The Secret Fifth

6: Now We're All Here

The four Pevensie chidren stood in the manor, each wide eyed and with dropped jaws.

"Well done, Ed!" Peter spoke. The younger boy glared at him.

"You bowled it!" He defended himself. The broken window and suit of armour wasn't just his fault. Before the fight could progress, footsteps and shouting could be heard.

"The Macready!" Susan warned. Peter took hold of her and Lucy's hand, and quickly dragged them out of the room.

"Run!" He urged his siblings. They complied easily, and scurried from the room. They twisted corners and ran down new hallways, but it seemed like the footsteps were always ahead. Eventually, they all came to the hallway of the spare room. Lucy grinned and shoved open the door of her beloved room. Edmund pushed past, approaching the wardobe and gesturing inside.

"Come on!" He shouted. Lucy ran forward with a squeal and dragged Susan along. Peter came relucantly, and only because of the pounding footsteps behind him. He pushed all of his siblings further back into the wardrobe as he closed the door, leaving a small gap to look out of. He saw the doorknob of the spare room door jiggle slightly, and he pushed back farther with a gasp.

"Ouch, that was my toe!" Edmund scowled. Susan swatted something away from her face.

"Stop shoving, Peter." She hissed at him.

"I'm not shoving, you are!" He retorted. Grunts, groans, and complains came from three Pevensies. The youngest had already snuck back further into the wardrobe, and awaited her siblings in the snow. After more and more pushing, Susan and Peter finally landed on their bottoms with a grunt. Edmund stepped over them and further into the forest, his face not mirroring theirs of shock. The two eldest siblings pushed themself off the ground, looking around in awe.

"Impossible!" Susan breathed. Lucy tried not to roll her eyes. Quite possible if you're living it, Su. She thought.

"Don't worry. I'm sure it's just your imagination." The small girl smiled. Peter turned to look at Lucy with a sheepish grin.

"I don't suppose saying we're sorry would quite cover it." He stammered. Lucy shook her head.

"No, it wouldn't." A mischevious look crossed her face, and she quickly hurled a clumped ball of snow at Peter from behind her back. "But that might!" Peter looked at her in shock, then quickly picked up some snow to throw back. Susan soon joined with a giggle. Who knows how long this war would have gone on if it weren't for Susan, who aimed a bit too high at Peter. The snowball hit Edmund directly in his arm.

"Ow! Stop it!" He spoke from the corner of trees he had tucked himself into. The laughter quickly died down, and Peter stepped towards him.

"You little liar!" He said. Edmund turned to look at him fully.

"You didn't believe her either!" Peter rolled his eyes and pointed to the youngest sister.

"Apologize to Lucy." Edmund looked to the girl, but said nothing. Peter took another step towards his brother. "Say you're sorry!" He shouted. Edmund flinched at the sudden noise and stepped back.

"Alright! I'm sorry." He spoke softly. Lucy smiled.

"That's all right. Some little children just don't know when to stop pretending." Edmund scoffed as his own words were thrown at him.

"Oh, very funny." Susan felt a sudden shiver run down her back, and she hugged herself.

"Maybe we should go back." She said. Edmund stepped forward hurredily, raising his arm to gesture to the forest.

"Shouldn't we at least have a look around?" The siblings found his sudden eagerness odd, but just brushed it aside. They could only assume that he didn't want to go back to the wrath of the Macready.

"I think Lucy should decide." Peter smiled at the girl. Her face lit up, and she practically jumped out of her shoes.

"Oh, I'd like you all to meet Mr. Tumnus, and Annelise!" Peter and Susan's heart sunk slightly at the mention. If this impossible land, a forest within a wardrobe, was true.. Who to say that Annelise was not? The two eldest shared a thought as Peter retrieved some coats from the wardrobe.

They had another sister.

"That's a girls coat!" Edmund complained as Peter held out a gray and fluffy coat to him.

"So?" He continued to shove the fabric into the boy's chest until he took it. Lucy grabbed the hand of Peter and quickly began to drag him along to Mr. Tumnus's. She caught up her siblings on the way.

"You'll know instantly when you see her, guys. She has dad's eyes, and Peter you have identical kind of hair. Susan you have the same nose and lips, oh and Edmund, you're finally not the only one with such freckles! She's wonderful. Peter, she's a year younger than you, and she was raised here. Mr. Tumnus said that dad left her here. Dad was here! And she likes to read, and climb trees, and she's really a wonderful baker..." Lucy trailed off as they turned a soft corner of a mountain. There, in the very corner, was a wooden door, smashed off it's hinges. Tears clouded Lucy's eyes as she stared at it, and she took off after it quickly.

"Lucy!" Peter called as the three of them hurried after her. When they entered the small house, their hearts tore. There was upturned furniture, broken dishes, scratches along the wall. Edmund flinched as he stepped on a picture of a fawn, which sat smiling proudly with a small blonde girl in his lap. She did look very much a Pevensie, he noted.

"Who would do something like this?" Lucy mumbled as she looked around the den. Peter plucked a paper from the wall and began to read the note.

"The Faun Tumnus, and Daughter of Adam Annelise, is hereby charged with High Treason against Her Imperial Majesty, Jadis, Queen of Narnia, for comforting her enemies and fraternizing with humans. Signed Maugrim, Captain of the Secret Police. Long Live the Queen." Lucy stifled a sob as he finished, and Susan pulled her into her side.

"All right. Now we really should go back." She said. Lucy ripped from her hold and looked at her siblings.

"But what about Mr. Tumnus and Annie?" She said. Susan shook her head.

"If he was arrested just for being with a human, I don't think there's much we can do. And as for Annelise.. well I just don't know." Lucy glared at her, then turned to Peter.

"You don't understand, do you? I'm the human! She must have found out they helped me. And Annelise is family, Susan. We can't just leave her behind!"

"Maybe we could call the police." Peter offered. Susan just rolled her eyes and pointed to the paper.

"These are the police, Peter." The blonde boy rubbed his sister's shoulder comfortingly.

"Don't worry Lu, we'll think of something." Edmund scoffed from behind him.

"Why? I mean, he's a criminal. And we don't even know this Annelise." He said. Lucy stepped forward, shooting daggers at her brother with her eyes.

"I do. I know her, Edmund." A sound nearly interrupted the girl, and all four heads turned to look at the source

"Did that bird just 'psst' us?"