As soon as he caught sight of her coming towards him, Doon could tell by Lina's flushed face and pained expression that things had not gone well with Lizzie. Honestly, he'd expected this. He had never fully trusted Lizzie to begin with. Back when they'd all pretty much been friends, it was Lina he liked talking to and playing with and it was Lina he secretly admired.
Lina was about to speak when she noticed Doon was leading a little child by the hand. She realized at once that it was her baby sister.
"Poppy?" She gasped in disbelief, looking to Doon for an explanation. "What's she doing with you?"
"She got lost." Doon explained. "I found her wandering around the town squire crying for 'Wina' and figured she belonged to you."
"Poor thing!" Lina threw her arms around Poppy who jumped out of Doon's grip and immediately started wailing into Lina's right ear. "Shh, it's alright, sweetie...Doon's a friend and he brought you right back to me...see, it's okay...there now..." She gently patted the poor frightened child's back.
"I tried to explain to her that I'd bring her right to you but I think she was too worked up to understand me." Doon said softly, giving Poppy a compassionate glance. "Poor little thing."
"So what do we do now?" Lina asked.
"Wait by the pipe works in case something goes wrong with the plan and Peter needs to take his family down there sooner." Doon said as they started walking side by side.
"Doon?" Lina said softly.
"Yes?" He turned to look at her.
"Thanks."
Doon's eyebrows deepened into a confused frown. "For what?"
"For everything." Lina said gratefully. "I don't know what I'd do without your help."
"That's what friends are for." Doon managed one of his somewhat-rare smiles and flashed it in Lina's direction.
Lina beamed at him and unexpectedly kissed him on the cheek. She secretly thought she might like to kiss him on the lips instead but not with little Poppy looking up at them with her wide innocent child eyes. Maybe later though, when they were alone.
Doon turned a little red and looked very much like he wanted to say something but kept quiet. Lina hoped he wasn't embarrassed because he didn't like her but wasn't quite brave enough to ask.
At the edge of the city, a guard felt someone tap him on the shoulder. Turning around, he saw a tall blond boy of about fourteen with tired-looking blue eyes.
"Did you want something?" He asked the boy.
He nodded. "I need to tell you something...it's about..." He looked both ways and lowered his voice. "The mayor."
"The Mayor?" The Guard seemed confused. "What's your name again, son?"
"Peter Pevensie." He told him shortly, desperate to tell him the mayor's stealing food and other goods from his people.
"Your name is familiar." the guard mused.
"I suppose it is but-" Peter started.
The guard snapped his fingers as though trying very hard to remember something. "Ah!" He exclaimed at last, not allowing Peter to finish speaking. "I've got it now! I knew you from the Mayor's office back when I worked there as a janitor before they bumped me up to being a guard."
"The Mayor-" Peter tried again.
"Why haven't I seen you around there lately?" The guard asked in a conversational tone.
"Because I don't work there anymore." Peter said quickly. "Now-"
"Why don't you work there anymore?" the guard looked curious.
"Because I was fired." Peter told him, hoping he would let him talk now that he had gotten his answer.
The guard clicked his tongue. "What a pity...you seemed very good at your job...did you do something wrong to make the Mayor angry with you?"
Other than find out he was stealing and plan to tell everyone? Peter thought bitterly. Out loud he said, "Please sir, I need to tell you something."
"Oh, sorry." the Guard smiled at him. "What is it?"
"The Mayor's stealing." Peter said at last. "He's taking food and other things from the store rooms and-"
The Guard lifted the palm of his hand and shook his head. "Now then, I understand that you're upset about losing your job and all that but you needn't go around telling lies about the mayor to get back at him. It isn't seemly nor is it decent."
"I'm not lying." Peter told him, fighting the urge to grab the guard and shake him by the shoulders. "That's why he fired me to begin with, you have to believe me."
"No I don't." the guard suddenly became much less friendly towards him. "Run along now, boy. No more of your silly jokes and fibs."
"It's not a lie!" Peter cried out. "And I can't run along. Ember is in danger, you really need to listen to me..."
The guard took a deep breath. "Tell you what..." He said almost agreeably. "I know how this can all be sorted out and we'll take care of it right now."
"What do you mean?" Peter blinked at him in confusion.
"Come with me." The guard said, taking him by the arm.
"But-" Peter protested. He wanted to know where he was being taken and why. If the guard didn't believe him, then what was he doing?
After a few moments of walking along the streets of Ember, Peter found himself being led right to the building the mayor's office was in! He quickly tried to get out of the guard's grip and make a dash back for the edge of the city. If the guard had been expecting him to do this, he would have held onto him tighter, but seeing as he didn't expect it, Peter was able to get away. Unfortunately, the guard he'd gotten away from and two other guards started to chase him and he couldn't head back for the edge without possibly giving his siblings hiding places away.
