Instead…it was just the opposite. From the second the children woke up, it had done nothing but pour outside.

"Gastrovascular," Susan read from the dictionary. When he didn't answer, she continued, "Come on, Peter. 'Gastrovascular'."

"Is it Latin?" Peter guessed.

"Yes."

"Is it Latin for 'worst game ever invented'?" Edmund joked.

While Elaine didn't appreciate his sarcasm, she had to admit that it was getting really boring guessing the origin of strange words.

"We could play hide-and-seek," Lucy offered.

"But we're already having so much fun," Peter said sarcastically.

"Come on, Peter, please! Pretty please?" She gave him her best puppy dog eyes, and Elaine smiled. That girl had her brother wrapped around her little finger.

Peter smiled at his little sister. "One…two…three…four…"

Peter continued counting as everyone ran and tried to find a place to hide. Elaine hid behind one of the long curtains that hid her feet. She had a feeling that it was going to take Peter a while to find everyone. After all, this place was gigantic!

Her thoughts were once again proven wrong. Once Peter finished counting, Lucy's voice shouted, "It's alright! I'm back! I'm alright!"

She could make out Peter say, "You know, I'm not sure you two have quite got the idea of this game."

"Weren't you wondering where I was?"

"That's the point!" Edmund said. "That was why he was seeking you!"

Susan and Elaine found their way to the strange confrontation. "Does this mean Elaine and I win?" Susan asked.

"I don't think Lucy wants to play anymore," Peter told them.

"I've been…gone for hours," Lucy said.

Everyone turned to look at her. She led them to the wardrobe where she claimed to have seen some kind of wood and met a…faun named Tumnus. Susan pulled back the coats and knocked on the wood while Edmund knocked on the other side of it.

"Lucy, the only wood in here is the back of the wardrobe," Susan said to the girl.

"One game at a time, Lu," Peter told her. "We don't all have your imagination."

They all began to leave, but Lucy quickly pleaded, "But I wasn't imagining!"

"That's enough, Lucy," Susan gently scolded.

"I wouldn't lie about this!"

"Well, I believe you," Edmund said.

"You do?"

"Of course! Didn't I tell you about the football field in the bathroom cupboard?"

"Oh, will you just stop?" Peter demanded. "You just have to make everything worse, don't you?"

"It was just a joke!"

"When are you going to learn to grow up?"

"Shut up! You think you're dad, but you're not!"

Edmund angrily stormed out of the room. Susan turned to her brother. "Well, that was nicely handled." She left the room after her brother.

"But…it was really there…" Lucy quietly insisted.

"Susan's right, Lucy," Peter said. "That's enough."

Peter left and Elaine started to follow him.

"You believe me, don't you, Elaine?"

Elaine turned back to the nine-year-old girl. Her face was filled with desperation, wanting—no, needing—someone to believe her.

"I'm…I'm sorry, Lucy," Elaine said before walking out. She headed back to her room, unable to get the pleading look on Lucy's face out of her head. There was a knock on the door, and she saw Peter standing in the entranceway.

"I'm sorry about…everything that just happened," he apologized. "Lucy isn't normally like that. Edmund is, but Lucy isn't."

"It's alright, Peter. Just a bit of sibling rivalry going on. I'm an only child though, so it was a new experience for me." Peter smiled a bit and she tried to ignore how cute his smile was. "As for Lucy," she continued, "I know what she was saying is impossible, but she just seemed so…sure."

"I don't know what's going on with her. She has an overactive imagination, but it's never gone this far."

"There's a part of me that wants to believe her."

"But the other part that says it's ridiculous takes over."

"Exactly." There was a pause before she offered, "Maybe it's just a phase. Perhaps if we give it time, she'll get over it."

"I hope so. This whole situation has been hard enough on her as it is. I mean, having to be away from Mum and Dad and going to an unfamiliar place…I don't want to make it any worse."

"I understand."

"How…how are you doing with this whole change?"

Elaine sighed a little. "I'm doing alright. I suppose. Still trying to get used to being away from Mum."

"I know how you feel. At least you don't have three other siblings to worry about."

"Well, if it's any consolation, you're doing a pretty good job for a 15-year-old."

"Thanks."

Peter left and a little while later, when Elaine heard footsteps, she turned expecting to see him returning, but instead she saw Edmund angrily pass by her room.

"Edmund!" she called after him. He turned to face her with fury written all over his face. "Listen, about back there with Peter…"

"He doesn't listen to me, and he always acts like he's better than me!" Edmund grumbled.

"He's just under a lot of pressure right now with everything that's happening."

"Don't try to defend him! Peter isn't better than me, and neither are you! You're just pretending to like us, but I know that you don't even want to be here!"

"Well, of course I would rather be with my mum. But that doesn't mean I don't like you all."

"Yes, it does. Do us all a favor and leave us alone!"

Elaine blew a puff of air out through her cheeks as Edmund stormed off again. Be kind, even when they aren't kind to you, she thought to herself.

It was going to be difficult to follow her own advice if Edmund continued to act like that. How was she ever going to be able to get through this?


