Disclaimer: The Chronicles of Narnia and its characters belong to C.S. Lewis and I hold no claim.

Author's Note: In comparison to the previous chapter, I much prefer The Fight. I struggled with several different scenarios on how Jack would respond to Narnia and this was the best one. I felt that she needed to have some knowledge of what was going on, since she is a young woman and not as trusting as the Pevensies were when they were children. Did it work? I hope so.


The summer was slightly bittersweet for Peter and Jack unfortunately. After spending the better part of three years together, at the end of August they would have to depart. They had both been accepted to different colleges; Peter in Cambridge, Jack in America. So they tended to spend every waking moment together, with promises that they'd visit for every holiday possible when they could afford it and write often.

One Saturday afternoon, Peter had come home from helping his mother with groceries. Edmund was in the kitchen, sipping a glass of water, taking a break from croquet with Lucy and Susan.

"Hey, Ed, where's Jack?" Peter asked, setting a couple of bags onto the table. "Mum wants to know if she'll help with supper."

"Upstairs, reading I think."

Peter crossed the dining room, through the sitting room and climbed the flight of stairs to the second floor. He strode down to the end of the hall and into his room. There was she was. She sat in his chair, her slacks rolled up to the knee, her legs crossed on his desk and her nose in a book. But not just any book... Peter instantly recognized the red little journal she held.

"Hey, Peter," she said, not looking up. She gave a huff of argument when Peter quickly snatched the journal from her hands.

"What gives you the right?" Peter growled, tossing into a drawer and snapping it shut. Jack looked confused.

"Well, there isn't a huge selection here," she explained, standing. "And I didn't know it was something... personal. You should really hide those things, you know."

"You can't just go about looking through my private —"

"I didn't know, all right!" Jack threw up her hands. "Anyway, what is it? It sounds like a journal... but I've never heard of Cair Paravel or Aslan or any of that before."

"It's nothing," Peter lied cooly, crossing his arms. Jack narrowed her eyes suspiciously.

"I've been reading it off and on for days now," Jack admitted and Peter's insides went cold. "High King Peter the Magnificent, huh?"

"Like I said," Peter shrugged, looking away. "Nothing. Just a game we all used to play when we were small."

"That you wrote about in a journal? Looked pretty detailed too, from what I gathered."

"Well," Peter cleared his throat. "I thought it might make a good story one day. Perhaps get it published, you know?"

"So it's not private?" Jack raised a brow.

"No, not necessarily, but... you... " Peter trailed off, staring up at the ceiling. Jack followed his eyes, bewildered by his sudden silence.

"What is it, Pet –"

"Shh! Do you hear that?"

"I don't hear a thing," Jack said, staring at him with a mixed expression. Then he heard it again, clear as day. It was a soft, resonating tone. It was low, but it grew with every passing second. Then it was recognizable. He grabbed Jack's hand and dashed from his room, tugging her along behind him.

"What's going on, Peter?" Jack demanded as he dragged her down the stairs and through the sitting room.

"Susan! Edmund! Lucy!" Peter shouted as they crossed the kitchen to the back door. He pushed himself and pulled Jack through the door and saw his brother and sister on the other side of the yard.

"Peter!" Lucy called back. "Do you hear that? It sounds like —"

Peter felt the prickling and pinching all over his body as he and Jack ran across the yard. Then very suddenly, the scene changed before he could reach them. They were not running across grass any more, but rather a mossy terrain. Peter looked up to see they were in woods of some sort, and that it was no longer day, but night. Jack tripped over the root of a tree and was yanked out of Peter's grip, landing on her stomach onto the forest floor.

"What?" Jack cried out when she lifted her head. She looked around with wide eyes, unbelieving. "Oh. My. God."

"No, this can't be right," Peter muttered to himself, helping Jack to her feet again. She brushed herself off, still taking in the environment surrounding them.

"Peter... where are we?"

"I — um... I'm not sure," Peter said, looking around them as well. They were most definitely in a forest, that was obvious.

"Where's Susan? And Edmund? And Lucy?" Jack said, spinning around as if they might be behind them. "They just disappeared. What is going on?"

"I don't know, Jack," Peter answered, lying once more. He knew exactly what had happened; they had been called to Narnia. The sound he'd heard was Susan's horn. With a sinking feeling he realized that he was here alone for the first time, he hadn't been able to reach the others in time. Where in Narnia was a better question, and why in Narnia even better than that. He and Susan were told by Aslan that they were not to return... so how had he?