He ran through back alleys and rushed into any open doors and windows he could find. The chase seemed to know no bounds; going through trash heaps, people's houses, stores, narrow streets, and anywhere else Peter thought he might lose them in. He finally made it to the school-which had no students in it at that hour-and flung himself into the door way before the guards caught up to him.
"Which way did the boy go?" One guard asked.
"I didn't see." Another answered.
The first guard-the one that Peter had spoken with-was slightly out of breath and suggested leaving him for now and going back to report the incident to Mayor Cole.
"That was too close." Peter muttered to himself as he watched them through a window he was crouched near.
In the Meantime; Susan, Edmund, and Lucy stood still in the darkness waiting for Peter to return. The time ticked by slowly and they began to worry about him.
"Something's gone wrong." Susan decided. "He should have come back by now, I know it."
"Maybe it's just us." Edmund suggested. "Time seems longer in the darkness. Remember the man we helped who-"
"Never mind him." Susan said almost crossly. "I know how long it's been."
"Well how long has it been then?" Edmund wanted to know.
"About a half-hour now I think." Susan told him.
"You think." Edmund said pointedly.
"He'll be here." Lucy said in a timid whisper. "He'll be here any second now."
"He wont." Susan shook her head. She let go of Lucy's hand and make sure Edmund still had a grip on the other one. "I'm going to go and look for him."
"Oh, Susan, don't!" Lucy begged her. "Please don't."
"I'll be right back." She promised. "Just stay here together and don't move. I'm just going to find Peter and then we'll be back for the two of you."
"Peter said to stay here." Edmund reminded her, grabbing onto her wrist with his free hand.
"We can't stay here for ever." Susan pointed out, pulling herself away from his fingers.
"Just be safe." Edmund said finally. He knew there would be no way of changing her mind now. She could be very headstrong sometimes and when she got like that, there was nothing that could stop her. Lucy could be like that too, every once in a while.
"I will be." Susan promised, heading for the dim lights at the edge of Ember. Suddenly, she stumbled and fell against what she now assumed was a sharp piece of rock and cut the side of her arm. She let out a cry of pain and Lucy let out a shriek of terror.
"Susan?" Edmund called after her anxiously.
"I'm alright." Susan assured them. "Don't cry, Lucy."
Lucy nodded even though it couldn't be seen in the darkness and bit her lower lip.
"Are you hurt at all?" Edmund double checked, risking another call through the darkness.
"I cut part of my arm on something, but like I said, I'm alright." Susan told him.
"Are you bleeding?" He asked.
"Yes, I think so, a little." Susan admitted. "Please stop calling out to me, you're going to draw attention to us."
Edmund sighed and kept the rest of his worried questions to himself.
When she finally made it back into the light, Susan saw her injured arm and cringed. It was a nasty gash at least an inch or two deep with blood pouring out of it and some crusting over it. She thought of bandaging it up but realized there was nothing to bandage it with and that she didn't have time anyway. She had to find Peter and see if he was alright.
The dim lighting finally gave way to the brighter lights in the middle of the city and Susan blinked in them. She found out how much she'd missed the light in the darkness now that she was back in the glow of the floodlights and lampposts. She tried to be discreet keeping to the sides as much as possible; hoping no one would notice the how messy and hurt she looked. Suddenly she felt someone put their hand over her mouth.
"Come quietly, or else." The voice hissed.
She recognized the voice as belonging to none other than Looper. She struggled to get away from him but he somehow got a tight hold around her lower arms and waist. He pushed in, increasing the sharp pain from her arm wound and started to pull her down a couple of alleyways in the general directions of the Mayor's office building. The more she fought him, the harder he held onto her. He had no sense of mercy. Suddenly over-run by fear, Susan felt herself fall into a deep faint.
Peter made it back to the edge of the city shortly after Susan was kidnapped by Looper. He had left the school and had crept down as may side-roads as he could find away from people. He was much later than he had planned on and hoped that everyone was alright. Once he made it to the darkness, he called out, "Ed?"
"Pete?" Edmund's voice answered.
"You came back!" Lucy exclaimed joyfully, feeling around in the darkness trying to locate her eldest stepbrother.
"Is Susan with you?" Edmund asked worriedly.
"What do you mean?" Peter said, realizing suddenly that he hadn't heard Susan's voice since he'd arrived. "She's supposed to be here with you."
"She went to look for you." Edmund explained.
Peter put his hand to his forehead. "I'm going to kill her."
"If the mayor doesn't do it first, you mean?" Lucy blurted out fearfully.
"Oh, Aslan." Peter buried his face in his hands.
AN: Please review!