"You certainly usually find something, if you look,
but it is not always quite the something you were after."

JRR Tolkien
The Hobbit

Chapter 2: Hiding, Seeking, and Discovering

The next morning, Jules found herself waking to the tweeting of birds rather than the honking of cars and sounds of city life. Instead of grey clouds, Jules found the sun shining on her face, waking her gently. For a moment, she almost thought she was back in Narnia. But she knew better, and with a resigned sigh, Jules began to dress.

Jules had unpacked her suitcase the previous night and put her things away in the small standing wardrobe. She'd brought three shirts, two skirts, a pair of ratty dungarees, two dresses, a spare pair of shoes, several pairs of socks, a pair of stockings, a hairbrush, a plethora of pins, a toothbrush and paste, some shampoo and soap, some paper, a pen and ink, and two books that Mrs. Ghest had given her.

The room itself wasn't big, containing a bed, a small wardrobe, a bedside table, a lamp, a clock, and a small vanity with a mirror sitting on top. Jules pulled one of her dresses on, a simple navy dress with white buttons and a white-trimmed collar and tie-belt. Jules wasn't a fan of dresses, never had been, but she had gotten used to them. She had gone to a school with skirts in their uniforms. Sitting at the vanity, Jules began to pin her hair into submission. She'd never much cared for her hair, especially with the fact that it was practically untamable, but no one else had cared back in Narnia. The human world was a bit different, especially during the 1940s. Jules pinned back the sides of her hair and twisted the rest of it into a loose chignon and pinned it in place. After slipping into the stockings and pulling on a pair of battered, hand-me-down black, heeled oxfords from Mrs. Ghest, Jules left her room and descended into the kitchen and dining room. Jules knew it was still early, but maybe there were chores she could help Mrs. Macready with, or maybe there was a library she could spend the day in? Or maybe she could walk the grounds?

Whichever she chose, Jules knew she was in danger of getting bored very fast.

Jules found Mrs. Macready cooking breakfast in the kitchen. She seemed not to have heard Jules, but the girl was a seasoned warrior trained not to move silently through the woods, so she wasn't surprised. However, she didn't want to give the woman a shock, so Jules clicked her heels on the floor a bit to alert the woman to her presence. When she turned around, it seemed she was surprised to see Jules awake and dressed.

"Yes, Miss Styles?" Mrs. Macready almost immediately turned back to the stove where eggs were cooking, and porridge was being stirred.

"I, um, I wondered if I could help?" Jules worried her lip a bit, anxious of the housekeeper's response. It seemed Jules' question had been unexpected, and the lack of immediate rebuttal surprised Jules. The women looked at each other for a moment before Mrs. Macready turned back to the food.

"Breakfast is almost ready. You may make tea." Jules immediately bustled over to the cabinet where Mrs. Macready had indicated. From inside she withdrew tea leaves. In the cabinet beside it, Jules found cups, saucers, a teapot, and a sugar bowl and creamer set. Jules found the tray and set up the cups and sugar bowl on the table. Jules then took the old kettle, filled it with water, placed it on the hot stove, and waited for it to boil. From within the refrigerator, Jules withdrew milk and filled the creamer before setting that on the table as well. She also grabbed a lemon and began to slice it. Those, too, were placed on the table. When the water for the tea boiled, Jules poured it in the pot with the tea leaves to steep. And soon, the tea was ready. Mrs. Macready was finishing as well.

"I don't want the food to get cold, go wake the others," Mrs. Macready instructed. Jules nodded, leaving the kitchen and going upstairs. Jules came upon Susan and Lucy's room first and knocked gently.

"Lucy? Susan?"

"Come in," Susan called from within the room. Jules opened the door and stepped into the large bedroom. Susan sat at a vanity brushing her hair while Lucy finished pulling on her shoes. Lucy was looking a little sad, and Jules knew she had to do something about that.

"There's a wonderful smelling breakfast downstairs when you're ready," she said. Lucy perked up at the sound of breakfast, and with a quick swipe of her hairbrush, the girl was ready to go. Jules grinned down at her.

"Let's go wake your brothers, hm?" Lucy giggled.

"Ooh, Peter is always grumpy in the morning," she told Jules. Susan was smiling, obviously thinking about her brother and his amusing reactions in the morning. Jules' grin turned a bit impish.

"Well, I guess we shouldn't save any toast for him." Lucy giggled again, and Susan's grin widened. The older girl stood from the vanity, smoothing her skirt before following the other two out of the room. Lucy knocked excitedly on her brothers' door. Groans were heard from inside and Jules nearly burst out laughing. Lucy giggled harder than before and Susan shook her head fondly before disappearing down the hall to go to breakfast.

"I told you," Lucy whispered conspiratorially to Jules. The girl would've replied had the door not been pulled open right then. This time, Jules' laughter couldn't be hidden beyond her raising a hand to her mouth.

