A New Cast Picture

Enjoy this pic of Lucy aboard the Black Dawn whilst you wait for Episode Eight; I'm working on it today! :)

Episode Eight Begins!

I worked on Episode Eight today!! Aren't you proud of me??? ;) Yeah, I know few of you still read this blog...or the Dodecagon stories...but for the ones that do, such as Mollypop, you'll be glad to hear this!! :)

Episode Eight Coming...Sometime in the Possibly Distant Future!

See, Sam and I are coming up on finals, and we have an English project, and I have a book signing, so Episode Eight may be a while in coming...hopefully not four months like Episode Seven! But maybe. Who knows? Anyway, it's going to be called 'Paper Treasure,' and will feature Sarah Pittner and Sam Temple, so you can think on that one until it comes out :)

The Sea Dodecagon of Love - Episode Seven

At long last, it's finally here! And it's LONG. Enjoy!! :)

Episode Seven 

Istalya

Vanessa                                           

She couldn’t believe how lucky she was - she was on a ship with Captain Jack Sparrow, the greatest pirate of them all and Vanessa’s favourite fictional—or not-so-fictional—character of all time! And he was captaining the ship just like in the movies, giving orders and thinking he owned the place! It was a dream come true for Vanessa Talydon, even if you didn’t include the other ten characters from her favourite movies and books. The Pevensies! Sam Temple and Caine Soren! Elizabeth Swann and Will Turner! Vanessa felt she had died and gone to Heaven. Could life get any better, honestly?
    There was only one thing she was worried about…Right before she and Skandar had been snapped into Istalya, Vanessa had subconsciously created someone in her mind, someone who knew Istalya like the back of her hand and owned the waters like a jealous parent. Vanessa was relieved that nothing had come of her last-minute creation, for she knew that Sarah Pittner might have been a problem, had she been snapped into existence like Istalya had been only a little while ago. Vanessa didn’t want anything or anyone to ruin this fabulous new existence with her favourite people, especially not a fake person from her mind.
    So as Vanessa cheerfully helped Sam and Peter fish with the fishing poles that she had snapped into existence, she was so happy she thought she might burst.

Skandar                                           

Skandar Keynes was having a blast.
    She had struck up an immediate—and unlikely—friendship with Caine Soren, and in the six days that they had been in Istalya, Skandar could think of nowhere she would rather be in the entire world—or worlds. Not only was she on a ship that looked like it was straight out of a movie and surrounded by beautiful, blue waters, but she also had some of her favourite characters of all time on the same ship with her! She and Vanessa shared a love of Narnia, Pirates of the Caribbean, and GONE, so to get to live with the actual characters themselves was an amazing, mind-blowing experience. Who would have thought that a purple rock in Vanessa’s backyard could give them all this?
    Skandar’s wings—also given to her by that rock—were growing stronger with each day. Caine had taken it upon himself to help her learn to fly, and he was a surprisingly good teacher. Sometimes when she struggled to land well, he would use his telepathic powers to gently lower her down so that she didn’t hurt herself. Caine told Skandar that his powers had been reversed—meaning that if he aimed at something to lift it, he would have to turn around and face the other way—which Skandar thought very odd, but she was glad that he had his powers at all; without them, she might have had some very rough landings.
    Skandar could fly about six feet off the ground now, and she could stay in the air for two or three minutes, which was a vast improvement from her wimpy capabilities when she first got her wings. She practised every chance she got, and it became a common sight to see her hovering a few feet off the ground on either the deck or the head of the massive dragon prow, which could be difficult because of the waves, but Caine told her it was good practise, so she did it still. Sometimes Peter and Lucy would climb up and watch her practise, which made her feel important; imagine getting to have a king and queen—albeit they be rulers of a fantasy land—watch you fly!
    Skandar wished that Edmund would come watch her too; already she had a massive crush on him. While seeing him in the movies was great, it definitely wasn’t the same as seeing him day after day in real life, and Skandar had decided she liked him a whole lot more in person than in the movies.
    It was rather funny to her, however, because it seemed to her that everyone now had a crush on someone—or that they were leaning in that direction. Skandar was unsure if most of the people were aware that they liked someone else, but from watching how everyone behaved around each other, she was pretty darn sure who was liking who: she knew without a doubt that Caine liked Lucy, but Lucy liked Sam. Caspian, of course, still loved Susan. Edmund, sadly, seemed to like Elizabeth Swann, and while Skandar had to admit that the nineteen-year-old was very pretty, she wished that Edmund would like her instead! Elizabeth, oddly enough, seemed to prefer Peter to Edmund. Susan didn’t seem to like anyone, and Will Turner was still in love with Elizabeth.
    Skandar laughed silently to herself as she hovered a few feet above the gilded dragon’s head.
    Caine was lounging nearby, leaned against one of the dragon’s horns. Skandar didn’t know why they were such good friends; perhaps because she knew all about him and still thought he was very cool.  Caine didn’t talk much at first, but now that he and Skandar were better acquainted, he chattered quite a lot, though only around her. Whenever anyone else came around, he would clam up immediately and glare at whoever came over until they went away. He was still as haughty as ever, but Skandar didn’t really mind; that was how he was in the book.
    Caine still didn’t believe he and Sam were from a book. He said he would have known if they were, and while Skandar had tried to convince him for a while, eventually she had given up and let him think what he wanted. After all, she knew the truth; what did it matter what he thought?
    She had talked to Lucy and Will about it too, and while Lucy had come to accept it and was fine with the idea that her world wasn’t real, Will was like Caine—he didn’t believe it was possible. Skandar assumed that since Lucy was used to travelling worlds, she was probably more capable of understanding such a thing; Will and Caine, on the other hand, had never had any experience with transferring worlds and such.
    Skandar touched down slowly, her Converse scraping the dragon’s head as she did so, and a moment later as she stood silently looking out at the waves, Caine said, “Good; your landing was better today.”
    She smiled at him. “Thanks. I’ve been working really hard on landing; it’s such a pain.”
    Caine smirked and said nothing more.
    Skandar returned her gaze to the blue ocean before her, breathing deeply and filling her lungs with the tangy sea air.

