Disclaimer: Nothing you recognize is mine. Please don't sue.

A/N: Well, I never intended my chapters to be so long, but when they were the right length I couldn't just cut it off. It wasn't an appropriate break in the story… Poop. Oh well, I like longer chapters when I'm reading so I hope you do too.

~CON~CON~CON~

The next day Susan persuaded everyone to come outside and play Cricket. Peter and Edmund were all for it thinking they needed something to let go of all their anger. Lucy decided to sit out and read in the grass. She was still upset about the wardrobe incident the day before. Not to mention she wasn't the sports type of girl.

Kaylee threw rocks into a nearby stream, not wanting another face to face encounter with Peter. Especially with everyone else around. The constant plop of the rock falling into the water distracted her for a while until she heard a smash that sounded oddly like a window breaking. She turned to find a Cricket ball-shaped hole in a stained glass window in the mansion.

She, of course wanting to know what had been damaged, ran up into the house with the four siblings.

"Oh, well done, Ed," Peter criticized. So it was Edmund's fault… Kaylee thought.

"You bowled it!" Ed retorted. Or it could have been Peter's…

Out in the distant part of the house they heard Mrs. Macready yell, "What on earth is goin' on?" All of them were terribly afraid of getting in serious trouble so they did the only thing they thought they could do: run. They ran into this room and that room and up and down stairs but it seemed they couldn't escape the cruel housekeeper's footsteps. She always seemed to be right behind them no matter where they went.

The last room they ran into was a room Kaylee had never seen before. It was empty except for a large wood wardrobe in the back of the room. Everything seemed to be gravitating to this one wardrobe and Kaylee couldn't understand why. There was nothing special about it… At least, not that she knew then.

Edmund and Kaylee ran toward it while Susan, Peter and Lucy stood back next to the door. "You've got to be joking…" Susan said. Kaylee had no idea why they remained behind, and it seemed odd but the footsteps were getting closer so without further hesitation all five crammed into the tiny space.

Everyone was yelling and shouting for people to move over. They continued to back up and it suddenly dawned on Kaylee that this was an extremely large wardrobe, larger than it appeared on the outside… And suddenly Peter and Susan tripped backwards and landed on a pile of snow.

Snow? In a wardrobe! "Impossible!" Susan said breathlessly voicing the simple word the rest of the group seemed to be thinking.

"I couldn't agree more," Kaylee muttered moving out of the 'wardrobe' and into the forest that should not have been there. Everything was covered in a thick white sheet of snow. Icicles hung from the trees. Everything was so stunning; Kaylee had a hard time taking her eyes off the sights.

"I don't suppose saying we're sorry would quite cover it," Peter told Lucy. This snapped her out of the trance she seemed to be in. Sorry for what? Kaylee thought.

"Sorry for what?" she asked vocalizing her most recent thought.

"No," Lucy said, either ignoring or not hearing Kaylee's comment as she threw a snowball and hit Peter right on the forehead. Lucy grinned brightly. "But that might!" As soon as she said that the three of them got into a snowball fight. Kaylee stood there horribly confused attempting but failing to figure out what on God's green Earth was happening. Edmund was looking around as a snowball hit him in the thigh.

"Ow!" he exclaimed. "Stop it!"

Peter looked at him for a few moments then said, "You little liar!"

"You didn't believe her either!"

"Apologize to Lucy." Ed didn't say anything. "Say you're sorry!" he warned.

"All right!" he shouted. His voice was a little tentative and worried when he said, "I'm sorry."

"It's all right. Some little children just don't know when to stop pretending," Lucy told him.

"Oh, very funny," Edmund whispered sarcastically. By now Kaylee was completely lost. There were a few more exchanges and apparently Lucy wanted everyone to meet someone called Mr. Tumnus.

"Can someone please explain to me who Mr. Tumnus is and where we are?" Kaylee yelled.

"Oh right. Sorry, Kaylee. I forgot you weren't there with us," Lucy said. "I'll tell you on the way there." Kaylee nodded as she went to get a coat as Peter didn't give her one. You want to play it that way? Fine. That's fine by me Kaylee thought as she walked along with Lucy.

