5

Dear Diary,

There's been an extraordinary turn of events. I've been abducted by my cousins, and set adrift in uncharted waters in some ridiculous looking boat. What's worse, is I share a quarters with an obnoxious mouse-thing. And I thought bunking with my cousin was bad enough. So far, every person I've met in this strange place suffers from the most florid delusions. Chasing green mists and looking for lost lords. Eustace looked up from where he was sitting on the ship up at Caspian and Drinian, who were going over a map. I can only assume that this is the result of poor diet. Or they're all just barking mad. He looked at where Lucy sat about twenty feet away from Eustace, sewing up a rip in the vest she had made the other day from when Maxine had accidentally cut her with a knife when she and Edmund were fooling around in the galley. Cousin Edmund is no exception. He spends every spare second rubbing that tin sword of his like it's some magic lantern. Poor fool clearly needs a hobby. Eustace looked over at where Edmund was cleaning the barnacles off of the sword, Maxine beside him, fiddling with one of the broken-off barnacles as Reepicheep scurried up to them, looking at the sword.

Then there's this American girl, Max. She must suffer from the worst of these delusions. She spends almost her entire day with the supposed "King" Caspian, talking of strange things. They discuss things about Cousin Susan as if she were an old hag, and then they talk about other things I've never heard of. She mentioned some strange device called a 'blender' and explained to that king how it turned fruit into mush with the push of a button. The Americans must be terribly useless people if they spend all day thinking of devices that turn things into baby food instead of new war weapons to fight the Germans.

"It's going to be magnificent." Reepicheep said, "Do they come in a… smaller size?" Edmund and Maxine smiled at the mouse.

"I'm going to see if I can grab a drink." Maxine said, she held out her arm, "Care to join me, Reep?"

"With pleasure." Reepicheep replied, scurrying up her arm to rest on her shoulders as she walked. Eustace watched as they went below deck.

"Peeving marmot…" Eustace muttered once they were gone, "He's even more deluded than my cousin." A seagull flew down onto the barrel in front of him, cawing slightly. "In England we have mousetraps and that sort of thing." The seagull's head only twitched as Eustace lowered his voice slightly, "Speaking of, you don't know where I could get any, do you?" The seagull only cawed again.

"Uh…" Eustace looked up to see Taveras and another crew member looking down at him from above on a small balcony, "Why are you talking to that bird?" Eustace looked between him and the seagull.

"Well, I just naturally assumed he could—" He was interrupted by Taveras's laughter.

"He's talkin' to birds!" Taveras laughed.

"He's mad as a loon, that one!" The crew member laughed in agreement, hitting his stomach.

"Yeah!" Taveras said, hitting the other man on his back, not realizing he had almost sent him over the railing of the ship. Eustace glared at the seagull and shooed it away with a scowl as he went back to writing in his diary.

Maxine sighed as she sat next to Edmund, holding a cup of water in her hands as he kept taking barnacles off of the sword. Lucy was next to him, still sewing up her vest, seeming to be very engrossed in the task. Edmund looked over at her and saw her swirling the water in the cup with a bored expression on her face.

"Something wrong?" Edmund asked, Maxine shrugged.

"I don't know," She said, "I'm just really bored."

"Well," Edmund began with a sly grin, "You could always go and snog Caspian to pass the time." Maxine punched his shoulder, "Ow!"

"You shut up!" Maxine snapped, she crossed her arms across her chest, "Believe me, if I could, I would, but he's busy."

"So you admit that you would?" Edmund asked, that grin still on his face.

"Don't make me hit you again!" Maxine threatened, raising her fist. Edmund flinched and she smirked, punching his shoulder twice, "Two for flinching." Edmund rubbed the spot where she hit him. "All I'm saying is, unless we find land anytime soon, I'm going to be bored out of my mind for the rest of this trip."

Eustace quietly went down the stairs to the galley, careful to avoid the crew members who were talking a few feet away. He snuck past them and over to where the rations were kept. He headed over to a basket, and saw a ripe orange sitting inside of it. He grabbed it and stuck into his shirt through his collar.

"Are you aware," A voice began, making Eustace jump in fear, crashing into some of the pots and pans hanging on the wall, "Stealing rations is a capital offense at sea." Eustace looked around for the voice, but saw no one. Reepicheep climbed over a basket so Eustace would see him, "Up. Here." Eustace looked up and saw him with his paws crossed across his furry chest and glaring down at Eustace.

"Oh, you." Eustace said, walking away from the mouse, keeping his eyes down. Reepicheep looked at him incredulously and scurried across the top of the galley shelves so he could be ahead of him.

