my king (peter pevensie)

t h r e e

The next day it was pouring down rain, and all of the children were a bit antsy. Susan was trying to get Peter to study with her, which was a laughable matter. "Can we play hide and seek?" Lucy finally exclaimed, obviously bored.

"But we're having so much fun." Peter said sarcastically. I let out a small chuckle, and he turned to me, surprised. However, when I made eyes contact with him his eyes quickly furrowed into a glare. What's his problem?

"Please Peter." Lucy begged.

"1, 2, 3..." Peter closed his eyes and began to count as all of the children took off. Even though Peter was being an ass, I refused to let him stop me from having fun with my new friends. I also had a great advantage in this game because I had explored every nook and cranny in the house.

I ran out of the room with the other kids, making my way into a room full of closets and historical artifacts. While it first appeared that this room was full of junk with no room to hide, most of the boxes were empty. I pulled open the lid of an inconspicuous one, and jumped inside just as I heard Peter call out, "100!" I quietly shut the lid over my head, and lay as still as I could.

I could hear Peter making his way from room to room when he finally reached mine. I covered my mouth with my hand, trying to muffle my breathing. Making his way from box to box, he began to open lids. Finally, he reached my box, and pulled the lid open. "Found you." Peter grumbled when he saw it was me. "Why did you even play?"

"Oh so I can't play any games? I'm just supposed to sit in my room all day?" I said, my temper flaring. Who was he to tell me what to do?

"No. You can't. You're not a part of this family." I scoffed, and my face grew red.

"Last I checked you're the one staying in my house Pevensie. And I can do whatever I would like."

Peter stepped towards me, his face twisted with anger when we heard Lucy calling from the hallway. "I'm back!" Peter gave me one last glare before heading out to his sister. I took a moment to collect myself before I followed. I wasn't going to let him ruin my fun.

"Lucy, you do realize the point is for me not to find you?" Peter asked as I walked out into the hallway.

"Didn't you miss me?" Lucy responded, clearly confused.

"We were supposed to be hiding you idiot." Edmund said, appearing from behind a curtain.

"I don't think any you understand this game." Peter groaned.

"Does this mean I won?" Susan asked from behind a bookshelf.

"But I was gone for almost the whole day..." Lucy said, her brow furrowed.

"Lucy you were gone for only a few minutes." Susan tried to explain to her sister. In response, Lucy proceeded to tell us all about a magical land called Narnia where she met a faun named Mr. Tumnus, and a White Witch who had cursed the land.

"You said you got to Narnia through the wardrobe?" Peter asked, and Lucy led us to the room she had found it in. However, when Peter ventured to the back of the closet, there was nothing but wood.

"I went through there, I swear!" Lucy exclaimed, clearly upset. "I don't know why we can't get through now."

"You've lost it." Edmund scoffed, earning a look from Susan.

"Let's go play a game of cards, shall we? It's almost dinner time anyways." We all followed Susan out of the room, with a distraught Lucy bringing up the rear as she took once last glance at the wardrobe.

*****

It had been a few days since Lucy's outburst, and she had pretty much given up on trying to convince us of Narnia. Yesterday, she claimed the Edmund actually went with her into the land, but Edmund said he was just playing along to help Lucy feel better. That seemed to take the wind out of Lucy's sails, as she hadn't brought it up again. While I found it hard to believe the wardrobe led to a snowy magical land, I didn't think Lucy would purposely lie to us. She was old enough to not believe in made up stories, so why was she being so adamant that she had actually been to Narnia? I had even ventured to the back of the closet a few times myself, but each time it was only wood, with no entrance to a different world.

While the others had gone outside, I ventured to the Professor's office to have a cup of tea with him. "It has been a while since our last discussion Reya. I'm assuming the children are keeping you busy?"

"Yes sir." I said with a small smile. "You were right, it's nice to have some new company in the house."

"What do you think of them? Are you all getting along?"

I sighed, and took the final sip of my tea. "For the most part. Susan and I are really close, but Peter is definitely not the nicest."

"Oh?" The Professor said, stroking his beard. "Why do you think that is?"

"He's just a rude person." I muttered, and the Professor chuckled.

"It may appear that way, but things are often not how they first seem Reya." He winked at me, and I was growing quite confused.

"I'm fairly certain Peter just hates me." I said, trying to get the Professor to explain. He often talked in circles, which made it quite difficult to understand the meaning of his words.

"Hatred is an emotion quite close to love, little one."

"Love?!" I exclaimed. "Professor, I've known Peter for barely a week. There certainly isn't love there."

"Emotions are such a fickle thing." He said looking down at his papers and smiling.

"Okay sir. Thank you for the tea." I forced a smile as I got up from my chair. I could only take so many riddles for one day, and the Professor's words made no sense. Peter couldn't even look at me without glaring, if that wasn't the furthest thing from love I didn't know what was.

I shut the Professor's door, and started to walk down the stairs as a crash echoed through the house. I heard a shriek from Mrs. Macready, and the children came sprinting inside, all with a look of terror on their face. "Reya, run!" Susan said, grabbing my hand as she passed me on the stairs. I followed them into the room that held the dresser, and we all pushed inside.

"Ow my foot!" Edmund whined.

"Peter stop pushing!"

"Get to the back!"

"Ow what's prickly?" Slowly, the air around us grew colder, and our feet began to crunch on something beneath us. We made our way further and further back when the coats began to turn into tree branches covered with snow. Our breath began to form clouds in front of our faces, as the temperature dropped significantly. Suddenly, we tumbled out into an open area with a lamppost in the middle.

Susan, Peter, and I looked around with wide eyes as Lucy stood. "Welcome to Narnia." She said with a smile.