"Welcome to Narnia," the lion continued.

Jess stared calmly at Aslan as he stood in front of her. It was amazing how real her dreams seemed sometimes. She must have fallen asleep while reading. As a child, she'd often dreamt about Narnia.

The lion stood less than three feet away from her, his golden coat almost blinding in the sun. His eyes seemed to pierce her very soul and he seemed to be waiting patiently for her to speak. Just before Jess had fallen asleep, she had been reading about how Susan and Lucy had been permitted to bury their hands into the great lion's fur. She had been longing to feel that same softness herself, and now she couldn't resist.

"Pleasure to be here," she replied casually as she boldly reached out to pet him in the same manner that one might pet a house cat. She knew that no one in Narnia would have dared such a manoeuvre, but this was her own personal dream, was it not?

The instant that her hand came into contact with the gold king, he let out a roar that shook the earth below her and knocked flat onto the ground. Jess scrambled to cover her ears from the deafening sound. 'Sheesh,' she thought to herself, 'A roar like that will awaken the dead! Oh...'

"So, I guess I'm not asleep then," she apologized cheekily to Aslan as she tried to come to terms with the idea that this might all be real after all.

"Welcome to Narnia," Aslan repeated.

"Thanks," Jess offered feebly as she scrambled back to her feet, not sure what else to say. She racked her brain, trying to remember how Lucy or Peter had addressed the mighty lion in her books, but her mind had gone blank from the intimidation of the creature's stare. Jess wasn't sure that a lion could smile, but this one seemed to then, and it comforted her, though her mind was still racing.

So, Narnia was real. Then the books were probably true stories too. But how had the author, C.S. Lewis, known about Narnia? He must have been there himself. She wondered which character he had been and decided that, logically, he must have been the professor Digory. After all, only Digory and Polly would have known the story of Narnia from beginning to end. Digroy had seen its creation, and its destruction. Plus, he'd been in touch with the Pevensies in London. They'd stayed at his home during the war. Peter had also stayed with him again when he was older. And then there were the get-togethers for the friends of Narnia that included Eustace and Jill as well. As a professor it made sense, logically, that he would also be the most likely to write books. The question was, how had C.S. Lewis written the end of the Last Battle if he had been killed in London before its ending? Perhaps he'd sent them through another anomaly.

Jess knew that it was strange that she was thinking logically at all as she stood in the middle of a new world in front of a lion the size of an elephant, but she couldn't help it. After all, she had to be a critical thinker to work at the ARC. But, her thoughts wandered even farther into the topic, hadn't Narnia ended? She didn't believe she could end up in the Narnia that everyone had ended up in the last book unless she'd died on earth... and surely she was still alive, after all, all she'd been doing was reading a book. Jess shook her head; she should know better than that. She'd come through an anomaly. As an expert in the field, she knew full well that anomalies could bring you into a different time period. She'd just arrived in Narnia's past; that was all. She wondered how she was going to explain to her team that the anomalies could also link to other worlds, without appearing crazy.

"Are you finished yet?" The lion suddenly spoke softly.

Jess started, as if waking up from a dream, as she suddenly remembered that he was still there watching her. "I'm sorry. I wasn't paying attention. Am I finished what?"

"Thinking. Analysing."

"Oh, uh, yes," Jess blushed at her awkwardness.

"Good. We'll be needing your help."

"I'm ready, I think, but can I ask you something? You know everything, right? So, um, maybe you can tell me who that girl was that I saw with Becker."

Aslan let out another roar. This time Jess was a little more prepared. She closed her eyes, covered her ears, and just managed to keep her feet on the ground. Apparently she wasn't going to get that information in Narnia.

"I'm sorry," she apologized again when the noise had stopped. "I guess I'm off to a terrible start. I suppose I should've known it wasn't an appropriate question. Well, I've loved Narnia since I was a child; of course I'll help out. What do you need?"

"I don't need anything," the lion told her earnestly, "but the Narnians will soon need help and I've chosen you to give them a hand."

"Why me?"

"Your love and knowledge of Narnia will serve them well. Also, I know that you can be trusted with large secrets. You do so everyday in your line of work, but I know this not because of your career, but because I can read your heart."

"What must I do?"

"Head to Cair Paravel and remember that no one should learn their own future."

What did he mean by that? Oh, right, because she was in Narnian's past and she knew what would happen, she supposed. He was warning her not to say anything that might give away what was to come.

"But how will I get there," Jess asked.

But Aslan was gone.