Sarah                                           

She lowered the telescope from her eye and frowned, partially intrigued, partially suspicious. Sarah hesitated a moment, and then she returned her spyglass to her eye and peered through it again.
    It looked to her that a girl with wings was standing on the prow of the other ship. Great white wings sprouted from the girl’s back, and then to her amazement, the girl began to flap her wings and rise a few feet off the ground, hovering above the dragon’s head for a few minutes before touching back down shakily. The girl then looked back at something and said something with a smile, and when Sarah followed her gaze with her telescope, she saw a dark-haired boy lounging nearby…a very handsome dark-haired boy.
    Sarah pursed her lips, her interest growing. She had seen this boy once or twice over the past few days, but he was elusive and hard to her to find. But how had she missed the winged girl? Perhaps it was because she was so far away and had only recently come close enough to see any details of the people’s faces. There was a blonde boy that she very much liked watching, but other than that, the people were fairly boring. The ship would be easy to take, she decided as she closed her spyglass and wrote down another tally on the sheet of paper next to her. She was keeping track of how many people she had been able to see, and now with the winged girl, her tally was up to twelve.
    Twelve against one….The odds were not too favourable, but then, they didn’t have the power that Sarah had. She could beat them all easily with her power, and it would not take very long at all.
    She smiled; now all that needed to be done was getting on the other ship and making sure everyone trusted her.