"Let's go back, all right?" Jack said, searching the ground like she would find some kind of trap door. There was a roll of thunder overheard and with came rain. An absolute downpour.

"I don't think we can go back," Peter said watching Jack. "At least not that way."

"What do you mean?"

"Come on," he said, ignoring her suspicious look and taking up her hand. "We need to find shelter from the storm, then we'll figure — figure out a way to get home."

Their bodies were soaked within moments. They trod through the muddy forest floor, squinting through the rain. Peter searched for a hollow tree, a small alcove in a rock, anything. They must have walked for at least an hour before Jack spotted a large tree that had fallen over, providing some little shelter.

They scrunched themselves under it, knees to their chests and pressed by side by side. Jack shivered, but she didn't complain. This relieved Peter somewhat, the last thing he wanted to deal with was a whiny girl. But she was pushing his buttons with other issues, issues that he didn't want to discuss.

"I'm not sure we should have left," Jack said, lacing her fingers in front of her legs. "What if we can't find our back after the storm?"

"It'll be all right," Peter muttered.

"Aren't you even a little worried? Your sisters and brothers could be lost here somewhere!"

"I very much doubt it."

"You sound so sure," the distrustful tone slipped back into Jack's voice. "What aren't you telling me?"

"Jack, just —! " But Peter was interrupted by another voice, and it was close.

"Who goes there?" The stranger's voice rang out from behind them. "Show yourself!"

"Wha–" Peter clapped a hand over Jack's mouth as they turned around to see a small figure standing not a yard from them. Peter narrowed his eyes as he noticed the glint of a blade. When the figure turned around, the lantern light show upon its face. It was a badger.

"I'll have you know I'm armed and will not abide trespassing!" The badger brandished its short blade and Peter recognized him.

"Trufflehunter!" He called and the badger focused in on the direction where his voice came from. He shuffled forward, blade still raised until the light fell upon Peter and Jack.

"By Aslan!" he exclaimed, lowering the blade. "Peter, is that you?"

"Indeed," Peter uncovered Jack's mouth and they crawled out from under the tree. The badger sheathed his blade and bowed low before them.

"Your Majesty," he said before lifting himself up again.

"Majesty?" Jack said, puzzled. The badger then turned his attention to the sodden person next to his High King.

"And who, my king, is your friend?" Trufflehunter smiled. "He looks very confused."

"Excuse me? I'm not a boy!" Jack huffed. Peter laughed a bit.

"Her name is Jack — and this is Trufflehunter," Peter answered, gesturing accordingly. Jack was staring at Trufflehunter as if she'd never seen a badger before her in entire life. Peter excused this; he knew well that she'd never seen a talking badger.

"Well, come inside," Trufflehunter waved toward his home, just across the path. "It won't do to stand out here much longer. They'll be looking for you, if you're here already. And where is Queen Susan, King Edmund and Queen Lucy?"

"They didn't make it, I'm afraid," Peter tugged on Jack's hand, but she didn't move. He stopped, turning his head to look at her. She looked quite frozen.

"This is good news, sire. But come, I'll explain everything to you inside."

"Jack? What's wrong?"

"King Peter?" Jack snatched her hand away from Peter, her eyes wide and disbelieving. "You've been lying to me... this whole time."

"Jack, I'm sorry —"

"No! Where are we, Peter?" Trufflehunter looked up in concern at the girl, whose cheeks were reddening in anger. Her hands clenched into fists at her sides.

"We're in Narnia —"

"You told me that it didn't exist! That it was just a game! You were lying. I can't believe it! Why would you hide something like this from me? I would never –"

"Please, Jack, just come in and I can explain –"

"No! I'm not going anywhere with you or that —" she stopped short, her moistening eyes falling upon Trufflehunter for a moment. She slapped Peter's hand away again with more force than she would have usually used with him. "I'm going home. Don't you ever speak to me again."

"Miss, I think if you just calm down –" Trufflehunter offered in his best soothing voice. Unfortunately it had the complete opposite reaction he was looking for. She jumped a step back, leaving the range of Peter's arms. He felt the sting of her hard eyes before she turned from them. Quicker than they could stop her, she took off running into the thick of the forest.

"Jack!" Peter yelled. "Wait!"

"No, Majesty!" Trufflehunter caught his pant leg before he could take off after her. "If they catch you, it'll be done for. You're who they really want."