A TWIST OF FATE

After almost two dang months, I have finally succeeded in the completion of the second chapter! It was another typical battle with writer's block, and this particular chapter here was extremely tricky to write down. In order to make sure this remained faithful to the original movie, I had to watch the scene several times over, and I also had to look up the original quotes on the Internet. Please be merciful, people, and take it easy on me; I'm just about ready to drop dead over here!

And please, please leave me a review when you're done! Please! I'm starving for feedback! Feedback is what fuels me, as well as these stories.

If you do review, I'll be your bestest friend until the end of forever!


Characters (with the exception of Terence) © Disney (and their original creators)

Tumnus and Narnia © C.S. Lewis and Disney/Walden Media

Terence and Story © unicorn-skydancer08

All rights reserved.


Chapter 2: What Goes Down Goes Up

At first, screaming was all Tumnus and Terence could do as they plummeted through the air. They expected to meet with their deaths the instant they reached the bottom; but the pit into which they had tumbled only extended on and on and on—it seemed to go on forever.

Then, suddenly and strangely, their momentum slowed. The next thing they knew, they seemed to be almost floating through the air, as if they were nothing more than mere feathers drifting in a light, balmy breeze. "Wha—wha—what happened?" Tumnus gasped, almost speechless from fright and shock. "W-what's going on?"

Terence was just as mystified by this peculiar sensation as the faun was.

"Are…are we dead?" the young man dared to ask.

Tumnus doubted it. If he were dead, his heart wouldn't be throbbing so violently within his chest.

But if this wasn't death, what was it, then?

The sensation continued, and the twosome soon discovered it was no longer quite so dark around them. Terence could now make out Tumnus's white, horrorstruck face more distinctly, as could Tumnus with Terence. And they both saw that they were indeed floating, gliding ever so gently downward.

"What is this?" questioned Tumnus, nothing short of astounded. "What's happening?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, mate," was all Terence could say.

Down, down the two went, slowly and tranquilly, as though they weighed next to nothing. And the further they descended, the lighter it became, until they were in for quite a sight: all around them floated curious objects, such as clocks and bits of furniture, and even a full-length mirror. But what was most curious of all was that just about everything appeared to be upside-down, and they appeared to be gliding upward—or was it the other way around, and Terence and Tumnus were the ones wrong side up?

Here, it was impossible to tell which way was up or down!

"Uh, Terence?" said Tumnus, unable to conceal the tremor within his voice as he stared apprehensively at their topsy-turvy surroundings. "I don't have a good feeling about this!"

"Must be a…strange magic of some sort," Terence presumed.

They continued to drift downward—or upward, or whichever—for what must have been ages. Or, it could have been merely seconds. That was another thing about this mysterious place: time seemed to stand still, or at least stretch out longer, like the fathomless pit. Either way, Terence and Tumnus could no more have guessed the number of seconds their fall lasted than they could have numbered the stars in the heavens on a clear summer's night.

At length, Terence spoke up uncertainly, "Suppose we should fall right through the center of the earth…and come out the other end, where people walk upside-down, and all that?"

"Don't be absurd, Terence," Tumnus chided him. "Nobody could ever—"

But before the faun could complete his sentence, he felt his head hit something undoubtedly solid, as did Terence. Both men gave a loud "oomph!"—and then they stopped moving altogether. They felt their bodies involuntarily topple to one side, and they found they now rested upon a hard, flat surface. To their blessed relief, they were on what was unmistakably a floor, and the world around them appeared to have righted itself at last. Though their surroundings were still peculiar—what with the different colored walls, the warped passageway ahead of them, the oddly patterned floor beneath them, and the way almost everything appeared to slant to one side or another—they were just glad they could now distinguish up from down; and also that, despite a wave of dizziness, they were alive and unscathed.

While Terence and Tumnus lay side by side, waiting to recover their strength and their mental equilibrium, they heard a young girl's voice call out from somewhere down the hall. "Mr. Rabbit! Wait, please!"

