Wunderkind ❄ A Chronicles of Narnia Tale {Wattys 2018}

Into the Wardrobe

The next week or so was sunny and warm, and the children spent a great deal of time outside. Lucy sulked an awful lot, but Peter had seen to it that Edmund would stop teasing her. While the others lay in the grass and counted insects or made up silly songs about Mrs Macready (some of which were very rude) she spent most her of her time reading beneath the shade of the trees.

She was doing so on the third day while the others played cricket with a cricket set they had found in one of the spare rooms. Peter was the bowler, Edmund the batsman, Susan the wicket keeper and Ruth the sweeper. Lucy simply watched from behind her book, wanting desperately to join in but not wanting to speak to the others.

Ruth had long since forgotten her bad mood, and each time the cricket ball was smacked in her direction, she leapt up to try and catch it. She ended up falling backwards into a giggling heap more than once, and she knew that she would be picking burrs out of her hair for a good while that evening.

"Peter winds up," said Peter, running up to bowl again, "poised to take yet another wicket!" He sounded like the sports announcers on the television or the radio, hamming up the accent so the girls laughed. He pitched the ball, but Edmund wasn't quite paying attention and it hit him in the leg.

"Ow!" he shouted, scowling.

Peter caught the ball as Susan threw it back to him and laughed. "Sorry, Ed, but you're going to have to wake up next time!"

"This is stupid," Edmund complained.

Susan shook her head and said, "Cheer up, Ed. It's lovely and warm, and we could all use the fresh air." She was desperately trying to coax Edmund into a good mood, but it didn't work.

He just huffed. "It's not like there isn't air inside."

Ruth couldn't help giggling as Peter tossed the ball back and forth between his hands. "Are you ready?"

Edmund rolled his eyes, shooting a fierce look at Ruth, but he picked up the bat and smacked it on the ground a few times. Everyone returned to their positions. "Are you?" Edmund said, his expression determined.

This time, he hit the ball so hard that it flew in a high arc towards the Professor's house. They all watched in horror as it crashed through an upstairs window, glass smashing in horrible dissonance. Ruth gave a small scream and they raced inside.

They ran upstairs and stopped in the passage. The cricket ball had smashed right through the stained glass and knocked over the suit of armour that usually stood against the wall. Nobody said a word for a moment, until Peter turned to Edmund. "Oh, well done, Ed!" he said.

"You bowled it!" said Edmund, bristling so he looked remarkably like a cat.

"Oh, do stop fighting!" said Lucy. "We mustn't be too loud, otherwise –"

Suddenly, they heard angry footsteps stomping down the hall. Susan gasped, "The Macready!"

"She'll kill us!" hissed Ruth, looking around wildly.

The children all felt quite sick, but Peter immediately took charge. "Come on," he said, and they ran down to the door at the end of the passage. And just like that they were caught up in a wild goose chase, hurrying along the halls and into rooms they didn't even know existed. Once or twice they hit dead ends or they heard Mrs Macready's footsteps following them, and one or another's frantic cries of "Back, back, back!" sent them dashing the opposite way.

It seemed like the housekeeper was everywhere, and as the children grew more frantic, it seemed only to get worse. In nearly every room they went to her footsteps echoed down the hall, until Edmund undid the latch of the Wardrobe Room and ran inside. "Come on," he said, gesturing to the wardrobe.