Kind and Brave // Tales of the Traveling Queen Book 1

4) .Back to Narnia.

"Ow!" he cries. "Stop it!"

My glance hardens when I realize what he's done. "You little liar!" I burst. "Not once did I lie. I knew it was real the entire time. But you, and the prick that you are, just had to lie to them and make Lucy looks stupid." The darkness fills my bosom, and I can feel it corrupting me, filling my heart, but I ignore it. "Apologize to her."

Edmund looks at me in fear as though he's scared I might knock his head off with just my hand.

At that moment, I feel like I might. "Say your sorry!" I take a step forward and he breaks.

"Alright!" he shouts. "I'm sorry."

The anger suddenly leaves me and I'm knocked back a few feet and almost fall in the snow but Peter catches me at the last moment.

"Are you alright?" he wonders. I nod, catching my breath as though it were taken from my lungs.

"This snow holds so much darkness," I say. "It's filling me. I'm sorry, Edmund. I didn't mean those words I said."

He shakes his head, dismissing it. "It's fine," he promises. "I probably deserved it."

Peter sets me upright on my feet and I thank him.

"Maybe we should head back," Susan suggests.

"Shouldn't we at least take a look around?" I ask with a shrug.

Peter smiles kindly. "I think Lucy should decide."

A grin stretches across Lucy's cheeks and she bounces up and down with excitement. "I'd like you all to meet Mr. Tumnus," she declares.

"We did promise we would visit again," I added. "He does love visitors."

"Well, Mr. Tumnus it is!" Peter agrees, moving towards the wardrobe again. "We can't go hiking in the snow dressed like this, but I'm sure the Professor wouldn't mind us using these." He come back out carrying five fluffy coats in his arms. He hands each of them to us. However, they're too long and drag on the floor across the floor. It doesn't seem to mind the others, so it doesn't mind me. Lucy giggles as she shows me how her sleeves drape over her hands like Frankenstein's monster. "And if you think about it 'logically,' we're not even taking them out of the wardrobe."

I shake my head. "But, if you think about it truthfully," I argue, "We aren't in the wardrobe anymore. It's like having a home with a back and front door leading to two different places."

Peter laughs. "Either way, I'm sure they won't be missed." He hands Edmund a coat and the boy looks at it disgust.

"But that's a girl's coat!"

Indeed, it is large, gray and fuzzy, but I think it matches the flavorless color of his eyes. Yes, I am still quite angry at him, but I hold myself back this time. I need to get out of this endless darkness soon.

*~~~~~*~~~~~*

We walk through the snow, and I instantly regret not wearing my boots this morning. My shoes are soaked, making my feet freezing and my stockings don't help a bit. The bottom of my dress is frozen and I feel the only warmth I'm getting is from my thick, dark green coat. I walk next to Peter who seems cheerful enough, so I continue forward. He keeps glancing at me as though he wants to say something but doesn't. I look at him, slightly confused, wanting to say something as well, but not entirely sure what to. Thankfully, he finally decides to talk.

"Is this what you meant when you said 'I suppose you're going to have to find out for yourself'?" he wonders. "You wanted us to find Narnia."

I shake my head with a small laugh. "Not exactly. If I had told you about Narnia, you never would have believed me. I was the only one that believed Lucy because I am familiar with this place. If I hadn't have been, I wouldn't have believed either. We think we're too old to believe in things like magic and hidden worlds inside wardrobes. However, if I let you figure it out yourself, if I let Narnia come to you, there was no excuse for you not to believe. You don't find Narnia, Narnia finds you. That's the only way the magic works."