Thanks to all who reviewed. It makes this story worth writing.

BTW. You may yet hate me by the end of this chapter.

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Months Pass On. Then Tragedy

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The holidays were soon over, and the Pevensies went back to school while Miranda went back to being taught by Professor Kirke.

January passed into February. Miranda was taken to the hospital once a week, then twice a month.

"I can't get over her recovery," Dr. Johnson told Lynn. "It's incredible."

February soon became March. And this is where we must stop, because early one March morning...

RING!!! RING!!!

Miranda bolted upright from her position on the couch and quickly picked up the phone beside her.

"Hullo," she said groggily, trying to shake her sleep off.

"Happy 31st Birthday!" a familiar voice shouted at the other end.

"Peter," Miranda groaned. "It's 4:30 in the morning."

"But you were ready, weren't you," Peter teased.

"Yes, but I wasn't expecting it until a little bit later."

"Yeah, well, that's what you get for expecting," Peter replied.

"Ha! Ha!" Miranda laughed sarcastically.

"See you later on today then."

"You may not want to see me, because then I might kill you."

"But you can't," Peter slyly replied. "That goes against your oath."

"I may forget my oath later on," Miranda replied, then hung up the phone. Sleepily, she got up and went back to her own room. Lying on the bed, she tried to think of how it felt like to be 31.

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If a 31 year old girl could describe how she felt celebrating her 16th, Miranda could not. Though she felt 31, her body was 16. What was odder was the fact that she was now celebrating her 16th birthday for the second time.

Thankfully, none of the adults seemed to notice Miranda's discomfort. They had gone into a small park that was little used, had a picnic (with birthday cake of course), and presents along the way. Her mother had given her a silver cross necklace, saying;

"Your father and I picked it out before he died. He wanted you to have it for your 16th birthday."

Miranda could feel the tears in her eyes.

Mr. Pevensie gave her an American helmet that he had found along the battlements.

"I just felt that you should have it," he said unsurely, glancing at Miranda's face. Miranda didn't speak, but instead threw her arms around his shoulders and started crying. Mr. Pevensie didn't move, but hugged her back.

Mrs. Pevensie gave her a set of personalized stationary, saying;

"You'll have to write us lots of letters when we go to America."

Of course, everyone then had to be told of how Mr. Pevensie had been asked to America and all the things that would be happening.

Soon after this, the Pevensie children and Miranda separated themselves from the adults. Edmund and Peter found some decent straight sticks, and both dualed with Miranda. Edmund ended up losing, and Peter ended up tying her. Then, all found a nice shady spot underneath a tree, and talked about the one thing they missed more than anything. There was lots of laughs as old jokes were remade and old stories retold.

It was nearing dusk when Lucy said to her siblings;

"We'd better give her the present before we have to leave."

"What present?" Miranda asked. The boys gave each other a grin and ran off.

"Where on earth are they going," Miranda asked the girls. But the sisters just gave each other a sly smile, and didn't say a thing.

A few moments later, the brothers came back, carrying a long, narrow, rectangular object underneath a blanket.

"Now, what you should know," Lucy said, "Is that most of the work is mine. The others just supervised."

"Oh Ha Ha!" Edmund snickered. "Then you can give me back all the money it took to get you the materials."

"And you can give me back all the hours I took sitting for you," Susan laughed.

"And you can give me back all the ideas and memories that I gave you for you to finish it off," Peter finished with a grin.

"Oh, alright," Lucy said, pretending to be hurt," If you insist."

Peter and Edmund layed the large object on the ground, and all four threw the blanket off.

Miranda couldn't hide her gasp.

For underneath the blanket was a large, hand drawn picture of all the things that she had loved from Narnia. Miranda had seen pictures like this already that Lucy had drawn for the others, but never had she seen one quite like this.

The Stone Table was in the far right corner of the picture. Aslan stood beside it, the largest thing in the picture, all covered in golden light. After that came a face she recognized; Orieus, dressed in full armor. Right beneath him was the fox Hunta. To the far left of the picture was Cair Paravel. Beside it was 5 people. Peter and Edmund were first, both dressed in full armor, carrying swords, and crowns upon their heads. Peter held Rhindon high above his head. Susan and Lucy were next to them, also dressed in armor, and both carrying bows and arrows. Crowns were also placed upon their heads. Susan's horn was by her side, and Lucy's cordial and knife were around her waist. Beside them was King Caspian, wearing great Narnian armor, with a sword in one hand and a knife in the other.

And right in the middle of the picture was herself. She was riding Onyx, who was drawn blacker than the night, with neither bridle or saddle. She looked like she always had in Narnia: darker, older, stronger. Her hair was long and windswept, and she also wore Narnian armor. And in her right hand, glowing bright, was Alanosa.

Miranda couldn't say anything for a moment. What could she say?

"How about "thank you"," Susan helped when Miranda remained silent.

