A/N. Girls, you would not believe what happened to me yesterday…A new guy came to my class at school, I looked at him and OMG, he is the spitting image of Edmund! I just stared at him for minutes, it's just unbelievable, it's like they're brothers! But it didn't end there…we have double desks in our school and he sat right next to me! We met and talked after class and I felt like I was gonna faint-he even talks just like him! Wow…okay, enough of my rambling, on with the story!)

Chapter 10.

As they walked through the mansion corridor Lucy asked the magician

"What did you mean when you said that you made them invisible for their own good?"

"It seems the easiest way to protect them from the evil."

"You mean the mist?" Edmund guessed, as it was the only evil they knew about now.

"I mean what lies behind the mist" They made it to a big room with numerous books and Coriakin stood back to let them all in first. He then followed them. He took from one of the bookshelves something that looked like a huge map and with a single hand unrolled it on the floor. It was indeed a big map of the ocean and its islands but it also looked like a masterpiece-so beautifully it was painted and the pictures even seemed to stand out and appear live. Even Eustace couldn't help it

"It's quite beautiful!" he said looking at the map, but momentarily corrected himself when he saw Edmund, Edelle and Lucy grinning at him "I mean for a make-believe map of a make-believe world!"

"There is the source of your troubles" Coriakin pointed to an island in the very far away east. "Dark Island, the place where evil lurks. It can take any form. It can make your darkest dreams come true."

Edmund and Edelle listened with furrowed eyebrows and great concern, taking everything in as Coriakin continued

"It seeks to corrupt all goodness, to steal the light from this world."

Lucy stood out "How do we stop it?"

"You must break it's spell."- he turned and pointed to Edmund's sword. "That sword you carry,

There are six others."

Edmund looked at him "Have you seen them?"

"Yes."

Caspian lifted his eyes from the map "The six lords? They passed through here…Where were they headed?"

"Where I sent them." Coriakin stood on the map "To break the spell you must follow the blue star to Ramandu's Island. There the seven swords must be laid at Aslan's table. Only then can the true magical power be released. But beware…" Coriakin looked at them all – "You are all about to be tested."

"Tested?" Edelle questioned. Coriakin turned to her "Until you lay down the seventh sword, evil has the upper hand. It will do everything in its power to tempt you." he came closer to Lucy, who has lowered her gaze "Be strong. Do not fall to temptation. To defeat the darkness out there, you must defeat the darkness inside yourself." The magician eyed everyone in the room, every stiff expression and dismissed the five.

Edelle, Edmund, Lucy, and Caspian- they were all silent as they walked back to the ship. Each one was deep inside their own thoughts. It seemed as if they tried to convince themselves that they had no dark wishes, but something kept clawing at the back of their minds, making them feel insecure at what could possibly be hidden deep down in their souls, something they didn't even realize was there.

Them and the crew boarded the ship and took off; heading east and ready to meet whatever awaited them.

Later that day Edelle was sitting on a barrel near the bark of the ship, looking at the waters. Edmund was downstairs, in Caspian's cabin. Caspian, Drinian and he were looking at different maps and investigating the shortest way to Ramandu's Island and Lucy was in her room, reading a book. But Edelle didn't feel lonely, right now it was a good thing that she could just sit and ponder with her thoughts…

"Um…Edelle?" came an unsure voice from behind her. She turned her head and growled quietly as she saw Eustace standing there. "How may I be of service?" she asked calmly and formally, still not being able to completely conceal the anger from their last conversation, but she knew she had to try her best to do so.

Eustace's expression was quite nervous, something very rear for him. He gestured to a barrel nest to her

"May I sit?"

She glanced at the barrel "Be my guest." She averted her gaze from him back to the ocean.

He sat down and kept silent for a moment, not sure how to begin speaking. He hardly ever had a problem picking out the right words, but with her it was different. And the way she was not even looking at him made it even more difficult. After several minutes he finally uttered

"Edelle, I'm sorry about what I said earlier...that didn't come out right, I didn't mean for it to sound like an order."

