I woke up the next morning feeling stiff and sore. I groaned, stretching and rolling over. You know how sometimes you wake up in, say, a hotel or something similar to that and you forget for a moment that you aren't at home in your bed? Yeah, I didn't forget where I was. There was no mistaking the cold ground beneath me and the smell of the outdoors. I knew the instant I regained consciousness that I definitely was not in my room. The fact that I was rudely awakened by a talking Beaver was a pretty good clue, too.

"Get up! We have a long journey ahead of us - best to get an early start!" He hollered.

"Come on, Peter! Get up!" I heard Lucy insisting, the sound of laughter hanging on the edge of her voice. She was enjoying herself - nothing could dampen her spirits. I opened my left eye a crack and snickered when Peter swatted his little sister away, mumbling about how he needed five more minutes.

"Good morning, Zooey!" Lucy beamed, spotting me watching.

"Mornin'." I croaked, shoving myself upright with a grunt. I squinted around, the sun was much too bright for my liking as it glinted off the pale snow. I spotted Susan helping Mrs. Beaver get rid of any evidence that we had ever been here and I remembered the previous night. I wondered if she was still sour today...I decided to test the water, "Good morning, Susan." I muttered, giving her a polite smile.

She nodded her head in my direction, returning the polite smile, "Good morning." Her smile was forced - I could tell that much. But at least I was getting some sort of positive reaction from her. She was trying, and that made me feel a little more at ease.

Peter was sitting up, now, his blond hair a complete mess. He did not look happy to be awake - I guessed that he wasn't a morning person. "How'd you sleep?" I asked.

Polite like the rest of his siblings, he smiled through his natural, morning grumpiness, "Fine, thanks. You?"

I shrugged, "Meh. Alright." All things considered...

"That's good."

Beaver rubbed his paws together, not wanting to bother with morning greetings or small talk. "Off we go, then." Beaver marched off toward the trees with Peter glaring at him as he went. Definitely not a morning person.

Mrs. Beaver and Lucy followed. Lucy beamed back at me with that infectious smile of hers that couldn't be ignored. A small smile played on my lips as I followed her into the trees.

"I wonder what Aslan will be like!" Lucy wondered excitedly, "I bet he's wonderful." She looked over at me, "He sounds fantastic."

"He does." I agreed. You just couldn't help but be a little happier when you were around Lucy. She didn't ask me about last night and didn't mention anything even remotely relating to the prophecies. She just spoke happily about the adventure that we found ourselves in the middle of - but, you know, sometimes I wondered if it was an act she put on for my benefit. Sometimes, I would catch a look of worry that would cross her face at the mention of the White Witch or anything that made her think of Edmund. I would never say anything about this, though. I appreciated her efforts, for they did help me to feel a little better, and, maybe, keeping the conversation elsewhere helped to make her feel a little more at ease as well. I knew better than to mess with a good thing. Talking with Lucy was definitely something positive that should never be ruined by negative and paranoid thoughts or conversations. Apparently, those I saved for nights when I would have complete mental breakdowns and dump all my issues on Peter. Because, you know, he didn't already have enough to deal with. Of course, he should have to deal with me, too.

Maybe I should apologize to him...

I glanced over my shoulder and decided against it. I really doubted he would bring it up again, so, I figured that if I just pretended like it didn't happen then it would just go away. Simple as that. Don't ask, don't tell.

"What do you think he'll look like?" Lucy asked.

I smirked, shrugging, "I have no idea. I'm gunna go out on a limb, though, and bet that he's a talking animal!"

She laughed, "You know, I think you might be right!"

The Beavers stopped ahead of us and we looked out over Narnia. It was beautiful. Nature in all it's glory without any roads or factories or smog filling the air and ruining the atmosphere. I would have loved Narnia if it weren't for the circumstances under which I was here.

"Aslan's camp should be just over that ridge and across the frozer river." Beaver stated, smiling up at us.

"It's so far..." Peter muttered from behind me.

I sighed and nodded my head in agreement. We had a long way to go - a lot could still go wrong in the time it would take us to walk that far...

"It's the world, dear!" Mrs. Beaver chuckled, "Did you expect it to be small?"

