imagining what our new home would be like.
Our stop was station that wasn't really a station . There was only a wooden stand in the middle of no where next to a dirt road. We were the only ones here surprisingly but it didn't look like there were mainly places around here for people to go. The sound of and on-coming car met our ears and so raced down the steps of the platform, believing it to be whoever was to meet us, this Ms. Macready.
We waited another few moments to see if any of us could hear anything but all there was was silence. "The professor knew we were coming," stated Susan. Edmund then picked up his tag and began to inspect it, "perhaps we've been incorrectly labeled." We then heard the sound of a womans voice which appeared to encouraging a horse. I was correct as seconds later, a woman rounded the corner in a large cart being drawn by a grey horse.
The woman had a strict atmosphere to her and I became slightly weary and knew she wasn't someone to cross. She gazed down at us in, if I had to put a name to it, disinterest. Peter and Susan shared a look of disbelief before they looked back up at the strict woman. "Mrs Macready?" asked Peter hesitantly. The woman replied, "I'm afraid so."
Lucy looked up at me and I smiled reassuringly down at her and then she spun back around. "Is this it then? Haven't you brought anything else?" Mrs Macready asked us. Peter then replied, "No ma'am. Its just us." Lucy nodded in agreement. "Small favours" she remarked before gesturing with her head for us to get in the cart behind which we quickly did.
The ride wasn't very long but the area we were in was beyond beautiful. It was simply breath-taking. There were large grounds filled with plants and trees surrounding the large manor.
It was an enormous house made of mainly red brick and appeared to be very old.
The inside of the house was much brighter in places but darker in others. Yes, it was a quite beautiful house but it seemed to large for only one man and caretaker.
"Professor Kirk is not accustomed to having children in this house" remarked Ms Macready, "and as such, there are a few rules you will need to follow; there will be no shouting or running." She then began making her way up the stairs and we all followed. "There will be no misuse of the dumb-waiter and NO touching of the historical artifacts." Ms Macready had turned to see Susan about to touch a white stone bust and had stopped her sharply.
We were silent as she then walked up the small staircase and stopped in front of a large wooden door, "and above all there will be no disturbing of the professor."
It soon became dark and it was time for bed. Lucy had been tucked in by Peter, Susan and I but she couldn't get to sleep. Peter was sitting next to the window and gazing out into the darkness. I sat on Lucy's bed reading her a book trying to get her to fall asleep. Susan than walked over to the radio and switched it off as it had begun telling of the air raids and that was something we didn't all need reminding of.
I gave up on trying to get Lucy to sleep and let the book fall open on my lap as Peter and Susan walked over to us. "The sheets feel scratchy" mumbled Lucy to us. They sat down with us and Susan told her, "wars don't last forever Lucy, we'll be home soon." Lucy looked to me and I nodded in agreement. Edmund chose then to saunter in, "yeah, if homes still there." I just rolled my eyes at his remark. That was defiantly not helping the matter.
"Isn't it time you were in bed," complained Susan. Edmund had always been rather childish and we sometimes wondered if he was ever going to grow up as he still even looked like a child and not 14.
"Yes, mum" remarked Edmund sarcastically. I shared a look with Susan and we both just shuck our heads. "Ed!" called Peter, luckily Edmund finally stayed silent. We then looked back to Lucy and Peter said, "you saw outside, the place is huge. We can do whatever we want here! Tomorrow is going to be great. Really."
I'm almost certain, Peter jinxed us.
