All rights go to Uncle Rick and C.S. Lewis

Warning, this story supports Solangelo, so if you don't like, don't read, and don't comment. Otherwise, enjoy!


Chapter 3—Nico's point of view

The fur coat gave me a flashback of my childhood in Italy. My mother had a mink coat that Bianca and I took turns wearing. Mamma would pretend to be a fashion photographer and take pictures.

It was a good memory and I allowed myself a small smile as we were walking. That was a mistake. And I stupidly made an even bigger mistake by looking over at Will. Why? Because if Percy, Will or Jason saw me smile, they would make a big fuss over it. And I gave Will a perfect view of my smiling face.

Out of the three, I was more worried about what Will would do. I mean, we've become really good friends since the war. But I sort of... okay, I'll admit, I've got a crush. But it wasn't like when I liked Percy (ugh, I was such of lovesick girl back then). I liked Will because he wasn't a hero for me to idolize. He was just... Will.

And I just gave him ammunition to use. He didn't cross any lines whenever he teased me, but I still hated it. He actually strutted over to me and put his arm around my shoulders.

"Glad to see you're enjoying my first quest as much as I am," he said softly. I hated it when he spoke softly; it made my stomach turn with nerves. And then it hit me.

"William Solace, don't you DARE!" I practically shouted as I broke away from him. Everybody was looking at me, but I didn't care. Of all the things that Will could do...

"What's wrong?" Lucy asked. She was completely oblivious of Will's antics. I wanted to switch places with her.

"Nothing, Lucy, Nico is just anxious for my first quest," Will answered. And yes, yes I was.

"What do you mean your first quest?" Edmund asked suspiciously. I didn't know why, but I didn't trust the kid. Maybe it was because he reminded me of myself when I was his age. I was not a trustworthy person back then.

"Wait, first quest—whoa, dude, I thought you were joking!" Percy cried out in alarm.

"Joking about what, exactly?" Susan asked cautiously.

It was barely noticeable, but she did look a little like Sally Jackson-Blofis. They had the same hair and noses, if anything. The biggest resemblance was between Peter and Percy. They had the same noses, height, build, and jaws. I'm surprised Beauty Queen saw the similarities before Annabeth. Then again, Piper's mom is the goddess of natural beauty, so maybe it wasn't that far-fetched.

"I told Nico that on my first quest, I would sing a popular American military chant," Will informed her. The demigods who finally got Will's intentions groaned. I did, too.

"And why is that a bad thing?" Peter asked, slightly amused. I gave Will my iconic death glare. If you so much as hum, I swear to Zeus...

"I DON'T KNOW WHAT I'VE BEEN TOLD!" Will started. The four Pevensies grimaced at Will's tone-deaf voice. Lesson learned, being a son of Apollo does not mean you are musically inclined.

I tripped Will before he could continue. What happened next was both good and bad. The good part was that we were about to descend a hill, so Will tumbled down the whole way. The bad part was Will grabbed my ankle as he fell, so I went down with him. Peter, thinking we were goofing off, threw himself down the hill, too. Following him came Percy, dragging Annabeth along. Everybody joined in, except Edmund. Later on, I would reflect on his lack of participation.

But at the moment, Will and I had come to a stop, and I was lying down right next to him. His cheeks were red from the cold, his hair tasseled from the tumble. He was smiling at me. Why did he have to be so cute? Scared that I would do something stupid, I quickly picked myself up. Will followed suit and brushed my hair out of my face. I froze for a whole three seconds. He smirked at me and walked away. Curse that boy.

"You didn't answer my question," I heard from behind me. I turned to see Edmund giving me his own kind of death glare. I was really starting to picture this kid as my British twin. Not a pleasant thought.

"What question?" I asked him, my brain not properly working thanks to Will.

"What did you lot mean when you were saying his first quest? What kind of quest?" Edmund asked haughtily. He did not like us. And weirdly enough, I thought it had to do with us being from the future above everything else. He was scared when we admitted to being time-travelers.

And we would soon have to admit to being demigods if we can slip-up so easily. This was once again Will's fault. He's the one who mentioned that this was his first quest. Annabeth, thank the gods, was listening to Edmund and came to my rescue.

"We all go to a summer school on Long Island Sound, and the school's purpose is to prepare us to live as adults.'Quests' are what we call outings where we practice being adults by getting jobs or renting apartments for a month or two. Will never went on a quest before, so, in theory, this is his first one."

Edmund sulked away; unsatisfied that he couldn't make us the enemy. Another similarity with me, looking for imaginary faults in others. I needed to talk to this kid before he becomes even more like me.