There was a moment of silence before Susan spoke up, "Smaller." She turned to follow as the Beavers moved on. I watched her walk away - she generally seemed to be in a bitter mood about everything that was happening. Not that I really blamed her - I mean, this wasn't exactly ideal for any of us - but at least Peter and Lucy tried to be friendly throughout it all...

As we walked on, my legs soon began to ache. Jogging down a smooth side-walk every now and then was one thing, hiking through knee deep mounds of snow in a fur coat and wet sneakers after a bad night of sleep was something completely different. More than anything else at the moment, I was missing my faithful little car. There may not have been roads big enough for Elmo in Narnia, but I'm sure the little guy could have handled a little Off-Roading. Anything to get out of walking any further. I looked around at the others and I could tell that they, too, were exhausted. Especially little Lucy. Where the snow was halfway to my knees, it was much higher on her, making it much harder for her to trudge through the cold, white powder.

I was thankful when the deep snow banks ended and we stepped onto a very large frozen river. I dragged my feet, looking at the ground in front of me. Poor Lucy was starting to drag behind and I stopped so she could catch up with me - I felt bad that she was walking alone. She smiled up at me gratefully, grasping my hand when I offered it to her. "I'm sure we don't have much further to go." I assured her - really, I had no idea how much further Aslan's camp would be. But it felt as though we'd been walking for an awfully long time - how far could it be?

"Come on, humans! While we're young!" I heard Beaver call, and I glared at his furry little back. I definitely did not like the fact that he was mocking us - I was much too exhausted to have a good sense of humor about it. The four of us were a tough crowd at the moment.

Peter shook his head, stopping in front of us and crouching down, gesturing for Lucy to climb onto his back. She eagerly released my hand and wrapped her arms around her brother's neck, letting him hoist her up and carry her onward. "If he tells me to hurry up one more time, I'm going to turn him into a big, fluffy hat."

"Right on." I mumbled, grinning at the thought.

I cringed when Beaver yelled at us again, "Hurry up, Son of Adam! We don't got all day!"

"He is getting a little bossy..." Lucy giggled under her breath.

We fell silent once more for mere moments before I thought I heard bells in the distance. I stopped, looking around, trying to figure out where the sound was coming from. Peter stopped, too, turning to look behind us. "What is that?" He muttered, nodding his head back the direction we had come.

I followed his gaze, squinting at the object in the distance. "It kind of looks like - "

"IT'S HER!" Beaver yelled. "Run!'

I felt my stomach flip in a sickening way when he said that. We all knew which 'her' he spoke of. The White Witch. Peter quickly set Lucy down and let her run ahead of him with Susan. He turned to me, "We can't let her see you, remember?!" He pulled me so that I was in front of him, hopefully hidden from her view. If she hadn't already spotted me, that is. I sprinted forward without looking back. If she caught up with us, that would be the end of my new friends. I didn't know what would happen to me - surely she wouldn't just allow me to return home.

Lucy and Susan were a bit ahead of us and I could hear Peter close behind me - I was probably holding him back, since I was sure he was faster than I was. I watched Mr. Beaver wave the girls forward to hide beneath a small ledge created by a protruding tree root. They disappeared just as Peter and I reached the group and I quickly crawled in next to them before Peter hopped down. Lucy allowed him to sit behind her and she positioned herself in his lap. It was a small space and we were all very uncomfortable. Personally, I thanked God that it was winter. See, I have this huge issue with bugs. Especially worms. I can't deal with bugs. This whole hiding place would have been a complete nightmare for me if it had been summer. So, that was a plus. Aside from that, I was much too squished and much too scared to be comfortable. My heart was pounding and my breaths were coming out in pants from all the running . I tried to calm my breathing - I was so sure that it was loud enough to be heard by her. It was dead silent as we sat there, waiting to hear the sound of bells as the Witch continued on her way - or were we just waiting to be discovered?

"Maybe she's gone." Lucy whispered.

Peter gently pushed her toward Susan and I looked over at her with wide eyes and back at him as he made a move to get up, "I'll go look -"

I reached out to grab his coat to stop him, "Peter, don't." She wanted him dead. Hell, she would probably kill him on sight and he had no way to defend himself.

