Visibly Invisible

A not so warm welcome

A not so warm welcome

I shook my head and rubbed my eyes, trying to wake me up from this supposed dream I had suddenly fell into. Even by closing my eyes, I could feel the ground under me. Great.

It was about time I finally realized that my head was throbbing and I had smashed one of the glasses in my spectacle. So much for the day being uneventful, I thought as I pocketed my broken spectacles in the pouch I wore around my waist…did I forget to mention? My bad!

I was just considering where I was when suddenly, I heard footsteps; thumps more likely. I looked around me in panic; the forest seemed spooky now. I was just deciding whether to scream or not, when suddenly, I was scooped up by the leg and held there. Seriously when someone holds you upside down, that is so not good. I looked at my strong captor, and my mouth fell open.

Well, it wasn't really a man, and not a resident of L.A. that was certain. It had the head of the bull, and the body of a man, as far as I could make out. Seriously, my head was dizzying upside down. Whatever the thing was, it grunted and threw me down, thus another blow on my head; was this forest against my head? I heard more footsteps, normal human like footsteps, and a girl's voice.

"Eroso? What are you doing down there?" the voice sounded like it belonged to someone my age. There was further rustling and a girl came to view. Her eyes widened as she saw me. Mine widened her as I saw her.

She looked almost my age, but beautiful than I was anyway. She had deep brown hair plaited in a braid down her back, almost lowering near her forearm. Her widened eyes were a beautiful shade of brown, and she was wearing a beautiful red cotton dress to her feet. And my school called me orthodox.

She looked at me for a full five seconds and smiled. I smiled back.

"Hello stranger. I am Queen Lucy, just Lucy. Who are you?" Whoa, that was formal. And did she just say Queen? I thought of words to say.

"Uh….hi. I am Dylexia Carter, your…..majesty." I said, getting up, glaring at that Erosos or whatever. Lucy smiled broadly. "Just Lucy to you Dylexia!" she said enthusiastically, grinning. I decided to get straight to the point. Surely, if she was the ruler, she must know where my bedroom had gone.

"Lu...Lucy. Where am I?" the question sounded pretty lame in itself but still, it was a question. Lucy looked at me like I had just descended from Mars. "Why, you're in Narnia of course!" she said in a nothing-is-more-obvious tone. I stared at her. "Uh…what's…what's Narnia?" I asked, looking from her to the bull-man. Queen Lucy eyed me warily. First my pants, then my T-shirt and then looked into my eyes confused.

"Where are you from Dylexia?" she asked, raising an eye brow. "America?" I almost made it sound like a question; this time, my tone was nothing-is-more-obvious. Lucy gasped happily.

"Oh how wonderful! America! Is that on Earth?" she asked bouncing up and down. I raised an eye brow. "Sure it is. Uh…is this, Narnia on…on Earth?" I added uncertainly. Lucy sighed.

"So much to tell you Dylexia. Why don't you come join me at Cair Paravel, my home?" she added, probably noticing my raised eye brow. I nodded, and grinned awkwardly.

My mouth fell open as I saw the Cair Paravel. It was…huge, and beside a coast, so the scene was great. Lucy told me everything about Narnia. She was fifteen, as old as I was and very sweet. She also told me she had a nineteen year old brother High King Peter, an eighteen year old sister Queen Susan and a sixteen year old brother Edmund. She told me all about their adventures of Narnia and how they had got to ruling. She also told me about Aslan, the lion God of Narnia, and I felt a pang of curiosity to meet him.

"But still," she said as we neared the Cair. "…we've only been here a year."

The Cair was as magnificent from the inside as it was from the outside. It had large hallways, huge windows in almost every corridor and it was very well decorated. I wondered if Lucy had done it. She took me through large hallways, about five or six winding staircases and a few corridors, and by the time she stopped in front of a large, majestic door with the carving of a lion on it (I wondered if he was Aslan), I was so exhausted, I could've slept on the spot. Lucy knocked gently, and a gruff voice came deep from the inside.