"Men have been keelhauled for less!" He said, warning him of what would happen.

"For what?" Eustace asked, doing a very bad job of playing dumb.

"For treason!" Reepicheep said, "For… sneakiness, and…! General nuisancery—! Look," He held out his paw, "Hand over the orange and we'll let the matter pass."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Eustace said, walking away again. Reepicheep shook his head exasperatedly and ran ahead of him again.

"Allow me to clari—!" He gasped when Eustace grabbed his tail.

"Look, I've had quite enough of you!" Eustace said.

"Unhand the tail." Reepicheep commanded in a dark voice as he pulled out his sword, pointing it at Eustace's face, "The great Aslan himself gave me this tail. No one, repeat, no one. Touches the tail. Period. Exclamation mark." Eustace released the tail from his hands, holding them up in surrender as he stared at the tip of Reepicheep's sword.

"Sorry." He apologized quickly.

"Now," Reepicheep began, "I will have the orange, then," He hooked his tail around a large knife (It was almost the length of a small sword) and threw it up in the air, having Eustace catch it, "I will have satisfaction!" Eustace, realizing he was challenging him to a duel, quickly became nervous.

"P-Plea-Please! I'm a pacifist!" He begged.

"En guarde!" Reepicheep said, swiping his sword. Eustace did the only thing he knew to do in this situation.

He ran.

He ran out of the galley and up the stairs, heading out onto the deck. His sudden appearance got Maxine and Edmund's attention, especially after he bumped into Taveras. He ran through a group of crew members, causing them to drop some of the things they had been carrying.

"Trying to run away?" Reepicheep asked as he ran along the railing of the boat. He grabbed onto a rope and swung across to land on a barrel in front of Eustace, "We're on a boat, you know." He pulled out his sword and pointed it at him.

"Look," Eustace said, "Can't we just discuss this?"

Reepicheep sliced his sword through Eustace's shirt, "That was for stealing," He poked his sword in and pulled out the orange, "That was for lying," He pulled the orange back and used it to slap Eustace in the face, "And that was for good measure!" Eustace's hand shook as he held the large knife. He swiped it at Reepicheep and he jumped stylishly to another barrel, "That's the spirit!" He held out his sword towards the boy, "We have ourselves a duel! Catch!" He took the orange off the sword and flung it at Drinian, who easily caught it. "Now, come on. Take your best shot." Eustace jabbed his sword at the mouse and he dodged it, "Is that it?" He swiped at him and he jumped over it, "Come on, boy!" Eustace kept swiping at him again and again, and Reepicheep dodged each time, "Focus! Focus! Yes! Now!" Eustace's sword hit the railing and Reepicheep shook his head, "Stop flapping your wings like a drunken pelican! Poise! Keep your blade up. Up! Up! That's it, now." Eustace lunged for the mouse and he jumped over him onto his back and jumping off that to the barrel beside him. Eustace swiped at him again and he climbed up the shrouds. The knife struck the wooden holders and got stuck for a moment. Reepicheep used that moment to get away, jumping off his shoulder and onto a pulley, riding over to another barrel and turning to him, "Yoo-hoo! Over here!" Eustace yanked out the sword and turned to the mouse, "Now," Eustace lunged at him and he jumped over it, "Lunge with your foot!" He landed near Eustace's legs, "Not your left!" He struck his left leg, "Your right!" He struck his right leg and jumped up on the railing, "Got it? Come on. Be nimble. Be nimble! It's a dance, boy, a dance! Come on, now!" Eustace jabbed the knife at him, "Again!" He did it again, and he dodged, "And again!" He dodged another jab, "That's right! That's right!" He jabbed at him one more time and Reepicheep jumped back slightly, pretending he was losing his balance, his arms reeling back, "Oh, no!" He fell back and Eustace ran to the railing, looking to see if the mouse had fallen back in the water.

Reepicheep came up on the other side of the shrouds, grinning mischievously at Eustace, using his tail to tap his shoulder, making him turn around. "And that," He used his legs to push Eustace over, "Is that!" Eustace knocked over a basket when he fell, and Maxine noticed how a small shriek came from the basket. The crew applauded Reepicheep's victory as Maxine stood up straight, walking over to the basket with a suspicious expression on her face, Lucy walked with her. They saw two hands poke out as a girl crawled away from the basket.

"Look." Maxine said, getting everyone's attention, she recognized her as Rhince's daughter from Narrowhaven.

