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WALKING IN THE WIND
iii. WHEN IT RAINS, IT POURS

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  HOPE REFUSED TO MOVE. She was still, her feet glued to the smooth pavement that was slowly becoming saturated with droplets of water. Clouds gathered across the darkened skies, unifying into a blur of gray. One by one, drops of rain fell faster and faster as though they were racing each other. She squeezed her eyes tight when one nearly fell into her eyes.

  "I can barely remember to brush my hair. I can't run a kingdom! I'm nowhere near qualified. You'd have better luck coronating a cloud."

  "Maybe, but—Hold on, a cloud? This again?"

  "Yes, Edmund, a cloud!"

  Hope jumped when a hand clamped down on her shoulder and squeezed her tightly. Rubbing the rainwater out of her eyes, she snapped her head toward a slightly annoyed Odette.

  "Hellooo? Earth to Hope?"

  "Hm, what? I was listening, I swear."

  Odette's scowl quickly faded, a small smile replacing it. "Very funny. The taxi's here," she said, nodding to the small car sitting in the road. The man in the driver's seat wore a cap over his head, though it wasn't large enough to conceal his grumpy exterior. Hope wanted to blame it on the unfortunate weather, but Odette had a feeling that might just be his normal resting face.

  "Oh, right."

  "Honestly, what's gotten into you?" asked Odette as they approached the taxi. "Still dreaming?"

  "You could say that," Hope dismissed, stepping into the taxi after the blonde. Odette quickly greeted the driver and stated their desired destination before getting settled. Meanwhile, Hope stared out the window as the drizzle continued. "God, I'm glad we agreed to take a taxi this time. Looks like it's gonna storm."

  Odette hummed. "Walking's not that bad."

  "You only say that because I'm the one always carrying the groceries."

  Odette chuckled. Hope's gaze settled on the gloomy world behind the glass. The wind slowly picked up as the rain pitter-pattered on the rooftop of the car. Umbrellas emerged one after another across the streets. Odette made small-talk with the driver for a while before he decided he'd rather listen to the staticky music coming from the radio in silence. As they drove further and further into the city, they could see numerous teenagers in school uniforms with bulky trunks heading toward the train station.

  Hope raised an eyebrow as she locked eyes with two girls standing across the street, waiting for an opening to cross to the other side. She could tell they were sisters because they were holding hands, with the smaller one (whose brown hair was tied into two neat braids) tugging on the bigger one's arm. Though the smaller one seemed to pause when she saw Hope staring at her from inside the taxi.

  Hope couldn't quite hear what the girl said to her older sister, but she noticed that she looked startled.

  Then again, maybe she was just imagining things.

  "It must suck having to go back to school on a day like this. It's so dreary out," Odette said. She leaned on her arm, staring out the window, absolutely oblivious to the fact that not too far away, a boy she knew a lifetime ago was thinking about them. "I didn't even realize summer's over. I guess that's what happens when you become an adult, right?"

  "We're nowhere near adults. Age means nothing. It's all about experience and maturity," Hope replied. Her eyes followed the water droplets as they trickled down the glass. "Hey, do we know someone by the name of Edmund?"

  If Odette had any reaction to the name, Hope didn't see it. She was lost in her world for the moment, stuck on her dreams while the boy of her dreams was stuck on Hope, too.

  "I reckon that's a common name," Odette pointed out. "We must know about a dozen Edmunds."

  Hope ignored her statement, adding, "I think we were close to one." She turned back to Odette, who looked uncomfortable. "What?"

  Odette loudly sighed. "Hope, you know I love you and I'll always support your antics, but... don't you get tired of talking about this stuff? Or thinking about it so frequently?"

  Hope shrugged. "It was just a question. Is it wrong to be curious?"

  "Curiosity isn't the problem," Odette remarked, trying to keep her voice low. Luckily, the hum of the radio drowned out her voice. "It's the infatuation, the obsession I'm worried about. You know I've always been supportive, but I can't let this keep going on. It's time to let this childish fantasy of yours go. You've been obsessed with this for a year now, Hope. You can only live in the clouds of your imagination for so long before forgetting what it's like to come back to Earth."