~CON~CON~CON~

"…lots and lots of lovely food and…" Lucy was rambling on about what would happen when they all would meet Mr. Tumnus. Kaylee was finally up to speed on what had happened in the past couple of days with much elaboration on Lucy's end. Her feet were freezing from trekking through the knee deep snow.

Lucy stopped talking suddenly and everyone saw why. Mr. Tumnus's door was broken into and barely hanging on the frame.

Lucy gasped and then took off running. "Lucy!" Peter yelled as he ran after her. Everyone was soon racing after Lucy into the faun's house. When they got inside, the place was ransacked. Everything was completely or almost destroyed. Lucy looked mortified. Peter was worried and Susan was already suggesting they go back. Peter hushed her as he pulled a note nailed to a wooden pillar. "'The Faun Tumnus is hereby charged with treason against her imperial Majesty, Jadis Queen of Narnia," he read aloud. "'For comforting her enemies and fraternizing with humans. Signed Maugrim, Captain of the Secret Police. Long live the Queen.'"

Everyone was silent. There were a few exchanges between the four siblings while Kaylee remained quiet. What had happened? If she had just stayed home, she wouldn't be in this mess. She wouldn't have had that fight with Peter. She wouldn't have been in that forest. Why had she not just stayed home? "Psst!" someone said.

"One second," Kaylee whispered.

"Psst!" someone shouted again.

"What?" she snapped turning to face the four others.

"We didn't say anything," Susan told her with an odd confused look on her face.

"Well then who did?"

"Psst!" Kaylee turned in the direction of the sound to find a…bird. It was looking at her. Just looking.

"Did that bird just 'psst' us?" Susan whispered.

"PSST!" it tweeted and flew off. Kaylee ran outside and the rest of the family ran after her. Her eyes traveled around the clearing for the briefest of moments, but nothing seemed out of the ordinary, other than the bird beckoning them, of course.

But suddenly the bushes began rustling and fear gripped her insides.

"What was that?" Kaylee whispered to no one in particular. It's an odd thing that people ask that. How are the people around her supposed to know if she doesn't? But this was no time for pondering such thoughts. It rustled again, and forgetting her anger at Peter for the moment, stood behind him and clenched his coat tightly in her hand. Peter had evidently forgotten about his grudge towards her as well because he grabbed the hand that clutched his coat. Susan stood behind Kaylee and Lucy behind Susan. Edmund stood off to the side, fear written all over his face.

The crackling and breaking braches ceased and a beaver walked towards them. "It's a….beaver?" Lucy said stating the obvious, almost as a question.

Peter held out his hand and made a clicking noise. "Here boy. Here boy…" He clicked more and the animal looked…confused. That was the only word for it.

Suddenly it opened his mouth and said, "Well I ain't gonna smell it if that's what you want." Peter leaned back looking surprised. Lucy and Kaylee laughed while Susan and Edmund's eyes widened.

"Oh, s-sorry," Peter stuttered, clearly shocked that a beaver just spoke to him as if he were an idiot.

"Lucy Pevensie?" the beaver asked.

"Yes," Lucy answered, her smile gone. He held out a handkerchief for her to take. "Hey," she said taking it, "that's the hanky I gave Mr. Tum-"

"Tumnus," he finished. "He gave it to me just before they took him."

"Is he all right?" Lucy asked.

He looked around nervously and whispered, "Further in."

Peter started to follow him when Susan pulled him back. "What are you doing?" she asked incredulously.

"He said he knows the faun," Peter replied and immediately Kaylee saw the problem with that statement. Susan was the one who voiced this thought.

"He's a beaver! He shouldn't be saying anything!" I couldn't agree more… Kaylee thought, but she was in no mood to argue. She was cold and pretty sure her toes were frozen solid.

The beaver poked his head out from behind the rock and asked, "Is everything all right?"

"Yes," Peter answered. "We were just talking."

He looked around nervously and whispered, "That's better left for safer quarters."

