𝐒𝐖𝐀𝐍𝐖𝐇𝐈𝐓𝐄 || Narnia x The Hunger Games Crossover

Chapter Three

Lucy woke with a dull ache behind her eyes and blinked in glaring white brightness, bewildered for a moment before the previous day's events crashed over her, and she buried herself deeper into the blankets.

This would have been easier if, by turning over, she had not almost stabbed her eye out on the corner of the book, and had to sit up to unstick her face from the pages.

Sunlight slanted through the small window, falling harshly across the bed as the silent rush of speed engulfed her, pristine train car gleaming in needlepoint clarity.

In the foggiest corners of her mind she wondered if that light meant they were going North.

For all the days she'd spent staring at the map pinned up above the schoolroom blackboard, she should have memorized it better. She'd always been focused on mountains and rivers, never the red dotted lines criss-crossing the terrain, never expecting to really travel them.

All she knew for sure was that they'd left Eight through the mountains, a range once bordering what legends called Archenland, the only sight visible from the grey concrete of town, huge and imposing and far off, just as bleak as they were majestic.

Perhaps they'd passed District One yesterday, perhaps those had been the fields through the window, stretching across the center of the country, valleys and rivers and small forests. But it had always been Seven she'd envied the most. The lumber district, situated right in amongst what had once been called Lantern Waste, thick with pine and oak and beech, and all the sights and sounds and smells she'd longed to know even before she'd read of the days when trees could talk.

They must have passed it in the night.

At any rate, they had to be getting close to the Capitol now, and a strange cold feeling swirled in her stomach as she dragged her unwilling carcass out of bed and into the too-bright world beyond the blankets.

One glance in the bathroom mirror told her crying had been a bad idea. Again. She splashed cold water on her face, but that wouldn't reverse the damage, pink cheeks and puffy eyes staring back as if she were six years old again, locked in the orphanage washroom, too young to hold in the tears but old enough to hide them. Now she couldn't even do that.

She ran a brush through her hair, didn't bother changing clothes, and at last ventured outside the safety of her room to find Caspian and both mentors already eating in the dining car, deep in conversation over a spread of eggs and toast, countless fruits, ham, bacon, tall pitchers of orange juice, and a lava cake.

Her stomach growled.

"Good morning, Lucy," said Polly with a kind smile, wispy blonde hair framing the crinkles at the corners of her eyes. She motioned her inside without commenting on her appearance.

"Good morning," Lucy echoed politely, sleep still rasping in her voice as she took her seat and silently filled her plate while the others fell back to talking, though Caspian said very little after she came in.

She bit into a slice of perfectly square toast, raspberry jam melting onto her tongue with every crunch, sweet and rich, but not quite enough to distract from the ache in her skin, small and vulnerable and utterly out of place in the glittering chamber.

"As you know," Polly was saying, "The Opening Ceremony will take place tonight, so you'll be spending the day with your stylists in preparation."

Oh, great. Lucy rubbed her eyes as if she could magically rub the swelling away, delicate skin hot against the backs of her hands.

"Your stylists are your greatest allies here," said Digory, "So don't complain or argue with them if you can help it. Your appearance can make or break your chance at sponsors, regardless of how well you do in training."