"Gale?" Rhince looked at his daughter in shock as she stood up and looked at her father, "What are you doing here?" She looked up at her dad, eyes shining from tears, like she was afraid she was in trouble. Rhince walked over to her, "Come here." He took her in his arms and kissed the top of her head comfortingly. He looked up as Drinian walked over to the two of them, the orange still in his hands. Gale looked up at him fearfully as he looked down at her. Drinian gave her a small smile.

"Looks like we have an extra crew member." He said, he held out the orange to her and she took it. Lucy smiled at Gale and walked over to her.

"Welcome aboard." She said.

"Your majesty." Gale said, curtsying politely to Lucy.

"Call me Lucy." She said, she took her under her arm, "Come on."

"Come on! Look lively!" A man shouted, having everyone get back to work. Eustace reached down for the knife and picked it up, taking it back to the galley.

"Good match." Reepicheep said as he passed him, "I'll make a swordsman of you yet." Then, a very rare thing happened.

Eustace smiled at him.

It quickly disappeared, though, as he said, "Yes, well… If the playing field were a little more even… It would have been an entirely different result." Reepicheep chuckled as he quickly walked away.

"Indeed." He said to himself, leaning back against the shrouds. Maxine watched him go below deck, then looked back at Edmund.

"You know, call me crazy," She began, "But I think your cousin had fun just now." Edmund looked at where Eustace had disappeared, a smile coming onto his face.

"You know, I think you might be right." He said. The two teens looked at each other for another moment before bursting out into laughter.

Maxine opened the doors to the navigational room Caspian had spoken to her in when she first came onto the ship. Caspian looked up from whatever map he was going over and smiled at her as she came in, conspicuously closing the door behind her.

"Hey." She said as she came in.

"Hello." Caspian said, standing up. He crossed the room to go over to her, taking her in his arms.

"I'm not interrupting anything am I?" Maxine asked, looking back at the map he had been looking at, "Because if I am, I won't bug you."

"No, you're not interrupting anything." Caspian assured, "I was actually just thinking of how perfect your timing was." Maxine raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, were you?" She asked with a smile.

"Yes, work is tiresome." Caspian said, "And what better way to spend a break than with pleasurable company?" He put his forehead against hers and Maxine smiled sultrily up at him.

"Hmm, you weren't thinking naughty thoughts, were you?" She asked him coyly, pressing her body up against his. Caspian leaned closer to her, their lips almost touching.

"Perhaps…" He breathed, Maxine giggled.

"God, you are so hot when you get like this." She said, she cupped his face in her hands and kissed him. He happily returned it, wrapping his arms around her back and pushing her chest up against his. Maxine wrapped her arms around his neck, one of her hands tangling themselves in his hair. Caspian's tongue ran along her lip and she opened her mouth, gladly letting his tongue rub up against hers. Caspian's hands traveled down to her behind, pushing her lower body against his. Maxine let out a small squeak when she felt Caspian's crotch against hers. She pulled away from their kiss for air, but Caspian kept going. He began kissing her jaw, going down to her neck. Maxine let out a small moan when he did this, and felt him smirk against her skin as he kept going down to her collarbone.

"You're really… getting into this…" Maxine panted, letting out another moan as he sucked on her collarbone. She felt her legs give out from under her, and Caspian held her close to him, making sure she didn't fall. Maxine let out a squeak of surprise when he picked her up and sat her on the table. He moved his lips back up to hers and she quickly engaged herself in the kiss, wrapping her legs around his waist to keep him to her. Caspian's tongue began to mingle with hers again, and Maxine sighed pleasurably. She snuck her hands under his shirt, and let her fingers trail along the skin of his abs. Caspian groaned in her mouth at the feeling, and put his own hands underneath her shirt, tracing patterns along the skin of her back, returning the favor. Maxine felt her insides warming up from Caspian's touch. He moved away and started kissing her neck again. Seventeen year old Caspian would have never done this, Maxine thought to herself, yet here was twenty one year old Caspian, sucking her neck more than a dehydrated vampire.

He suddenly pulled away, panting, as he looked at her. Maxine sighed exasperatedly.

"Are you stopping because you have to," Maxine asked, "Or are you just taking a breather?"

"Because I have to." Caspian specified as he pulled his arms away from underneath her clothes and stepping back. Maxine let out an exasperated huff.

"Okay, you may be hotter as you get older," She said, "But you're still too polite for your own good." Caspian smirked at her as she got off the table, wobbling slightly as she stood up straight. "You could, at least, ease out of the make-outs instead of stopping altogether. That makes it a lot easier on me." Caspian let out a small chuckle.

"Yes, well, next time, I will do just that." Caspian said. Maxine crossed her arms, leaning against the table as Caspian went back to the map he had been looking at previously.

