𝙸𝚁𝚁𝙸𝚃𝙰𝙱𝙻𝙴. ➪ 𝙴. 𝙿𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗𝚜𝚒𝚎

𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗

The house Lucy and Phillis were in was terribly beautiful. They had stumbled upon a library. In said library, there was a stand with a book resting upon it. Across the front of the large book, the words 'The Book of Incantations' were littered across the cover. The stand was decorated with beautiful patterns. A small angel in the corner blew from its horn, only specks of dust appearing. Lucy and Phillis glanced at each other, before Lucy copied it. The scattered letters formed to properly read the title of the book. Lucy opened it, revealing each page covered with golden words and detailed pictures. Lucy stopped at a page that interested her. She glanced up at Phillis, who was too busy admiring the large collection of books the library contained. "With these words your tongue must sew for all around there to be snow," Lucy said.
Phillis gasped in amazement as snowflakes fell in their thousands. It was already beginning to lay on the floor.
Phillis' hair was covered in dainty white snowflakes and her eyelashes were coated in two or three specks of snow. Lucy blew on the page, to rid it of any snow. Suddenly, the pages began turning themselves. Lucy looked to Phillis for help, who ended up just slamming her hand down on a page to stop it from going any further. The snow was gone and it was eerily silent. "An infallible spell to make you she, the beauty you've always wanted to be," Lucy read.
The picture of a pretty woman on the other page turned into a mirror of sorts. Lucy's reflection began looking less like Lucy and an awful deal more like Susan. "Susan, what's going on?" Lucy's smile faded when her sister copied exactly what she was doing.
"Lucy..." Phillis trailed off.
Phillis looked at her own reflection. Her reflection wasn't her at all. Rather, it was April Elmslie, the girl who tormented her at school. Phillis' hair was now long and blonde, her eyes pretty and blue. Her skin was slightly warmer, all of her freckles gone. Her lips were plump and her teeth were perfect. Her cheeks were narrower, her cheekbones and jaw far more defined. It was true, though, April was particularly enviable. Looks-wise. She was vile to most of the girls at their school who weren't in her immediate friendship group.
Lucy looked up at Phillis, her mouth agape. The younger girl watched carefully as Phillis moved her dress slightly, staring at the bare shoulder. It took Lucy a moment to realise that Phillis was looking at the scarless shoulder. She sighed, her eyes not tearing away from the book, which had the faces of Susan and April Elmslie staring back at them. "I'm beautiful," Phillis whispered, her voice radiating the utter shock she was feeling.
Lucy's heart ached for the girl. For, Lucy had always thought that Phillis was particularly beautiful, but now it was clear that Phillis disagreed.
The reflections began to fade, the picture of the woman returning. "No, wait!" Lucy said, her hand slamming onto the page.
Lucy began to tear said page from the book. "Lu, maybe you shouldn't..." Phillis sighed, but Lucy ignored her.
Phillis had always wondered if Edmund would prefer someone like April Elmslie; blonde, unscarred and incredibly gorgeous.
The pages began to turn again. Suddenly a familiar voice came from somewhere within the room. "Girls," it called, before whispering, "girls."
"Aslan?" Lucy called out for the great lion. "Aslan?"
However, there was no response. Lucy tucked the page into her clothes. The turning pages came to an abrupt halt, seemingly stopping on the exact page they needed. "A spell to make the unseen seen," Phillis read. "Like the 'p' in psychology, the 'h' in psychiatry. Invisible ink and the truth theology."

Outside of the invisible house, the crew had followed the footprints to the garden of topiary and weirdly cut grass. "Caspian," Edmund called. "Phillis' sword."
Edmund picked the weapon up carefully.
"She'd never part from that thing," Caspian said.
Suddenly, spears rained down on the group.
"Stop right there, or perish," a deep voice said.
Whatever the creatures were, they began attacking the crew.

However, back in the house, Lucy and Phillis were just finishing the incantation. With the last words, a man appeared. He looked up from his book at the two worried-looking girls.

Back in the garden, the creatures were making empty threats at the crew. They began to appear, seeming much less scary now that they were visible. "Do you mean you'll squish us with your fat bellies?" joked Edmund.
"Or tickle us with your toes?" added Caspian.
The one-legged, waist-height creatures noticed they were no longer invisible and gave up trying.
"What have you done with my sister and my girlfriend, you little pip-squeak?" Edmund glared, pointing his sword at the chief.
"Now, calm down," the creature began.
"Where are they?" Edmund began raising his voice.
The numerous other creatures began suggesting that the chief tell him where they were.
"In the mansion."
"What mansion?" snapped Ed.
When he didn't reply, and everyone seemed to be staring at something, he turned to where everyone was looking. Sure enough, a mansion appeared. "Oh," he said, "that mansion."
Eustace's annoying voice emerged from the bushes. "I'm really getting tired of you all leaving me behin-"
"It's the pig!"
"The pig has come back!"
"This place just gets weirder and weirder," sighed Eustace.
Whilst everyone was busy staring at Eustace Scrubb, they didn't notice Phillis and Lucy emerge from the rather large mansion with the Oppressor. The creatures did, though. "The Oppressor!" they all screamed as they hopped away as fast as they could.
Caspian, Edmund and Tommy turned to see what all the fuss was about. "Guys," Ed sighed in relief, slipping his sword back into its sheath.
He stepped forward, kissing Phillis. It was the sort of kiss that Elmer had given Susan when he was visiting her in America. The kiss people share when they thought they were never to see each other again. "Here," he smiled, putting her own sword back into its sheath, which was hung around her belt.
For a brief moment, the two seemed to forget about the recent tension between them. But Caspian cleared his throat, causing the two to jolt apart. "Your Majesty," the Oppressor said, bowing.
"Caspian, Edmund and Tommy," Lucy introduced the three boys.
"This is Coriakin. It's his island,"
Phillis explained.
"That's what he thinks," a creature said. "You have wronged us, magician."
"I have not wronged you," Coriakin said. "I made you invisible for your own protection."
"Protection?"
"That's oppressive!"
"Oppressor!"
"I have not oppressed you," Coriakin sighed.
"But you could've, if you wanted to."
"Be gone," he said, throwing something over them.
They screamed as they hopped away, though nothing happened to them.
"What was that?" asked Lucy.
"Lint," he smirked. "But don't tell them."
"What were those things?" Eustace asked.
"Dufflepuds," Coriakin answered.
"Right, of course. Silly me," Eustace rolled his eyes.
Phillis chuckled, gesturing for Eustace to follow them. He dashed towards her. He wanted to be included at any opportunity he got. He followed closely behind Tommy and Phillis when they were in the mansion. "What did you mean when you said you made them invisible for their own good?" Lucy asked as they walked along a corridor.
"It seemed the easiest way to protect them from the evil," replied Coriakin.
"You mean the mist?" Edmund asked.
"I mean what lies behind the mist."