Chapter Four;
Stepping forward almost in a daze Peter laughed brightly, his siblings mirroring his actions.
Narnia.
Frustration at uselessness and feelings of inadequacy faded away under the bright sunshine. Replaced by visions of the life he could once more lead, able to protect all that he loved and upheld with honour – not just with his fists but with armies and battles.
Lucy laughed brightly first, not even sparing a glance before she raced for the blue waves that rushed upon the sand in giddy white-foamed crests.
"Wh – WAIT! What happened?"
The confused cry sounded from behind them and Lucy halted in her race for the warm waters.
The four Pevensie children exchanged glances and long stares as James Berrington's twin sister came trudging towards them.
"Don't look so secretively at each other! Where are we?" Her grey eyes were wide and stark with a mixture of fear and disbelief and she kept glancing over her shoulder as though she almost expected the train station to materialise out of nowhere.
"Well you grabbed her hand," Edmund muttered, directing a pointed look to his older brother.
Peter cringed. What in Aslan's name had he been thinking? He hadn't really been thinking at all actually. It was a hasty impulse he was very swiftly coming to regret; dragging James Berrington's twin sister to Narnia!
But she had clearly felt the call too! His thoughts reasoned rationally.
"Has everyone lost their voices?!" she cried impatiently, throwing her arms up in the air.
Peter scowled at her, opening his mouth to make a sharp reply when another spoke across him.
"It's alright – don't be frightened. You're in Narnia," Lucy said with a reassuring smile, stepping past him.
She looked at Lucy, brow creasing in confusion before she looked behind her hesitantly, "But…the train station – how? Where? – Narnia?"
"Magic," Lucy replied happily which only made her eyebrows drift towards her hairline in poorly concealed surprise.
"Magic?" she repeated flatly, staring suspiciously at Lucy as though she were mad.
"Well do you have another explanation for this then?" Peter asked her, crossing his arms.
Her gaze snapped to him and she scowled darkly, hands planted firmly on her bony hips.
Peter heard Susan scoff in his direction.
"I'm sure this is all rather strange to you," Susan added practically. "And I know this must seem impossible what we're saying but Narnia is a different world only possible to enter by magic," Susan tried to explain rationally.
James Berrington's twin sister was still eyeing them all sceptically, her face pale beneath her freckles before twitching her lips she blew out a long breath, puffing her cheeks out.
"A magical other world you say?" she echoed looking to Susan and Lucy.
"Narnia," Edmund elaborated, and her gaze snapped to him for a brief moment.
She visibly considered it for another minute in silence, ruminating over the unbelievable events of the past few minutes while the Pevensies waited with almost abated breath. Though none of them had any idea what they would do if the freckled girl refused to accept what they were telling her.
However, she did seem to accept it as she dropped her defensive stance. "Well I'm not quite sure my teachers will believe me when I tell them why I was absent," she mused aloud with a rueful grin.
"You won't have to explain it to them. You can spend years here and it will still be like not a second has passed back home," Edmund explained, and her grin widened, her grey eyes brightening considerably.
"Well this doesn't sound too bad after all," she said rather cheerfully.
Lucy grinned and even Susan looked relieved.
"Well now that that's sorted…" Lucy trailed off mischievously, looking around at each of her siblings.
There was a brief wavering moment before with squeals of delight Lucy and Susan streaked from the cave, kicking off sensible school shoes and itchy cotton socks as they raced towards the blue surf, Edmund swiftly following.
However, Peter hung back slightly as did she, watching and chuckling at the sight of Susan and Lucy working together to bring their brother down into the surf, though Edmund managed to reach out and tug Lucy down with him.
Lucy gave a brief shrill as the water rushed over her and Susan laughed brightly, already beginning to wade away as fast as she could from her advancing siblings who were now thoroughly drenched.
"That water looks inviting," she said, looking to Peter curiously and expectantly as it was clear Peter wished to say something to her.
"Have you ever been to Narnia before?" he queried searching her face.
Her grey eyes widened as she snorted. "I thought it was obvious that I hadn't," she replied, "Why would you ask me that?"
Peter frowned thoughtfully; in truth he didn't think she had been lying to them. It was why he had remained so silent while his brother and sisters explained Narnia to her. He had been watching her face carefully for any signs of deceit.
He knew he was most likely being paranoid but never before had tales of another human entering Narnia from their world been heard of; not during their long reign of the Golden Ages and before that Tumnus had thought Lucy a beardless dwarf, the sight of a human was so unheard of in Narnia!
