"Lucy? Susan?" I called tentatively.

There was no answer.

My heart crept into my throat.

"Stay with me, Ed," I said, leading with my sword first. We crept up the stairs to our shared bedroom. I opened the door softly.

"Are you girls okay? Are you in here?"

"Peter?" a relieved voice squeaked.

"Yes, yes, it's me," I said, closing and locking the door behind Ed and coming in. "Where are you?"

Susan and Lucy slowly crawled out from under a bed, Susan with her bow strapped to her back holding a quiver of arrows and Lucy holding her dagger with a quivering hand. I beamed proudly. They had thought of weapons.

"What happened? How did you know to hide?"

"We heard footsteps that weren't yours or Tumnus's," Susan explained

"So I grabbed my dagger and waited for some action!" Lucy added.

I ruffled her hair affectionately. "Smart girl. Alright, let's all go look for some dwarves, shall we? Which way did the footsteps go?"

"That way!" Lucy said, pointing to the right.

We stole silently from the bedroom and proceeded down the hallway. I led while Edmund watched our backs. I studied the ground, looking for footprints. I was so intent on looking for clues regarding the intruder's whereabouts, I didn't hear the sound of a sword being unsheathed until it was too late.

"Yeaw!" a dwarf yelled, slicing at my knee.

I yelled in pain. The blade had pierced my pant leg and left a large cut all the way across my knee. Quickly regaining my composure, I knocked the blade from his hand and pressed the tip of mine to his neck.

"Where are the others?" I demanded.

"Peter, your leg!" Susan exclaimed.

"It can wait," I muttered, returning my attention to the intruder. "Answer me, traitor."

"I don't know," he insisted in a sinister tone. "Probably lying in wait as well."

"How many are you?" I pressed the tip of my sword harder against his neck. He gave no answer.

"Edmund, fetch rope," I said.

"I'll go with you and find my vial," Lucy offered. "Peter's leg looks awful."

Once they had left, Susan lowered her bow and pinned the dwarf's arms behind his back. "Who sent you?" she hissed in his ear.

He spat a vile curse, and I was glad the younger two were away.

"Never speak that way to my sister again, filth," I snarled. "Under whose authority are you operating?"

"The White Witch."

"She is dead."

"Yes, but you ain't. Yet."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Susan inquired, shooting me a panicked look.

He just chuckled, a hideous rasping screech that made me want to slit his throat then and there. But I couldn't. I wouldn't. He likely had valuable information. We just needed to get it out of him.

"How many of you are here?" I repeated. I was shaken horribly. They were serious about killing my family.

Edmund arrived then with the rope. I cautiously sheathed my sword, making sure our prisoner didn't try to escape, and began to tie his wrists and ankles.

I threw him over my shoulder.

"The dungeon for this one?" a voice behind me asked. I turned to face a tall man in Archenland armor, gesturing toward the tiny body kicking me, trying to hurt me enough to drop him.

"Yes sir!" I said overly cheerfully, wincing from a particularly hard kick. I refused to show how afraid I was. "I'm assuming you are King Knowlton's personal guard. I am High King Peter. There are at least two others in the castle. He claimed that they're lurking around, waiting to try to attack us when we walk by."

"I can see this one got you," he observed sympathetically. I glanced down. My blood was dripping on the floor.

"Mhm... oh well. Here, come with me. The search goes on! Down to the dungeon we go, little one!" I taunted good-naturedly, limping down the hallway.

Lucy caught up with us halfway to the dungeon. My sweet little sister tried to give me a drop as I walked down the stairs, but I convinced her to wait thirty seconds. I gently set the dwarf on the ground in a cell, locking it securely. "Dinner is served at sundown," I said, still smiling.

"Okay, Peter, sit down," Lucy ordered. Her face turned white. "You poor thing, that must hurt..."

"It's okay, Lu," I said, wincing slightly.

She gingerly tipped the vial into my mouth, a single drop instantly healing my wound with a flush of comforting warmth.

"Thank you, Lu," I said, kissing her forehead. "Be sure to put that in a safe place, alright?"

"Alright. I'll put it in my pillowcase."

"Sounds good."

"Fascinating! A healing potion?" the king's guard asked.

"A gift from Father Christmas," I explained, rising to my feet and walking out of the dungeon.

"Father Christmas! I have not heard that name since I was a boy. He is real, then?"

"I was wondering the same thing," I chuckled. "But yes. I have seen him with my own eyes. Oh, allow me to introduce my family. This is Queen Susan, King Edmund, and Queen Lucy. And you are?"

"Atretes," he said.

After Lucy returned the vial to its hiding spot, we locked the door and continued to search the castle. We found nothing.

"The king posted guards at every exit this castle has," Atretes said gravely.

"Meaning they have to still be inside," I moaned.

He nodded. "What would you like us to do, Your Majesty?"