  "Must you always be so dramatic? You're being ridiculous," Hope shot back. "You've been spending too much time with those lawyers."

  "Oh, what's that supposed to mean?"

  "Ever since you got that promotion—" Hope started before she suddenly bit her tongue. "Never mind."

  "Hope—"

  "It's nothing! I'm just tired because Aslan Jr. woke me up early this morning," Hope interrupted. Odette scoffed. "What now?"

  "What happened to all that shit about being a morning person?" Odette remarked. "I thought we could be honest with each other."

  Hope sat up, her jaw clenched. "Fine! I'll tell you," she hissed. "Ever since you got that promotion at work and you got close to those big-shot lawyers, you've had a massive stick up your ass. It's like we can't do anything fun anymore because you parade around pretending you're a grown-up when you're not!"

  "Oh, come on," Odette moaned. "You're 17. I'm 19. We're grown-ups!"

  "Why are you rushing to be someone you're not? It's like you want to be the bloody Queen of England or something!" Hope fired back. "Have you forgotten we're orphans? We're supposed to be childish! We never had childhoods, to begin with!"

  "And how do you know that? Neither of us can remember our childhoods in the first place!"

  Hope opened her mouth to continue arguing, but she knew this wasn't the time nor place for a conversation like this. They were in a taxi with a bloody stranger driving them to the market early in the morning, after all. So, Hope bit her tongue and swallowed her frustrations — like always.

  "I don't want to have this conversation right now," Hope muttered. "I'm going to take a nap. Wake me up when we get there, alright?"

  "But—"

  Hope shot her an irritated look that made Odette roll her eyes.

  "Fine," Odette settled. "Go live in your mind. I'm sure you'd rather be there than here anyway."

  Hope had to refrain herself from exclaiming, "Oh, you've finally figured it out!", but she didn't want to waste her energy on continuing such a stupid argument.

  She leaned her head back, sinking into her seat. Her eyes fell shut, and rather than seeing nothing but pitch black, she was somehow immediately greeted with faint, vague visions of what she recognized as her dream from last night.

  "You... You know why we can't be seen together. If anyone even thinks that we—"

  "I know, but—"

  "Ed, focus! We're just kids, you know? This is just a... a crush. It'll go away, just like any other crush. And then you'll fall in love with Odette, just like how you're supposed to, and we'll forget this ever happened! Fate will work itself out again, and everything will be fine."

  "Are you telling me that, or are you trying to convince yourself that?"

  "Both. It's just... the wedding's almost here—"

  "Hope, wake up."

  Hope wanted to scream bloody murder when she felt Odette tug on her arm hardly three minutes after she shut her eyes. There was no way they were already at the market with all of the traffic the rain caused.

  "Wake up, Hope!"

  Hope squeezed her eyes even tighter than before, lulling her head to the side. Maybe if she ignored Odette, she could finish her dream and remember the details this time.

  "Hope, come on. I know you can hear me."

  Who was Edmund? He seemed so familiar to Hope, but she couldn't put her finger on it. Why was this the first time he was appearing in her dreams? Was it possible that he'd been in her dreams this whole time, and she just never remembered him? And since when was Odette supposed to get married? That sounded like an important piece of the story. How could Hope have neglected something like that?

  "Hope!"

  Finally, Hope gave in. With a groan, eyes still closed, she asked, "Mmph, what?"

  "Hope!"

  "Yes, that's my name! What do you want?"

  "It's... It's the driver!"

  Hope's eyes were still shut as she exasperatedly demanded, "What about the driver? C'mon, Ode, use your big girl words."

  She didn't see it, but she knew Odette rolled her eyes. "This isn't the time for your jokes, Hope!" Odette pleaded. "I... It-It's the driver! He's gone!