"He means the trees," Lucy said looking around. The rest of the children looked slightly puzzled at what she said, but after all, they had seen a talking beaver.

"Let's just go, you guys," Kaylee said, through just standing around. Lucy grinned and took her hand, willing to go with her as well. Susan sighed angrily, but followed anyway. Peter and Edmund looked at each other, shrugged, and brought up the rear.

~CON~CON~CON~

The six approached a little house by a dam that Kaylee could only assume was the beaver's home. Lucy said it was lovely and Kaylee agreed. It was. It looked warm and cozy. "…if I find you've been out with Badger again I…" a woman's voice trailed off. As they all came up Kaylee realized it was another beaver. She looked at them for a moment and then said quite happily and almost breathless, "Oh, those aren't badgers! Oh I'd never thought I'd live to see this day!" She directed the next angry statement at Mr. Beaver. "Look at my fur! You couldn't have given me ten minutes' warning?"

"I would've given you a weeks' warning if I thought it would have helped," Mr. Beaver joked and all the children laughed.

"Well, let's get you inside and give you some civilized company," Mrs. Beaver said and all entered the Beaver's tiny home. Mr. Beaver chuckled nervously, but stopped when the kids entered the house. Kaylee had to stoop low in order to get through the door and the ceiling wasn't as high as she expected it to be. But, she reminded herself, they are beavers and don't need as high as ceiling as us.

While the house was small, she welcomed the warm and relief from the chill and biting air.

They shed their coats and sat upon the dirt floor, as the furniture was too small for them to use comfortably. "Isn't there anything we can do to help Tumnus?" Peter asked glancing down and seeing Lucy's grief stricken face.

"They'd have taken him to the Witch's castle," Mr. Beaver replied picking up a beaver-sized mug and sitting down across from Peter, Susan, and Lucy. Edmund stood in the back of the room and Kaylee knelt off to the side."And you know what they say: there are few that go through them gates that come out again."

Lucy looked absolutely distraught and that could have been the reason Mrs. Beaver popped out from behind the stove with a plate in her hand. "Fish and chips?" And she chuckled nervously glancing back towards her husband. "But," she continued, "there is hope, dear. Lots of hope."

Mr. Beaver spit into his cup and said, "Yeah! There's a right but more than hope!" He paused and then said in a low tone, "Aslan is on the move." Kaylee didn't know why, but just hearing that name made her feel warm, warmer than even the biggest coat.

Edmund, paying no mind to the silence that the name seemed to deem, broke in with, "Who's Aslan?" In fact, did he not do this, Kaylee probably would have asked that same question herself.

But Mr. Beaver laughed as if he was joking. "Who's Aslan? You cheeky little blighter." Kaylee looked around awkwardly signaling that she too wanted to know who this man was. Mrs. Beaver saw the looks on the children's faces and smacked her husband in the arm. He stopped laughing and glanced around the room as well. "You don't know do you?"

"Well we haven't exactly been here very long," Peter said.

"Thanks Peter, but I think they know that," Kaylee said, reverting back to being mad at her 'friend'. Peter sent a glare over his shoulder, but did not say anything else as Mr. Beaver continued.

"He's only the King of the whole wood," he said. "The top geezer. The real King of Narnia."

"You see," Mrs. Beaver continued in a gentler tone, "he's been away for a long while-"

"-But he's just got back!" Mr. Beaver interrupted her. "And he's waiting for you at the stone table!"

"He's waiting for us?" Lucy asked him, her grief about Mr. Tumnus long since forgotten. She looked around to her older siblings as Mr. Beaver slammed his mug down on the table.

"You're blooming joking!" He turned to his wife and said, "They don't even know about the prophecy!"

"Well then…" Mrs. Beaver said gesturing to the children in front of her.

"Look," Mr. Beaver said, "Aslan's return, Tumnus' arrest, the Secret Police: it's all happening because of you!" Kaylee wrinkled her brow in distaste. This stupid little beaver was blaming them for his problems?