She slightly raised her eyebrows. As far as she knew him, Eustace didn't like to apologize for anything, so his words and the sincere, unsure tone they were spoken in surprised her a great deal.

She tilted her head and looked at him "Um, it's okay…if you really are sorry, than I forgive you."

Eustace smiled "Thank you."

The briefest smile, but even that made him look more…human. With his usual stiff and, if not angry, then blank and cold expression, Edelle never found him the least bit attractive. To her he just looked average. And next to Edmund, even below average. But when he smiled right now, giving her a small glimpse of the other side of him, she was quite shocked to discover that behind that mask of his he was actually kind of cute. With his fair hair and light blue eyes and the half-smile, Edelle felt like she was looking at a different boy.

"Edelle, there's something else I wanted to tell you…I wanted to say it last time, but messed up the whole conversation from the beginning."

She looked at him, waiting "Yeah?"

He shrugged, and began in a slightly shaking voice. "Well..the reason I said what I said earlier, about you and Edmund was because…because even though I hardly show it..and by the way I act and speak it's probably impossible to believe it but, you're kind of my only friend, or at least I hope you are. When there was just me and you, before my cousins came, you where the only one to speak to me and spend time with me. I know you had no choice, but to me you became the only bright thing I had in my life. And when they came, you started speaking to me less and less, you were spending most of your time with them and especially with Edmund…"

As he spoke Edelle listened to him in complete shock. She never thought she meant so much to him, she never thought he even cared if she spent time with the Pevensies. But it appeared he did.

Eustace took a breath and continued "And since we got here, you seem to grow closer to him every day and I...I realized I really like you a lot, I don't want to lose you more than I already have."

Edelle blinked several times and stared at him for a moment. So it is true…he likes her. She lowered her eyes, apologetically.

"You don't have to say anything now, I just wanted you to know how I really feel, I don't want you to think that I just want to order you around." With that he got up and walked away, leaving Edelle alone to her thoughts.

Edelle suddenly felt so sorry for him. He told her she was the only pleasant thing he had, he told her he liked her and she now felt even more guilty, knowing that she had to hurt him. He said he didn't want to lose her completely, but he already had. Eustace thought he still had a chance for her to like him back, but he didn't. Edelle knew how much it must have cost him, coming up to her like that and exposing his soul to her, and that made the guilt even worse. She knew, even though he built up the courage in himself and confessed to her, he still was Eustace. If she told him about her and Edmund, he wouldn't understand, he would just hate her forever…

"Hey, whatcha doing?"

She snapped from her thoughts and shot her head up to see Lucy sit down on the barrel Eustace had just left.

"Hi..um, nothing"

Lucy looked at her, concerned at her confused and a bit anxious expression. "Edelle, what's wrong?"

She looked up at Lucy "I talked to Eustace just now…he said he likes me."

Lucy was taken aback, but not as much as Edelle "Well, have you told him about you an Edmund?"

Edelle slowly shook her head "No, I couldn't bring myself to. And even if I had, he wouldn't understand."

Lucy thought about it "Well, you could try to explain and maybe, just maybe he would eventually understand."

"Yeah, and maybe, just maybe that's insane. I mean, it's Eustace we're talking about here."

Lucy sighed "You're right. He's just gonna hate you for the rest of your life."

Edelle cocked and eyebrow "Ya think?"

They were silent for a moment, then Edelle stood up

"I'm going to my room, do you have any book to read?"

"Yeah, sure you can take one from my cabin."

"Thanks." Edelle half-smiled and went downstairs. She didn't really want to read, she felt so perplexed, so torn, she needed someone to soothe her, someone to make her feel peaceful and cozy again. She needed someone to pull her into a comforting embrace and hold her tight. And Edelle knew only one person who could give her that.

Hope you liked it. Don't ignore that little link below)