  "What, like he's lost?" Hope snorted. She didn't stop to wonder why Odette was talking about the driver like he couldn't hear her. "How do you manage to get lost going to the market?"

  "No!" Odette cried. "Well, yes, but also, no! He's gone! I... He's just... He... Oh, would you open your eyes?!"

  Loudly, Hope sighed. She reluctantly peeled her eyes open to try and understand what Odette was failing to explain. "Always so dramatic," she muttered before her heart suddenly dropped into her stomach.

  The first thing Hope noticed was that they were no longer driving through the industrial city of London, but rather, they were driving through the forest. Trees shot toward the clear skies instead of man-made buildings. A blur of greenery surrounded the taxi as the car drove onward, its tires digging into the dirt outside.

  "What the...?" Hope stammered. "Odette, why didn't you—?"

  She was about to yell at Odette for not mentioning something to the driver sooner about the directions to the market that was just a few blocks away from their apartment, but then she finally saw it: the driver was gone. He was missing. The driver's seat was vacant. There wasn't even the imprint of his body in the seat, almost like he never existed. No one was in the car aside from the two teenagers.

  Hope gasped. "ODETTE, THE DRIVER'S GONE!"

  "That's what I tried to tell you!" Odette cried.

  "The... The driver! He's just, he's gone!" Hope stuttered, panicked as the car swerved and dragged in an irregular path. "WHERE IS HE? WHY ARE WE IN THE FOREST?!"

  "M-Maybe someone hired a really ambitious gardener?" Odette squeaked. Her face was white with fear, and her eyebrows reached toward her hairline, creating deep worry lines.

  "ODETTE, WHERE IS THE BLOODY DRIVER?" Hope demanded. "DID YOU NOT SEE HIM GET OUT?"

  "NO! I BLINKED AND HE WAS GONE! HE JUST... HE... HE VANISHED! IT WAS LIKE MAGIC!"

  Hope scoffed. "ARE YOU FUCKING WITH ME RIGHT NOW?"

  "DOES IT LOOK LIKE I WANT TO BE FUCKING WITH YOU RIGHT NOW?!" Odette roared. "DID YOU PUT SOMEONE UP TO THIS?"

  "WHAT, YOU THINK I CONVINCED SOMEONE TO DO A SHITTY JOB OF KIDNAPPING US? NO, OF COURSE NOT—!"

  Hope was briefly interrupted by her and Odette's high-pitched screams as the car catapulted down a small hill. It drove over several fallen branches and rocks that made the entire vehicle sway in every direction. It picked up speed, jerking them forward.

  "DO YOU KNOW HOW TO DRIVE?" Hope yelled.

  "WHAT?"

  "SOMEONE NEEDS TO DRIVE THE CAR!" Hope explained while fumbling with her seatbelt, unbuckling it. "DO YOU KNOW HOW TO DRIVE?"

  "NO! DO YOU?"

  Hope hesitated, beginning to climb into the driver's seat. "NO!" Ungracefully, she contorted her limbs until she sat normally, her foot hovering over two pedals on the car's floor. "BUT HOW HARD COULD IT BE?"

  "DON'T SAY THAT WHEN OUR LIVES ARE ON THE LINE!" Odette screamed before following after her and climbing into the passenger seat.

  Meanwhile, Hope began to grab and flick and push and pull on every little gadget in front of her. She panicked every time she did something like turn on the headlights and windshield wipers instead of stopping the car. She tried to pull the key out, but it was jammed in there. It wouldn't budge.

  "ARE YOU SURE YOU KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING?" Odette asked.

  Hope hesitated as she gripped the steering wheel. It felt far too foreign in her grasp. "UHH, YEAH!"

  "BUT YOU JUST TOLD ME YOU DON'T KNOW HOW TO DRIVE!"

  "THEN, WHY DID YOU ASK?!"

  "I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'RE LYING TO ME BEFORE WE DIE!"

  "WE'RE NOT GOING TO—!"