"You're blaming us?" Susan said, voicing what all of them must have been thinking. This was going way over her head. At least Ed was being quiet. She couldn't deal with his irritating outbursts.

"No!" Mrs. Beaver said. "Not blaming! Thanking you."

"Look," Mr. Beaver said again, "There's a prophecy: 'When Adam's flesh and Adam's bone, sits at Cair Paravel in Throne, the evil time will be over and done.'"

"You know that doesn't really rhyme," Susan pointed out.

"I know it don't," Mr. Beaver said. "But you're kind of missing the point!"

Mrs. Beaver, seeing that her husband was getting nowhere, jumped in. "It has long been foretold that two Sons of Adam and two Daughters of Eve will defeat the White Witch and restore peace to Narnia.

But there are five of us, Kaylee thought. Where does that put me? But everyone ignored her. They were too caught up in thinking that it was them. "And you think we're the ones?" Peter wondered.

"Well you better be," Mr. Beaver said, "'cause Aslan's already fitting out your army!"

"Our army?" Lucy asked, horrified and looking towards her other siblings and Kaylee behind her.

"I think you've made a mistake," Peter said. "We're not heroes!"

"We're from Finchly!" Susan added. The beavers exchanged confused glances as to where they were talking about. "Thank you for your hospitality," she continued standing from her spot and not letting them ponder where in Aslan's green earth Finchly was, "but we really have to go."

"But what about Mr. Tumnus?" Lucy asked, remembering her friend for the first time a long while.

"It's out of our hands," Peter said, he too standing up. "But it's time for us to be getting home. Ed?" He turned around to look at his brother but was shocked to find nobody there. "Ed?" he called again. Kaylee stood and looked behind her only to find his abandoned coat and a small open door. Peter faced forward again with his jaw clenched and said, "I'm gonna kill him."

"You may not have to," Mr. Beaver said grimly. "Has Edmund ever been to Narnia before?"

"Do you know where he is?" Kaylee asked, her sisterly instincts taking over. Edmund wasn't the most well behaved little boy, but she still loved him as a brother.

"Yes," he answered. "Follow me." He dashed from the dam on all fours, with the children following close behind and struggling to get their coats on while still running. They followed the footprints in the snow as soon as they could see him.

Peter was running first, anxiously hoping to get to his little brother before he did something really stupid. "Hurry!" he called back. Normally, Kaylee would be terribly annoyed by this, but considering the circumstances she really could care less at the moment.

They reached the top of a steep hill and Kaylee guessed they would be looking out at more of the forest they had run through, but to her shock and awe, there was a castle there surrounded by an eerie green glow. One of the giant doors swung closed and the figure of a small boy disappeared behind them. "Edmund!" Lucy exclaimed.

"Shh!" Mr. Beaver pleaded. "She'll hear you!"

Peter made a slit second decision to run towards the door, but his hand was promptly grabbed by the beaver. "No!" he shouted.

"Get off me!" Peter shouted yanking his hand away.

"You're playing into her hands!" he shouted. "He's the bait!" he explained at the blank look on Peter's face. "The Witch wants all four of you!"

"Why?" Peter asked.

"To stop the prophecy from coming true!" he said. "To kill you!" Peter's eyes widened in fear as he looked helplessly back to the now closed doors where Edmund had disappeared.

"This is all your fault," Susan accused, her eyes narrowed.

"My fault?" Peter asked incredulously.

"None of this would have happened if you had just listened to me in the first place!" she shouted in anger.

"So you knew this would happen?" Peter asked, already knowing the answer.

"I didn't know what would happen," Susan admitted. But she got angry again. "Which is why we should have gone back while we still could!"

"Stop it!" Lucy's voice rang out, causing both of the elder siblings to stop arguing. "This isn't going to help Edmund."

"She's right," Mr. Beaver agreed. "Only Aslan can help your brother now."

Peter seemed to be making a decision in his head. Finally he said with reluctance, "Then take us to him."

~CON~CON~CON~

A/N: All right. Next installment. And I triple checked my spelling this time. It should all be correct. Review if you want. :D