Beaver nodded his head, "Right - you're no use to Narnia dead." He started forward, but Mrs. Beaver's paw shot out to stop him.

"Neither are you, Beaver!"

I watched worriedly as Beaver simply chuckled and patted her hand reassuringly, "Thanks, love," before hopping up to see if the coast was clear.

It seemed like we waited an agonizingly long time. I watched Mrs. Beaver carefully while she wrung her paws together. She was obviously frightened for her mate and my heart went out to her.

"AH!"

I screamed when I heard Lucy scream beside me, snatching up both Peter and Lucy's coats in death grips and yanking myself against them in an attempt to hide myself. I held my eyes shut tightly, waiting for the Witch to strike us down. When nothing came, I dared to open my eyes and I looked around, spotting Mr. Beaver's upside down mug staring in at us.

"Hope you've all been good - There's someone here to see ya!"

Oh, how I despised that Beaver! I released Peter and Lucy, embarrassed by my knee-jerk reaction, "Sorry, guys..."

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Santa Claus.

The Santa Claus.

That was who had been waiting for us when we came out of hiding.

I was still standing there, gawking, when he drove his sleigh away from us after handing everyone their respective gifts - well, everyone except me, of course.

"Can I look at it?" I asked Susan, timidly, as we walked, gesturing at the horn she still held in her hands. I wanted to make an attempt to socialize more with Susan. She was the Pevensie that I knew the least (not counting Edmund) and needed to charm the most. I didn't like knowing that she wasn't especially fond of me. I was now on a mission to befriend Susan before this was all over.

She gave me a polite smile and a nod, handing it over to me. I turned the horn over in my hands, admiring the detail carved into the ivory. "It's beautiful," I commented.

"It is, isn't it?" She agreed. She sounded hesitant, though, and I glanced over at her, still running my fingers over the smooth surface on the horn.

"I sense a 'but'."

She turned her cold gaze on me, her eyes wary and defensive. She still didn't trust me. What did you expect? "Yes." She admitted with a sigh, looking forward once more. "It's all still very strange." That was the only explanation she offered, and I didn't want to push Susan just yet.

"Strange would be putting it mildly." I laughed.

"Oh no!" I heard Lucy gasp. I handed the horn back to Susan and we ran to where the others stood, looking over the edge of the cliff.

The ice on the river that we needed to cross was melting - fast. Santa (it was still weird to think that) had said that winter was almost over, but this was just ridiculous! It wasn't impossible for snow and ice to melt in a matter of minutes!

"Come on! We've got to cross now!" Peter urged, beginning the climb down the cliff toward the not-so-frozen river. He was getting more and more reckless the longer we were here, I was noticing. Perhaps reckless was the wrong word...either way, I was noticing a change in Peter already. When we had come here, he had been hesitant and unsure. Now, he was a man on a mission. I suppose having your younger brother's life in danger did that to a person. He was getting braver and braver with every hardship we faced.

"Hold on - let's think about this!" Susan shrieked, frightened.

"We don't have time!" Peter called back, helping Lucy down the cliff.

I slipped for a moment, but quickly caught myself before I went tumbling down the rest of the way. I treaded carefully, climbing down to where Lucy, Peter, and the Beavers stood at the edge of the river.

"I'm just trying to be realistic..." Susan muttered defensively, grudgingly beginning to climb down behind me.

Peter glared up at her, "No, you were trying to be smart, as usual!"

I avoided looking at either of them. I didn't really want to say anything, but I definitely had to agree with Peter here. I mean, if I had a brother, and his life depended on me crossing that river, then, damn it, I would cross that friggin' river no matter what. Nothing would have stopped me.

Carefully, Peter placed on foot on the thin ice. The second he put any weight on it, though, the ice cracked and he quickly retracted his foot.

"Maybe I should go first." Beaver suggested.

Peter nodded his head, gulping, "Maybe you should..."

I held my breath as Beaver slowly began to make his away across the ice. It cracked even under his small body and I gulped as Peter reached back to take Lucy's hand and started to follow Beaver. I was hesitant and I waited until Susan came up behind me:

"If mum knew what we were doing..." She muttered, urging me forward.

