Hey! You have no idea how sorry I am for not updating sooner. It's only been little over a month… Hehe… oops. Thanks a bundle for your review, Eathiln, and thank you al 20 (give or take) other readers who did not care to review. Why only one? (sniff) Do you guys not like this story? Is it because it isn't set in LWW, and Alta isn't getting paired off with Peter, Edmund or Tumnus? Well, what if I was to tell you that there was a possibility of Alta getting paired off in the sequel? Eh, eh? Review and she might.

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Chapter 3

The water scared Alta; it was like waiting to drown, with the soft green light above her, and darkness below, wanting to swallow her whole.

All thoughts of panic rushed out of her mind, however, when her head broke the surface of the pool and into a sunny, quiet wood. Scrambling onto the grass as far away from the water as possible, the young apprentice finally let the boy out of her death grip and looked around in wonder.

For a moment, Alta forgot whom she was there with and why she was there. The only thought running through her mind at the moment was how badly she wanted to just lay down on the lush green grass and forget all her problems, while listening to the silence of the forest.

Her thoughts, however, were interrupted when the girl appeared above the pool… with the Witch holding fast to her hair.

"Let go! Let go!" the girl screamed.

"I'm not touching you!" the boy responded, as if it were his fault she was screaming.

In a panic, Alta fumbled around in search for the golden bowl and sighed in relief when she found it right beside her and clutched it tightly to her chest.

She waited for Jadis to start yelling at her, when she noticed something different about her Queen. She was much paler than she had been; so pale that hardly any beauty was left. And she was stooped and seemed to be finding it hard to breathe, as if the air of the wood stifled her.

Out of curiosity, Alta tilted her head to one side and took a deep breath in –– nothing seemed wrong with the air to her.

"Let go!" the girl shrieked again. "Let go of my hair! What do you mean by it?"

Alta wanted to yell at the Queen too, but no matter how much courage the golden bowl gave her, she couldn't find the bravery to speak out against her master.

"Here!" the boy yelled, obviously rather brave. "Let go of her hair. At once!"

The two turned and struggled with her. Alta looked at the two in awe, never had she had that type of bravery or strength in anyone other than Jadis. The Witch reeled back, panting, and there was a foreign look of terror in her eyes.

"Quick, Digory!" the girl ordered.

Aha, so his name in Digory… what an odd name. Alta thought to herself, though she couldn't help but wonder two other things: 1) who in the world would have such a strange name for their child, and 2) what the girl's name was.

The apprentice's thoughts were interrupted, however, when the girl continued speaking. "Change rings and into the home pool!"

Rings? Alta looked at the girl, tilting her head in confusion. She slowly stood up and began creeping silently over towards the two

"Help! Help! Mercy!" cried Jadis in a faint voice, strangely out of character for the first time in nigh hundreds of years. "Take me with you. You cannot mean to leave me in this horrible place. It is killing me."

"Why is it killing you then?" Polly demanded. "Why isn't Alta dying too?"

The apprentice jerked her head up at the sound of her name. She had not meant to be the centre of the conversation, rather, just an observer.

Jadis turned her gaze to Alta. She opened her mouth to say something, but the flash of gold held within the young girl's grasp silenced her.

By this time, the two foreigners had green rings upon their fingers, when Digory seemed to have second thoughts. "Oh bother! What are we to do?" he obviously couldn't help but feel sorry for the Queen.

Alta watched the two bicker. How amusing it was to watch them do so, and how glad she was that she was no longer the centre of attention. But they were taking too long to argue; the Witch was gaining her strength.

The girl suddenly ended the discussion by grabbing Digory's arm and dragging him over towards a marked pool of water.

They're going to leave me with Her! Alta thought in a panic. Thinking quickly, the apprentice jumped up and leapt with the swiftness of a deer (how long had it been since she had seen one? she wondered), and took a hold of the girl's arm in her strong death grip.

Then they jumped.

The confused shapes of strange looking buildings came into view almost as soon as they entered the pool, and the beautiful world of the pools vanished. Alta began to feel scared, and clutched the bowl closer to her flat chest for comfort.

Soon, they were all standing in a room filled with shelves upon shelves of books, bottles and a wide variety of other assorted items. In front of the group was a man, tall and thin, with a long clean-shaven face, a sharply pointed nose, bright eyes and a great tousled mop of grey hair; he was staring at the form of the Witch, Jadis, as if she were the most beautiful thing on earth.

Alta let go of the girl and shrank back into the shadows of the room, as to not be seen.

The poor man bowed, rubbing his hands and looking rather frightened. Alta suppressed a gasp once she looked closer at his face. He had the Mark. The apprentice took this moment in time (which the others were silent) to think back to when Jadis had been unable to find the Mark upon her own face…

"I have taught you for one hundred years now and yet you still refuse to show the Mark of all Magicians!" Jadis screamed at her.

"I'm sorry, I can't make it appear. I've tried to, honestly, I have." Alta pleaded, looking down at her feet.

Never before had she seen her Queen so angry. Prior to this moment in time, she had looked up greatly to Jadis for her kindness, her nobility, and her gift of Magic. Now, she still held her in high regard, but the poor girl was extremely frightened, and never again did she want to be yelled at.

Maybe there was something wrong with her, maybe she shouldn't laugh; Jadis never laughed, and she had the Mark. Maybe she hadn't been practicing enough; Jadis always practiced her Magic on those unfortunate enough to break a law. Maybe she should start doing that too…

Alta's thoughts were broken when Jadis stalked out of the room, slamming the door behind her. She let out the breath she hadn't realized she had been holding.2

The two were now quarrelling about saying sorry, as though they didn't realized that Alta was still present in the room, or even there at all.