"Mr. Rabbit?" said Tumnus incredulously, as he sat upright.

"Must be the rabbit we're after," Terence presumed, springing to his feet. "Come on, mate!"

And without even waiting for Tumnus to give an answer, the young man took off down the distorted hall at a mad dash. Tumnus, knowing he had no other choice at this time, stood up and followed. "Would you slow down, Terence?" he hollered impatiently after his companion.

As the two rounded a corner, they almost literally ran into a small girl, who was somewhere around Lucy's age, maybe a little older—ten, eleven, possibly twelve. The girl had long, thick hair that was palest yellow, and she wore a neat little blue dress with a soft white apron, white tights, and black patent shoes. A small black bow rested on top of her head. All three of them shouted out at the sight of one another, and the girl gasped, "Oh! Oh, I beg your pardon."

"Do excuse us, miss," Terence said apologetically at the same time.

"Who are you?" Tumnus asked the girl. "And what are you doing here, in this strange place?" He did not mean to sound inquisitive; but the faun certainly never expected to find an innocent child roaming in a place like this—of all places—let alone some rabbit with spectacles and a watch.

"Well, you see," the girl began to explain, "I'm following a rabbit, and I—"

"Wait, wait a minute," Terence cut her off, "did you say 'rabbit'? As in, a white rabbit?"

"Why, yes!" the girl said, looking and sounding surprised.

"With a waistcoat and a pocket watch, who is in a fret about being late?" Terence queried.

"Yes, that's exactly it!" cried the girl, and now her whole face lit up with excitement.

"Well, what a coincidence—that's just who we're after, ourselves!"

"Excuse me," Tumnus cut in brusquely, "but what do you mean, 'we'? You're the one who's after him, Terence. I'm just here to make sure you don't do anything stupid. And, like I said to you before, I'm never letting you out of my sight from here on."

Just then, the sudden slamming of a door made them all jump.

"What was that?" Terence gasped.

"A door just slammed," Tumnus told him, rather sardonically. "That is the extent of my knowledge, mate."

"It must have been that door," said the girl, pointing in one direction.

Sure enough, there was a door right there. When Terence went to open it, he and Tumnus and the girl were all taken aback to see that it revealed another door, except this one was slightly smaller than the first. "Huh?" Terence gasped.

"What the—?" said Tumnus bewilderedly.

Terence promptly jerked the second door aside—only to discover yet another door, one that was even smaller. Then there was another door, and then another, and then another! And so this continued, the doors getting increasingly smaller, until finally there was an opening scarcely big enough for them to fit.

The girl, being the smallest of the lot, was able to slip through with relatively little effort. Terence, having a strong yet slim figure, also managed to squeeze himself in. Tumnus, on the other hand, being a faun with rather big, fur-covered haunches, had a considerably more difficult time. He actually wound up getting himself stuck, and therefore Terence had to tug on the faun to help get him all the way through the gap. At first Tumnus wouldn't budge, but after Terence gave a few good heaves, he succeeded; and the next thing Tumnus knew, he lay spread-eagled on his front on the other side, with the rest of them. "You all right?" Terence asked him, touching him on his bare, fur-lined back with one hand and surveying him with mild concern.

"Sure," Tumnus muttered, glancing up briefly at the young man. "Thanks a lot."

They now found themselves in a vast, uninhabited room, with multicolored walls that soared to impressive heights—walls that never held so much as a single picture. In fact, there was nothing at all in the room whatsoever, save for a tiny curtain at the far end.

"Boy," Terence mused as he stood on his feet, "this place gets curiouser by the minute."

"You can say that again," said Tumnus, climbing to his hooves also and brushing off his front.

"This place gets curiouser by the minute."

Tumnus leveled off his ears, and frowned. "I didn't mean that literally, Terence."

At that time, the girl appeared to suddenly become fully aware of her companions, and her eyes grew especially wide as she regarded Tumnus, with his long leaf-shaped ears and his unclothed torso—his only article of attire was a single scarlet wool scarf that draped casually around his shoulders—and his thick, hairy, stag-like legs. "What?" said Tumnus, when he noticed her intent look. "What are you staring at?"

