The Chronicles of Narnia and Terabithia

Chapter 1. Only Terabithia

                                 ONE

     "Rise my king," Leslie said, trying hard to not giggle from watching Jess land on his butt on the muddy ground. "We shall go to the spirit groves to thank the spirits."

Both of them had just returned from school and were supposed to go with Leslie's father to browse through entire sections of books in the national library to find the books he was looking for. Mr Burke could just easily access the computer to find which shelf the book was in but as a Burke, they're all time rule was-- 'No TV, no laptops or computer unless necessary' and for the necessary, that meant for their work. Mr Burke only needed the books for his own research for his new found hobby. Luckily, their old Italian sports car broke down so they couldn't drive to Washington that afternoon until it was fixed.

In the mean time, Jess watched as Leslie raised her arms up and closed her eyes, mumbling words than a royal would back in the day. Months after this and he still couldn't get used to being in the creepy part of the forest where the 'Sprite groves' were. He couldn't understand why Leslie wanted it to be here. She said that because it felt peaceful and was quiet. That just meant creepy for Jess though.

     "We thank you, thy spirits of the grove, for helping us to evade our trip to the books earlier..." Leslie spoke in her almighty queen voice.

     Jess sighed and raised his arms up when Leslie paused. That meant that it was his turn to thank the spirits of the grove. "Um spirits of the grove, thank you..."

     After finishing, they went back to the Burke's house to get some lumber and tools for their stronghold. They still hadn't finished it because they wanted to install a bigger deck, bigger roof and perhaps even basic proper windows.

     The Burke's had never really noticed what they were taking. Some days Mrs Burke would, but even if she did, she would just ask Leslie was they were doing and she'd let her move on and while she goes back to her writing like Mr Burke does. The Burke's were nice parents, but sometimes they let their daughter get a little bit too much of freedom that she does whatever she wants to. For example, the morning when it was still raining and the creek was probably still flooded, Leslie went to the creek and literally almost fell in if not for Jess's appearance. He had thought that she would still go to Terabithia and swung across despite of the rapid waters.

     "How many windows should we put?" Jess was trying to visualize inside the room what it'd look like.

     "2 should suffice." Leslie answered as she hammed the nails in outside.

     When they finished building the appropriate things in the stronghold, they stood outside and stared at the entrance. "No door." Jess said. "No door. It wouldn't look like a treehouse anymore if we built a door." Leslie agreed and they began to pack up and head home.

     As soon as both of them got to the other side, they raced each other till the road that separated their houses like usual. It was a part of their daily routine now to race together to the creek, and when going home as well. Leslie was already jogging just a distance away from him as he tried to keep up with her. He couldn't believe how she could run that fast without sweating or running out of breath all the time.

     His father's pick up truck was parked in front of their house when he came home. That meant that his father came home earlier than expected. He walked into the living room, finding May Belle staring out the window.