Miranda looked up and laughed, and everyone noticed the sound of her laugh. It wasn't happiness. It wasn't pleasure. It was joy.

No one was ever quite sure how they managed to take the picture back and let no adult see it. Peter once said that he believed that they had gone blind for a moment. Susan thought that they had hidden it too well. Edmund shared that he thought that Aslan knew that it was special, and let it remain hidden. Lucy thought that the adults were just not paying attention. Miranda believed that all the grown-ups had known, only pretended they hadn't. But whatever the reason, the adults never mentioned it, and the picture was put into Miranda's room, slightly hidden away, but always there.

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Two weeks later.

Ring! Ring!

Peter jumped when he heard it. Oh, brother, he had forgotten! He flew out of his bed and ran down the stairs, jumping the last few. He finally reached the phone and grabbed it.

"Hello," he gasped into the phone, trying to catch his breath.

"Happy 32nd Birthday! You forgot!"

Peter couldn't keep himself from cringing.

"Yes Miranda, I know I forgot. And what's the big idea? It's 2 in the morning. I didn't think you'd go that early."

"That's what you get for thinking," Miranda laughed back.

Peter rolled his eyes and hung up the phone. He should have seen it coming. Miranda had succesfully gotten her revenge.

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Peter's birthday was celebrated. A month later, they celebrated Lucy's. It seemed like the holidays would never end. Yes, they had school during the week, but the weekends always made up for that. The weekends actually seemed to be getting better and better. But unfortunately, good times do not always last.

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Peter wasn't sure what made him uneasy that day. In fact, Peter noticed that Edmund and Lucy seemed to feel the same way as he did. As soon as Mother and Susan had left to pick up Mrs. Kellen for that woman's bible study, he had felt a gnawing feeling in the pit of his stomach.

For the rest of the day, they were on edge. Every time they heard a car going down the street, they went to the window, hoping that they were coming. But hours later, no one came.

Finally, Peter decided enough was enough. He picked up the phone and called up Miranda. He only had to wait for one ring before he heard...

"Hello?"

"Miranda, it's me."

"Oh. Hello Peter." Miranda's voice sounded disappointed.

"Have you heard from my mother or Susan?"

"No," Miranda's said surprised. "I was about to call you and ask if my mom was over there."

"No," Peter answered. "But I'll let you know if we hear anything."

"Thanks Pete."

Peter hung up the phone, now thoroughly confused. Father now seemed to be a bit anxious as well. Where were they?

The phone suddenly rang, and Father quickly picked it up.

"Hello?"

Father's face went pale and his eyes went wide.

"We'll be right over there," he said hurriedly, putting down the phone.

"Peter, call Miranda, and tell her to get ready to go. They're all in the hospital."

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They raced to the hospital as fast as they can, and immediately went to the front desk.

"Please. I'm Jeffrey Pevensie."

"This way," the nurse said immediately. She led them to a door. There stood a doctor, who made them stop.

"Which one is Miranda Kellen?"

"I am," Miranda said, stepping forward.

"You need to come with me now," the doctor answered, leading her away.

The others waited for a moment before the nurse opened the door.

"Helen's on the left. Susan, on the right," the nurse explained before leaving them.

Mother looked quite a shock. Her head was bandaged, and her arm was wrapped in white. But when she saw them, she gave a wide smile.

"What happened?" Father asked.

"It was an accident," Mother said. "A car crashed into us."

Peter snuck a peak at Susan. She was asleep. She had a scratch on one cheek, and a bruise on her arm, but other than that, looked quite alright.

"She's just in shock," Mother explained. "She went out soon after we arrived."

"What about Lynn?" Father continued asking.

"I'm not sure," Mother replied. "I didn't see her very much after the actual crash. But she looks a lot worse than I do."

A sudden knock on the door made everyone jump. The door opened, and a doctor stepped in.

"Mr. and Mrs. Pevensie?"

Mother and Father nodded.

"My name is Dr. Johnson. I'm afraid I have some bad news,..."

The door suddenly opened again, and a breathless nurse burst in.

"What is it?" Dr. Johnson said, his voice tense and worried.

"It's the girl! She's had an attack!"

The doctor raced out of the room. Peter, having a bad feeling, decided to follow. He heard Father saying something to him, but he ignored it. Something was very wrong.

Dr. Johnson turned into a room, a set of nurses holding a stretcher behind him.

"Get her on oxygen! NOW!" Peter heard the doctor shout. A few seconds later, the stretcher was pulled back out. Miranda was the one lying in the stretcher, unconscious, an oxygen mask covering her face.

Peter's heart started beating anxiously as he peeked into the room that they were just in. On a hospital bed, lay Mrs. Lynn Kellen. Her eyes were closed, and she appeared to be asleep. But Peter's eyes saw the monitor beside her bed.

The monitor showed a straight line. She hadn't survived the crash.

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(You can say you hated the end of this chapter if you want. I hated writing it.)