"Come in." it said, though it sounded a little unconcerned. Lucy looked a bit unsure as she peeked in and I heard her gasp.

"Sorry Ed, I thought Peter was in." Lucy said sheepishly. I heard 'Ed' speak again.

"I get to be High King until Peter comes back from his hunting, remember Lu?" I could hear a grin in his voice. Lucy rolled her eyes, and turned to me. "Come in Dylexia." she said, tugging me inside. The room was large and littered with paper and parchments for that matter. It could've been a nice room if it was a little clean. But the boy sitting behind the table, his head lowered, stood out from all the mess.

He looked about my age, though his face showed stress beyond his years. His hair was a clump of brown, and from what I could make out from his bent face, he had a lot of freckles that suited him pretty much. He looked up and I saw his brown eyes. They were a….mystery, so deep; I could never make out the depths. I started as his eyes locked with mine, and I looked down, embarrassed.

"Who is she?" he asked, his paper work forgotten, looking at me; his voice had suddenly lost its alluring warmth. I almost jumped up in the air. Lucy rolled her eyes again.

"Oh Ed! Stop it right now! She fell into Narnia accidently and poor thing needs explanation not your zero degrees freezing accent." she said, placing her hands on her hips. For the first time, I noticed 'Ed's' crown; a large silver tiara placed untidily on top of his hair; it was almost askew.

"She stared too much." he muttered, loud enough for us to hear. Lucy let out a groan, and spoke up. "I'm going to fetch Susan. Don't do anything funny." she added to 'Ed' and exited, leaving me behind with her brother, probably. I looked at his screwed up face, still refusing to look up, and remembered. Of course he was Edmund, the one who had initially betrayed his siblings, teaming with the White Witch. Lucy had told me all of it in the way.

"S…so," I couldn't make out why I was stammering. It worked; he looked up. "You are Edmund, aren't you?" He was really interested now. "How do you know?" he asked, looking at me, ignoring his paper work. "Well, I remember you from Lucy's story, how you went to the White Witch and stu…" I couldn't even finish, because next thing I knew, I was against the wall, his arms on either side of me, looking so furious I felt like crying. He had moved so fast, I hadn't even seen the blur. Something like Edward Cullen did.

"Never menti...on tha...t a…again." I could tell that his voice was trembling with rage and self control. I stared at him, tears threatening to fall, my eyes wet. He seized me by the shoulders and shook me. "Do you understand me?" I was literally sobbing quietly by now, staring at him. I had to look up, I barely neared his nose.

"DO YOU UNDER…."

"ED!"

I heard someone equally shout from the door way and looked at my savior. It was a beautiful girl with beautiful dark hair and dark eyes, unlike Edmund's brown ones. She was rather breath-taking if she hadn't been looking so shocked. She was wearing a long crimson dress, something like Lucy's pink one, but like Edmund she was wearing a yellow tiara. She must be Susan, I made a mental note as Edmund let go of me.

"What were you doing?" she thundered at her younger brother, who was a head taller than her. "She has to understand that the White Witch is a touchy topic!" Edmund equally thundered, as Lucy ran to me, wiping my tears. "There are other ways of telling people." A quiet, unfamiliar voice caused my eyes to open and my jaw dropped as I saw the source.

If I had ever seen a fairytale king, this was the one. He had shoulder length blonde hair with a large golden crown atop his head. He was wearing a large cape and a gold tunic, and kept his chest puffed out, just like a king. Edmund took one look at him, and stormed past him, out the door. The new arrival, probably Peter, gave me a smile.

"How do you like Narnia?" he asked in a gentler voice than Edmund. I nodded. "Susan, show her to the guest quarter. Until she can't get out of Narnia, she'll stay." he didn't say another word. Susan motioned to me and I followed her and Lucy out of the door.

So much for the welcome I expected.