Digory finally yielded, "… There: I've said I'm sorry. And, now, do be decent and come back. I shall be in a frightful hole if you don't."

"Thank you." Alta said in a small voice, stepping carefully out of the shadows timidly.

The two whirled around to face her. "What?" they said in unison.

"I would like to say: Thank you, to the boy named… Dig-Ory."

Digory looked confused. "What ever for?"

"For ringing the bell. It broke the curse." She turned to the girl. "What is your name, I am afraid I didn't quite catch it."

"Polly Plummer."

Alta made a face. "You all have rather strange names."

"And you say that 'Alta' isn't strange?" Polly questioned, when in fact; she was quite fond of her name.

"Not where I am from." Words such as these felt so foreign to her tongue. After so many years, she could finally speak with freedom, and without fear of Jadis yelling at her for not having the Mark upon her. She wanted to laugh, and cry tears of joy, but she could not find a memory where such actions would be appropriate, and at the moment, they most certainly weren't.

"I should go." Polly said after several moments of silence. "I'll try and come back though." The girl then quickly disappeared through a tunnel at one end of the room.

Digory shifted uncomfortably and glanced at the pale, dark haired girl before him. "Umm, I should probably go and see what my uncle Andrew is doing."

"Who's he?" Alta questioned.

"My uncle."

"How interesting. I think I had an uncle at one point." The apprentice scrunched up her face in concentration.

"How could you not know?"

Alta looked sad. "I have not seen any member of my family since I was ten."

Digory couldn't help, but have his mouth hang open in disbelief. "How old are you?"

"I am not sure." The girl looked so distant, so young in innocent. "Are we going to see your uncle?"

He nodded. "Follow me." Digory then began walking quickly down a set of wooden stairs.

"Why are the stairs wood and not stone?" Alta questioned, surprised at her own boldness. "Is your family poor?"

"No, around here, all stairs and homes are wooden, even those who are rich." Digory replied. He glanced behind him as he all but ran down the stairs.

"Your world is so much different than Charn."

Digory opened door after door down a long hallway. "Polly nor I said anything about this being a different world…"

Alta shrugged as she entered the main staircase. "I can feel it in the air, there is something much different from my world, or the other world, and this world. Charn was dead, the Forest is a newborn, and this world is in between, yet it is missing something."

The two looked to the door just in time to see the front door close behind Jadis and Uncle Andrew.

"Jiminy!" he cried, earning a confused look from Alta. "She's loose in London. And with Uncle Andrew. I wonder what on earth is going to happen now."

Just then a maid (who seemed to be having a wonderful day) came practically skipping towards the duo. Alta managed to shrink into the shadows just in time as to not be seen. "Oh, Master Digory." The maid said. "I think Miss Ketterley's hurt herself somehow."

They both rushed into the drawing-room to find out what happened, with Alta creeping silently behind after them, though, she couldn't help but wonder what a Miss Ketterley was… and what an uncle was, for that matter too.

The 'Miss Ketterley' turned out to be a woman, obviously having been thrown at the wall by the Witch (Alta had seen it happen to other people, but never herself). She took charge of the situation immediately, giving out orders to the maid (Sarah) and to herself as well, though, Alta had no idea half the time what the woman was talking about!

Digory walked out of the doorframe and almost jumped a mile in the air when he saw Alta standing rather close to his right side, almost clinging onto him.

"What is a Mrs. Kirke? Is it like a Miss Ketterley? What is a police? Is the Ketterley referring Jadis to the 'dangerous lunatic'?" Alta bombarded him with questions, her large grey eyes overflowing with wonder.

He looked slightly confused for a moment, but then brushed all the questions off. "These rings seem to work like magnets…"

"What's a magnet? Are they the same rings that Polly was talking about?" Alta interrupted, following Digory around like a chick would to a mother hen.

"Do you ever be quiet?" Digory almost shouted. Alta shrank back and bowed her head, clutching the golden bowl even closer to her.

"I'm sorry." She mumbled, trying her best not to cry. "A good Witch never shows emotion." Jadis's words echoed in her head. "It's just… I can talk all I want whenever Queen Jadis is not around without getting into trouble with Cook (before she was dusted). I thought… that maybe… you would not mind if I talked too."

Digory sighed. "I'm sorry too, but may I get back to explaining something?"

The apprentice nodded her head feverishly, her dark curled flying up and down as well. "I am rather skilled at being quiet, believe it or not."

"There are two rings the Uncle Andrew gave us; a green one and a yellow one. If I can only touch her and then slip on my yellow ring, we shall both go into the Wood between the Worlds."

Alta's eyes got as big as saucers. "Are you going to send me back to the Wood too?"

"Of course not! I mean, if you shan't want to, you can always stay here. You could live in the smugglers' cave, or… or…!"

"Are you not getting a bit ahead of yourself? Should we not go and see if Jadis is back yet, so I may be rid of her presence forever?"

Digory looked confused. "I thought you liked her."

Alta shook her head. "Nay, and I shan't think I ever shall again, either. She is a wicked Witch; I can see that now. Before, I had been blinded by her kindness, but never more, she shan't ever pull the Magic over my eyes again."

"Well then come on, we can watch for her and my Uncle Andrew in the dining room, you can see the front steps up to the door, and even up and down the street. We cannot miss her."

So the two rushed to the window of the dining room and waited.