Chapter 5: The Arrival and the Secret

The rest of the ride was silent, but still enjoyable. Although I had to keep maneuvering my head to keep Susan's hair from flying in my mouth, I enjoyed the view of the ocean and the sky and the bright green grass. Everything seemed like a dream in Narnia, but I knew very well that it wasn't. That's when questions started popping up. How did I get here? Where exactly is Narnia? What exactly is Narnia? Why can't I remember home? How do I get home? Do I even want to go home?

As soon as the questions started bombarding me, they stopped as we reached the large pearly gates of what looked like a castle town. As we approached the gate, I watched in awe as centaurs from the walls above nodded at us and tugged the gates open from a latch. Centaurs? I didn't think those existed either. All of this insanity was getting to be quite overwhelming. We trotted into the town and I was the only one looking around at all the different creatures that I had never seen before. Many of them stopped what they were doing and looked at me. Some of them even bowed. Oh, right! They were the kings and queens. But why were they looking at me? I grinned back at them as we rode along for a few more minutes, until finally we reached a stable. The stable had tons of beautiful horses and I almost wanted to take one home with me. If I could ever get home. As we got off the horses, I found myself looking around as I swung a leg over the horse, trying to keep my night dress down before I saw a hand held out to me. It was Peter's hand. I looked at him and smiled before accepting his hand and stepping down. I could almost swear I felt a chill go up my arm when our hands linked. "What's your name?" He asked with a small smile. I couldn't help but return it.

"Anna." I said.

"Anna." He repeated with a nod.

"This way! This way!" Lucy said, taking my hand in hers and leading me out of the stables. I followed her in a slight run for a minute or so until we reached very wide, stone steps. A lot of them. I looked back to see Peter, Susan, and Edmund walking at a normal pace a few yards behind us. "Hurry up, you three!" Lucy yelled before running up the stairs. I ran up after her almost afraid to slow down. When we reached the top, I faced the two biggest doors I had ever seen. As if on cue, they creaked open. This was before I realized the two fawns pushing them open. Fawns. Figures. Inside of the palace was the amazing entrance hall. It had a sparkling marble floor and its ceilings were at amazing heights. The walls were painted gold and white, and it simply took my breath away. There were many open archways that led to hallways, a staircase, and the windows were large and let the sun shine on every corner of the palace. I stood in awe, looking around for a few moments.

"Are you alright?" Susan asked with a laugh.

"It took us a while to get used to it too." Peter said smiling as I snapped out of my daze. "Since you'll be staying here, I suppose Susan and Lucy should show you to your room."

"Which room, Peter?" Lucy asked immediately.

"I don't know. Whichever one she likes best." He said, motioning for Edmond to follow him down one of the hallways while Susan and Lucy led me down another.

"Wow..." Edmond began as he and his older brother entered a large room with a long table in the center of it. They both took their seats and gazed around the empty room. "I don't suppose..."

"What?" Peter asked.

"I dunno." Edmond mumbled.

"This is defiantly not what I was expecting to happen." Peter said shaking his head in disbelief.

"I thought they just saw wolves, not a human."

"I was hoping to have a talk with them though. I don't like how they patrol the Palace entrance when we aren't watching. They ran off so quickly that-"

"They would have killed her! That's why we had to call off that meeting you imagined."

"I know that, Edmond! And I know that the wolves are getting together a resistance."

"Why are you so concerned about the White Witch's old army when we have a girl here who showed up out of no where? Don't you think Aslan made it happen for a reason? Shouldn't we find-"

"Edmond, enough!" Edmond sat back in his chair while giving Peter a death look. "I know we found a human, but right now our main concern should be keeping a war from starting!"

"And I thought you brought me in here to talk about how pretty she is..."