The Secret Fifth

5: The Family That Didn't Believe

The following night, there was not a single noise. One could hear a pin drop. Lucy lay in bed with her back to a lightly snoring Susan, watching the candle light flicker on the wall. It doesn't dance like Mr. Tumnus's fire. Lucy thought. A small smile grew on her face and, sitting up silent as a mouse, she slid off the bed and into her rain boots. Lucy wrapped her pink robe around her feeble body, grabbed the candle in her right hand, and headed towards the door with a large grin. She would go back. Once Lucy had made her way from her room and down the hall, she paused at the door. Her almost glowing eyes stared at the handle, and she was swallowed by her thoughts. What if it wasn't there again? A toilet flush brought her from her head, and she twisted the door knob quickly. Edmund, tying his blue cotton robe around his waist, barely caught sight of Lucy's pink one heading into the room. Off to her imaginary land, I presume. Is she going to go sit in the wardrobe for an hour or something? After another moment of thought he shrugged and pushed himself forward, deciding to follow his little sister. Once he stepped into the room, he noticed the candle holder that Lucy had held was now sitting in the window sill, smoking. The flame had been blown out. Edmund walked forward and approached the wardrobe. His sister had left the door cracked open, and he grinned as his small hand gripped the handle.

"Boo!" He shouted as he opened the door. His eyebrows came together as he didn't see or hear his sister. Surely that had to have frightened her? Deciding against his urge to go back to bed and catch up on his sleep, he stepped into the wardrobe, shutting the door completely as he was absorbed by the coats. "Lucy." He called out, almost tauntingly.

"Hope you're not afraid of the dark! Lucy?" Something poked Edmund in the face, and he looked at it in confusion as he ducked under it. Was that a tree branch? "Lucy? Lucy!" With a sharp twist of his body and a tumble of his feet, he landed on his back with an umph. For falling on a wooden floor, his back didn't hurt very much. As Edmund sat up and looked around, he realized very quickly that he had in fact not landed on the floor of the wardrobe. He had fallen in snow! He stood quickly and tried to brush the cold layer from his back and his hair.

"Lucy. Where are you? Lucy. I think I believe you now!" He called out for his sister again, but she did not hear. She did not hear, because Lucy was already tucked inside Mr. Tumnus's warm home, sipping tea with him and Annelise.

"Oh Annie, it was terrible! They don't believe me about Narnia at all! And it was the strangest thing! When I came out of the wardrobe, it had been as though no time had passed at all. I was here for hours, but not even a minute at home. Isn't that odd?" Lucy took a long drink of her tea. Annelise nodded.

"Yes, it is Lu. I suppose time runs differently in your world than ours. Perhaps that's why it took you so long to get back." She shrugged and bit into one of the sweet biscuits she had made, smiling as the warmth filled her. Lucy looked at her in confusion.

"So long? But it's only been a day. I was just here yesterday." Annelise and Tumnus exchanged looks.

"Lucy," Tumnus spoke, "you've been gone from Narnia for almost a week." Lucy's jaw dropped.