"If you'll pardon my saying, sir," said the girl, trying her best to sound tactful, "what are you, exactly? I don't believe I've ever seen anyone quite like you before. Or, better yet, anything like you."

Tumnus became slightly flustered at that. "Well, I'm a…well, I'm a faun," he answered her, with a sigh.

"A faun, you say?" The girl sounded intrigued. "Do they really exist?"

"Well, I'm standing right here in front of you, talking to you. Is that sufficient proof for you?" The girl's face flushed warmly, and Tumnus immediately repented of his rudeness. "Forgive me," he said contritely, "I didn't mean it the way it sounded."

In an endeavor to lighten the mood, Terence smiled at the little girl and said genially, "Well, my dear, I don't believe we have been properly introduced to one another, have we?"

"Why, no!" said the girl, immediately brightening up. "And, you know, when strangers meet for the first time, it is only proper for them to introduce themselves, the proper way."

So, Terence bowed gracefully before her at the waist, and said nobly, "Well, then, let me introduce myself, here and now. My name is Terence. And this here is my best mate, Tumnus."

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Terence and Tumnus," the girl said, gathering up the hem of her dress and making a lovely curtsy. "My name is Alice."

"Alice?" Tumnus repeated, his ears pricking up at the name. "As in, Alice in Wonderland?"

She looked at him quizzically. "I beg your pardon, sir?"

"Oh…never mind," said Tumnus after a moment, with a sigh.

He doubted he would be able to explain it well enough to her, anyway.

"Forgive my asking," Terence said to Alice, "I don't want to be discourteous—but, where did you come from, Alice? How is it that you've wound up in a peculiar place like this?"

"If I may," said Alice, looking and sounding a bit awkward, "I was just going to ask you the same thing."

Terence hesitated, unsure of how to put this into proper words. "Er…well…to tell you the truth, dear girl," he said, wavering somewhat, "I'm not exactly sure how we've done it myself. We simply stumbled into some sort of hole, while going through a dark cave—and the next thing, here we are."

"I'm not so sure we're even here," said Tumnus wryly. "It's like being in a dream—where everything is real, and yet unreal at the same time. Nothing is what it is, because everything is what it isn't. And, contrariwise, what it could be, it wouldn't; and what it couldn't be, it would." He looked toward his mate. "Do you understand what I'm saying here, Terence?"

Terence took a deep breath, and answered simply, "No, I don't."

"Well," said Alice, "I suppose the best we can do is simply keep moving ahead, and go along with whatever comes our way. After all," she added, "you have to go forwards, in order to go back, don't you think?"

"Yes, I suppose you're right," Terence said, and Tumnus made a slight nod of assent.

Terence therefore headed straight for the curtain on the other side of the room. Alice was right behind him, and Tumnus reluctantly followed. When they reached that little curtain, Terence dropped to his knees, while Tumnus crouched down on his haunches, and Terence drew the curtain aside to reveal a tiny door with a big brass knob.

But no sooner had Terence taken hold of the knob than a voice cried out, "Ouch!"

Everyone jumped a mile, Alice included, and Terence forthwith jerked his hand away. "Oh, excuse me!" the white-haired youth gasped, almost without thinking.

To his and everyone else's utter amazement, the doorknob spoke right back.

"Oh, that's quite all right. But you did give me quite a turn!"

Tumnus's eyes widened to no less than three times their size as he regarded the doorknob, which indeed spoke as if it were a living person. The faun blinked several times, then rubbed his ears, but they did not fool him.

Terence soon recovered from his surprise, and said to the knob, "Sorry. You see, sir, we were just following…"

"Rather good, what?" the knob interrupted, giving a rich, lively laugh. "Doorknob? Turn?" And he positively cracked up, as if he had just told the best joke in the history of the world.

"Good one, indeed," Tumnus muttered with a roll of his eyes, having heard better quips than that.

