A/N: All right, now to the real story. Hello to my new followers! It's good to know my writing isn't just going out alone into the void. I promised fun anecdotes about my bunny, so here you go: we discovered this week that Niffler is, in fact, a boy. Not a girl as we had been told. He had a play date with our neighbor's bunny and…well…he made a move on her. We'll leave it at that. So on that note, happy reading.
Chapter 3
Something was crushing me, pushing me back toward something very cold.
"All right, whoever is sitting on me can get off!" I yelled.
"Sorry," Peter mumbled.
But when he tried to get off, we both went tumbling backwards—into snow.
"Impossible," Susan whispered.
"I don't believe it." Peter said from the ground beside me.
I slowly stood up. We were standing in the middle of a forest. A lit lamppost stood right in front of us, looking just as natural as if it had been planted there since the beginning of time. There were no houses or cars in sight, much less a street or a sidewalk for the lamppost to be next to. It was just as wild as the trees around it. Something wet and cold fell on my cheek.
"Sn-snow." I said.
I brushed the snowflake away, then turned around slowly, as though that would soften the shock of having literally stumbled into a snowy wood through a wardrobe. I looked back from where we came—I could still see the wardrobe filled with fur coats and other normal things, things from our world. Because we weren't in our world anymore. We were in Lucy's world. The thought occurred to me much later than it should have, but I suddenly felt completely sure. This was the world she had tried to tell us about. What had she called it…
"Narnia," I whispered to myself.
The word fell off my tongue in a clean, satisfying way. I said it again, softer. Narnia.
"Don't worry," Lucy said, a cheeky grin on her face. "I'm sure it's just your imagination."
"Oh Lucy," I said. I had no idea what else to say. There was too much.
"I suppose saying we're sorry wouldn't quite cover this," Peter said, echoing my thought.
"No," She threw a snowball at him. "But that might!"
That broke me out of my existential daze. We had just entered a strange world we knew nothing about. But there was snow and that could only mean one thing to us. I balled up snow in my hand while Peter tossed a snowball toward Lucy.
"Pete!" I shouted, making him turn just in time to nail him in the face.
"Did you put a rock in that?" Peter laughed as he wiped snow out of his eyes.
"Arm yourselves!" I shouted in response.
Immediately, snowballs flew everywhere, even Susan had jumped in and her aim was surprisingly good. I knew Peter would want revenge, so I kept a close eye on him even as I hit Susan in the leg. She actually laughed. I saw Peter aim a snowball at my head, but I ducked just in time.
"Ah-ha!" I taunted. "Can't mess with—" Before I could properly finish my taunt, Lucy whacked me in the back with one particularly large snowball. It sent me sprawling back to the ground at Peter's feet.
"You were saying?" he asked and dropped a snowball he hadn't thrown on my face.
I sputtered and blindly grabbed for more snow. I balled it up as I stood and threw it without looking. Apparently, I hit Edmund. Oops.
"Ow!" Edmund shouted. "Stop that!"
"Baby," I coughed out. Only Susan heard and she glared at me until I stopped grinning. Then something occurred to me. If Lucy's world was real, then Edmund—
"You little liar!" Peter's voice immediately changed to his "father" tone.
"You didn't believe her either! None of us did!" Edmund fired back.
"But we didn't lie about it and torture her over it!" I shouted.
"Say you're sorry!" Peter commanded.
Edmund said nothing. Peter took a threatening step toward him.
"Apologize!" he said.
"Okay! Sorry!" Edmund said.
"It's all right," Lucy said. "Some children just don't know when to stop pretending."
My eyebrows went up. I was pretty sure that was the sassiest thing I had ever heard Lucy say. I saw Edmund make a nasty face at her, but I winked when she looked my way. Call it corruption, but I liked to encourage her to be a smart mouth, especially to her siblings.
"Maybe we should go back." Susan said.
"Or maybe we should take a look around." I mocked her tone. And maybe you shouldn't try to spoil everything.
She turned to face me.
"Or maybe we should all listen to Emma, O Wise One. Tell me, what's your great plan? Go out there and get lost in the cold without anything to eat or wear?" she said.
I was surprised. Confrontation like this wasn't usually Susan's style. She usually stuck to snide remarks and scolding.
"Or, we could listen to Susan!" I said, half-joking. "We could go back through the wardrobe and play some more dictionary games!"
"We have no idea where we are," Susan said. "It's freezing cold, and if we don't go back now, we don't know if we'll ever get back through."
She had a point. I hated that.
