Once a King or Queen of Narnia

Chapter 2

The next morning I woke earlier than the others and was disappointed to find it was raining quite heavily and so we would be unable to go outside and would have to remain inside the house. I groaned as I turned away from the window and got dressed. I had a small breakfast before checking to see if anyone else was awake. They weren't which didn't surprise me, I had often been the first one up.

I began to explore the house and often checked over my shoulder in case to find Ms Macreedy breathing down my neck. The house was even bigger than I had thought as I got lost several times. It didn't help that I didn't have a set destination either. I finally decided to go in search of a library. A man such as the professor living in a house such as this was bound to have one. I just prayed silently that the library wasn't where his study was.

I was happy to find the large library to the far right of the building. It was two stories and had a large wooden staircase that led up to the second floor which only went around the walls and had banisters all the way around it. I looked up as I heard the sounds of raindrops falling on glass and was surprised to find a large glass sky-light. I wondered how nice it must be in here on a sunny day. I ignored the rain ad continued looking for something to read. I had looked at all the books all ready in the rooms we had stayed in last night and there weren't many ones that caught my interest.

There were couches scattered around the room along with several tables and chairs. Some of the tables had stacks of books piled up on them, some were all about biology, some about physics, some were mainly fairy stories.

I turned away from studying a book on Greek mythology and walked to the back of the library. It was quite a bit darker down here as there wasn't as much light. I felt as though I was being drawn here. I looked up at one of the older, dustier looking shelves and stopped at a book that was completely covered in dust that you couldn't see the cover or read the title. I pulled it down and brought it back to the main area of the library. I sat down at a window seat on the second level so I could look outside and then gave a large blow of air over the book. It took several times to get the heaviest dust off and then I had to wipe the remaining dust off with a rag that was in my pocket.

The cover was a picture of majestic and powerful looking lion roaring as he stood at the edge of a cliff. I stared at it for a moment, as it looks as though the picture was moving. I blinked several times but when I looked again it appeared to have stopped so I believed it was only a trick of the light.

I opened the book and was surprised to find that on the first page was a large map. It folded out of the book and was even larger than I had originally thought. It showed a large ocean and next to on the land was a large castle called Cair Paravel. It was such a beautiful place. There was a section for each creature that was said to live in this land. The dwarves, the centaurs, the fawns and of course the talking animals. It also spoke of the dryads who I was very interested in. Then I discovered who the lion that was on the cover portrayed. He was Aslan and he was the king of Narnia.

I read about the prophecy and I couldn't help but notice it sounded a lot like my family. I was saddened when I read about the white witch taking control of Narnia but then I remembered it was only a book. It wasn't real. Right?

At that moment I heard someone clear their throat. I jumped high into the air and fell of my seat and the book fell off my lap and onto the floor.

I gave my head a shake before I looked up at who had startled me. It was Professor Kirk. He was beaming down at me and chuckling away to himself. I blushed a little at being caught in here and not noticing his approach. He helped me onto my feet and he said, "I normally come in here in the mornings and I was surprised to find I wasn't alone, you don't expect many children to go out of their way to read." I nodded in agreement, "I'm sorry for disturbing you I just love reading." His smile grew at that and then he noticed what I was reading and I couldn't help but notice that his eyes widened a bit. "Do you," he asked, "find this an interesting read?" He picked up the book and looked at the page I had been studying. It showed the Castle of Cair Paravel and then on the next page held a picture of the five stone thrones that were said to be built inside, waiting for their rulers and the people of prophecy.