"You know," She began, "The good thing about me coming back to an adult Caspian means you have a bigger sex drive, but because you're all gentlemanly, you're as jumpy as any other virgin boy." Caspian looked up at her.

"Maxine, I am a virgin." Maxine looked at him with wide eyes.

"Oh, right, medieval era." Maxine said, "An unmarried twenty one year old virgin is normal."

"It's not normal back in your home?" Caspian asked, Maxine shook her head.

"No, actually, you'd get made fun of if you said you were a virgin and you're twenty one." Maxine said, "Especially if you're a guy."

Caspian was about to respond when there was a knock on the doors. Edmund poked his head in, covering his eyes with his hand.

"If I'm walking in on snogging of any sort, tell me now." Edmund said, Maxine picked up a pen and threw it at him. He jumped when it hit his shoulder, smiling humorously at her.

"You make another crack like that again, Ed, and you're a dead man." She threatened, a small smirk on her own face.

"What is it, Edmund?" Caspian asked. Edmund smiled at him.

"It seems we've found the first uncharted island in the east." He said.

Caspian looked at the island through a telescope, seeing all the trees along the coast line, "Looks uninhabited." He said, "But if the lords followed the mist east, they would have stopped here."

"Could be a trap." Drinian said suspiciously, looking at the island.

"Or it could hold some answers." Edmund said. Maxine looked over at Caspian.

"What do you want to do, Caspian?" She asked him. Caspian put the telescope down.

"We'll spend the night on shore." He said, handing the telescope back to Drinian, "Scour the island in the morning."

"Aye, your majesty." Drinian said, heading over to the helm to bring it closer to the island. Caspian walked down to the deck and Maxine followed him. Edmund watched her go, as did Drinian.

"She's like his puppy dog." Edmund muttered, seeing as she followed him around. Drinian nodded in agreement.

Maxine looked around the shore as she walked around the beach. Seeing that it was clear this beach had not been walked on for a long time. Or just recently, it was hard to tell on the lumpy, sandy ground. She went over to the longboat and pulled out everything she was going to need to camp out that night, smiling as she walked around to find a spot. Caspian noticed her good mood as she spread out a blanket on the ground next to a rock. Caspian came up next to her and smiled at her, she smiled back.

"What has you in such a good mood?" He asked, Maxine shrugged.

"I don't know." She said, "I guess… it's the camping. It reminds me of when we stayed in the How."

"How does it remind you of the How?" Caspian asked.

"Sleeping on the ground." Maxine said, "God, that seems like so long ago."

"That's because it was so long ago." Caspian said.

"For you." Maxine specified as she put a small pillow down, "It's been three years for you, one for me, remember?" Caspian nodded.

"Right, I had forgotten…" He said quietly, Maxine looked up at him, hearing something out of place in his voice.

"What is it?" She asked, propping her hand on her hip.

"What is what?" Caspian asked.

"Something bugged you when I said it was three years for you and one for me," Maxine said, "What is it?"

"It's not important." Caspian said, putting his hands in his pockets.

"Liar." Maxine said, Caspian avoided looking in her eyes, so she made him face her by putting her hands on both of his cheeks, "What's wrong?" Caspian sighed and reached up, holding both of her hands and bringing them away from his face.

"It's just… the time difference between our worlds is too great." He said.

"It's not that bad." Maxine said.

"When the Pevensies came back the first time, over a thousand years had passed!" Caspian said, Maxine grimaced.

"Okay, maybe it is pretty bad." She said, "But I don't see the problem. Why is that such a big deal?"

"It's just…" Caspian began, "What if, when you leave again, you come back to a much older version of myself?"

"Like… how old?" Maxine asked. Caspian shrugged.

"I'm not sure, but I could be thirty years, or perhaps fifty years when you return." Caspian said, "And you will only be nineteen. That would hardly be appropriate."

"Get to the point, Caspian." Maxine said.

"Perhaps… We should not be together." Caspian said. Maxine frowned, and lightly smacked his cheek, pulling away from him.

"I know that." She said to him. Caspian put his hand to where she had smacked him and looked at her confusedly.

"You know?" He asked, Maxine nodded.

"Yeah, I know." She said, sitting down on her blanket, looking up at him, "Look, I'm not saying I want you to stick around forever. I mean, you're going to be king for the rest of your life, while I'm going to be a middle-class woman for the rest of mine." She sighed, "What I mean is… Just stick with me until this adventure is over, then go find someone else." She looked up at him hopefully, and he gazed back at her. Finally, he sighed, smiling at her.

"It's very hard to say no to you when you make that face." He said, Maxine smiled at him as he brought over his own blanket and laid it down next to hers, "You don't mind if I sleep here, do you?"

