♘

         LUCY PEVENSIE turned towards her younger sister, Dorothy Pevensie. Over the past year, Dorothy had grown into a beautiful young teenage girl Dorothy's blonde hair was now down to her waist and was very wavy. She was quite tall for her age and she is even a couple more inches taller than Lucy. Dorothy was so pretty that even Lucy thought she couldn't compete with her younger sister's beautiful looks. It bothered Dorothy that Lucy was jealous of her, knowing that Lucy was even more prettier but Lucy wasn't convinced.

Right now, the young girls were both out grocery shopping and seemed to have lost their older brother, Edmund Pevensie in the store. Lucy began to ponder for a minute, thinking where their older brother could have gone before her eyes widened as she looked at Dorothy.

"He must be enlisting into the army again," she remembered.

At her response, Dorothy rolled her eyes in annoyance. Ever since the three younger Pevensie siblings moved to Cambridge, Edmund kept on trying to join the army. No matter how hard he tried, Edmund was always rejected since the average age to enlist in the army was eighteen years old and Edmund was only sixteen years old.

"Come on. Let's go get him," Dorothy says, adjusting the box of groceries in her hands. "One of these days, he's going to learn not to sign up for the army and he knows we're just going to keep on embarrassing him as we try to stop him."

Lucy giggled quietly at Dorothy's comment as the two headed for the enlisting station. As they entered, they could make out Edmund in the front of the line, talking to the man at the desk. By the look on his face, Dorothy could tell that the man was annoyed by Edmund, knowing that he used their aunt's I.D. and pretended the name was Albert instead of Alberta.

"Edmund," Dorothy called, catching Edmund's attention along with the other men in line. "You're supposed to be helping Lucy and me with the groceries."

The men in the line snickered at the comment as Edmund glared at his younger sister, who didn't seem bothered by the glare at all. The man at the desk handed Edmund back their aunt Alberta's I.D. as Edmund began to leave.

"Better luck next time, eh squirt?" The man behind Edmund teased as the three left the building.

"Squirt!? He barely had two years on me," Edmund began to complain as they walked to their bikes. He took a box from Dorothy and straps it to his bike. "I'm a king! I 39;ve fought wars and I've led armies."

"Not in this world," Lucy reminded as she and Dorothy grabbed their bikes. She placed the bag she had in her basket that was in the front of her bike as Dorothy helped Edmund.

"Yeah, instead I'm stuck here, doing battle with Eustace Clarence Scrubb," Edmund sighed in annoyance as he mentioned their cousin. "If anyone so deserved a name."

Dorothy slapped his arm slightly. "Edmund, don't be mean! He's our cousin," she scolded her brother, who rolled his eyes. She looked up at Lucy, who was paying no attention to her siblings, and watched as Lucy tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. "What are you doing, Lucy?"

Lucy smiled to herself before looking back at her sister in embarrassment. "Nothing. Come on then," She rushed out as she walked off as Edmund and Dorothy trailed behind her.

♘

"We're home! Hello?!" Lucy called out as they entered their uncle and aunt's house.

While their older brother and sister, Peter and Susan, were both in America, Dorothy, Lucy and Edmund were sent to live with their uncle Harold their aunt Alberta, and their selfish, bratty cousin, Eustace. Eustace was the same age as Dorothy, being two weeks older than her.

As they entered the house, Dorothy grabbed the mail from the mailbox and she followed Lucy inside while Edmund was behind both of them. Lucy made her way through the living room and into the kitchen, passing their uncle Harold who was sitting in his recliner, reading the daily newspaper.

"Hello, Uncle Harold. I tried to find some carrots but all they had were turnips again," Lucy explained as she took off her coat. "Shall I start making soup? Aunt Alberta's on her way home ."

"Uncle Harold?" Dorothy tried, annoyed that he was ignoring Lucy. She took off her coat and hung it on the hook while Edmund did the same, sticking his tongue out at their uncle before she began to look through the mail.

"Father, Edmund's making faces at you," a voice called, and Dorothy turned to see her cousin Eustace standing at the top of the stairs.

She ignored her brother and cousin's banter and went back to looking through the mail before one caught her attention. Her eyes widened and began to smile with excitement.

"Edmund, Lucy, look!" she cried out, catching her siblings' attention and holding up the letter. "It's from Susan!"

♘

In Dorothy and Lucy's shared room, the siblings sat next to each other on Dorothy's bed as she read the letter their older sister, Susan, had written to them.

"Dear Edmund, Lucy, and Dorothy,

I do wish you were here with us. It's been such an adventure, but nothing like our times in Narnia. America is very exciting, except we never see Father. He works so very hard. I was invited to the British Consul's tea party this week by a naval officer who happens to be very handsome. I think he fancies me."

As Dorothy read the letter, Edmund stood up and walked over to a painting that was hanging in the girls' bedroom. It was Dorothy who had painted it one day when she was bored and both Edmund and Lucy were shocked at how well the details were.