Elaine was in bed later that night looking at the picture of her parents. "I wish you were here, Mum," she said to the photo. "You'd know how to handle everything going on. There's a boy here named Peter. He's really nice to me, and he's kind of cute. Don't worry, Dad, I think you'd like him. He seems to be like the perfect guy for me. He takes really good care of his siblings, he's protective of them, he's been nothing but nice to me, and did I mention he's cute?" She took a deep breath and looked at her mother's eyes. They were so happy. What was that like to know you were loved by someone that way? "Mum…the youngest girl, Lucy, said that she found a magical wood in the wardrobe here. Now, we all know that's clearly impossible. But she just seemed like she whole-heartedly believed it was there. And when I didn't believe her, I actually felt guilty. What does that mean?"

Her head fell back onto the pillow as the picture rested on her chest.

"Why do things have to be so confusing?" she said quietly. She looked at the picture once more. "I love you both. Thanks for everything you've done for me. I hope you're staying safe, Mum."

Elaine wasn't asleep for very long before she awoke to Lucy shouting, "Peter, Peter wake up! Peter, wake up! It's there! It's really there!"

Elaine tossed on her robe and went to Peter's room. Lucy was on Peter's bed in her attempts to wake him up. She apparently was still holding onto the notion of the forest in the wardrobe.

"Narnia! It's all in the wardrobe, like I told you!" she continued.

"Oh, you've just been dreaming, Lucy," Susan said as she came into the room.

"But I haven't! I saw Mr. Tumnus again! And this time, Edmund went too!"

Everyone looked over at Edmund, who had an almost panicked look on his face.

"You…You saw the faun?" Peter asked.

Edmund slowly shook his head.

"Well, he didn't actually go there with me," Lucy said. "He…What were you doing, Edmund?"

"I was just playing along," Edmund said, getting a smug smile on his face. "I'm sorry, Peter. I shouldn't have encouraged her, but you know what little children are like these days. They just don't know when to stop pretending."

Lucy began crying and ran out of the room. Peter, Susan, and Elaine all ran after her to try to comfort her. And in the process, get her to drop the whole 'Narnia' thing.

When they finally caught up with her, they found her hugging the Professor as he stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to do with the child latched onto him.

"You children are one shenanigan shy of sleepin' in the stables!" Mrs. Macready said as she ran up to them. She froze at the sight of the Professor and Lucy. "Professor. I'm sorry. I told them you were not to be disturbed."

"It's alright, Mrs. Macready," the Professor said gently. "I'm sure there's an explanation. But first of all, I think this one is in need of a little hot chocolate."

He handed Lucy over to the woman. "Come along, dear."

The older ones tried to get back to their rooms, but the Professor cleared his throat, and they stopped.

The Professor led the three of them to his office, and they shyly stood in front of his desk as he began to stuff his pipe.

"You seem to have upset the delicate internal balance of my housekeeper," he said to them.

"We're very sorry sir," Peter said quickly. "It won't happen again."

He tried to pull Susan and Elaine away, but Susan stayed behind. "It's our sister, sir. Lucy," she told him.

"The weeping girl," the Professor stated.

"Yes, sir. She's upset."

"Hence the weeping."

"It's nothing," Peter insisted. "We can handle it!"

"Oh, I can see that."

"She thinks she's found a magical land. In the upstairs wardrobe," Susan explained.

The Professor froze and looked up at them curiously. "What did you say?"

"Um, the wardrobe upstairs," Peter said. "Lucy thinks she's found a forest inside."

The Professor led them over to his sofa and they sat down on it while he sat in the chair across from him.

"She won't stop going on about it," Susan added.

"What was it like?" the Professor asked.

"Like talking to a lunatic!"

"No, no, no, not her. The forest!"

All six of their eyes widened at his words.

"You're not saying you believe her?" Peter asked in disbelief.

"You don't?"

"But of course not," Susan said. "I mean, logically, it's impossible."

"What I can't understand is how she completely believes it's real," Elaine put in. "I mean, when we looked at the wardrobe, we didn't see anything. So there can't really be anything there."

"What do they teach in schools these days?" the Professor muttered.

"Edmund said they were only pretending," Peter told him.

"And he's usually the more truthful one, is he?"

"No…this would be the first time."

"Well, if she's not mad and she's not lying, then logically…we must assume she's telling the truth."

"You're saying that we should just believe her?"

"She's your sister, isn't she? You're her family and her friend. You might just try acting like one."

The three of them headed back to their respective rooms, the Professor's word running through their heads.

"While I hate to admit it, he makes a good point," Elaine said to Peter before they parted.

"I suppose so," he muttered. "But it still doesn't make any sense."

"I'm not arguing with you about that."

"I'm sorry you got woken up, by the way. And dragged to the Professor's office."

"It's alright, Peter. Honestly, he kind of shed some light on all of this. Only a little, but light all the same. I have to ask though…is Edmund usually that…snide?"

"He's a bit immature, but I don't think I've ever seen him like that before. Maybe he's just trying to get used to the change like we all are."

"Perhaps. Well, we both should be getting back to sleep. I'll see you tomorrow, Peter."

"Good night, Elaine."

Elaine returned to her room and found that it took her a long time to fall asleep as the Professor's words, Lucy's claim, and Peter's face filled her mind.