Disclaimer: I do not own Narnia, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the films, or any of Lewis' work. I hope only to pay him tribute with my small meaningless attempts to appease my obsession. Narnia writers...I salute you!

Chapter Quote: "If I thought it would have helped, I'd have gotten her a better mirror."

Chapter Four

Hide and Seek

The rest of the week progressed as normally as can be expected for Campbell Children. Elora was very happy since she had finished she had her finals and had taken to singing Christmas Carols around the house. (Unfortunately, Elora was tone deaf so she didn't notice how often her siblings flinched whenever she sang 'Silent Night') Alysia was happy because the boy she liked had been complimenting her over the phone for three days straight. Elizabeth had performed her first successful concert and had been feeling dreamy and in the clouds while she hummed the tunes to her favorite songs (Which of course sounded like angel music compared to Elora's blaring and squeaking.)

Michelle on the other hand had contented herself with watching movies that featured her favorite (and cutest) male actors. Grace and Maria were decorating their room and Anthony was doing work for Mom (who had finally found out about the broken lamp.) And Cecilia and Tyler were out sleigh riding down one of the paddock hills. Dad was in Sweden on business and was expected back on Friday (right now it was Thursday) and he'd been gone since Sunday. So all in all it had been a good week. (Except for the fact that Dad was away of course.)

Elora was still gushing over Narnia (Which they had seen the previous Friday on opening day) and had been writing fanfictions non-stop. Sometimes, when she wasn't singing Christmas Carols and writing in her notebooks, Anthony, Cecilia, and Tyler would catch her staring into various mirrors about the house, trying to make herself look pretty and whispering things to herself.

"If I thought it would have helped, I'd have gotten her a better mirror." Whispered Anthony to his compatriots. The brat pack sniggered under their breaths. Unfortunately, Elora heard the comment and turned to them with eyes blazes in anger. But before she could say anything, Mom called the kids together for a quick meeting.

Elora scowled at Anthony, bashed him upside the head, then hurried into the dining room, where Mom had called them to gather, clutching her notebooks protectively with a pout on her face. The rest of the kids filed in slowly, some laughing, some rolling their eyes at having been disturbed, Anthony rubbing his forehead with a scowl on his face, and Uwey who trotted in and sat contentedly at Elora's feet who, despite some appearances, was his favorite Campbell Child.

Maria was glancing longingly back out the door towards the parlor couch where Philosophy For College Freshmen lay open on the cushions. She pushed up her glasses so that they rested on the bridge of her nose and turned to Mom irritably.

"Your father and I have to talk to our attorney about the new house. We'll be leaving to go see it tomorrow once your father gets back and then staying at your Aunt's while we're away."

The Campbells were moving to a large horse farm about five hours away in Northern New York It was a very large house with numerous, grand rooms and had more property that the Campbells had ever dreamed of owning. It was a very nice house to be sure, it was just that it was so far away. They had already been to see it once before so that this announcement was received with little or no emotion.

Grace, thinking ahead, was already planning for the trip.

"I GET THE BY THE WINDOW IN THE THIRD SEAT ON THE DOOR SIDE OF THE VAN!" She called out.

The Campbells had a very large van you see. This sent them all into an uproar and they weren't having decent conversations again until the following morning when they set out on the long drive.

"Now, Mom and Dad have to go talk with the attorney in the other room. The rest of you need to stay here for a few minutes and try to be very quiet."

The children nodded and Alysia, already bored because she didn't have a phone, plopped herself in a corner of the room and started listening to music on her MP3. The rest of the children spread out across the room as the door closed, talking in hushed tones. Maria commented that this felt like prison and Grace said no, it didn't, because prisons didn't have nice carpets and couches. To which Anthony replied,

"How's you know? You've never been to one."

Grace turned on him irritably, "Neither have you." She snapped.

Elora was sitting quietly by one of the floor-length windows, wistfully gazing and twirling one of her short curls with her pointer finger. Elizabeth had taken a seat next to Alysia, who had given her one of her ear phones while Michelle started drawing designs on the carpet. Uwey, who had to stay behind, was at home listening to Beethoven on the radio. Anthony pulled a bouncy ball out of his pocket and started to toss it back and forth between Cecilia and Tyler. The minutes wore on into what felt like hours to the Campbell Children and all of them began to stare at the door, wishing for Mom and Dad to open it and tell tem that they could leave now.

As most children know, minds tend to wander when one is bored. Which is what happened to the Campbell Children as curiousity and creativity sparked their dulled minds.

"Maybe they've been kidnapped." Grace said dramatically, rising and kneeling at the door to peer out of the key hole at her parents.