"Mum's not here!"

I didn't even want to think of what my mom would say to me if she were here. She was never one to shy away from being blunt and she probably would have told me how stupid I was being. "Don't you know how dangerous this is?! Are you out of your mind?!" Something to that nature. Oddly, the thought of having he scold me for this made me smile. I gasped when the ice cracked beneath me and I lept forward carelessly, wanting to move forward as quickly as possible.

"Peter!" Lucy shrieked, pointing up to the top of the waterfall to our left.

I whimpered, seeing a pack of wolves running to cut us off. It was never ending! Couldn't we just have one day without any confrontations?! Honestly...

I shrieked when the one of the wolves pounced on Beaver, pinning him to the ice. Peter drew the sword he'd been given, pointing the blade at the wolf that stepped forward - this wolf was clearly their leader. Maugrim, if I remembered correctly.

"Put that down, boy. Someone could get hurt." The wolf snarled.

My eyes darted between Peter and the wolf that was advancing on us. I stepped back, but the ice behind me collapsed, forcing me forward. I could hear Beaver encouraging Peter to kill the wolf - inside I really, really hoped he wouldn't try. Although, I couldn't see another way out of this, aside from jumping into the racing, cold waters of the river.

"Leave now, and your brother leaves with you." The wolf offered. Peter didn't budge.

"That sounds like a good offer, Peter." I offered, hesitantly. I wasn't a coward, but I wasn't stupid either. We were currently trapped between a rock and a hard place. Maybe this offer was our only way out...

Peter shook his head, "I doubt he'd keep his word." However, his hands and voice shook with hesitation and inexperience. He was trying to be brave, but I knew he was frightened like the rest of us.

The wolf growled, clearly losing his patience.

"Look, just because some man in a red suit hands you a sword doesn't make you a hero!" Susan called, panicked, "Just drop it!"

"No, Peter!" Beaver yelled. "Narnia needs ya!"

"What's it going to be, son of Adam? We won't wait forever - and neither will the river."

He was right. I heard the unmistakable sound of ice breaking and I looked up at the waterfall, my eyes wide with fear. "Peter!" I screamed, jumping when a massive icicle fell through the ice beside me. We didn't have long.

"Hold on to me!" Peter ordered before driving the sword into the ice in front of us. He wrapped his left arm around Lucy and, without hesitation, I threw my arms around him while Susan took hold of his right arm. I shut my eyes, my cheek pressed against his back as I waited for the water to come crashing down on us. I couldn't contain my scream when I felt the immense power of the waves propel us forward, the force of it overcoming us and pushing us beneath the surface for a moment. I hadn't been prepared for it and swallowed an immense amount of the freezing water, coughing and struggling to breathe when we resurfaced. Yet, I still maintained my grip on Peter as the current took us further down the river. I dared to open my eyes, seeing the Beavers swimming toward us and pushing our make-shift raft over toward the shore.

I collapsed onto the solid ground, still sputtering and coughing. I laid there for only seconds before I heard Susan yelling at Peter angrily and calling out Lucy's name. I sat up, looking to where Peter sat holding a fur coat in his hand - Lucy was no where to be seen.

"Oh my God." I gasped, scrambling to my feet and running to edge of the river, joining Susan in her cries. My eyes clouded by tears, I glanced at Peter. He sat, unable to speak, not believing that what he'd done. I could only imagine what was going through his mind. "P-Pete..." My voice broke. I really wanted to say something to comfort him, but I didn't know anything that would take the grief away. Could he really be blamed for what had happened to Lucy? To Edmund?

"Has anyone seen my coat?"

I was still watching him when we heard her voice. His head shot up, his eyes overflowing with tears when he spotted her. I watched as he quickly went to her, draping the soaked coat around her small shoulders. I couldn't stop crying - although, these tears were tears of relief and happiness. I was so glad to see that she was alright.

I heard Mr. Beaver chuckle happily, "Don't worry. Your brother has you well looked after."

this chapter was long! see? SEE? long. haha
i'm trying to get to the original bits of the plot - the parts that are my own creation :)
please review - sorry i still had quite a bit of movie dialogue. i tried to avoid it, but i kind of failed a bit haha