"Yes, yes, I get it," said Terence prudently. "Please, sir—"

"Well, one good turn deserves another! What can I do for you?"

"If you don't mind, sir," Terence said, leaning down to his level, "my friends and I are looking for a white rabbit, and we are sure he's been through here just now. So, um, if you wouldn't mind…"

"Huh? Oh!" Understanding the request, the knob obligingly opened his mouth wide—his mouth, which turned out to be the keyhole—and Terence peered through.

"There he is!" he said, after a moment. "I see him!"

"You see the White Rabbit?" Alice cried in delight.

"Sure do!" said Terence triumphantly as he straightened up. "We got him, now!"

"Well, there's no time to waste!" Alice said anxiously. "We simply must get through!"

But the doorknob did not agree. "Sorry," he said primly, as Terence made a move to pry him open, "I am afraid you can't do that."

They all stared down at him. "What?" said Tumnus incredulously.

"And why not?" Terence wanted to know.

"Why, you're all much too big!" the knob informed the young man. "Simply impassable."

"You mean, impossible," said Tumnus.

"No, impassable!" said the knob, with a chortle. "Nothing is impossible!"

Tumnus merely looked at him, unsure of whether or not to take that as an omen.

"Why don't you try the bottle on the table?" the knob now suggested.

"What bottle?" Tumnus queried.

"On what table?" added Terence.

"Oh!" said Alice suddenly. "I think it's this table, right here!" When Tumnus and Terence turned in the girl's direction, they saw that she had just gone over to a small, round table that stood less than a yard from their spot. Surprised, the young men promptly stood and made a beeline to the table themselves. The table, which was indeed real, was made entirely out of glass; and on top of it rested a little bottle, with a tag attached to it.

"How did that happen?" Tumnus wondered aloud.

"That's funny," said Terence perplexedly, "I don't recall seeing this table here before."

Tumnus told him matter-of-factly, "That's because it wasn't here before, mate."

"Read the directions," the doorknob's voice instructed them from below, "and directly you'll be directed in the right direction!" A hearty chuckle punctuated the last few words.

Terence picked up the bottle and studied the inscription on the small tag closely, but all it said was: DRINK ME. "'Drink me'," Terence murmured aloud. "Hmm. Well, that seems a simple enough thing to do." But just as he was lifting the bottle to his lips, Tumnus's hand abruptly snatched it away from him. "Hey!" Terence protested. "What gives, Tumnus?"

"Are you insane?" Tumnus demanded, his eyes narrowed at Terence, holding the bottle out at arm's length as if it might bite. "Who's to say whether or not this stuff may be poison?"

"Poison?" Terence repeated incredulously. It was now his turn to narrow his eyes at Tumnus, and he shook his head reproachfully. "Oh, come on, mate, don't be so superstitious!"

"Well, it would be best to look first," Alice admitted. "For if one drinks much from a bottle marked as poison, it's almost certain to disagree with one, sooner or later."

"Beg your pardon?" said the doorknob quizzically, for the threesome were conversing in hushed tones, and he could scarcely hear a word they were saying.

"We were just giving ourselves some good advice," Alice answered him.

"Give it here," Terence said to Tumnus, thrusting out a hand to take the bottle back.

Tumnus hesitated, and then the faun very reluctantly passed the bottle back to his mate. Surveying the bottle intently once more, Terence remarked, "It's a rather small bottle, really. Hardly enough for one gulp for each of us, I'd say."

"Here, let me try it first," said Alice, and she took the bottle from Terence and took a sip.

"Any good?" Terence asked her, after she swallowed.

"How does it taste?" Tumnus dared to inquire.

Alice smacked her lips thoughtfully. "Tastes like…oh, cherry tart. Or maybe pineapple."

"Let me have a bit of that," said Terence, and he took a small sample himself. After taking his time to savor the flavor and swallow, he frowned, though it was neither an unpleasant nor a disgusted frown, and said, "I don't know, Alice. Tastes more like lemon custard to me."

