CHAPTER FOUR
Lucy gave nearly all of them the silent treatment, except for Annette, and she asked Annette, not Susan, to help put her to bed. Susan quirked an eyebrow at Annette, who shrugged, after tucking Lucy in. Lucy fell asleep almost suddenly leaving Susan and Annette to have "older girl" talk. "I assume my brother apologized this morning?" Susan asked.
Annette nodded, getting into her own bed. "Yes, he did. We're friends now."
"Just friends?" Susan asked, curiously. Annette nodded again. "Do you think my brother's handsome?"
Annette blushed. "Well, er, um, I guess. Why?"
"Oh, no reason. Good night," Susan said, and she blew out the candle that was on the nightstand between the beds. Annette sighed, hoping that she didn't say too much, and soon fell asleep herself.
"Annette, can you come with me to the library?" Lucy asked her. The little girl was still avoiding her older siblings and was asking Annette to do everything with her. Even though Lucy was a very sweet kid, she was sort of getting a tad bit annoying, and all Annette wanted to do was sit on her bed and read.
"Why don't you ask Susan or Peter?" Annette asked, looking up from her chapter book. Lucy frowned at the mention of their names.
"But they're not as cool as you are," Lucy said, looking up at Annette with innocent brown eyes. Annette sighed and sat Lucy next to her.
"Lu, I think that you should try to make peace with your brothers and sister. They are your family and nothing is more important than family. I would give anything to have my brothers and sister here with me, especially now. Please, Lu, for me," Annette told the little girl, almost hoping that her words would work and that Lucy would call on her siblings for help again and leave her alone for awhile. The young girl looked as though she was taking what Annette said into consideration.
"Fine, but only because you say so," Lucy grinned, and she ran off to find the others. When she left, a sigh of relief escaped her.
A couple hours later, Mrs. Macready told the five children to play outside and get some fresh air. Lucy, Edmund, and Peter looked happy to be outside and out of the stuffy house, however, Annette and Susan were pouting for they had just been told off by the Macready (as they called her) for trying to take books from the library.
"What do you guys want to do?" Peter asked them, eyeing Lucy, especially.
"Let's play pretend!" Lucy said, jumping up and down, excitedly.
"Um, Lu, I don't think that's such a good idea," said Susan, sharing a worried look with Peter. Lucy frowned and started to walk away to which Edmund rolled his eyes.
Annette rolled her eyes up skyward. There were two ways she could go about this. She could be nice and play with Lucy, which might mean Lucy would never leave her alone. On the other hand, if she didn't, she would probably drive an eight year old little girl to tears. "I'll play with you, Lucy," she said. I hate being the nice one, she thought harshly to herself. Lucy's bright brown eyes immediately lit up.
"Yay!" Lucy ran to Annette and gave her a huge hug. Hugging her back, Annette fought the urge to roll her eyes.
"We'll all play then," spoke up Susan, quickly, a mischievous glint suddenly in her eyes.
Edmund groaned loudly. "But I don't want to play!"
"Then don't," Peter growled at him. Edmund cut his eyes at his older brother and went to sit under a large tree, glaring at them all the while. He especially cast a dark look at Annette, who actually cringed under the younger boy's gaze. There was no eleven year old who should be giving people looks like that. It was quite frightening.
"Let's play prince and princess!" Lucy said, grabbing both Peter and Annette's hands pulling them along with her. Peter smiled at Annette over Lucy's head and shrugged. Annette blushed slightly and smiled back at him. Meanwhile, Susan walked behind them, hatching her plan in her head.
"So, Annette, you're the pretty queen and an evil witch captures you, and Susan, you're the evil witch," Lucy said, assigning parts in her world of make believe. Angrily, Susan glowered at her little sister.
"Why am I the evil witch?" Susan demanded, and then she glared at Annette. Lucy usually made her the pretty queen. Annette gave her an apologetic look.
"Well, if Edmund played, I was going to make him the evil wizard, but he isn't," Lucy said, rolling her eyes at him. Edmund was sitting along the stream, dangling his toes in the water, and glaring at his siblings. "So, I made it a witch instead." Susan groaned. "And Peter, you're the prince."
"Who're you going to be, Lucy?" Annette asked her.
"A princess in your court," answered Lucy, as if it should be obvious. "Now, come on. Let's play!"