  Hope was interrupted by their shrill screams of terror flooding the car again as she abruptly turned the steering wheel. The car took a sharp turn, narrowly missing a thicket of trees that surely would've demolished the car and killed them.

  "HOPE ANDROMEDA EDWARDS!"

  "ODETTE BRIAR DUNBAR!"

  "WE'RE GONNA DIE!"

  "HOW DO YOU STOP THIS THING?!"

  "JUST PRESS THE BRAKES ON THE FLOOR!"

  "I THOUGHT YOU SAID YOU DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO DRIVE!" Hope snapped. "LOOK WHO'S THE LIAR NOW!"

  "OH, SHUT UP! I HEARD AN INTERN SAY IT ONCE!"

  Hope felt around for whatever the brakes could be before realizing Odette was referring to the two pedals by her feet. She wasn't sure which one of the two pedals was the brakes, but she figured she had a 50-50 chance of picking the right one. Holding her breath, Hope pushed down on the pedal to the right.

  The car suddenly picked up speed, zooming through the forest with a loud rev of the engine. Hope and Odette screamed so loudly that their eardrums should've ruptured and their vocal cords should've given out.

  "THE OTHER ONE! THE OTHER ONE! PUSH THE OTHER ONE!"

  "I'M TRYING!"

  "TRY HARDER!"

  "I AM!" Hope pushed on the left-side pedal once. Nothing happened. She tried again. She pushed it once, twice, even thrice more. But nothing was happening. The car wasn't slowing down. It didn't even jerk to a stop. It only continued to drive forward, picking up speed with every second. "IT'S NOT WORKING!"

  "WHAT DO YOU MEAN IT'S NOT WORKING? JUST PUSH IT!"

  "OH, THANK YOU FOR THE BRILLIANT ADVICE, ODE!" Hope snapped. "IT'S NOT WORKING!"

  "WHAT?!"

  "AM I SPEAKING FRENCH RIGHT NOW? I SAID, IT'S NOT WORKING!"

  Odette reached up and gripped onto the ceiling handle, screeching, "YOU MIGHT NOT BE, BUT I AM. NOUS ALLONS MOURIR!"

  "YOU KNOW I TOOK SPANISH OVER FRENCH AT SCHOOL—!"

  "I SAID, WE'RE GOING TO DIE!" Odette bellowed. Hope squeezed her eyes shut in panic, only for Odette to cry, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! OPEN YOUR EYES!"

  "RIGHT. RIGHT. MY BAD."

  "MY BAD? MY BAD?! ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?! YOU CAN'T JUST MY BAD SOMETHING LIKE THIS!"

  "OH, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK!" Hope shrieked, trying to figure out how to slow the car down. She turned the steering wheel back and forth, but it did nothing but jerk them from side to side. "UH... UH... ASLAN? ASLAN, HELP!"

  Odette laughed maniacally. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME? THIS? RIGHT NOW?"

  "WELL, DO YOU HAVE ANY OTHER IDEAS?" Hope fired back.

  Odette paused. She supposed Hope had a point.

  "ASLAN! ASLAN, HELP!"

  "ASLAAAN!"

  And just when things couldn't get worse, Hope saw it.

  They were driving straight toward a cliff.

  Hope gasped so hard that she thought she might've fractured a body part she didn't know existed. "ODETTE, THE CAR," she hoarsely said.

  "YES, I'M AWARE THAT THE CAR—"

  "CLIFF! CLIFF! THERE'S A CLIFF COMING UP!" Hope yelled, pointing at the drop-off that was coming closer and closer. In those few seconds, Hope realized there was only one way they would survive this nightmare. "WE HAVE TO GET OUT!"

  "WHAT?" Odette exclaimed. She could've sworn her heart stopped beating as she looked ahead. Hope was right. The drop-off was inching closer and closer. "BUT THE CAR'S STILL MOVING!"

  "AND WE'RE ABOUT TO DRIVE OFF A CLIFF!" Hope screamed. "DO YOU WANT TO DIE OR NOT?"