His siblings evidently did not find the fact that James Berrington's twin sister was somehow standing here in Narnia with them now such a cause for concern, as their excited yelps and hollers sounded still in the background.
But Peter was High King of Narnia he reminded himself as his spine straightened subconsciously and it was his job to make sure that Narnia wasn't being put at risk.
Granted the spindly girl with her baffled eyes looking at him currently didn't seem to pose much of a threat to Narnia but…all the same Peter had a duty to expend; to keep Narnia safe. He was a King and Kings had responsibilities, Peter thought resolutely feeling the weight of an entire kingdom settle on his shoulders once more.
"Very well then; if you say you haven't been to Narnia before I believe you," Peter intoned very superiorly, hoping that if she were lying she would feel suitably cowed at that moment to admit it.
But she evidently was not as she snorted again, rolling her eyes and walked away from him without another word.
Peter glared after her even as he shadowed her footsteps.
She gasped sharply, her eyes widening in wonder as they stepped out of the cool shade of the cave and into the sunny day's embrace. The blue sky stretched on above them and golden sands and turquoise waves stretched out below.
She gave an excited laugh and Peter couldn't help but grin as well as he decided to let his suspicions drop. He secretly admitted that most of his begrudging attitude towards James Berrington's twin sister being in Narnia was the very fact that she was James Berrington's twin sister, who had also landed him a rather hard punch recently.
"It's almost like a dream!" she gushed as she immediately hunkered down and began to tear at the sloppily done laces of her shoes.
Peter laughed lightly. "Maybe you should pinch yourself to make sure it isn't," he teased, before a split second later he yelped and leapt away from her, scowling as he rubbed at his shin.
"OW! I said yourself – not me!" Peter cried as she straightened and grinned unapologetically at him.
"Well I know I'm not a hallucination, I just wanted to make sure you weren't," she told him innocently.
"PETER!"
Peter looked down to see Edmund waving wildly at him from the water just before Lucy got a hold around his shoulders and he fell down again.
She laughed at his side brightly. "It looks like your brother needs your help," she said grinning.
Peter laughed as well at the sight of crazed splashing where his three siblings were further down.
A thrum of excitement went through him as he started to kick off his shoes.
"How about this – I'll race you down to the water and – HEY!" Peter had only begun, his blue eyes bright before she had taken off like a shot.
"I'm winning!" she cried, her red hair streaming back over her shoulders like a banner.
And Peter took off after her.
She did win, and she wasn't shy about announcing it victoriously as she crashed into the waves without preamble.
"You cheated," Peter told her resolutely, but it was hard to remain even remotely stern when they were here in Narnia. But he did soak her by sending a wave of water in her direction with his arm for good measure.
Her hair suddenly wet, fell over her face in a soaking curtain as she glared balefully out at him from between the tangled locks.
Then a dangerous smirk alighted on her lips and she lunged for him without warning.
The next short while was spent locked in watery battle with numerous side switching, thorough dunkings and giddy cries.
Despite the three younger Pevensies having only met James Berrington's twin sister barely that morning, Narnia had a way of throwing the unlikeliest of people together; differences were forgotten, shyness overcome and soon Peter and Edmund were truly being thrashed by the girls.
"Ed get Lu!" Peter cried laughingly before he found himself drenched once more, courtesy of the other two girls.
Lucy gave a victorious cry as she caught her brother unawares, but Edmund barely seemed to notice as his gaze was locked elsewhere.
"Ed?" Peter called, his tone coloured with slight concern seeing his brother's evident distraction.
Edmund looked back at them before returning his gaze to the top of the white cliffs. "I don't remember any ruins in Narnia," he pondered aloud as they all stopped thrashing in the water.
And then all their gazes were drawn to the towering white structures of stone, half-fallen and weathered by time.
Even Berrington's sister, despite not being able to comprehend the significance of what Edmund had said, could tell by the suddenly thoughtful looks on the others' faces that something had changed.
Peter pursed his lips, feeling a slightly worried twinge; he didn't remember any ruins either.
They clambered out of the water, Berrington's twin pushing back snarled crimson locks from her eyes.
They swiftly collected their discarded belongings from the beach.
Peter tossed Berrington's shoes to her as he jogged back up the beach, having volunteered to go and collect their things that they had abandoned further down near the cave.
She thanked him and tying the laces of the shoes together slung them over her shoulder casually. She peered up at the white cliffs, a hand raised to shield her eyes. "So how are we going to get up there?" she asked aloud.
"I'm sure there is somewhere we could climb up," Peter answered authoritatively, throwing a glance further down the beach that stretched for miles.
