Our Long Awaited Return Book #8

Chapter 3 Back To Narnia

"You're welcome," Edmund remarks, as Peter sits down between him and Lucy, who pats his arm sympathetically.
"I had it sorted," he answers disgusted, he gets up.
"How did you have that sorted?" Asks Ruth sarcastically.
"Peter has everything sorted," Andrew remarks coldly."Except Ed and I always seem to be helping him get out of those fights."
"You don't help," Peter denied,"You only make it worse. I wish you would just understand I can do this on my own."
"What was it this time?" Asks an annoyed Susan.
"Didn't I tell you?" I ask; no one seems to listen to me anymore.
"He bumped me," Peter replies.
"So you hit him?" Asks a shocked Lucy.
"No, he tried to make me apologize, that's when I hit him." He explains."And one of them had gotten Verity upset."
"So that's your excuse," Drew remarks, but he receives a glare from his twin brother.
"Is it that hard just to walk away," sighs Susan.
"I shouldn't have to; I mean, don't you ever get tired of being a kid," Peter says,s, exasperated.
"Yes," I think of Narnia again, where I was a queen and wasn't hated, because I was just a kid.
"We are kids," Edmund states the obvious.
"Well, I wasn't always," Peter answers.
"You mean we weren't always," Ruth corrects him.
"Wonder if we're ever going to go back," I ask.
"Well, it's been a year," he sighs, "How long does he expect us to wait."
He sits down on the bench again.
"I think it's time to accept that we live here," Susan replies, "There's no use pretending any different."I glare at her.
"England still doesn't feel like home, yet," I retort.
"Yes," Andrew sighed,"I'm still getting used to not being addressed to as 'king'."
I see that boy, who was talking to Susan earlier. Ruth gives Susan a smirk.
Susan sighs, "Pretend you're talking to me."
"We are talking to you," Edmund tells her confused.
"Don't worry, Susan, he'll probably leave you alone soon enough," I tease her.
"Yes, he already knows you lied to him about your name," Ruth adds.
"Who," Peter asks."What are you talking about."
Susan punches me in the elbow and does the same with Ruth.
"Ow!" Lucy Cried as she jumps up from the bench.
"Quiet, Lu," Susan says to her.
"Something pinched me," she explains.
"Susan, I didn't torment you that much, why did you step on my foot!" I ask her, getting off the bench.
"I didn't," Susan crosses her arms satisfactorily.
"Hey, Stop pulling," Peter shouts at Edmund as he jumps to his feet, Edmund does as well.
"I'm not touching you," Edmund yells back.
"What's going on?" Ruth jumps up beside me.
"Ed!" Andrew shouts, getting to his feet.
"I didn't do anything," Edmund answers.
"Just," begins Susan, but she too stands up
"What is that?"
I shrug my shoulders. I look at Lucy who has an excited look on her face. It felt like something was pulling us.
"Quick, everyone hold hands," Susan tells.
"I'm not holding your hand!" Edmund protested as Peter grabbed his right and Andrew his left.
I hold unto Ruth's and Peter's hand. The train depot starts disappearing, a train sweeps past us.
We find ourselves in a cave overlooking a beautiful ocean. We let go of each other's hands and walked out to the entrance.
Lucy looks at us with a smile on her face. She, Ruth, and I run towards the beach. Kicking off our shoes and stockings. I throw off my sweater, glad to get it off and let my hair down. I step into the cool water. Susan and our brothers join us.
"Last to get in is a rotten egg!" Susan announces.
"Shame you're not as fast as me, Ed!" Yells Peter.
The others, by now, have reached the cool water.
"Wait!" Cries Lucy, she steps out of the water and pulls off her blazer. Then she runs back in.
Peter picks her up and throws her into the water.
We all laugh, as Lucy screams with laughter.
Edmund is distracted, he looks towards a ruin up a hill.
"Ed!" I call to him, splashing him, "What's the point of standing around and not enjoying the water."
"Where do you suppose we are?" Edmund asks.
I roll my eyes.
"Well, where do you think!" Peter asks.
"Well, I don't remember any ruins in Narnia," he replies.
"Unless we've never seen this place before," Andrew suggests.
We all look towards the ruins."True," I say, "We had been ruling Narnia for 15 years before we came back, and never once were there any ruins. Maybe we should go see what it is."
"Good idea, Verity," Andrew nods.
Peter leads the way and we all follow.
It was difficult to climb up the hill, but we made it up. We reached an apple orchard.
"Doesn't this orchard look like our orchard in Cair Paravel?" Susan asks us.
"It couldn't be, we planted them a year ago when we left. They couldn't bear fruit yet and they're too big to be a year old." I say.
Peter picks three apples and rubs them on his shirt. He throws one to me one to Lucy and the other to Ruth.
"Thanks!" I grin, "Haven't realized how hungry I was."
"These apples are just as good as ours at home, but better," Ruth comments as she bites into hers.
The others pick themselves an apple as well.
"Has anybody brought their sandwiches?" Lucy asks.
"No," Peter answers a smile playing on his lips, "I left my sandwich in my bag, and I left my bag at the train station, and then I left the train station in England."
"Well, I suppose we should save our apples for food," Andrew says,"We might not find anything else."
"Those ruins look familiar," I gasp, as we reach them.
"They do, they look similar to what Cair Paravel looked like," Ruth says to me.
"But it isn't Cair Paravel, I'm sure of it," Andrew tells us
We start exploring the ruins. It did seem familiar to me like I'd been there before.
Half-ruined columns indicated that one part of it had been a courtyard.
"I wonder who lived here," Lucy asks, as she turns back from overlooking the sea.
Susan picked up a gold chess piece; she looked at Lucy and me, who were on my knees, looking for other artifacts that would give us a clue about where we were.
Peter and Edmund and Andrew walk over to us.
"Hey! That's my chess set!" Exclaims Edmund, as he takes it from Susan, examining it.
"What chess set?" Peter asks, confused.
"Well, I didn't have a gold chess set in Finchley did I," Edmund says with sarcasm.
"Who that one," Andrew muses.
"But it's been only a year since we left Cair Paravel," I reply, shocked; I stand up, crossing my arms, "It's been only a year," I say again.
"It can't be!" Exclaims Lucy, she rushes over to the courtyard I had already investigated.
"What do you mean, Lu?" Asks Ruth curiously.
She leads Peter by the hand. We follow."Don't you see?"
"What!" He asks her.
"Imagine walls," she positions him in the middle and me between him and Edmund; Andrew stands on the left of Ed; Ruth stands on the other side of Peter, Susan beside her, and Lucy stands at the end."And columns there and a glass roof."
We all look at each other, while Peter says, "Cair Paravel."
"You mean this is Cair Paravel?" Asks Ruth troubled.
"What else would it be?" Replies Andrew.
"Well, it can't be!" Mutters Ruth.
"But, now it makes sense," I begin, but was interrupted by Edmund.
"Why shouldn't time go faster here in Narnia than in our world? That's what happened while we were in the wardrobe. Why, a thousand years could have passed in Narnia, while only a year in our world." He finishes for me.
"You think that could happen?" Ruth asks.
"Of course, like I said..." continues Edmund.
"I know about the time, but why is Cair Paravel in ruins," Ruth cuts him off.
"We've been gone for a long time, anything could have happened," he answers.
I sigh, rolling my eyes with disgust at him, but he doesn't seem to notice.