"It seems the Germans have made the crossing difficult right now. Times are hard. Mother hopes you three won't mind another few months in Cambridge. "

After she finished, Dorothy shared a look with Lucy as Edmund turned around. All three were annoyed by this, knowing they couldn't last another day with their aunt, uncle, and cousin.

"Another few months?" Lucy repeated in shock. "How will we survive?"

"You two are lucky," Edmund noted as he sat back down and took the letter from Dorothy. "At least you two are sharing a room while I'm stuck with mullet mouth."

Dorothy sighed as she stood up. "Susan and Peter are the lucky ones. Off on adventures." As she spoke, she walked towards the window as Lucy got up as well, walking in front of their floor length mirror. 

"Yeah, they're the eldest, and we're the youngest," Edmund agreed as he lay down on Ginny's bed. "We don't matter as much?" ;

"Do you think I look anything like Susan?" Lucy questioned softly as she looked in the mirror. She wanted to blurt out Dorothy's name as well, but she couldn't let her younger sister know that she was jealous of her beauty.

Edmund sighed, ignoring her question as he set the letter down and looked back up at the painting. "Lucy, Dora, have you seen this ship before?" he asked them as he walked up to it.

Turning around, Dorothy smiled as she and Lucy joined Edmund, "Yes."

"It's very Narnian looking isn't it?" Lucy adds with the same smile.

"Yeah," Edmund says as they look at the painting together. "Just another reminder that we're here and not there."

"There once were three orphans who wasted their time believing in Narnian nursery rhymes," Eustace's voice said and the three siblings turned around as he entered the girls' bedroom.

Dorothy and Eustace were very close when they were little. They both shared a wide imagination but as Eustace got older, he began to be more like Susan and stopped believing in fairy tales. It made Dorothy upset and she wished that they were both close again.

"Please let me hit him," Edmund begged as he took a threatening step towards Eustace.

"No!" Lucy and Dorothy exclaimed, grabbed his arms to stop him, and pulled him back.

Edmund sighed in annoyance at his sisters before glaring at their cousin once more as he asked, "Don't you ever knock?"

"It's my house. I'll do as I please. You're just guests," Eustace sneered as he sat on the bed. "I don't understand why you drew that painting, Dorothy. It looks hideous."

Noticing his younger sister's sad look, Edmund stood up for her. "You won't see it from the other side of the door," he sneered without looking at Eustace. Dorothy didn't have to look behind them to see that Eustace was making a face at Edmund.

"Edmund, Dottie, it looks like the water's moving," Lucy spoke and Ginny smiled at Lucy's comment. "You've put so much detail in this painting, Dorothy. "

"Thanks," Dorothy smiled proudly.

"What rubbish! See?" Eustace remarked from behind them. "That's what happens when you read all those fanciful novels and fairy tales of yours."

"There once was a boy named Eustace who read books full of facts that were useless," Edmund mimicked Eustace from earlier.

Dorothy and Lucy laughed slightly at their older brother's little rhyme.

"People who read fairy tales are always the sort who become a hideous burden to people like me who read books with real information."

As Eustace explained, Edmund turned around to look at him with a hard glare.

"Hideous burden?" he asks as he walked to Eustace, who quickly stood up from Dorothy's bed after noticing his older cousin's look. "I haven't seen you lift a finger since we've been here."

Behind her, Dorothy could hear the door being closed shut and figured that Eustace tried to make a run for it but failed. Her attention wasn't on the argument that Lucy was trying to stop, as she was paying more attention to the painting. Water was dripping from the painting and she could feel a breeze of wind blowing in her face.

"Edmund, Lucy, the painting!" Dorothy exclaimed, catching their attention. She shrieked as water splashed on her face as everyone watched in shock.

"What's going on here?" Eustace asked with disbelief, watching as the water began to flood the girls' room.

"Girls, do you think--?" Edmund started, sharing an excited look with his younger sisters.

"It's some kind of trick! Stop it or I'll tell Mother," Eustace threatened as he stood by the doorway. "Mother! Mother! I'll just smash the old thing !"

Eustace proceeded to walk up to the painting and took it off the wall. Just before he could smash it, Dorothy and her siblings rushed to him.

"No, Eustace! No!" Edmund exclaimed as he and his sisters tried to stop Eustace.

"Get off of me!" Eustace cried.

"Put it down, Eustace!"

"Let go!"

Suddenly, the painting dropped out of their hands and the water rapidly entered the room to where the siblings and cousin couldn't stand anymore. They were pushed underwater and everyone was struggling to resurface to get some air.

As Dorothy began to swim up, she noticed the sunlight shining through and her siblings and cousin followed suit. Dorothy took a deep gasp for air, taking notice that they were no longer in her and Lucy's shared room but in the middle of the ocean.