Peter was obviously not a morning person. Jules hadn't been before Narnia, but that was a different story. His blonde hair was sticking up in several directions and his pajamas were rumpled. His eyes were irritated but lidded with sleep.

"What?" he demanded. Jules glanced behind him to see Edmund smirking, but dressed. Jules looked back at Peter but spoke to Lucy.

"Like I said," she teased. "If he's going to be a grump, we shouldn't leave any toast for him." Edmund snorted in laughter and Lucy beamed. Peter's eyes narrowed, but he no longer looked irritated.

"You wouldn't.' Jules shrugged a bit, a cheeky smirk appearing on her face.

"Let's go, Lucy." Jules and Lucy grasped hands before turning down the hall. "Coming, Edmund?" The boy left his bedroom, cackling at his older brother. Jules smiled down at him as he came to walk beside her and Lucy. Laughter looked good on him. It was a far cry better than the sourness she'd seen on him yesterday. He'd looked far too angry for a boy of maybe 12 years old.

Susan was seated patiently at the table for 10 when Jules, Lucy, and Edmund came into the dining room. Jules sat down across and one down from Susan. Lucy immediately sat to Jules' left and directly across from her sister. Edmund scanned the room, his smile gone, and sat as far away from the rest of them as he could get. Jules frowned. His good mood was nice while it lasted. Lo and behold, five minutes later, Peter wandered into the room, dressed and hair fixed. The other four tried hard not to smile in amusement. Peter stared at Jules, sitting down next to Susan and right across from her. Jules merely smiled. It widened when she saw the tell-tale tug at the corner of his lips.

Mrs. Macready came into the room with breakfast and Jules stood to serve the still steaming hot tea. Peter took his with lemon, Susan took hers with cream and sugar, Lucy stirred more sugar than was healthy into hers, and Edmund simply drank it black. Jules smiled over at him. She drank it the same way.

Breakfast passed without a lot of conversation. Even chatty Lucy was focused on her breakfast. When everyone was done, Susan and Jules helped clear the table and everyone went their separate ways for a few hours.

~)8(~

To Lucy's utter displeasure, the sunshine from the morning hadn't lasted. Indeed, by early afternoon, the pleasant weather had turned into a torrential downpour accompanied by thunder and lightning. She, her siblings, and Jules sat around the parlor doing different things. Lucy gazed sadly out the window at the rain, Edmund was laying on the ground underneath a chair, carving something into the wooden bottom. Jules sat on a chair reading one of the books that Mrs. Ghest had given her while Peter sat in another chair. Susan sat on the couch, an enormous dictionary open in her lap. She was trying to play a word game with her siblings.

"Gastrovascular," Susan pronounced. "Come on, Peter. Gastrovascular." Peter glanced over at her, obviously not into the game, but still trying.

"Is it Latin?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Is it Latin for 'worst game ever invented?'" Edmund mocked with a laugh. Susan huffed and shut the book.

"We could play hide and seek," Lucy suggested hopefully. Peter looked over at Susan cheekily.

"But we're already having so much fun." Jules had to bite back an amused smile, but Susan narrowed her eyes at him.

"Come on, Peter, please!" Lucy begged, grabbing his hand. She pulled a wonderfully adorable pair of puppy eyes. "Pretty please?" Edmund rolled his eyes and Jules struggled not to scold him. He didn't have to play. Peter looked up at his sister, unable to resist her eyes.

"One, two, three, four…" Lucy beamed and darted off.

"What?" Edmund cried. Susan and Jules ignored him, running to find their own hiding places while Peter stood against the wall and covered his eyes, continuing to count. Edmund soon ran off as well.

Jules and Susan eventually parted ways to find their own hiding places. Jules found herself stumbling into the library, and she immediately took to hiding behind a large bookshelf in the back of the room.

"Forty, forty-one, forty-two, forty-three…" Peter was still counting. Jules slid down the wall to a sit, hugging her knees to her chest and grinning. He would never find her. She'd found the library by pure chance. He most likely wouldn't think to look here. At least, Jules could only hope that he wouldn't think to look here.

"Eighty, eighty-one, eighty-two, eighty-three, eighty-four…"

Peter was still counting, so Jules opened her book again and began to read.

"Ninety-eight, ninety-nine, one hundred! Ready or not, here I come!"

She wasn't really able to get into the book again. Upstairs, Jules heard a loud bang followed by Lucy yelling.

"It's all right! I'm back! I'm all right!" Jules' brows furrowed, and she found herself wondering if that was a tactic of Lucy's to get others to come out of hiding. She distantly heard Edmund shushing her. The resounding silence was almost comical, before Peter's voice rumbled from upstairs as well. Jules stood, tossing her book onto a side table before leaving the library. Game be damned, maybe Lucy really was in trouble. On her way, Jules ran into Susan, and they both made their way in the direction Susan's siblings' voices were coming from. Soon, they found them.