"Okay," I said. "But it just feels like we shouldn't give up so quickly. Won't you be kicking yourself in ten years if you found another world and just left without looking around, then you couldn't get back? Something interesting is finally happening!"
She rolled her eyes.
"Stop being such a kid about this."
"Oh, why don't you run along and go on pretending to be twenty-five?" I said, my voice rising in volume. "I'm sure it's much more fun than hanging around kids like us."
I knew I was overreacting to a row that really shouldn't have been a big deal, but I was so tired of Susan pricking at me, I was ready for any excuse to yell at her. I turned and grabbed a coat from the wardrobe.
"That isn't yours!" Susan told me.
Peter seemed to understand my idea and grabbed a cat for himself, smirking at Susan.
"No," he said. "but if we think of this logically, we won't be taking it from the wardrobe. Now, I suggest we go see Lucy's faun."
Lucy immediately lit up. Peter handed her and Susan coats, though Susan hesitated and only grabbed it after Peter murmured something I couldn't hear. Edmund recoiled from the coat Peter offered him.
"That's a girl's coat!" Edmund protested.
"I know," Peter replied.
I grinned. As grown up as he acted sometimes, I sometimes forgot about that side of him. I liked seeing it. I slipped my coat on and pulled my small sketchbook from my skirt pocket and put it in my coat. What a strange thing to take to another world with you.
We began following Lucy to the faun's house, Mr. Tumnus as she called him.
"A faun?" I whispered to Peter. "Like from Roman mythology?"
He laughed and shrugged. "Wouldn't it just make sense in a place like this?"
I had to admit he was right. I glanced up and caught sight of Edmund in the women's coat. I barely bit back a laugh.
"Edmund's coat?" Peter asked, clearly looking at the same thing.
Laughter sparkled in his eyes. I nodded and put my hand over my mouth.
"It looks simply splendid," I said around the laughter that spilled out.
"We're almost there!" Lucy called.
I couldn't help but smile at the kid—she was practically glowing. She looked so happy to be back in this place and on the way to see her friend. She could've really held a grudge against the rest of us, but it seemed all was forgotten. Sometimes I thought I could learn a thing or two about forgiveness from her. We turned a corner to see a little house built into a cave, but the door had been broken down and the windows smashed.
Lucy cried out in alarm and ran forward.
"Lucy!" Peter yelled.
We all ran after her. Inside, it was dark and damp. There was enough snow on the ground to tell that no one had been there for a while. Claw marks were all over the place; every picture and piece of fabric was torn to shreds.
"Who would do this?" Lucy asked no one in particular.
Peter ripped a piece of paper off the wall.
"The former occupant of these premises, the Faun Tumnus," he read. "is under arrest and awaiting his trial on charge of high treason against her imperial majesty Jadis, Queen of Narnia, Chatelaine of Cair Paravel, Empress of the Lone Islands, for comforting her majesties enemies, harboring spies and fraternizing with Humans. Signed, Maugrim, captain of the Secret Police. Long Live the Queen."
There was a beat of silence. All the laughter and jokes from moments before had vanished. Everything had turned. This world had seemed so inviting and familiar, and something in me still felt that, but it was like it was sick. Something was very, very wrong with it.
"We really should go back." Susan said with real worry in her voice.
I hated having to agree with her.
"But we have to help Mr. Tumnus." Lucy looked like she might cry.
Peter bent down to her eye level. "Lu, it's out of our hands now."
"Let's go home." Susan said again.
"I don't think we can help him," I said to Lucy.
"What would we do?" Edmund said. "I mean, he's a criminal!"
I thought that was a little unnecessary.
"No! You don't understand!" Lucy was getting even closer to tears. "I'm the human! She must've found out he helped me! We can't just leave him!"
Ethics. We'd had a few lessons last term in English class about philosophy and ethics. I had enjoyed discussing the hypothetical situations and figuring out the most moral solution, but now?
"Pssst!"
All of us looked up to see who had spoken.
"Did that bird just 'psst' us?" Susan asked.
Sure enough, there was a bird flitting outside the window. But surely the bird hadn't said anything. SURELY it hadn't been communicating with us. I mean, this may be a strange world, but talking animals?
We all walked outside. The bird flew away. We were being watched. I could feel it. I grabbed Peter's arm.
"There." My voice was barely above a whisper. "There's something in there."
I pointed toward a thicket. All of us had somehow ended up behind Peter. Suddenly, it jumped out at us. Lucy and I screamed. Well, Susan did, too, but later she swore she didn't.
