CHAPTER NINE

The six of them looked up sharply to find a fox standing before them. Angrily, Mr. Beaver lunged at him. "You!" he shouted, just as his wife shouted, "NO!" Peter had to hold the beaver back as the fox chuckled lightly, mentioning he was one of the good guys.

"If you run, they'll just catch you and tear you to shreds," the fox said in a knowing voice. "Hide in the trees. I'll take it from here." From the distance, they heard wolf howls getting nearer to them.

Annette looked up and sighed. She hated climbing trees. "Can't we just hide in a bush?" she asked, uneasily. Peter didn't give anyone time to answer as he gave her a leg up into one of the smaller trees and she had to grab the branch quickly for fear of falling.

As they sat in the tree waiting, Annette looked down at the ground with a greenish hue on her face. "Are you okay, Daughter of Eve?" Mrs. Beaver asked her, quietly rubbing her back. Annette only nodded, afraid that if she opened her mouth she would puke.

Underneath them, the wolves finally appeared, looking much larger than any wolves they had ever seen. "Where are the humans?" One of them asked the fox, sneering at them. "I smell them. I know they were here."

"Hmm, I don't rightly know," the fox said in his light voice. The biggest wolf motioned to one of the others and he seized the fox in his teeth. Lucy nearly shrieked but Susan covered her mouth.

"Where are the humans?" the leader demanded, and the wolf squeezed his teeth down on the fox, who whimpered with pain.

"North. The humans…they went north," the fox said, clearly in pain. The wolf dropped and ran off in the direction he told them, howls fading into the distance. The children dropped out of the tree and approached the fox, who was trying to walk away, but couldn't because of his wounds.

"You saved our lives," Mrs. Beaver told him, and pulled out what looked like a first aid kit to the humans. "Now, let me save yours."

Later, as they sat around a fire, Mrs. Beaver fixed the fox's wounds and Annette, Lucy, Susan, and Peter huddled around the fire. "Are you alright?" Lucy piped up.

The fox nodded. "Their bark is worse than their bite, Your Majesty."

Annette was confused. "Your Majesty? You're all royalty?"

"No, we're only from Finchley. Our mum's a seamstress," Susan told her. "We're not anything close to royalty."

"You mean they don't know?" the fox asked the beavers. The humans looks turned from the fox to the beavers, eyeing them curiously.

Mr. Beaver sighed. "There's a prophecy…'When Adam's flesh and Adam's bone sits at Cair Paravel's throne, the evil time will be over and done.' You see, on the Eastern shore, there's a castle called Cair Paravel and inside there are four thrones. It is said that two Sons of Adam and two Daughters of Eves are meant to sit on those thrones."

"This is where I draw the line," Susan nearly shouted, standing up. "You want us to rule a country we know nothing about."

Annette had to agree. "Look, we just want to find Aslan, so he can help Edmund, and then leave."

The fox stood blithely. "You are destined to save Narnia. Though only four of you are mentioned in this prophecy, all five of you are needed. If you leave Narnia now, our world will probably end as we know it."

Annette let that sink in and she rolled her eyes. "Then again, I don't want the destruction of a world on my shoulders, either."

"How about we sleep on it?" Mr. Beaver told them, stretching out onto the snow. The rest followed suit, or at least some did.

Annette, on the other hand, just couldn't fall asleep. Every dream she had was laced with wolves jumping at her, and that woman glaring at her. She shuddered. What if she died here? How would her Mum or Dad know, or Rose or Paul or Charles, for that matter?

"So, you're still up, are you?"

She looked up and smiled slightly at Peter, who flopped down beside her. "I couldn't sleep. I keep thinking horrible thoughts."

"Me, too," he admitted, picking up a stick and poked at the snow with it. "You know, my Mum made me promise to look out for them…and you, and as we can see, I can't even do that." At this, his voice broke a little. He looked over to the sleeping animals. "How can they expect me to look after a country?"

"If it means anything, I think you'll be a great king, Peter," Annette reassured him, putting her hand on his shoulder lightly.

"I mean, it's my fault that Edmund's run off," he said, throwing the stick down.

"It's all of our faults. We were all hard on him, Peter. In any case, we should have gotten him a leash."

Peter chuckled. "That's true. But what happens when they find out we aren't their royalty."

"We get Edmund and go back through the wardrobe," Annette worked out, "but some part of me wants to stay and help."

"I know. I think we all feel that way," he said. "I actually don't think we have much of a choice. Besides, I don't think the animals will be happy…and they have sharp teeth." Annette laughed aloud at his words, but received a couple "sssh"s from the others. "I'm happy you're here, Annette."

Annette blushed, hoping it was still dark enough to hide it. "Really, why?"

Little did she know, Peter was blushing as well. "Well…I…I mean you've been a big help with the others. Susan and Lucy adore you, and I know Edmund will come around eventually. And I think you're really nice…and I…er, I think you're…um, I li-never mind," he spluttered

"What?" she encouraged.

"Never mind," he repeated, and stood, heading back to where he had been next to Lucy.

"Oh, okay," Annette muttered, disappointed.

"Annette?"

"Yes," she said, a little too quickly, looking back over to him.

"Thank you." Peter smiled warmly at her, and she smiled back.

She watched as he laid down, and smiled. Even though she had only known him for a week and a couple days, there was just something about him that made her insides want to melt. What had he been about to say to her, though? Annette groaned inwardly, and settled down into a comfortable position, hoping what Edmund had said earlier that day (Had it all really been the same day?) was true.