"Does this mean Jules and I win?" Susan asked with amusement. Peter turned to them, and Jules was surprised by how serious he looked.

"I don't think Lucy wants to play anymore." Jules frowned. But she had been so excited to play a few minutes ago.

"I've been… gone for hours."

Simultaneously, everyone turned to face the little girl. Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Jules were very confused at her words, and Lucy was confused as to why no one had wondered where she'd been all that time. Lucy immediately launched into her tale.

As the four older kids followed Lucy upstairs to the spare room, no one noticed that one of them, in particular, was looking pale. Lucy's words rang in Jules' ears.

Wardrobe… wood… snow… lamppost… faun… White Witch…

Upon entering the upstairs spare room, Lucy attempted to show them how she'd gotten into the magical land. But when she opened the door and looked in the back of the wardrobe, she found nothing other than just that: the back of the wardrobe. Susan stepped in, frowning a bit. She pushed the coats aside, knocking lightly on the wood. Nothing was strange or magical about it. Edmund knocked on the back of the wardrobe from the outside, also finding nothing strange. Susan sighed, looking at her younger sister.

"Lucy, the only wood in here is the back of the wardrobe."

"One game at a time, Lu. We don't all have your imagination." Despite the gentleness of his admonishment, Peter turned away, making to leave the room. Susan and Edmund followed suit.

"But I wasn't imagining!" Lucy burst out.

"That's enough, Lucy." Susan's harsh tone startled Jules, and the young girl grew emotional.

"I wouldn't lie about this!" Peter opened his mouth, maybe to comfort or soothe his distressed little sister, but Edmund cut in.

"Well, I believe you." Lucy looked wary, her eyes narrowing with both caution and innocent relief.

"You do?"

"Yeah, of course." Peter and Susan were studying their brother, as if unable to believe what he was saying. "Didn't I tell you about the football field in the bathroom cupboard?" Lucy's face crumpled and everyone else scowled as Edmund sniggered.

"Oh, will you just stop?" Peter angrily scolded. "You just have to make everything worse, don't you?"

"It was just a joke!" Edmund defended.

"When are you going to learn to grow up?"

Jules winced.

"Shut up! You think you're Dad, but you're not!" And Edmund stormed out. Susan sighed, looking at her older brother crossly.

"Well, that was nicely handled." And she, too, was gone.

"But…" Peter and Jules turned at Lucy's soft plead, "it really was there." Peter's face was remorseful, but tired.

"Susan's right, Lucy. That's enough." He followed his siblings from the room. Lucy was forced to turn to the wardrobe, gently shutting the door. And then she looked up at Jules, who hadn't spoken since coming into the room. Lucy's forlorn frown contorted in confusion.

Jules had tears in her eyes. She could barely breathe. She hadn't paid attention to the carvings on the wardrobe previously, but now with the door shut, she very clearly saw the tree depicted there. It was an apple tree. Jules' hands shook. And her breath began to shudder. Slowly, she reached a hand out towards the wardrobe, as if it were an illusion and she knew her hand would pass right through it. And then, just inches from the wood, her fingers drew back, curling into themselves and returning to her side.

"Come on, Lucy," she whispered. "I want to share something with you." The sad little girl wasn't sure she was in the mood for it, but she also knew she couldn't stay in that room any longer. So, she followed Jules out. Through the house they went, silently, until they reached the library.

"Is this all right?" Jules asked. The girl answered with a sniff and a nod. Jules smiled shakily, sitting down on a squashy leather armchair. When Jules opened her arms, Lucy climbed into her lap. Though they had known each other only a day, it seemed Lucy found comfort in Jules. Maybe it was because she had not mocked her like Edmund, scolded her like Susan, or simply walked away like Peter.

Jules reached for the side table, retrieving the book she'd previously left there.

"Have you ever read The Hobbit, Lucy?" Jules inquired. Lucy's nose scrunched.

"No. What's that?"

"Only one of the best stories in the whole world." That made Lucy smile a bit. "Ready?" The young girl nodded. The spine cracked as the book was opened.

"In a hole in the ground, there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort." Jules snuck a look at Lucy's face — she was intrigued. So, Jules read on. She'd read through the whole first chapter, the both of them giggling at various parts, before Jules set the book aside.

"Now, Lucy," she started. "Tell me all about this magical wood of yours."

Lucy launched into her tale. She told Jules of the snow, of the trees, of the lamppost. Of Mr. Tumnus and the hilarity of the way they met. Of his home and the lullaby and the way he almost kidnapped her, but instead helped her return home. Jules listened, all the while trying not to cry.