"Of course not." Maxine said, lying down on her own blanket as Caspian prepared where he was going to sleep. Smiling as he lay down next to her, taking her hand and entwining their fingers.

Later on into the dark night, while everyone slept peacefully on the shore. No one noticed how gigantic footprints suddenly began appearing on the shore, but the creatures who made them were not visible to anyone that would have happened to be awake.

"Seems they brought a pig." A voice whispered in the night, commenting on Eustace's loud snoring. One of the giant footprints landed next to Lucy as she slept.

"This one," It whispered, "It's female." Another footprint landed beside Gale.

"So's this one." Another voice whispered. A large footprint landed near Caspian and Maxine, where they slept in each other's arms.

"This one is, too." A third voice whispered. Another footprint came next to the first one.

"No, that one's male." The fourth voice whispered.

"Not that one," The third voice said, "I meant the pale one with brown hair."

"Ohhh." The fourth voice whispered. The book next to Lucy's head suddenly started levitating, opening up as if someone were going through the pages.

"This one reads." The one next to Lucy said, "Let's take her." Lucy awoke to the feeling of someone's hand on her mouth, and suddenly found herself being lifted up by arms that weren't there. She struggled and squirmed in their grasp, trying to get out while the creature began walking away with her, taking huge, leaping steps. She was carried through the forest of the island, through many different trees and bushes, and into what was either the strangest looking bushes ever created by nature, or someone's lovely garden. Finally, she was dropped on the ground and she scrambled up, looking around for her enemies when she heard them laughing, but saw no one. She quickly stood up, pulling out her dagger, only to have her enemy yank it out of her hands and throw it a few feet away from her. When she tried to run for it, she was pushed back and onto the ground.

"There is no escape." A deep voice told her as she scrambled back up.

"Well put!" Another voice said.

"Scary!" A third voice said.

"Yeah!" A fourth voice said.

"What are you?" Lucy asked, looking around for any sign of being able to see them.

"We are terrifying, invisible beasts!" A voice said.

"If you could see us," The deep voice said, "You would be really intimidated."

"Yeah." A voice agreed.

"Uh, you forgot to mention," Another voice said, "That we are very large!"

"What do you want?" Lucy asked them.

"You." The deep voice said, "You'll do what we ask."

"She will!"

"Very clear!"

"Well put."

"Yeah." Lucy stood up, looking in the directions the voices had come from.

"Or what?" She asked.

"Or death." The deep voice said, Lucy gasped quietly.

"Death?"

"Death?!"

"Death!"

"Death! Death! Death!" The voice chanted, stomping their feet.

"Well, I wouldn't be much use to you dead, now would I?" Lucy countered the voices. Their chants stopped.

"…I hadn't thought of that." The deep voice said.

"No, you hadn't."

"Fair point…"

"Alright!" A voice said, "Then we'll just kill your friends!" A chorus of 'Ooh's came from the voices around Lucy as she shut her eyes, trying not to think of her friends being killed by invisible beasts.

"Good idea."

"Yeah."

"…What do you want with me?" Lucy asked quietly, not liking these invisible voices at all.

"You will enter the house of," The owner of the deep voice pushed her in a certain direction, "The Oppressor."

"What house?" Lucy asked, not seeing any buildings in sight.

"This one." The deep voice said, Lucy's eyes widened as something opened before her, revealing the inside of a house. She looked at it in awe, trying to figure out how the doors were there when there was no house, "Upstairs, you'll find the book of incantations. Recite the spell that makes the unseen seen."

"Well put, Chief, well put!"

"Very."

"Yeah." Lucy walked around the entrance of the house, seeing nothing but gardens instead of a wall of some kind.

"Well? Go on, we haven't got all day!"

"Remember what will happen to your friends!"

"You've been warned."

"Yeah."

"Yeah…"

"Right." Lucy looked back to the invisible beings.

"Why don't you do it yourselves?" She demanded. The voices seemed to hesitate in telling her.

"…We can't read." The deep voice said.

"Can't write, either, as a matter of fact." Another said.

"Yeah."

Lucy looked around as if they were stupid (If she could have seen them).

"Why didn't you just say so?" She asked them, implying that if they had told her, she would have done it. They didn't have to threaten her friends.

"Beware the Oppressor!" A voice warned, "He's very oppressive!"

"What makes the unseen seen! Got it?" The deep voice asked.

"Don't forget!"

"Don't forget, now!"

"Yeah."

Lucy took in a deep breath and walked into the home of the Oppressor, the doors shutting behind her as she did.