~

"Gas-tro-vas-cu-lar."

Adeline rolled her eyes and tried not to sigh loudly. Today the children were supposed to go outside and have fun but Mother Nature had contradicted their idea. It was pouring cats and dogs outside and all five of them were stuck in the study, with nothing to do.

Adeline was sitting on the large scratchy sofa with Susan who had an enormous book perched on her lap, the book covering up her plaid skirt.

Adeline herself was sitting on the opposite side of the sofa with her journal open on the arm, trying to write. Unfortunately, the weather had brought down her mood and she gave up, stuffing it into her black knee-high skirt and pulling the mustard yellow cardigan she had chosen today closer for warmth. Adeline sniffed at the irony of the color of her clothing and the current mood of nature.

"Come on Peter," Susan insisted, she must have felt the chill in the room as well because she pulled her blue wool sweater tighter around herself,  "Gas-tro-vas-cu-lar."

Peter, who was sitting on an armchair across from them did what Adeline didn't have the courage to do to Susan's face and rolled his eyes at her, "Is it Latin?" 

"Yes," Adeline responded for Susan, sending the blond a grimace, she had read all of these books before out of complete boredom a hundred times. 

She didn't take her eyes off of Peter, thinking about how his blue shirt perfectly matched his eyes. Adeline blinked, what was wrong with her? She quickly averted her eyes and started fiddling with her necklace, hoping Peter hadn't noticed her staring.

Edmund who had been laying on the ground fiddling with a chair sat up with a sinister smile, "Is it Latin for 'worst game ever invented?"

Susan huffed and shut the giant book. Adeline shook with silent laughs before Susan gave her a glare and shut her up.

Adeline's boredom was reaching its limits, she wished she had brought her book but she had left the copy of 'Little Women' in her room. Pulling at her necklace, she thought about what her heroine Jo March would do. She would probably be frustrated, just like Adeline was now, but she would also make up some sort of play or game.

Before Adeline could say anything, Lucy, who had been sitting on the windowsill this entire time walked over to the rest of the group.

"We could play hide and seek," she crossed her arms on Peter's armchair.

Peter looked over at Adeline, humor in his eyes, "But we're already having so much fun," sarcasm dripping off of every word.

Susan sent him another one of her signature glares and Adeline snorted at the small sibling rivalry.

"Come on Peter," Lucy insisted, "Please."

Lucy then pulled out what Adeline thought was one of her most brilliant persuasive tricks. She stuck out her lip and made puppy eyes at poor Peter. "Please," she asked again.

"It's better to do what she asks, Pete," Adeline said, bored out her mind. If this boy didn't give Lucy an answer already she would just have to do it herself.

Peter looked over to Lucy's enormous eyes, falling for his sister's tactic, "One, two, three."

"Yes!" Adeline shouted at the same time as Edmund demanded, "What?!"

Adeline shot up and pulled Susan with her. Lucy and Edmund were already gone and Peter got up to count against the wall.

"This way," Adeline said, leading them down the maze of hallways, "There's a really good spot where he'll never find us"

The two girls could hear Peter counting, already at thirty.

"Hurry," Susan whispered.

The two girls reached a small staircase, at the bottom were two wooden boxes, parallel to each other, meant to store clothes. 

"In these," Adeline pointed out. She flipped open the lid of one and jumped in, she could see Susan doing the same. The brunettes then gave each other a humorous smile before closing the lids, the space around Adeline enveloping in darkness.

She could hear Peter's distant voice reaching the eighties. She felt a shiver of delight as he neared one hundred, the excitement a lot to contain. Not to mention the fact that her legs were starting to feel cramped and that her journal was pushing up against her uncomfortably as she tried not to make a sound.

Adeline whirled her fingers slightly and allowed some of her magic to wrap around her fingers, illuminating the space. The dim blue light moved on its own accordance dancing around her fingers and wrapping her wrist like a bracelet.

She could hear Peter call out, "Ready or not, here I come!" when a sudden shout echoed through the halls.

"It's alright! I'm back! I'm alright!"

Adeline recognized the high voice as Lucy's and frowned. What was going on?