"Nah, who'd want to kidnap Mom and Dad?" Said Michelle, joining her.

"It's not like they're worth anyth- OW!"

Alysia, always looking for a reason to smack Anthony, had whacked him over the head as he said these words. She smiled smugly at him. "Of course they haven't been kidnapped- we would have heard it." She said.

"Not if they were kidnapped by secret agents from Raz-Algul." Tyler said...or rather that was what he tried to say. Cecilia had to translate.

"You've been watching Batman Begins too much, Tyler." Elizabeth told him.

He glared accusingly at her. "You like Batman too 'Lizabeth."

"No." She corrected. "I like Christian Bale."

Her and Michelle started to giggle and Alysia and Elora exchanged a high-five.

"Hotty with a body." Alysia recited. "Cutie with a bootie."

"Spicy." Elora agreed.

Maria rolled her eyes and the brat pack sniggered.

"How about we do something fun?" Cecilia suggested.

"But we're already having so much fun." Michelle replied. The children giggled.

"How about a game of hide and seek!" Asked Cecilia eagerly.

The kids looked around at eachother and then they all turned to Elora who was the born leader of the group...though she sometimes had problems making decisions. She blinked in surprise, usually she inserted her divine will over the Campbell kids' judgement of her own accord, they normally didn't seek her input.

She twitched her hand nervously against her thigh. "Well." She said. "As long as we keep it quiet...and don't break anything (she looked pointedly at Anthony) I suppose it'd be all right."

All the younger children let out a whoop and Elora, looking exasperated, hissed sharply, "Shhh!"

"But where will we hide?" Asked Elizabeth warily. "There is nothing to hide in, in this room. And the only other door out leads to where the parents and the attorney are talking."

"It isn't the only door." Said Maria, rising to her feet and rolling her eyes as if she were speaking to a two-year old. She pointed to a door on the opposite side of the room, near to where Elora was standing. Elora reached out and turned the knob, she poked her head inside, then withdrew it.

"It really is a door!" She said in surprise.

"Of course it's a door." Maria said irritably. "What do you take me for?"

"I thought it was a closet." Said Alysia, now also standing and pocketing her MP3.

"It leads to all the other rooms in the upstairs part of the house...no one will hear us up there." Elora looked around at everyone and with a smile quite uncommon to her usually stern features, she turned around with her arm over her eyes and began to count.

"One...two...three...four..."

Everyone began to scurry frantically towards the door to get out of the room while Michelle, Alysia, and Elizabeth repeatedly hissed "SHH!" As the younger Campbells darted about, giggling and trying to find a decent hiding spot.

"...ten...eleven...twelve..."

They hurried up the stairs as quickly and quietly as they could. The house was very large and had a number of rooms making it a perfect place to hide various giggling children in. The previous owners had already vacated the premises so that all the rooms were bare of furniture.

"...thirty-nine...forty...forty-one..."

They ran from room to room, some sliding into closets and Cecilia managed to climb into an empty window seat. But everywhere Tyler went, there was someone already there.

"...sixty-three...sixty-four...sixty-five..."

This was quite frustrating, especially for a boy who was much too small to snap back at someone like Alysia when she hissed to him to find another door to hide behind or another closet to slip into.

"...ninety...ninety-one...ninety-two..."

And there! Footsteps coming slowly up the stairs! Elora was coming! Panicking, he darted to the unused part of the house with a door that Mom had distinctly told them all was off limits. Located at the end of the hall, it was his last and only chance.

It was winter, yes, but it had been a warm one thus far. Though it had snowed twice, none of the stuff had managed to freeze the ground which was now the color and consistency of old horse manure (and smelt like it too). So when Tyler, hearing the footsteps reach the top of the stairs, darted down the long hallway and past the whispers from his older siblings to 'shut up!' and 'find a spot kid!', he did the only thing he was able- he ran to the door, threw it open...and ran inside.

Only...since he was in a house...he hadn't expected it to be so cold...or for snowflakes to start falling on his blond hair. He looked up, his blue eyes searching and he was surprised to see trees.

Hmm...maybe this new house was even bigger then he had expected.

A/N: Happy New Year! And I'm ringing in the New Year with some massive updates! I have almost completed the next chapter of Safe in My Arms, which will be followed with updates for various stories, many of which I haven't updated since the summer! Yes, you are all excited now aren't you:)

Anyway, now I have to begin the tedious chore of learning to write '06' on all my papers for my dates. Grr...it takes me like...all of January to do that. Well, I think I'm up to the challenge:)

Thanks for the reviews (scarce that they may be) and I hope you all have a wonderful day:)

TO BE CONTINUED...