Chapter 2: this is how a heartbreaks

When my plane finally, and I repeat, FINALLY arrived, I was exhausted. I just went through a MAJOR time change. In New York, it would be 5am. But here in England, its barely 1pm. So after my plane landed, mom Bruce and I took a train to his relative's house.

When we got to the house, I must have stood in awe for 5 minutes. The house was gigantic! It was a Victorian, and the back of the house was wooded. It was simply gorgeous. We rang the bell, and an elderly woman opened it. The house looked like a museum inside! Unfortunately, the older woman did not look friendly at all. "Hello Bruce" she said gravely, "Is this Ella?"

"Yes." Bruce said, "She just turned 16 and will not be a bother to you."

"Well then, I am Mrs. Greeley. I am the house keeper. We are not used to having children. I expect you to go to bed early, and be as quiet as possible. At ALL times, under ALL circumstances."

I rolled my eyes. "Well we better be off" Bruce commented.

"Oh, how tragic!" I said, in mock sadness, "it's a shame you can't stay for tea…"

Mom sighed and they said goodbye and left. Leaving me all alone with the Greeley. Grrrr….

She showed me to my room and left me. "Not so bad…" I thought, checking the place out. Quietly, I stepped out of my room and began to look around.

I walked into a room with tons of antiques. I muddled through them and didn't find anything particularly interesting. Most of the stuff, I noticed was mom's old stuff from before we moved. So this is where it had been stored. Then I reached a small brown box. Carefully, I opened it and discovered an amulet. A note spilled out and landed on the floor. Slowly, I reached down to pick it up. I opened it and it read:

To Ella,

My dear daughter, this is for you… I am sorry that I will not be able to see you when you turn 16. But you see, I have to go. Your mother and I tried to work things out. As you can see, it didn't exactly go as planned. I just wanted you to know that I love you and I always will, my daughter. This amulet has been passed down for many generations. It is yours now. May you cherish it over the years. I hope it brings you all the adventures that you've ever dreamed of.

Your loving father,

Frank

Tears filled my eyes as I tucked the letter inside my pocket. I stole another glance at the amulet. I could not help but be captivated by its beauty. It was a large sapphire colored stone with small pictures of dryads and fauns inscribed in it. Fantasy creatures. I hugged it to my chest. Maybe dad and I had the same love for fantasy. I wonder why mom never kept this… well its mine, dad said so. I rubbed my finger over the stone and surprisingly it clicked open. I gasped as it played a soft enchanting tune.

"Oh my god…" I breathed, "its perfect."

I heard the clatter of footsteps. "Girl? Ella? Where are you? Have you been snooping around?"

UH oh! Apparently I wasn't supposed to find this! Whoops! Scanning the room, I searched for a hiding place from that awful witch. God… who knows what she'd do if she found me! I grabbed the amulet and fastened it around my neck.

I backed up into a bed and I scrambled under it when the sound of foot steps grew increasingly louder. Oddly, my head began to hurt and I suddenly felt dizzy. I felt the room spin before me and all I saw was blackness.

"uhhhh…" I muttered when I finally could open my eyes. "HOLY SHIT! Where am I?" I opened my eyes and instead of finding myself under the bed, I was outside under a tree. "Oh no…." I groaned "The Greeley must have found me and punished me for snooping."

Just then there was a noise in the bush. A little squirrel popped out.

"Awww… how cute. He looks just like the one in 'Emperor's new groove' "I said laughing and dusting myself off.

"Did you just call me cute missy?" it said, putting its hands on its hips.

"Ohmygod. I thought that squirrel just talked. Wow, I really hit my head hard" I commented.

"Believe it missy, I talk." And with that, he scampered over and conked me over the head.

"What the frick? What was that for? Whoa… I guess you really can talk. Okay, okay, I believe you, just never hit me again" I said, putting my hands up in surrender.

"Welcome to Narnia, daughter of eve."

"I'm really in NARNIA? YOU HAVE TO BE JOKING ME! OH MY GOD, THIS IS CRAZY, BUT SO COOL, OH MY GOD!" I squealed.

"Hey now, take it easy!" the squirrel said, covering his tiny ears." If you stop shouting, I'll take you to Cair Paravell."

"Really? Oh thank you! But… umm… Why and how did I get here?" I asked.

"Well, You believe in Narnia. Aslan must have a purpose for you being here. Oh, I'm Thayan, ma'am."

"Oh, I'm sorry, my name is Ella."

We walked in silence until we reached the castle.

"Whoa…" I breathed. "Its just how I imagined it. Except more beautiful."

The squirrel, or, Thayan, nodded and whispered something to a beaver. Less than five minutes later, I was greeted by another beaver.

"Here love, I'll take you to the kings and queens" she said, smiling. "now I'm Mrs. Beaver. Its wonderful to hear about you Lady Ella."

"Oh, its just Ella. I'm not special enough to be a lady," I said quietly, giving her a hug. I might have looked calm, but on the inside I was totally freaking out. I mean, how many kids get to end up in a place no one thinks exists, and meet Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy! But still, when the great doors opened, Mrs. Beaver pushed me inside.

"Hello, you must be Ella" the oldest girl said softly.

"Umm… err.. yeah, I mean, yes, I am Ella" I stuttered. This caused the youngest girl to giggle, reminding me of my littlest cousin, Jamie. "Hey now, I'm a little nervous if you haven't already noticed that Lucy" I said, laughing.

Suddenly, she stopped laughing. "You know my name?" She asked curiously.

"Well, yes. I know a lot about you. You see, I'm from America. I always believed in Narnia and other places no one thought existed. Someone made your adventures into a book. Its strange, you look as young as you were when you first entered Narnia."

"Only because we are able to go back to England. You see, when we go back, its still 1940" Edmund added.

"Wow. That's weird! 'cause its 2006 right now! Huh, must have something to do with magic. Anyway, you are Peter" I said pointing to him, "and you are Lucy, Edmund, and Susan" I said, finishing. "Oh, and I'm Ella Scott. Um. I have no idea how I got here."

"Well we are glad you are here" Peter said, finally speaking "So you just appeared here?"

"um. Not exactly. My mom and my step dad decided to go away on a trip for a few months, and so they decided to send me to live with my dad's cousins mom. Mrs. Greeley. Ugh! She's awful! I hate her. And so I was exploring and found an amulet from my dad. I heard her coming so I hid under a bed. I hid my head and they next thing I knew I was here. Now that I think about it, I must have gone back in time a little bit, because its 1940 when you go back to the professor's house."

Suddenly, Peter grasped the amulet in my hand. "Ella, look at the dryads and fauns on this! They are Narnian creatures. Who gave this to you, your father? Aslan must know something important about this. This amulet was once a rare possession of Narnia. He must have been to Narnia in order to get this."

"Yes, that is strange" Susan agreed, "But it is getting late and is almost dinner time. Everyone wash up. Peter, will you show Ella her room? I'll have Mrs. Beaver bring some dresses in for her so she can change."

As Peter began walking to my room, I kept sneaking glances at him. "Do I look different than you imagined or something?" he asked when he caught me staring.

"N-nno. Not at all. Well, your hair in a little shaggier than it was when I saw a picture of a person who was supposed to look like you, but you look how I thought you would. How old are you?"

"I am almost 17, Ella, and you?

"Oh, I just turned 16. But my step father doesn't seem to think I act like it at all" I replied.

"Well here we are… Ella Scott, welcome to your room at Cair Paravell."