Chapter Two

Lucy and Jay were sparring in the outdoor training grounds, the two were pacing back and forth, dodging, parrying and striking with deadly speed and skill. Lucy had managed to disarm Jay and he was improvising by using his shield to defend himself from Lucy's swords. With a burst of energy he thrust his shield forward sending Lucy stumbling backwards as she lost her grip on her swords. Jay smirked at her, seemingly weapon-less but she just grinned back and took out her precious dagger from her belt and charged towards Jay. With a flying kick she managed to throw his shield from his hands so he was utterly defenceless. He stumbled back as she threw her dagger at him, knowing that it would just miss his ear, but suddenly Jay's ankle twisted beneath him and he began to fall to the ground. Lucy watched the scene in slow motion as Jay fell and her dagger spun through the air heading straight towards him. Her mind was racing as she flashed back to Jay bleeding on the floor of the Witch's castle. She had to do something but to stop the dagger she needed speed, the speed of a cheetah if she was ever going to make it in time. As this thought raced through her head she suddenly felt energy flow into her and before she realised what was happening she found herself suddenly face to face with Jay as she caught the dagger with one hand and steadied him with the other. Jay's face was one of pure shock.

"Lucy what, what just happened? You, you were on the other side of the field, how did you…?!" He trailed off speechless as Lucy suddenly seemed to realise where she was and her eyes focused on Jay. As she came to her senses she flung her arms around him relieved to see him uninjured. As Jay returned the hug gripping onto her tightly she tried to make sense of what had just happened. She pulled away from him and looked around, "How… how did I get here?" she asked, turning to look at where her short swords were lying on the other side of the training ground. "You… you ran…" Jay replied, "faster than I've ever seen anyone move… how did you do it?"

"I… I don't know, I just knew I had to get to you, it's all I was thinking about. I just wished for-"

"For what?" Jay asked, placing his hand on her cheek and turning her face to his.

"The speed of a cheetah." Lucy whispered, frowning as she did so.

"What?" Jay replied, his eyes full of confusion. There was a pause for a moment when Jay suddenly spoke up.

"Remember when you were having your training with the dryads?" he asked her.

"Yes," Lucy replied, "but what's that got to do with anything?"

"You told me that you and your sibling's powers were to do with each of the four elements and yours was Earth. You used to sit on the grass for hours trying to connect with your powers, to learn more about them. Maybe, this is connected to your powers, why don't you try it."

Lucy's eyes lit up and she pulled Jay towards her and kissed him. "Jay you're a genius!" she said as she pulled away. "I learnt more about my powers in that time than in my training altogether, it's a brilliant idea!" Jay grinned at her as she sat cross-legged on the grass and he took a place opposite her. Lucy closed her eyes and breathed deeply, she allowed her mind to focus on the earth, where her powers came from, from the roots of the trees to the tip of their trunks, it was all under her control. But then a new image flashed before her, a cheetah, running as fast it could and as it did so she felt its speed flow through her, then a hawk soaring through the skies its eyes finding the smallest details of the land below it, a wolf, whose ears picked up any movement for miles. Each of these attributes she could feel within her and she knew that Aslan had allowed her powers to grow and adapt. But this thought filled her with worry, surely if her powers were advancing this meant that there was a threat coming and as this thought crossed her mind the images she was seeing changed. She was looking at Narnia from a birds-eye-view, but something was wrong and as she looked at her beloved country she saw a darkness spreading across it. The trees were dying, birds were dropping from the skies, crops were withering away and her vision began to darken until it was completely pitch black. She forced herself to open her eyes to see Jay in front of her but she still couldn't see anything just the darkness, threatening to consume her. With all the power she could muster she screamed and a burst of energy came out of her rippling the earth all around the training ground. Finally she could see again, as she saw Jay crouching in front of her grabbing her hands, calling her name again and again.

"Something's coming…" she whispered and then the world fell away and the darkness swarmed in as she collapsed to the ground.

Edmund was striding through the halls of Cair Paravel his mind racing, heart pounding. He had no idea what had just happened but he was sure that it was Lena he had seen in the vision and it seemed to be a memory, her memory. How could he have seen someone else's memories? He headed for the study where he knew Peter would be and wasn't surprised to find Susan there when he entered. The two were the best in the family at handling diplomats from other lands and often worked together on foreign issues.

"Ed? What is it?" Peter asked, on seeing his distressed face. Susan looked up concerned as she noticed the worry on her brother's face.

"Ed?" she questioned. Edmund said nothing but collapsed in a chair. "What's happened?" Susan continued, moving closer to him. Edmund paused for a bit before trying to find the words to describe what he'd just experienced.

"I… I went to go talk to Lena… and then the strangest thing happened… I don't know how to explain it…" he trailed off struggling to put a sentence together. Susan reached out towards her brother to place a comforting hand on his arm, as she did so there was a spark that seemed to jump from Edmund's skin to hers and raced up her arm leaving a fiery trail on her skin.

"Susan?!" both Edmund and Peter exclaimed jumping up in alarm as the spark ran up her neck and disappeared, Susan gasping as she did so. She turned towards Edmund and slowly opened her mouth to speak. "You're… worried but not for yourself… for Lena. I, I can feel it. I can feel your stress and your anxiety about the case, I can feel your worry, your confusion, all of it…" She trailed off as both her brothers stared at her in disbelief. "Su, what are you talking about?" Peter asked, looking at Edmund for an explanation. Edmund looked as shocked as he was. "How… how did you know I worry for Lena?" he questioned Susan.

"I… I don't-" Susan was interrupted by a frantic knock on the door of the study and before anyone could answer the door opened to reveal Mr Tumnus. "Your Majesties, I apologise but something has happened to Lucy, you'd better come quickly, he turned to lead to Kings and Queen to their sister but suddenly he froze. Susan and Edmund who had rushed to him as soon as they'd heard their sisters name stopped and stared at him. "Mr Tumnus?" Susan said, waving her hand in front of his face. Edmund started in disbelief at the scene before him, "What in the name of Aslan is going on?" he murmured. He turned to Peter who was stood completely still in the study.

"Pete?"

"I think… it's me. I'm doing that" Peter replied.

"What? How?" Edmund questioned, as he looked back and fourth between the faun and his brother.

"I don't know. As soon as he mentioned Lucy a fear took hold of me and I just wanted everything to stop… and then, he did."

"We have to get to Lucy," Susan commanded, drawing herself out of her shock, "something is clearly going on and we have to figure out what it is."