A pair of footsteps, who she guessed was Peter's passed them quickly before stopping in the room next door. 

Edmund whispered something before the footsteps stopped,

"You know," she heard Peter say, "I'm not sure if you two have quite gotten the idea of this game."

Now curious about what was happening, Adeline twitched her fingers, the sapphire wisps disappearing. She opened the lid to see Susan already climbing out of her box, shooting her a confused look. Adeline stepped out of her box and followed Susan who was already walking down the hall, into the next room.

Peter and Edmund were talking to Lucy who seemed to be very confused, "But weren't you wondering where I was?"

"That's the point," Edmund said pointedly, "That's why he was seeking you."

Adeline and Susan reached the room and stood next to Peter, she furrowed her brows, "What's going on?"

"Does this mean we win?" Susan asked.

Peter looked a little frustrated as he turned to his younger sister, "I don't think Lucy wants to play anymore."

"I've been gone for hours," the little girl looks at each person, trying to explain.

"Lu, whatever are you talking about?" Adeline spoke softly, trying to get the girl to understand, "We only just started playing."

Lucy grabbed Adeline's hand and started to drag her down the hall to a more dusty part of the house. "Come on." 

Adeline rarely came here because there was nothing to see. This hall had a couple of doors that were always locked, her grandfather refusing to give her the key and telling her that there was nothing to see.

Lucy led the four children down to the last door in the hall before opening it. Inside there was a large wardrobe made out of what seemed to be mahogany, with beautiful carvings of trees and lions on it.

Upon seeing it, Adeline was struck with a feeling of longing and familiarity. This wardrobe seemed familiar to her as if it were from a dream. She could feel her magic stirring inside of her as she gazed upon it.

All five children stopped in front of it and Lucy let go of Adeline's hand to get closer to it, "I found it while we were playing and I went inside to hide." A smile began to grow on her face, "I walked towards the back of it and ended up in a snowy wood, and met a wonderful faun named Mr. Tumnus who invited me over for tea and sardines."

The four other children just stared at her. Adeline's mind was trying to process what the little girl had just told them. A magical forest in a wardrobe sounded absolutely ridiculous to her, but considering the fact that Adeline had strange unknown powers, she was starting to question if there was a difference between fiction and reality. 

These emotions must have shown on her face because she felt a hand on her arm, "Are you alright?" Peter asked quietly.

Adeline just nodded, not sure if she really was. She could feel her magic trying to physically pull her towards the wardrobe and it took all of her concentration to stand her ground.

Edmund and Susan glanced at each other before heading towards the wardrobe. Susan opened the door and shifted through the multitude of fur coats. Edmund slipped behind the wardrobe and Adeline could hear sharp knocks as each sibling checked for Lucy's so-called wood.

Adeline felt shivers go up her arms as her magic persisted and she rubbed them, trying to make that longing feeling go away. Making sure her magic was in check she neared Susan and peeked into the wardrobe, trying to see if there really was anything. It was safe to say that she was a little disappointed that there was nothing there.

Susan exited the wardrobe and addressed her little sister, "Lucy, the only wood here is the back of the wardrobe."

Lucy frowned as Peter said, "One game at a time Lu, we don't all have your imagination."

The three siblings began to walk towards the door and Adeline trailed behind them, her magic still trying to pull her towards the wardrobe. Adeline clutched at her necklace, trying to gain control, the pendant digging into her skin.

"But I wasn't imagining!" Lucy cried. All four of them turned to face her. The three Pevensie's looked frustrated and fed up with Lucy. Adeline shot the little girl a look, trying to get her to stop before things got out of hand.

"That's enough Lucy," Susan said sternly.

Tears sprung into the little girl's eyes, "I wouldn't lie about this!" she cried.

Edmund stepped forward, "Well I believe you." 

Adeline shot him a confused look, as did Lucy, "You do?"

A snide smile stretched on his face. Adeline had a bad feeling, he was just going to ruin every thing.

"Yea, of course," He faced the older children as if he was trying to get them to play along, "Didn't I tell you about the football field in the bathroom cupboards."