"It was so beautiful, Jules. Maybe next time you can come with me?" Jules nodded with a smile.

"I'd love that," she accepted. "Though I don't know how well I'd do. Narnia sounds very different from when I was last there."

Lucy's eyes grew big.

"How…? How did you know it was called Narnia?" Jules was kind, and her eyes shone with a certain fondness that made Lucy block everything else out.

"When I lived there, the grass was green almost all year. The woods were full of animals who could talk and be your friend. Aslan reigned, and times were peaceful. But then…" Jules' eyes hardened with anger.

"The White Witch," Lucy whispered. The older girl nodded, calming herself.

"She forced Aslan into hiding. Any Narnian who stepped out of line was hunted down, forced to pledge allegiance to her or die. The lands turned cold. Snow fell and didn't melt. She plunged Narnia into an endless winter using her magic."

"Mr. Tumnus said they hadn't had Christmas in a hundred years," Lucy whispered.

Jules felt her heart drop. One hundred years. A whole century she'd been gone from Narnia. What would her people think of her now? Did they think her a coward? A deserter? Someone unworthy of their trust and loyalty? Jules shook those thoughts away. She couldn't dwell on it. She had a job to do.

"Do you think I'll ever go back?" Lucy suddenly asked. Jules immediately smiled.

"I'm sure of it." And she was. Now that Lucy had found Narnia, Jules was certain of one thing. She'd found the kings and queens. Lucy, Edmund, Susan, and Peter. Now to get all of them to Narnia and then to Aslan… That would be much harder.

"How did you get to Narnia?" Lucy asked. "Did you go through a wardrobe, too?" Jules smiled again.

"No, I didn't go through a wardrobe. I was in my last year of school. The boarding school I went to was up north, a huge castle that no one could hope to explore all of. In my last year, I found a strange room full of rubbish. Broken furniture, dusty books, old statues and suits of armor, bits and bobs, and I began exploring the books. Surely there was something interesting there." The way Jules said it made Lucy giggle. "Anyway, I found this little book, no bigger than my palm." Jules held out her hand, and so did Lucy, who compared their sizes. Jules' smile grew. "The book was full of drawings. Maps, pictures of centaurs, and fauns, lions, and griffins. Drawings of battles and ships, dancing and bonfires, kings and queens." Lucy's eyes sparkled with wonder. "But no words. And there was no title. Instead, on the cover, there was a ring embedded in the leather." Jules shrugged. "I put on the ring. And I found myself in Narnia. I lived there for a long time before Aslan sent me back to this world. He didn't want me to be in danger." When Jules' eyes darkened, Lucy knew she was talking about the White Witch. "But Aslan can't fight Jadis on his own. He needs help. And I'm here to get it."

"I'll help!" Lucy immediately cried. Jules laughed.

"I'm sure you will, gilraen. Someone as adventurous and curious as you will be a big help." Lucy beamed, but also looked confused.

"My name's Lucy," she said. Jules laughed again.

"'Gilraen' is my little nickname for you."

"What does it mean?" Jules winked, but said nothing. Instead, she picked up The Hobbit and made to start reading again. She paused when she noticed Lucy's face.

"What is it?"

"Do you really think I'll go back?" Lucy asked, very vulnerable and sounding like she might cry. "Truly?" Jules sighed, bringing Lucy's head to her shoulder and gently stroking her hair.

"Truly," she assured. "We'll both go back. Together." Jules' eyes gleamed. "And who knows. Maybe we'll get those siblings of yours to come with us. But until then, this'll be our little secret." That got Lucy giggling and happy again, and Jules was glad. She continued reading. Jules was part-way through the second chapter when she glanced at the clock on the side table. She gasped.

"Oh, no!" It was 3:55. Tea with the professor was in five minutes! Lucy sniggered at Jules' panic, thoroughly enjoying seeing the girl so flustered.

"Why do you have to go to tea with him?" the girl inquired. Jules shrugged, straightening her collar.

"I don't know, Lu. Mrs. Macready said he asked for me. I didn't ask any questions. She scares me." Lucy sniggered again, a devious gleam in her eye. Jules was glad to see the girl so cheerful after the earlier debacle with her siblings. "Now, do you want to continue reading?" Lucy nodded excitedly, making Jules smile. "I'll be back soon." And with that, Jules made her way out of the library. Down the stairs she went, smoothing her skirt nervously. What did Professor Kirke want to see her for?

Jules stilled. Kirke… Professor Kirke. Oh, my… Could it possibly be a coincidence that Lucy found a portal to Narnia in a "Professor Kirke's" home? What were the chances it was who she dared to hope it was?

Soon, Jules arrived at the professor's study, her heart pounding. She reached out, and gently knocked.

"Come in."

Jules sucked in a breath, and entered.