Hi! Thank you for reading and to those who've reviewed this story :) Digory and Polly finally get to another world in this chapter but I'm not sure everything will go to plan...

Hope you enjoy and please tell me what you think :D

Chapter 7

"Which one first?" Digory asked excitedly, looking around at all the pools with a glint in his eye.

Polly shrugged slightly and bit her lip as she also looked around. "Well, I don't know – there's no way of telling which world we'd end up in." She pointed out worriedly.

Digory grabbed her hand. "Stop worrying. We can leave anytime we want." He comforted her but the excited glint which Polly had come to associate with discovery of any sort was still in his eyes.

"Yes...I suppose." She agreed.

"How about we just try that one." Digory said, pointing randomly, and she nodded but just as he was about to move she gave a horrified cry and pulled her hand from his, staying where she was.

Digory turned to her with an exasperated sigh. "Polly! It's fine!" He said, but she was far from fine. She was shaking and even paler than usual, her eyes wide.

"No -" She started to explain but he held up a hand.

"I'll look after you." He smiled and she stamped her foot in frustration.

"Listen to me! I'm not scared. We just nearly did something very, very stupid." She said fervently. Digory frowned. "What are you talking about?"

Polly indicated the pool that led to their world, still with a frightened look on her face. "We wouldn't have been able to find it again." She said in a tremulous voice. "We would have got back here and not known how to get home."

Digory blanched. "Oh God." He put a hand to his head. "You're right, they're all identical."

Polly had recovered from her shock a little and picked up some branches from the ground, as Digory watched she arranged them in a cross shape.

"X marks the spot." She said wryly and he gave a small laugh, still frightened by the thought of how close they'd been to never going home.

Polly straightened up and held out her hand. "Come on, no point dwelling on it." She said with as sweet a smile as he'd ever seen. The corners of his mouth pulled up and he took her hand gently as they began to walk.

"How about this one." He said eventually, stopping by a pool just a little way from theirs.

"Might as well." Polly agreed with an excited smile, Digory noticed the color had come back into her cheeks and her eyes were sparkling.

"I think we probably need to be in it...it's very shallow after all." He said, inspecting the pool.

Polly screwed up her face but gracefully stepped into the water, giggling as an odd tickling sensation spread through her lower legs as they were immersed. Her dress remained dry and she looked at it with wonder. Digory's mouth had fallen open at this blatant display of magic and he waded in after her without a second thought.

"It's so strange." He murmured. Polly was busy swirling her dress around in the water and he laughed at her childish antics.

"What do we do now?" She asked after a while.

"We just need to put the rings on. They're in my pocket, so after three we'll both reach in and put one on." Digory said.

"Okay."

Polly moved very close to him.

"One...two...THREE!" On three they both plunged their hand into his pocket and slipped on a ring. Almost at once a rushing noise could be heard and neither were sure whether it was in their heads or out, colors began to flash and Polly reached out her hand for Digory who (by coincidence) was also reaching for hers. Their hands met and the rushing became roaring, all he could see was the green of her eyes. Suddenly a spinning sensation began and Polly uttered a small scream – she thought she knew how eggs felt when beaten to make a cake. Faster and faster they span until all thought and reason was driven from their curdled minds, then all at once it stopped and they both fell forward, panting.

Digory sat up first and to begin with only saw Polly whose unruly hair was covering most of her face. After a second she too sat up with a groan and put her hand to her head, but she smiled shakily when she saw Digory.

"Gosh." She said quietly, aware of the understatement.

"Definitely." He agreed. Neither were making much sense but they couldn't quite bring themselves to care. It was after having established that Polly was okay that Digory first looked around and saw the place in which they'd arrived. And what a place it was, Digory marveled as he looked around in awe and (it must be admitted) fear.

Polly saw his expression and swept a determined ringlet out of her eyes; once this obstacle was gone she gasped as she saw the world they'd found.

It was beautiful but terrifying, their wide eyes feasted on every corner in sight, every inch of this new and exciting landscape but the scale was too large to comprehend. It looked like an ancient city from a fairytale with some curse put upon it, it's beauty was that of destruction. Jagged mounds of stone cut into the skyline, ruins - once castles, and no greenery or sign of life blossomed, the sky was almost black and the sun (if you could call it that) a savage red and low in the sky. The air carried a monstrous chill that seeped into the very soul and both children shivered as they took in the magnificent sight. Yes, it was magnificent – terrible and yet enchanting, they couldn't stop staring – their eyes were round as saucers.

The silence was unsettling and neither felt they could break it or even move for fear it might provoke some ancient spell, such was the eerie atmosphere that clung to the place. It was Digory who spoke first but it was only quiet, little more than a whisper.

"It's amazing."

Polly looked at him and her brow creased slightly, although she too was bewitched and entranced by the beauty of the world Digory looked somehow different, he seemed exhilarated by it and there was no longer any trace of fear in his face. By contrast Polly's fear had risen considerably as she'd seen more of where they were and the sense of dark magic had increased, she bit her lip.

"I wonder what happened." She said eventually. "It can't have always been like this." She indicated the ruined city, her arm making a graceful arc.

"Something powerful." Digory said with flashing eyes. Polly shot another worried glance at him.

"I think we should go back." She said quietly and he turned to her disbelievingly.

"What? Are you mad? Miss a chance to explore this – this..." He trailed off, unable to think of an adjective able to do the wondrous sight justice.

"No I'm perfectly sane actually so that makes one of us." Polly snapped. "Something doesn't feel right about this place."

Digory rolled his eyes at her sharp retort. "Stop being such a girl." He admonished.

Now it was the turn of Polly's eyes to flash and they did so with such vehemence that Digory actually took an involuntary step backwards.

"If 'being a girl' is being sensible and not idiotic then yes, I'm certainly being a girl and I don't intend to stop. Look around, something awful has happened here and we're trespassing."

Digory stared at her for a moment but then turned away. "Well I'm going to look around, stay there if you're scared." He said over his shoulder, his voice dripping with disdain.

Polly made an indignant noise but he was already too far away to hear her so (against her better judgment) she ran to catch him up.

"I'm not scared." She corrected him, falling into step, but he just smirked.

"'Course you're not."

Polly breathed out exaggeratedly and looked at him haughtily but he slung an arm around her shoulders and she found herself blushing instead. Embarrassed, she turned her face away but Digory only pulled her in closer, his eyes eagerly taking in every detail of this new, exciting world as they walked on and on towards goodness knows where.