It was a beaver.
"Very brave, Emma. Be careful, it's probably just hiding its fangs." Susan said.
I rolled my eyes. I had seen how tightly she'd grabbed onto Peter. She wasn't fooling anyone.
Peter stuck his hand out to the beaver.
"Here boy, here boy," he clucked his tongue. The beaver looked at his hand carefully.
"Well I ain't gonna smell it, if that's what you want!" the beaver said. Said.
"Lucy Pevensie?" It looked to the youngest of our group.
"Yes?" The little girl asked.
She seemed to be taking the talking animal in stride, unlike me. The beaver held out a small scrap of cloth.
"That's the hanky I gave Mr. Tum-" Lucy began.
"Tumnus. Further in, come on." The beaver told us, trying to lead us into the thicker trees.
Peter and I made to go after it.
"Hold on, we can't follow him!" Susan protested.
"He says he knows the Faun." Peter said.
"He's a beaver!" Susan hissed at him. "He shouldn't be saying anything!"
"Come along, humans!" the beaver called.
"Listen," I said to Peter. "Susan is…I think she has a point. I mean, we don't know him or this faun, not really."
Lucy was looking up at Peter, silently begging him to disagree with me.
"Lu, I'm sorry," I said. "But this could get really dangerous."
"Is there a problem?" the beaver asked.
"No," Peter said firmly. "We're coming."
"Peter," Susan and I said at the same time.
He grabbed Lucy's hand and started after the beaver. Edmund fell in behind him. Susan and I looked at each other in a rare moment of shared discomfort and followed. We didn't like it, but we at least had to stick together.
As we walked, very quickly I might add, my irritation with Peter eased off. I knew we were following the beaver to sate our curiosity as well as to hopefully help Lucy's faun, and I shouldn't be cross with him about it. I wasn't upset that we had gone, but he always listened to me. It was the dismissal of my concerns that I didn't like. Susan saw Lucy having some trouble walking through the deeper snow and walked to the front of the group to stand next to her. It was a small gesture, but I reminded myself not to be so hard on Su either. She was doing her best to keep us safe, even if she could be a real pain about it. Peter lagged back and walked next to me for a while before saying anything.
"Em," he started. "About back there…" he trailed off.
I waited. I'm not generally one to make apologies easier for the other person. I liked to make him work for it a little. But he didn't continue. Typical boy. We walked in silence for the next few minutes until we came upon a large dam with smoke coming from the chimney.
"Looks like the old girl's got the kettle on." Mr. Beaver said cheerily.
The second I saw it, I knew Peter had made the right choice in having us come. Any doubts I had about Mr. Beaver disappeared in the face of the inviting home. I reached for Peter's hand and gave it a squeeze before dropping it. He looked up, and I gave him a small smile to let him know all was well with us. He looked horribly relieved.
"Beaver?" A female voice called from the inside. "Is that you? If I find out you've been off with Badger again, I'll-" Another beaver came out of the dam and stopped when she saw us. "Oh. Those aren't badgers." She looked to her husband. "Beaver, you couldn't have given me ten minutes to straighten my fur?"
"I'd have given you a week, if I'd thought it would help." Mr. Beaver laughed.
"Well, welcome to our home, your majesties." Mrs. Beaver gave a small bow.
"Your majesties?" I smiled. "I could get used to that." The Beavers looked at me.
Mrs. Beaver seemed to notice me for the first time. I may have been imagining it, but a shadow seemed to cross her face for a moment and she stepped back a little. Both of them regarded me closely before leading us inside. It all happened so quickly, I thought I had imagined the strange reaction to me, but one look at Peter confirmed that something strange had just happened.
We all crowded into the dam and sat down to supper. The dam was warm with a crackling fire in the corner. It looked like any other simple home back in England. The table was beautifully laid with a handmade tablecloth, and Mrs. Beaver was setting out well-used ceramic plates. Delicious smells greeted us as the Beavers cooked fish and chips.
"So tell us," Peter said after we had all finished eating. "Where is Mr. Tumnus?"
"That's bad business, that." Mr. Beaver said thoughtfully. "He was taken to her house."
"Excuse me," I was getting bothered with all this beating around the bush. "Do you mean the White Witch?"
Mr. Beaver nodded.
"What can we do?" Lucy asked.
"There's nothing to be done." Mrs. Beaver said. "If he's gone in there, he'll not be coming out."
"But!" Mr. Beaver said as he saw our faces fall. "There is hope! Aslan is on the move."