I shut my eyes tightly, rubbing my neck. "We'll split up. I'll look with Susan, and you can look with Edmund and Lucy. We can search the upper two floors, and you can search the lower two. If one of us finds one, send one person to find the other party. Meet back here if you don't find anything, and we'll switch floors."

"Good plan," Atretes said. "Let's go, Your Majesties."

"Was that really the best decision?" I whispered. "I hate to split up, but the little ones are in good hands, right...?"

"It's what I would have done," Susan assured me. "They'll be okay."

Fifteen minutes later, we stood back where we had begun, neither party finding any intruders.

"I guess we'll take the lower levels now," I said. "After that, I... I don't know what to do."

When Susan and I bumped into the Beavers, now doing fine, Mrs. Beaver begged us to eat.

"The sun set half an hour ago! You must eat!"

"Thank you for your concern, but-"

"No 'but,' Peter! You can search after you eat!"

I reluctantly agreed, and when both of our searches were inconclusive again, I said we would eat. Atretes left to go eat with his fellow soldiers.

I wasn't hungry. Every bump of elbows against the table was surely an intruder at the door, in my mind. I managed a few mouthfuls of salad, barely.

My siblings had no such issues. They ate the rest of the large bowl of salad and eagerly devoured the juicy fish and warm bread.

Susan held up her fork, a leaf balanced on it precariously. It was different from the spinach leaves... bright green and large. I hadn't thought anything of them until Susan commented, "Do these smell sweet to you?"

"It's delicious!" Lucy exclaimed. "I barely got any of the other leaves and just ate those."

"Same here," Edmund agreed. "It's like a candy."

"I haven't eaten it yet. It smells too strange for comfort."

"Let me smell," I said. "Oh, you're right. I'll go ask Mrs. Beaver what this is."

"What what is?" she asked, entering at the mention of her name.

"This leaf," I said. "It was in the salad."

"I didn't put that in there..."

"Wh... what?" Anxiety suddenly gripped me.

"The salad just had spinach and carrots and tomatoes, not this. Let me see that." She snatched it from my hand, looking it over and sniffing it. "I have no idea what this is."

I gulped.

"No one eat any more of it," I said quickly. "We need to figure out what it is. I'll go ask Mr. Tumnus."

He didn't know either. "Ask one of the soldiers," he advised.

"No, sorry, I have no idea what that is..." was the answer I received from every one of them.

I was about to ask another soldier when a scream split the night, followed by many more.

"Peter, Peter, come quickly!" Susan shrieked. I whirled around to see her in the doorway.

I sprinted to her. "What's the matter?" I asked, placing my hands on her shoulders. Tears streamed down her cheeks.

"It's Lucy," she panted.

I shoved past her and ran back into the dining room. My baby sister was curled up in a ball on the floor, wailing, Edmund hovering over her, rubbing her shoulder. I scooped her up in my arms, her screams hurting my ears.

"I'm here, I'm here, what's wrong, what's wrong..." I murmured in her ear.

Her howls of pain persisted as she clutched her stomach. I began to panic, and I saw the same fear in the eyes of Susan and Edmund.

"The vial!" I shouted. "Someone get the vial!"

"Oh! Yes!" Susan dashed from the room. I sat down and held Lucy to my chest, stroking her hair in a futile attempt to calm her.

I looked up at Ed helplessly. He looked at me, panic in his eyes. He began to sway, clinging to the arm of the chair in front of him for support.

"Ed? Ed!" He pressed his hands against his head.

"I... I don't feel good," he murmured.

I shifted Lucy to one arm and jumped up just in time to catch Edmund before he hit the floor. I now sat on the ground, cradling Lucy and letting Edmund rest his head against my knee.

"Susan!" I called. "Susan, we need the vial!"

She burst in, wild-eyed. "It's gone!"

"Gone?" I yelled over the sound of Lucy's sobs.

"Yes! I looked everywhere in that room! It- it's gone!"

My stomach turned at the news. I thrust Lucy into Susan's arms and vomited just outside the door.

"Peter! Peter!" Susan exclaimed, crouching by my side.

When my puking ceased, I was left with a horrible stomachache. The pain was so intense that black dots swirled in the corners of my vision. I managed to stand.

"To the bedroom... now..." I said, nearly overcome with dizziness. I took Lucy and staggered to the bedroom, lying her on a bed.

Susan was close behind, dragging Edmund under his armpits. I helped her lift him onto another bed.

"Peter, you need to lie down too," she said.

"I'm fine," I lied.

"You look like you're about to faint," she replied, gently pushing me down onto the bed behind me.

"No-" I protested, but I was interrupted by the horrible sound of Lucy retching. Susan was by her side in an instant, brushing her hair out of her face and wiping her mouth with her billowy sleeve. I wanted to help, but my body felt heavy... so heavy... the pain in my abdomen was crippling... a wave of dizziness overtook me...

My world lapsed into darkness.