Chapter 2

Edmund winced as the door to Caspian's bedroom made a horrific creaking noise as he pushed it open. He cast a wary glance around the dim room before stepping across the threshold. His brother, sister, and the professor followed him.

"He didn't say a word to you?" Susan asked for about the fifth time since they'd arrived at Professor Kirke's cottage. "He didn't leave a note or anything?"

Professor Kirke shook his head. "The last time I saw Caspian was when he came into my bookstore the morning after The Dawn Treader's Quest was released. He seemed quite normal – spoke with a few customers who were buying his book, autographed copies for them, picked up a book for himself. He insisted on paying for it even though I told him it wasn't necessary. He said he would be staying in Hasting a few days longer than he'd planned and that he'd see me that evening. When I closed up shop and came home he wasn't here and he hasn't been back since."

"That's not like Caspian," Peter said, sounding more than a little concerned.

Edmund crossed the room to pull open the shades and let some light in then moved to the bed and knelt down to pull Caspian's suitcase out from under it. "You didn't move anything or put anything else here, did you?" he asked.

The professor shook his head. "I left everything just as it was. I wasn't worried that first evening when I came home and didn't see him. I thought perhaps he was already asleep. The next day was Sunday so the store was closed. I came up to see if he was all right when he never came down for breakfast. He didn't answer when I knocked so I opened to door. Caspian was nowhere to be found."

"Are you certain he never came back Saturday night?" Susan asked, wringing her hands, probably not even realizing she was doing it. "He might have come in late and left early in the morning . . ."

The professor shook his head. "I would have heard the door creak," he said ruefully. "I meant to oil it before he came here for his book signing but time got away from me."

Edmund nodded, familiar with the house's quirks. He'd paid Professor Kirke a visit the previous year when The Horse's Boy had just been released. Since their Narnian Chronicles had begun selling so well Caspian and Edmund made it a point for at least one of them to be at Kirke's Book Emporium for a signing whenever one of their new books was released.

It still amazed Edmund how things had turned out since Caspian had come to their world. Their father, who they'd believed to be a normal lieutenant in the Royal Army had turned out to be part of a secret division specializing in combating the supernatural forces that the Nazis had tried to reign in during the war. That was something Daniel Pevensie would probably never have confessed to his children, for fear of being thought mad, if not for Caspian.

Somehow the Nazis managed to pull Caspian into France from halfway between Narnia and Aslan's kingdom. They learned later that their original intent had been to summon powerful weapons from other worlds. Caspian had been carrying Rhindon at the time and the Nazis would have killed him to take the sword from him, not realizing that the weapon they'd summoned was Caspian himself – a fact revealed by Aslan himself at the adventure's end, but one that the Nazi bastards wouldn't have been able to wrap their minds around even if any of them had been alive to hear the great Lion at the time. The long and short of it though, was that Caspian had been rescued by Daniel Pevensie's regiment, and having nowhere else to go, joined them for a short time.

When Daniel returned to London on leave for the holidays, he brought Caspian with him. It would be putting it very mildly to say that the Pevensie children were surprised to see their old friend, who last they heard had died of old age. It would also be putting it quite mildly to say they were glad to see him. Even saying they were overjoyed and ecstatic was an understatement. How often did dear friends return from the dead after all?

It hadn't been sail smoothing all the way after their reunion, of course. Caspian had needed to come to terms with the life he'd left behind in Narnia. While little more than a year had passed on earth since the voyage of the Dawn Treader (which became the basis of a book he and Edmund would later write) nearly half a century had passed in Narnia. Caspian had married and had a son. Then his wife was murdered and his son kidnapped. He spent the rest of his life in Narnia lonely and miserable, half crippled by a battle wound that kept him from searching for his son himself. He only saw his son once more, at the end of his life, after Eustace returned to Narnia, sent by Aslan on a quest to free the kidnapped prince. That, incidentally, was to be the basis for their next book, one which Edmund was taking the lead on. Though Caspian had healed those memories were like scars, and if he had to listen to Eustace recounting them in his usual tactless way it would be like ripping those scars right open.

There had been other obstacles for Caspian since coming to Earth – most noticeably the showdown with the White Witch who the Nazis had also managed to summon. It was after that encounter that the first book of the Narnian Chronicles came into being. They'd been helping Professor Kirke move some things out of his old house and the professor had shared with them all the story of how Narnia was sung into being – as well as how the wardrobe that first let Lucy, Edmund, Peter, and Susan into Narnia got its magic and how the lamppost in the Lantern Wastes came to be there. They'd all been held captive by the story (with the exception of Eustace who'd nodded off) but Caspian seemed more interested than the rest. He told Edmund later that the experience had been nostalgic for him – his nurse and his tutor told him stories of Narnia when he was younger. Caspian asked the professor for permission to write the story down and of course the professor gave it to him. Professor Kirke read it when it was finished and was quite impressed – as was his old friend in the publishing business.