"Give me that," ordered Tumnus, seizing the bottle from Terence once more. The faun gave the bottle one final look of distrust, before forcing down an infinitesimal sip himself. When he spoke again, he declared, "You're both wrong. This stuff tastes more like roast turkey."

While they were engaged in this conversation, they were hardly aware that their surroundings were growing progressively larger by the second—but then Tumnus realized that the bottle, once smaller than his hand, now filled his arms entirely. "Whoa!" the faun cried, feeling himself lose his balance and topple to the side, onto the floor. "Goodness, me!"

That was the moment Terence and Alice took full notice of what just happened as well. "Hey, is it just me," said Terence apprehensively, "or has the room gotten bigger?"

"Bigger?" Alice repeated, her bright blue eyes wide as saucers. "I think we've shrunk!"

"Shrunk?!" exclaimed Tumnus, every last bit of color vanishing instantly from his face, as though somebody had opened a spigot and drained it all away.

The doorknob, meanwhile, burst into gales of laughter. "You three almost went out like a candle!" he said gleefully, like this was the most hilarious thing he'd ever seen in all his life.

"I can't believe this!" Tumnus cried, on the brink of hysteria. "I-I'm, like, three inches high!" Racing to Terence's side and seizing the young man frantically by his shoulders (momentarily catching Terence off-guard as he did so), he rambled on, "Terence, what are we going to do? We can't go around like this! Who knows what can happen to us, at this size? What are we going to do?"

"Now, now, Tumnus, calm down," said Terence, and he gently pried the faun off him.

"Calm down? You expect me to be calm, at a time like this?"

"Well," said Terence slowly, "I must admit, I didn't expect this any more than you did, mate." He offered an encouraging smile. "But hey, look on the positive side!"

"How can there possibly be anything positive about being merely three inches your original height?" Tumnus demanded fiercely. "Huh? You tell me, Terence!"

"Well, for starters, we're now just the right size for the door."

"You're right, Terence!" said Alice joyfully. "We can now fit easily!" And when she strode up to the door, it was evident that she was indeed the ideal height to pass through.

Tumnus snorted. "Oh, yes, that is just splendid," the faun groused. "Perfectly glorious!"

But when Alice stretched out her hand to the knob, he twisted away from her, saying, "Oh—no use!" And then he began to laugh like crazy again.

"Now what's the problem?" Tumnus demanded sharply.

Still laughing, the knob replied jovially, "I forgot to tell you! I'm locked!"

"What?!?" Tumnus nearly screamed, his voice so high and shrill that he practically squeaked.

"Oh, no!" groaned Alice, and she closed her eyes and covered her face in dismay.

"You're telling us this now?" Terence cried, clapping a hand to his forehead at the same time.

"But, of course, you've got the key," said the knob, in his usual unruffled manner, "so—"

"What key?" Terence, Tumnus, and Alice asked at the exact same time.

The knob frowned at them. "Well, now don't tell me you left it up there!" He lifted his gaze toward the table, which appeared taller than a tree from this spot, and they simultaneously looked up to see the key right there, through the glass.

Tumnus stood stone-still for only a second, before shutting his eyes tightly and slapping a hand audibly to his face. "Oh, for the love of…" He trailed off, unable to complete the rest of his sentence. At that same time, Terence closed his own eyes and slid his own hand over them, shaking his head from one side to another.

"Oh, dear," said Alice witheringly, plopping down onto the floor. "Whatever will we do?"

The knob said, "Try the box, naturally."

And a box appeared in front of Alice, as though out of thin air. Inside that box was a single cake, with the words "EAT ME" scrawled across the top. "Well, all right," Alice conceded, as she picked up the cake and took a bite out of it. "But goodness knows what this will do."

No sooner had she swallowed the first bite than she suddenly started growing bigger—and bigger, and bigger, and even bigger, until she took up nearly the entire room, and Tumnus and Terence were both driven to the outermost wall to avoid getting themselves squashed like a pair of bugs. The doorknob got his own face mashed by one of Alice's enormous shoes.