As soon as he said it, my breath caught in my throat. I didn't know who he was talking about, but something in that name reminded me of the feeling I had whenever I listened to the wireless for war news, a strange mixture of intimidation and fear. I wanted to know more, but I had a suspicion that I should be afraid of the implications.
"Who's Aslan?" Edmund asked, breaking the trance all of us had gone into.
Mr. Beaver burst into laughter. "Oh, you cheeky fellow!"
Mrs. Beaver nudged him. "Dear, they don't seem to know."
He looked at the rest of us, our confusion clear on our faces.
"What?" Mr. Beaver looked shocked. "You've never heard of Aslan? The Great Lion!"
I thought to myself that it wasn't exactly fair for him to expect us to anything about this place. Maybe I should ask him about Churchill and see how far we get.
"We're not exactly from around here," Susan said.
"He's the Son of the Emperor Over the Sea!" Mr. Beaver exclaimed. "The real King of Narnia! And everyone knows the Witch is going to get pretty nervous with him around. Not to mention you four showing up." Mr. Beaver explained.
"Um, five?" Peter glanced at me.
"Right. Well, four that she cares about, anyway." Mr. Beaver shrugged.
"Thanks." I mumbled.
Mr. Beaver was continuing. "There's a prophecy:
When Adam's flesh and Adam's bone,
Sit in Cair Paravel in throne,
The evil time will be over and done."
Susan had to pipe up. "You know, that doesn't really rhyme."
"You're missing the point!" Mr. Beaver said. "I'm trying to tell you that you're here to fulfill the prophecy!"
"Wait!" Peter stopped him. "What if that isn't us?"
"Well, it better be, because Aslan's got your army waiting at the Stone Table!" Mr. Beaver insisted.
Susan looked to her brother. "Mum sent us away so we wouldn't get caught up in a war!"
I grabbed onto Peter's arm next to me, but kept my mouth shut.
"But you can't leave!" Mr. Beaver objected.
"I'm sorry." Peter told them. "But we're not heroes! Let's go."
Yes. Thank God. Get us out of here, please, before they have us charging into battle.
"Edmund?" Peter said. We all turned around to find that Edmund was very much gone. "I'm going to kill him!"
"You may not have to." Mr. Beaver said ominously. "Has Edmund ever been to Narnia before?"
That's when everything came together in our heads.
"Edmund!" I yelled as I sprinted from the dam. I was vaguely aware that everyone followed me, but I was mainly focusing on keeping my balance and running as fast as I could. "Edmund!" I screamed. I had known something was wrong. I knew the kid knew more than he was letting on. Why hadn't I been paying attention?
Mr. Beaver took the lead, which was good considering I didn't really know where I was going. Suddenly, we saw a huge castle in front of us. It seemed to be carved from ice and stone and seemed jagged and cruel against the backdrop of more snow. I recognized it immediately, my mouth dropping open.
"Edmund!" Lucy shouted from beside me.
I can barely make out his form as he walked through the gates.
"Shh!" said Mr. Beaver. "They'll hear you!"
"This never would've happened if we'd gone home!" Susan shouted at Peter.
"And you!" Susan yelled at me. I was still staring into the door where Edmund had disappeared. "You just had to insist we come!"
"Stop it!" Lucy shouted at us all. "This isn't going to help Edmund!"
I was barely listening. I kept looking at the castle, wishing Edmund to come out and declare it all a bad joke. My hands were shaking. I couldn't believe he had gone inside. And this castle…this place…
"Emma," Peter's hand touched my shoulder. I realized the others had already started walking away. "Come on, let's get back to the dam and we'll figure something out."
I slipped my hand into my coat pocket and brought out my sketch book. He saw it and looked back at the castle.
"Oh," he said. "It's the same, isn't it?"
I nodded.
"What does that mean?" he asked.
"What does any of this mean?" I said. "You heard Mr. Beaver, I'm not even supposed to be here. I'm not in the stupid prophecy. And Edmund just walked into the arms of the witch who's trying to kill us all. What on earth could any of this really mean?"
Everything I said was laced heavily with anger. I was glad Peter was the only one close enough to hear me. He shook his head.
"I don't know, Em. I really don't."
I shoved my sketch book back into my pocket and finally turned away from the terrifying castle.
"Well, it looks like it's our job to figure it out now," I said. "And fast."
A/N: Thank you for reading! Stay tuned for next chapter when things really go into high gear with Emma's story, and we start deviating from just replaying events. Please review and let me know what liked/hated/etc.