  "WE'RE GONNA DIE EITHER WAY!"

  "SHUT UP AND GET OUT! NOW!"

  Hope didn't have time to check on Odette. All she could do was let her heart call out a last-minute prayer before she pushed open the door with all of the strength she could muster up at that moment. Then, without another second to think about it, Hope flung herself out of the car.

  Aside from the pain of rolling across the dirt and the discomfort of hot tears drenching her cheeks, Hope was never so happy to feel the ground beneath her again. Twigs and chunks of grass made a home in her mane. Cuts and scratches sliced through her skin, which stung as dirt, tears, and sweat lingered into them. Her chest was heavy and her lungs ached with every stretch as she laid there, but despite this, Hope smiled. She was alive. Barely, but she was alive nonetheless.

  But then her smile fell. Odette.

  Hope didn't want to sit up. She wanted to lay there for a long, long time. Maybe she'd lay there and wait for a cloud to roll across the clear, bright blue skies. Maybe she'd wait for the blistering sun to burn her until she was in so much pain that she had to get up. Maybe she'd wait for a small detritivore to try and eat her because it thought she was dead when in reality, she just hadn't moved in hours. Truly, Hope did not want to get up after throwing herself out of a moving vehicle. But because Odette was her best friend and she could be dead, Hope decided her wishes would have to wait. Again.

  Hope grunted as she sat up, feeling herself go lightheaded. "O-Odette?" she called, her voice raspy from screaming for far too long. "Ode?" Silence. Hope's nerves grew. "Odette?"

  Using the remainder of her energy, Hope forced herself to stand up and stumble forward. She tried to wipe the grime off her face with the back of her hand before deciding it was a lost cause. Instead, she walked in search of Odette, who she prayed wasn't stupid enough to stay in the car.

  Hope glanced around restlessly, unable to fully take in her surroundings. Silent, she followed the trail the car's tires left behind. She couldn't focus on anything except Odette. Where was she?

  As Hope drew nearer to the cliff the car drove off of, part of her was beginning to believe that maybe Odette didn't jump out of the car. It was an impulsive decision, after all. What if she was—?

  "Oh, thank God," Hope mumbled. Standing at the edge of the cliff with her back facing Hope was a girl with messy blonde hair. "Ode?"

  But Odette didn't respond. She only stood at the cliff's edge, tensely holding her side, as though she was in a trance. Hesitant, Hope approached the blonde, calling out to her until they were finally side-by-side.

  First, Hope looked over the edge where the car plummeted, surprised to find that she couldn't see it. Then, she glanced toward Odette, who was silent, awestruck as she stared at something. Hope peered out at the world in search of whatever her best friend was gawking at, only to realize that was what she was looking at: the world.

  The world was so much bigger, so much more beautiful than she originally thought. Rather than finding dozens and dozens of man-made buildings sandwiched together, ones with chimneys that spat endless smoke, and cars parked in driveways, there was an endless array of trees. The world was so... so green. From the inch of land they stood upon, all the way to the very edge of the horizon, nature pervaded the world. There were trees and plants and bushes and clearings. Rivers and lakes carved out the land's face. There was a waterfall across the gaping cliff they stood upon, and if you squinted, you could see mountains to the north and the beach to the east. The air was no longer polluted; it was clean and smelt of dirt and flowers and pollen, too. If you listened carefully, past the whistle of the wind, you could hear the roar of the Eastern Seas. It called out to Hope and Odette.

  They were a long way from London.

  And yet somehow, they were closer to home than they had been for the past year.

  "Where... Where are we?" Hope hesitantly asked after a long moment of silence.

  As though her words were a cue, memories of a lifetime left behind returned to them all at once.

  They were in Narnia.

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AUTHOR'S NOTE:

This chapter was brought to you by me wanting to find a fun, creative way to bring our girls back to Narnia instead of them going back with the Pevensies for my entertainment <3

@Hope @Odette Sorry for the trauma lol