Our walk was stopped by Lucy. She stood in horror at a door that led into a cave. A door that was thrown off its hinges and broken in the process. Not a good sign. Lucy bolted to what I now assumed to be Mr. Tumnus' home.

"Lucy!" Susan cried out, she and Peter running after her. Edmund followed them, and us demigods after him, scanning the area with our weapons at ready (but still in their Mist form).

The twelve of us found the cave completely messed up. I didn't think anyone had been in here for days. Snow had drifted in from the door and was mixed up with charred remains from the fireplace. Furniture, books, and other stuff were tossed around the room. We heard glass breaking and turned to see Edmund had stepped on the picture of a satyr, no sorry, faun.

"Who could have done this?" Lucy asked desperately. Poor kid.

Then Percy bent down to the floor. "Guys, check this out," he said, talking to us demigods. We joined him on the floor, and we all saw what he saw.

"Well this can't be good," Frank muttered.

"What?" Peter asked, crouching down to join us.

"Look at the prints on the floor," Annabeth guided him, "See these paw marks? These are wolf prints. And if you look around, the whole floor is covered with them. And some prints are Mr. Tumnus' hooves. But there are no boots or even human footprints. Wolves did this."

If any of the Pevensies wasn't scared before, they were now. And then Susan looked confused.

"Why would wolves attack a cave? Further, why attack any establishment that requires the door to be ripped off?" she asked. If we were in America and her family was aware of the Greek/Roman gods, I would have told her about Lycaon and his pack. But the Pevensies didn't know about the gods, and we weren't even on Earth. These wolves were different, and I didn't know what 'different' meant.

"I think that might answer your question," Piper said, pointing to the far side of the room. There was a piece of paper tacked on one of the walls, and even from here, on the floor, virtually the farthest away we could possibly be, the wolf paw printed in ink was as plain as day. Peter got off of the floor and walked up to the paper, ripping it off its nail.

"The former occupant of these premises, Faun Tumnus, is under arrest on the charge of High Treason against her Imperial Majesty Jadis, Queen of Narnia, for comforting her enemies and fraternizing with Humans. Signed Maugrim Fernis Ulf, Captain of the Secret Police," Peter read aloud, "Long Live the Queen." There was silence for two seconds before Susan broke it.

"Now, we really should get back."

"What about Mr. Tumnus?!" Lucy cried in disbelief.

"I don't think there's much we can do, Lu," Peter admitted.

"Not much you can do alone," I said, "But we," I continued, gesturing to all of us, "Might be able to do something."

"What do you mean?" Edmund asked, his fear of us returning. Wait, why would he be scared about our ability to save a satyr, FAUN, I meant faun. Honestly, this satyr/faun thing was going to make my hair turn gray.

"This is a magic land," Annabeth said, picking up where I left off, "where fauns are real and wolves are intelligent enough to be the police, if the note and tracks are any indication. This queen ordered the arrest of Mr. Tumnus because he was 'fraternizing with humans', which means two things. The queen isn't human herself, and Lucy was the human that Mr. Tumnus was fraternizing," here she turned to look at Lucy for confirmation. Lucy nodded and then added some information of her own.

"She isn't a queen at all. She made Narnia stay in eternal winter with no Christmas—"

"WHAT?!" The ear-shattering outburst was caused by Percy, Will, Jason, Piper, and even Frank. Realizing what they did, and how loud they were, their faces turned red and they muttered some apologies to Lucy. To be honest, I don't think she minded. She continued.

"Mr. Tumnus said that those who refused to see her as queen call her the White Witch. If he was arrested, she must have found out that he saved me by helping me escape her."

"Which is exactly the point," Jason said, taking the lead, "This 'witch' is powerful enough to make eternal winter, and yet her enemies in this magic land are humans? In traditional folklore, humans have nothing whatsoever to challenge a witch, likewise human or otherwise. So why should she fear humans? The answer: it has to be related to her false claim to the throne. And that's how we save Mr. Tumnus! Finding out the history of her power and control, and using it to not only help Mr. Tumnus but to take Jadis down."

It was a good outline of a plan, and three of the Pevensies seemed to think that it could actually work. I said three because after a pause Edmund spoke up.

"But why should we?" He asked. We all looked at him, confused and stunned. "I mean," he tried to defend himself, "Mr. Tumnus cannot be a criminal for no good reason."

That's when everything became clear. Why Edmund was acting like I did during the Titan war. Why he was scared that we could help Mr. Tumnus. Why he was so suspicious of us time-travelers, why he feared us. He thought we might have known what he had done. But I didn't need the future to know his crime, though. I just needed to commit a similar one. And it was a crime. Like me, he betrayed his family. Edmund somehow told the White Witch about Mr. Tumnus helping Lucy. Mr. Tumnus' arrest was entirely Edmund's fault.