Edmund was surprised when Caspian asked him to coauthor the story of the Pevensies' first trip to Narnia but of course he agreed. The World in the Wardrobe became an even greater success than The Magician and His Nephew. The Horse's Boy, which Edmund had taken the lead on, and Prince Telmarine which had been mainly Caspian's work, had both been even bigger. Edmund found it odd to be a world famous writer when he hadn't even graduated from school yet, but he couldn't deny that he enjoyed it. Not as much as he actually enjoyed writing though, and being able to work with Caspian who'd become a part of the Pevensie family. Both Peter and Edmund considered him their best friend. Lucy saw him as another big brother and their father treated him like one of his own. Their mother adored him. Susan though . . . well Caspian held a special place in Susan's heart and she in his. It was obvious whenever they were together. Their faces lit up whenever they saw the other and their smiles started glowing.

The diamond on the ring that Edmund stumbled upon in Caspian's suitcase wasn't quite as bright as Susan's eyes were when she was looking at Caspian, but it was close. Edmund blinked at it then quickly closed the box that held it and hid it under one of Caspian's crisply folded shirts.

"I don't think he was expecting not to come back here," Edmund told his siblings and the professor. "There are two sets of clean clothes still here, consistent with his plans to return to London on Monday. Even if he changed his plans and decided to go somewhere else before coming back to London he'd have come back for this." And he certainly wouldn't have left the ring, but of course Edmund wasn't going to say that in front of Susan.

"He wouldn't have gone off somewhere without telling anyone," Susan fretted. "That's not like Caspian. He'd have told the professor or left a note . . . done something . . ."

Edmund shut the suitcase and stood up. The rest of the room was sparsely furnished – there was a desk, a shelf on the wall holding a few curiosities Professor Kirke's father had brought back from India years and years ago, and a small table beside the bed where a candle rested beside a slender, new looking book.

"Professor," Edmund said, standing and moving toward the table, "what book did Caspian buy from your store? Do you remember?"

Professor Kirke frowned. "I can't quite recall . . . Something by H.G. Wells, I believe."

Edmund looked down at the book on the table and read the title off the cover. "The Time Machine . . ."

"Yes, that's the one," Professor Kirke told him.

Edmund picked the book up. A piece of paper slipped out from between the pages and the cover and drifted to the floor. Edmund quickly knelt to retrieve it then turned it over. For Peter and Edmund was written in Caspian's unmistakable script.

"Looks like he left us a note after all," Edmund said, unfolding the letter.

"Well read it already," Susan pressed.

Edmund straightened the parchment and obeyed.

Peter and Edmund,

If you're reading this then I'm probably either missing or dead. Sorry. I didn't intend for things to turn out this way.

Last night (the night our new book was released) I was approached by a man named Aleister Crowley who claimed to believe everything in the Narnian Chronicles was real. I spoke with him briefly and listened to his claims that he too has traveled to other worlds. Some of the things he said were rather convincing and so I've agreed to another meeting with him today. I picked up a copy of The Time Machine which he claims is the work of another world traveler and skimmed through it so as to be better prepared for whatever it is that he wants to tell me today.

There's something unsettling about Crowley though. I don't trust him but I don't really know why. If you're reading this then it seems my worries aren't unfounded. If you investigate this, and knowing the two of you there's really no 'if' about it, then be careful. I don't want anyone else getting hurt.

Right now there's not much else I can tell you. I'm probably worrying overmuch. It's just a meeting, in a public place even, and once I get back I'll tear this letter up. I guess I just feel better leaving this as insurance – so that if something does go wrong I won't have disappeared without a trace. But if you don't see me again, please tell Susan that I love her with all my heart and I'm sorry.

Caspian X

End of Chapter Two

Author's Note: Many thanks to all returning readers from last year, as well as the new ones who just discovered Walk This World last week when the preview chapter I posted moved the story up with the more recent fics. Double thanks to NorthernLights25, merlyn2, , sazza-da-vampire, Rhyselle, Ash12345, Miniver, Greyhound Master, maggie, mae-E, JaggerK, KrystalB2003, mcasey4, cflat, Lavendar, khajit, and SpicesRoses for all your encouragement.