Things might be getting a bit more interesting...

There has been a slight edit in the beginning of Chapter 1. I skipped some information about Elise and was intending to just explain things later, but then I realized that I probably couldn't add it in later.

I do not own Narniaf

Chapter Three: The Bridge and Fairytales

Instead of staying at the bridge for hours, I decided to go to the bookstore like I had mentioned to my aunt. This way I wouldn't have been lying to her, and not only that, I'd be warm. Once I entered, I greeted Betty, the Bookstore Keeper, and made my way towards the fantasy section. It wasn't exactly the biggest or newest bookstore, but it had class and personality. My aunt had brought me here for the very first time I had ever visited the town, and naturally she had sent me to the children's isle, but as my mind developed, I ventured on to different isles of the store. The only time I had come over here was when my supply of books had been running short, and Auntie would always force me to walk out on my own (after turning thirteen, that is).

"Oh!" I gasped as I nearly ran into someone. The old man chuckled and apologized for startling, but I shook my head and insisted that it was really my fault. He finally agreed to the blame, but simply shrugged it off as he picked up his book. I blinked as I gazed towards the familiar text in the back.

"Narnia?" I asked.

He nodded. "Fascinating book, really. I felt sorry for the old cook in the first book."

I shook my head. "He deserved what he got for trying to use his nephew for his own selfish cause."

He chuckled again. "Well, it's good for you health if you forgive and forget. It's no good if you continue grudging it for the rest of your life. Anyways, I'll be going to pay for this, don't want the air of fascination to disappear."

I stared at him as he passed me, but then I shook his head, remembering my dad telling me that it was rude to stare at people. As he left, I poked my head out of the isle (to make sure I didn't recognize anyone, other than Betty) then dashed towards the romance isle. I had read almost every fantasy book in the row, so I decided to give it a look-see.

Three hours passed and I finally managed to find a title that seemed interesting enough and headed towards the counter. Betty smiled, but a questioning look came across her face once she saw a title. A few years back she had suggested me to head for the romance section, but I said something among the lines of me vomiting in the pages.

"It's for a friend." I said quickly. "She's been nagging me to get it for her."

"All right… that'll be…"

Once I paid her for the book, she placed it into a brown paper bag, wishing me a nice day and then I looked up to the clock. Crap! I'm late! I thought. I immediately snatched the bag out of her hands and slammed the door open, while hoping I hadn't smashed the glass.

I didn't have any time to run back to Auntie's and stash the book somewhere in a hiding spot, so I kept it in the bag. I tried slowing down once I came close to the bridge, but my feet wouldn't stop moving. Actually, I was sliding (while clutching tightly onto the brown bag). I started screaming as I got closer to the edge of the river, but a hand grabbed onto my arm just before I fell in. I sighed with relief, looking towards no one other than Greg, giving him a weak grin.

"Do you have to fall down every hill you meet?" he whispered.

I blinked, trying to remember a time that I had ever fallen down a hill – and then it hit me like a bullet: Narnia. But I had spent most of the day trying to convince myself that it was only a dream and what had really happened was Greg's story.

He released my arm and I followed him, careful not to slip again. I looked at the group that was with us: only two of them I recognized from being at my Auntie's house, but I hadn't seen any of the others before. It wasn't until now that I had realized how many friends Greg had. He reintroduced me to most of them, but I could only remember a few (mostly because their names had been similar to characters): Lucy, Jill, Mike and Jesse. They immediately remembered me once Greg had mentioned me nearly drowning when we were nine. Jesse spoke up.

"Oh yeah, I remember that. Hey, remember that plump kid that tried to save you?"

I blinked, suddenly visualizing a short, plump boy taking his place. "Oh yeah. Um… thanks for trying." I said, trying to sound grateful. It must have worked, since he flashed a grin, welcoming me. The awkward air seemed to tone down pleasantly, making me feel much more welcome than I had felt earlier. Later on, I found myself walking along side of the river (Jesse insisting that he walked closer to the river, fear of me falling in) and after a long debate of who was going to save whose life, he decided to change the subject.

"So… Greg says you like books."

I looked towards him, slightly suspicious, but tried desperately to not make my voice sound harsh. "He's been talking about me?"

"Oh yeah, loads of times. He kept on betting that he could get you out of the house, but he always lost."

I suddenly felt the urge to slap Greg silly until he cried 'Uncle', then, for some odd reason I started to think about Uncle Andrew in Narnia and how the old man at the book store said to forgive and forget. Remembering what had happened started to make me feel calmer and I slowly forgot my urge of anger. I forced out the only word that to come to mind: "Oh."

The awkward tension began to rise again from the short amount of silence that we've walked. I looked back towards him, realizing that he had been asking more questions about myself than he talk about himself. I guessed that he must have thought his life was pretty boring and not very entertaning to talk about. But I was curious, and the only thing that came to mind was the question he had previously asked me.

"… So are you interested in reading any books?" I asked.

He smiled. "No, but my little sister's been forcing me to read Narnia books. Then said something about cutting off my head if I didn't."

I snorted, picturing a little girl chasing her big brother with a butcher knife, then started to burst out in laughter, and I guessed that it was contagious because he was laughing along with me. I tried cathching my breath, but ended up giggling. We both stopped and he waited patiently as I tried to control myself.

"Sorry. So she likes Alice in Wonderland too?" He sighed and nodded. "Then she must be a Thumbelina fan too…" I guessed.

"Oh God, please don't ever get her started about it…" he begged.

"All right I won't… yet." I grinned after my paused.

"You're evil…" he joked.

"You have no idea."

My head turned as I heard our names being called.

"All right, I've been hogging you enough. Looks like it's Greg's turn."

I looked back towards him. "But he called your name too."

He shrugged. "He does that when he doesn't want to bring attention to himself."

My eyebrow rose and he flashed a grin. "Can't say, sorry. He'll maul me."

Jesse started walking off, while Greg continued to sprint towards me, but what puzzled me was that his hands were cupped as if he had just caught something (like a firefly or a ladybug).

"Greg, what's wrong?"

As he breathed heavily, he opened his eyes slightly, revealing a small, winged creature. My eyes struck horror as I saw it flutter weakly out of his hands (one wing was dented), staring me in the eyes. A fairy.

"Oh thank goodness I've found you! Gopher was right about humans returning to Narnia after all, they were just hidden in a wardrobe!" the fairy giggled.

"Wait, how did you find us?" I asked.

"I saw something that looked like a mirror with your face on it, but it didn't move."

"…A photo?" Greg asked.

"Photo? That's a silly thing to say, but then again, I'm inside a wardrobe so everything's silly!" she announced. Greg sushed her and she kept her tone down.

"What happened to Gopher?" I asked

She hung her head low, dropping back into Greg's hands. "They took him."

"Who?"

She looked up to me. "Why, the snakes did. Who else?"