"So, I hear that thy queen has been taken by an evil witch," Peter said to a giggling Lucy, wielding a stick as a sword. He and Lucy were in the open field while Susan was standing in front of the tree Annette was hiding behind. Edmund was watching his siblings and Annette with interest, though he tried not to show it. The older kids looked bored, but Lucy was enjoying every minute of it. While Peter and Lucy talked, Susan and Annette sat down with their backs on the tree.
"Is your sister always this imaginative?" questioned Annette, pulling a blade of grass out of the ground.
"Always," Susan said, watching Lucy frantically tell Peter to look for the queen.
The two girls noticed that Peter was coming their way, and they stood, getting into character. "Unleash the fair maiden or I shall have to smite you!" Peter yelled at Susan, brandishing his sword.
"Never," Susan muttered, dryly. Annette almost rolled her eyes. Lucy looked at her, annoyed. Susan sighed. "Never!" she yelled in a more convincing voice.
"Help me!" Annette pleaded, almost laughing.
"What do I have to do to make you give up the queen?" Peter asked Susan. Susan rolled her eyes at Peter, but then a wicked look appeared upon her face.
"Kiss her," Susan smirked.
Annette and Peter both turned their heads to her with their eyes wide. "What?" they both yelled at her.
"Kiss her!" repeated Lucy, clapping her hands. Peter and Annette were both crimson.
"Um," Annette said, uncomfortably, "I don't think…"
"Now, see here, Lu-" started Peter, embarrassed.
Just then, fortunately or unfortunately, Annette still wasn't quite sure, a bucketful of water landed on her before Peter could finish his sentence. Annette gasped at the shock of ultra cold water hitting her body. Peter, Susan, and Lucy both turned to look at Edmund, who was on the ground, laughing wildly, a small water bucket sitting right next to the small stream that flowed through the professor's grounds. "Edmund!" Both Susan and Peter scolded. Annette glared at him.
"Say you're sorry!" Peter yelled at him, marching over towards him with his fists clenched. Edmund shook his head, still laughing. Peter, then, punched Edmund hard on the arm.
"Ow! That hurt!" Edmund shouted at him, shoving Peter away. What happened next made the girls nearly shriek from terror. The two brothers began a fight.
"What's going on here?!" yelled a cold voice, and the five children turned to see Mrs. Macready running towards them. "You two!" she barked at Peter and Edmund, and grabbed at their ears. "I think we're going to have a little talk upstairs in your room. You'll stay inside the rest of the day." Her eyes then alighted on Annette's wet clothes and hair. "And what happened to you, Miss Fielden?"
That little brat threw water on me, Annette thought to herself, but what she said was entirely different. "Um, I fell in the stream when we were playing," she said, quietly. Edmund, who had expected her to rat him out like his siblings probably would have done, looked at her in surprise. He went out of his way to completely annoy her and she actually stuck up for him!
"Come inside and change your clothes then, Annette," Mrs. Macready said, nodding her head towards the house, while still holding onto Edmund and Peter's ears. She nodded and headed up to the house followed by Mrs. Macready with Edmund and Peter. Edmund sulked on the way as he thought, Maybe she's not so bad after all…
That night, Annette lay in her bed and she noticed a small figure moving from the room with a candle in her hand. She rose from her bed and saw that Lucy was missing. Thinking nothing of it, she settled back down…until she heard creaking footsteps walk past the door. Looking up, she saw Edmund creeping past. He's probably going to bother Lucy, Annette thought, and got up. She decided against waking Susan because she seemed to get slightly cranky when she didn't get enough sleep.
Quietly, she followed him until he reached the wardrobe that Lucy claimed to have found a world in, the wardrobe that kept calling to Annette. Edmund chuckled to himself and then he went inside. Expecting Lucy to run out screaming in five seconds, Annette stood in front of it, waiting. Two minutes passed. Curious, Annette strode over to the wardrobe and opened it. A blast of icy air shot out of the wardrobe and Annette was shocked for the second time that day. She pushed forward through the different clothes and coats until…Is this a tree branch? she asked herself, and then she tripped over something, most likely a coat that had fallen on the ground, and she fell on something…wet? Annette looked up and saw a bright white sky. Surronding her were trees covered with thick snow. Oh…shenanigans… And she knew she had made her way into Lucy's fantastical world.