"Good heavens!" Tumnus gasped, upon sight of Alice, who had to be well over a mile high.

All Terence could do was stand and stare, and Alice was just as shocked by this as they were.

The doorknob tried to say something. But of course, with Alice's shoe pressed up against him and all, the words were hardly distinguishable.

It all sounded like a bunch of mere: "Whtwhsthswwdthdwd!"

"What did you say?" Alice asked, lifting her foot away from his face.

"I said, 'A little of that went a long way!' " the knob replied; and, as usual, he cracked up.

Even Terence had to laugh this time. Tumnus, on the contrary, never cracked so much as a smile. Poor Alice, now down to her last nerve, said in a broken voice, "Well, I don't think it's so funny!" Giant tears welled up in her sky-blue eyes, and her enormous shoulders began to heave with raging sobs as she whimpered pitifully, "Now—now I shall n-never get out!"

"Oh, come on, now," Tumnus urged her, "crying won't help."

"I know," she sniffled, as the tears proceeded to spill down her face and cascade to the floor, one after another, "but I—I—I just can't help myself!"

"Whoa, heads up!" Terence shouted urgently, and he and Tumnus hastily scattered like jacks as a bombshell-sized tear exploded near them. Alice only sat there and continued to bawl her eyes out, and her tears fell in one massive, relentless shower. Soon, the tears began to form a pool on the floor, and before Tumnus and Terence knew it, they were up to their ankles in water. And the more Alice wept, the higher the level of water increased.

"The whole place is flooding!" exclaimed Tumnus.

Even the doorknob was now alarmed. "Say, this won't do at all!" he cried. He hollered up to Alice, "You! You, up there—stop! Stop, I say!"

But Alice only covered her face with her hands, and sobbed harder.

It was now impossible for Terence and Tumnus to evade the deluge of tears. One drop scored a direct hit on Tumnus, and another struck Terence squarely in the face a second later. In no time, both men were drenched through and through. Terence's luminous hair and beard now trailed down in dripping strands, and Tumnus's honey-brown curls were plastered down over his face.

Alice just continued to cry bitterly, and it wasn't long before Tumnus and Terence were compelled to swim for their lives. The sea of tears swelled and churned uncontrollably on every side, and wave after wave rolled over them, covering them completely more than once. Terence barely had time to hold his breath before he was driven all the way under the water, out of sight, and it was a good minute or so before he was able to come up for air.

When Tumnus struggled yet again to the surface himself, he wailed desperately to the wailing girl, "Alice, stop, before you drown us!"

"Oh, look!" cried the doorknob, as the little bottle that contained the magic drink glided past on a wave. "The bottle! The bottle—" The last word was promptly drowned out as a wall of water rose up against him and engulfed him entirely.

Alice, still sniffling, managed to retrieve the bottle, and there were still several drops of the special drink left. So the girl forced down those last few tiny drops, and within two seconds, she had shrunk back to her initial height of three inches. She plummeted straight down along with the bottle, and landed neatly inside it in the water.

As the bottle drifted across the somewhat calmer ocean of tears, Tumnus and Terence, half-drowned and soaked clear to the bone, swam up and heaved themselves up into the bottle with her, one after the other. Luckily for them, the bottle was big enough to contain all three of them, and still stay afloat. Terence was coughing like mad, and Tumnus collected several long, gasping breaths, feeling as if he'd never breathed properly before.

"Oh, dear," said Alice abashedly, as she looked at them, as well as the body of water that surrounded them. "I do wish I hadn't cried so much."

"Well, there, now," panted Tumnus, wringing the water from his soaked scarf, "see how crying really does no one any good, Alice?"

To all of this, Terence did nothing except to shove his dripping bangs back from his eyes, sending little droplets scattering as he did so and causing the silvery locks to stand up at rather interesting angles. By now the young man's coughing had abated a great deal, but he was still unable to say anything right away.

Meanwhile, the gargling doorknob opened his mouth wide as the bottle drew near him, thus enabling Terence, Alice, and Tumnus to pass straight through to the other side.