Adeline resisted the urge to smack him across the head. Telling jokes was one thing but pretending to play along just to spite Lucy was extremely mean. 

Peter stood up against Edmund as the tension in the room grew. Adeline stepped back, not wanting to get involved in what was becoming a family affair. 

"Oh, will you just stop," said Peter tiredly, "You just have to make everything worse, don't you."

Edmund backed up defensively, "It's just a joke." He looked at the two older girls for help but Adeline shook her head. He had gotten himself into this, this was his fight.

"When are you going to learn to grow up."

Edmund exploded, his fists clenched up as he shouted into Peter's face, making the blond back up, "Shut up! You think you're dad but you're not!"

Edmund shoved past the two girls and stormed out of the room.

Peter's eyes were sad as he looked over to Susan for help.

"Well that was nicely handled," she said sarcastically and rushed out after Edmund.

Peter turned to Adeline and silently begged her to tell him what to do. Adeline shook her head, she wasn't experienced in family matters and this argument seemed to be very personal, something she would never understand.

Lucy spoke up, her tiny voice echoing in the large room, "But, it really was there." she said, trying one last time to convince them, and maybe even to convince herself.

"Susan's right Lucy." Peter said firmly, signaling the conversation was over, "That's enough."

He brushed right past her and left. She wanted to follow him but suspected that everyone needed time to be alone. Her magic inside her was restless and she needed time to regroup herself before facing anyone else.

Lucy shut the wardrobe door, tears slipping down her face. She turned to face Adeline, a little bit of hope in her eyes, "Do you believe me?"

Adeline swallowed, her throat running dry. It couldn't be possible and yet, she shouldn't be either.

Adeline responded simply, her mind too scrambled to come up with a better answer, 

"I don't know." 

The little girl looked up at her in sadness before walking out of the room with her head down. 

Adeline felt terrible for Lucy, she was only a little girl, her family shouldn't have been that hard on her. But nonetheless, the damage had been done.

Now that no one was in the room, Adeline could feel her magic pumping through her wanting to get out. She checked that no one was coming down the hall before letting out a slow exhale.

Blue whisps came out of her fingertips and rushed towards the wardrobe, encompassing the mahogany, as if it wanted to go in.

For the first time, Adeline felt fear surge through her. Nothing like this had ever happened before and she didn't know how to react or what to do. 

As if her magic had a mind of its own she could feel it beckoning to her, calling her closer to the wardrobe. 

Adeline decided to listen to it.

What could go wrong?

She took slow steps towards, her magic reacted by twirling in the air. The multiple whisps were entwining her fingers as she reached out to touch the wardrobe.

"Adeline?"

Her fingers were mere millimeters from the wardrobe surface when Lucy called out her name. Panicking she waved her hand as the whisps disappeared into thin air.

She turned just as  Lucy entered the room. "Are you alright?"

Adeline flashed her a quick smile, even though she knew it looked fake. "Yes." she lied, "Perfectly fine." She tried to look normal as she walked and not rushing out of the room, "Let's go. I think we've all had enough trouble for one day."

The little girl nodded slowly, still not believing Adeline, but going along with it anyways.

Her magic was still pulsing through her even though she tried to calm it down. Part of it scared her, she didn't know what was going on and honestly, she was a little scared to find out.

Adeline glanced once more at the wardrobe before firmly shutting the door.

~ 

I should probably explain to you guys that I like to have a lot of detail in my story. I also don't want to skip over any important parts that were in the movie or even the book. In this story, I really want to show how Adeline grows and changes so that will mean long chapters, which is why it's taking forever for them to finally reach Narnia. I promise that my long and neverending chapters are important to the story.

Schools, where I live, have been canceled until May, which means more time for writing between my online classes, so expect more chapters coming your way.

Question of the day:

~ What are your thoughts and feelings about the upcoming Netflix adaptation of Narnia? Are you excited or are you nervous? ~

I would love to know what you think (I'm a little anxious about what the results will be when Netflix finally announces what they're going to do)

Stay safe and wash your hands, these are really hard times for everyone and we can all help flatten the curve by staying home and limiting contact.

Until next time,

StoryTeller5678