"Well I didn't think we would fly up," she teased lightly with a cheeky grin. "I meant where are we going to climb up?" she amended, ignoring the glare Peter sent her.
"Over here!"
Edmund's shout made all their heads snap around.
He was a little further down the beach. He waved once to them before gesturing back to the cliff as he disappeared behind a jutting rock face.
"What has he found now?" Susan pondered aloud as they all walked towards where Edmund had vanished moments before.
As they rounded the jutting rock they found Edmund waiting for them, wearing a boyish grin as he had quite evidently found a way up.
Hewn into the white rock was a long flight of stairs; much worn and eroded by weather and the crashing waves, but they looked stable enough.
"Nice work Ed," Peter said with a grin, electing himself to lead the way with Edmund bringing up the rear and the girls between.
Green swathing lines of thick vines hung low over the steps presenting a rather nasty opportunity for one to catch their foot and go plummeting over the edge.
Peter took his pocket knife and cut the troublesome vines back as much as he could to clear a path for the others; his fingertips stained green by the time they had reached the top.
At the top of the flight of stone stairs it seemed that was where the creeper plant had sprung from, as the wildest tangle of vines they had come across yet blocked their path rising above their heads, twisting around a great oak tree that was leaning precariously towards the edge of the cliff.
Peter flexing his grip on his pocket knife attacked the ropey curtain blocking their path with new vigour.
"I think I can see a pathway."
After a few minutes Berrington's voice sounded from behind him, her breath brushing across his cheek as she peered over his shoulder.
Peter followed her line of sight and saw that she was right as he could make out the beginnings of a cobblestone path.
Susan gave a welcome sigh of relief and Lucy bounced eagerly on her toes; none of them were particularly keen on standing on this old and crumbling staircase.
"Just a few more vi – HEY!" Peter cried. He reached out a hand to stop her, but it was too late; Berrington had scrambled past him and had crawled through the vines, her hair snagging on the thorns, not that she seemed to notice.
Peter stared after her, practically agape as her head suddenly appeared in the gap she had just crawled through, a bright grin on her face that was now smudged with green stains. "Come on then," she called before disappearing from sight once more.
"Peter – go!" Edmund urged from the back of the line.
Peter turned around sharply. "Did you see what she just did?!" he exclaimed.
"She found a way for us to get through," Susan said exasperated, "Now will you hurry up and follow!"
Pocketing his knife and with a frown firmly etched onto his face, Peter crawled through the gap Berrington had just moments before.
He peered around him looking for a red head of hair to scold but he could see none. "Great – now's she run off," he muttered under his breath.
"I'm sure she's fine – she seems like she can take care of herself," Susan said as she appeared at his shoulder, brushing off dirt from her knees and smoothing down her hair.
Lucy had barely gained her feet and looked around her when she gave a delighted cry, "Apples!"
Peter and Susan looked over just as Edmund successfully climbed to his feet and they watched Lucy shoot off in the direction of the close-by boughs of green foliage that were spotted with red apples.
"Where is Berrington's twin off to now?" Edmund said, glancing around him as he said it.
"We can't keep calling her that!" Susan suddenly chided, checking the flame-haired girl wasn't in sight, "What is her name, Peter?"
Peter rolled his eyes, fixing his gaze on Susan he opened his mouth and…blank. Peter frowned, snapping his mouth shut audibly. "I don't know," he muttered incredulously.
How on earth had it gotten to this stage and he still didn't know her name?!
Susan and Edmund exchanged wide-eyed stares.
"Well this is going to be awkward," Susan muttered reproachfully.
Peter scoffed lightly, before he cried, "No! Wait – I remember. I think one of her neighbours called her Ella?"
The sound of cheerful humming reached them, and Lucy danced lightly over the cracked stones and tufty grass, munching on an apple. She looked up at her gathered siblings. "What's the matter?" she voiced.
"Lucy, do you know what you call Berrington's twin?" Edmund asked.
"Of course, her sisters are in my class at school," Lucy answered casually. "Her name's Prunella."
Edmund and Peter immediately broke out into laughter as Susan looked mildly horrified.
"Prunella?" Peter echoed.
A small smile tugged at Lucy's lips. "I think she prefers to go by Ella," Lucy said knowingly.
"I wonder why," Edmund snorted.
Susan tssked under her breath. "Really you two!" she chided though she was pressing her lips into a tremulous line in the tell-tale sign of one trying very hard not to grin.
"Come on, let's get some apples and try to find Prunella," Peter said with a grin as Lucy skipped ahead of them in the direction of the apple trees.