Audrey Hayes has felt like an outsider looking in all her life, but when she gets swept into the magical land of Narnia, in the midst of a vicious war between good and evil, she suddenly finds herself not just fitting in, but belonging.
{The Lion, T...
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Fur coats bristled at her side as she squeezed past, the stench of mothballs and the newly disturbed dust making her cough and splutter. No one had been in here for a long time, Audrey realised, wiping a cobweb from the sleeve of her wool jumper.
Darkness consumed the rear portion of the wardrobe, except for the small stripe of light that ebbed across the wooden floor.
Brows knitting together in confusion, Audrey shrugged away her nagging curiosity, pinning the unnatural brightness down to a hole in the back panel (supposing that the wardrobe was rather old, due to the decrepit state of its denizens) instead moving to the hanger of the first coat. It was heavier than she expected, the acrid smell of years gone past still clinging, like an afterimage, to each individual hair of the fur.
Suddenly, a moth came flying out of one of the deep pockets, its dappled brown wings causing Audrey, who had been terrified of them for as long as she could remember, to let out a muffled scream and drop the heavy coat to the floor.
Much to her chagrin, the moth's beating wings gravitated towards the seeping light behind her. As she backed away, trying to keep as much distance between herself and the insect, she stumbled on a loose plank beneath her feet and came tumbling down to the floor.
However, instead of landing on the wood below, as one might expect, she found her slip cushioned. Cold immediately seeped into her hands, which had flown out to her sides to break her fall, white flakes of iridescent snow gently falling into her auburn hair.
"You're awfully clumsy, aren't you?"
Snapping her head to the side, Audrey's eyes fell upon a small girl, no older than ten, her brown hair cut into a bob and a small of awe and wonder curled onto her lips.
Tentatively climbing to her feet, the orphan brushed away the dust and snow that clung to her body. "Hello," she said cautiously, though the unmistakable feeling that this girl could be trusted coursed through her veins.
"Hello!" the girl said cheerily, pacing across the snow and extending a palm up into the air (due to the noticeable difference in height between the two of them). "My name's Lucy. Lucy Pevensie."
With a small smile, the redhead shook her hand. "Audrey Hayes."
"This place is marvellous, isn't it?" Lucy continued, her eyes glossing over the nearby trees, all topped with a thick dusting of snow. "Where do you suppose we are?"
Her eyes also flitting across their surroundings, Audrey replied. "I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore."
Lucy turned, her expression one of confusion. "Kansas, what's that?"
"Doesn't matter." Masking a small grin, Audrey took a glance back at the wardrobe, the coats just about visible between the wintery trees. "How did you get here?"