Lucy                                               

Lucy Pevensie wasn’t totally sure what to think of the two new girls. She liked them both pretty well so far, but they were so strange she really wasn’t sure. They were both very happy and cheerful and always willing to help, and it was very nice having Vanessa on board, as she could snap anything they needed into existence immediately; Lucy knew they would never have to worry about provisions again.
    But how could they get back home? They had been in Istalya for almost two months now—or, Lucy, Sam, Caine, and Caspian had—and she was getting awfully anxious about getting home, even though she knew that time was going much slower back in their world. Perhaps they would get back to Narnia and find that no time had passed at all; she certainly hoped that that would be the case…if they ever got back.
    Although…if they went back to Narnia, Lucy wouldn’t be able to see Sam anymore, and that would be terrible. She really did like Sam Temple quite a lot, and Lucy would hate it if she could never see him again. She knew it was rather silly of her, to like a boy that wasn’t even from the same world as her, but since they were stuck together in the same world for the time being, she might as well let herself like him.    
    She was startled out of her musings by Peter, who had been up in the crow’s nest, calling down to the others: “Ship ahoy!”
    There was a moment of silence on board the ship, and then Will, Caspian, Edmund, and Sam hurried to the starboard side and peered out at the blue waves. Lucy stood slowly, suspicious and curious about the ship that Peter had seen. Had Vanessa snapped someone else into Istalya too? She waited breathlessly for the boys’ verdict.
    Jack Sparrow called from the helm: “How far?”
    Peter was silent for a moment as he calculated. “Less than a hundred meters,” he said eventually.
    Lucy sucked in her breath; so close! She wondered if the ship’s occupants were going to be friendly; if not, they were sure to have an interesting adventure soon.
    Vanessa came up from below deck then, and, seeing everyone crowded around the starboard side of the ship, she hurried over and demanded, “What’s everyone doing, standing over here? What’s going on?”
    Will turned and told her grimly, “Peter’s seen another ship, less than a hundred meters from here, and she’s coming in fast.”
    To Lucy’s surprise, Vanessa paled at the sight of the incoming ship, and she suddenly looked nervous. “Oh…crap,” she said a moment later.
    “What is it?” Sam demanded.
    Vanessa sighed, rubbing her forehead tiredly, and said, “Nothing…I just hope the person on that ship is friendly.” Lucy watched the new girl carefully, wondering if there was more to her strange behaviour than she was telling.
    “The person?” Will asked. “How do you know there’s only one person on that ship?”
    Vanessa shrugged. “Just a guess…”
    “Listen,” Caspian said firmly. “If there’s something you need to tell us about that ship and who’s on it, I suggest you do so now. If there’s any danger at all to any of us, you have the responsibility—as the creator of Istalya—to tell us about it.”
    Vanessa looked uncomfortable for a moment, and then she shrugged again and said, “Well, I accidentally created someone when Skandar and I came to Istalya, and while I don’t know for sure, I think that’s her…I doubt she’ll be much trouble, but she’s pretty aggressive.”
    Sam frowned and asked, “You created her when you came to Istalya? Why?”
    “I don’t know. It was kind of involuntary.”
    Caspian asked then, “Why didn’t you tell us sooner, Vanessa? You’ve been here for almost two weeks, and you’ve never once mentioned this girl. Why?”
    She shrugged meekly. “I didn’t see any reason to mention her; I wasn’t even totally sure if she was real.”
    Lucy felt slightly panicked at Vanessa’s words; so another girl had been created when Vanessa had created Istalya? How was it even possible? As far as Lucy knew, Aslan was the only one able to create new people and places, but here it seemed that Vanessa could as well, but how? And if she could create new people and places…what else could she do with her strange powers?
   “Lucy,” Edmund said beside her, and she looked at him. “Did Vanessa say that she created a new person and ship?”
   “I think so,” she affirmed, worried about the situation. But as long as this new person didn’t have a crew or any strange powers like Sam, Caine, and Vanessa, Lucy supposed everything would be okay.
    But how she longed for the complications to end so that they could go home! Lucy was sure that Drinian and Trumpkin were doing a fine job controlling the chaos that was surely enveloping Narnia because of the disappearance of their kings and queens, but she wanted to back in that magical land again; it was a far more beautiful and comfortable place than Istalya, where there wasn’t even any land! She hadn’t seen land in over a month, and Lucy had decided that she was permanently sick of water.
   As the new ship drifted closer, she could see that it was of very fine make, and the rails and prow were trimmed with silver. A huge purple sail, much like the one on the Black Dawn, waved from the mast. The ship was nearly the same size as the Black Dawn, as well, and from what Lucy could see, it was well-stocked with numerous crates, barrels, bags, and boxes of provisions and the tools needed for living at sea, and though back in Narnia, the ship would have required a large crew to man it, here it appeared to simply be moving itself, much like the ship they were standing upon. Its pace was slightly faster than the Black Dawn’s, and the ship seemed slightly menacing to Lucy, if only because it was unfamiliar.
   The closer it came, the more details Lucy could make out, and one of the first she noticed was that there was a girl, who looked to be about fifteen or sixteen, standing on the poop deck, a spyglass in hand. She had long, blonde, curly hair that bounced against her back as it was tugged by the ocean winds, and she was wearing clothes similar to Vanessa’s and Skandar’s, only hers looked somewhat more medieval, more like a mix between the Americans’ clothes and the Narnians’ clothes, perhaps. Either way, the girl looked like she belonged in Istalya.
   “Is that her?” Lucy heard Caspian ask Vanessa, and curious, she looked over at Vanessa, who nodded in response to Caspian’s question.
   “Yep … that’s her.”
   “Is she dangerous?” Peter queried, gazing out at the girl and her ship, his brow furrowed.
Vanessa shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t think so, but like I told Caspian earlier, she’s sort of aggressive.”
   He frowned, obviously displeased with her reply. Captain Sparrow, however, commented from the poop deck, “That…is a very fine ship. Know you her name?”
   “No, sorry!” Vanessa answered distractedly, focused more intently on the girl on her approaching ship. In fact, the new ship was beginning to pull up alongside the Black Dawn, and the rough sloshing of the waves below met Lucy’s ears as she and the others waited to see what this new girl would do.
   The girl hurried down the ladder from the poop deck and ran across the main deck until she was standing next to the railing of her ship. She waved excitedly, a wide smile on her face and her curls bouncing against her back.
   “Hey!” she called. “Hey, I’m Sarah!”
   Lucy, along with rest of those on board with her, were taken aback by Sarah’s excited greeting, and there was a momentary silence before Caspian stepped up to the Black Dawn’s rails and answered her, “I’m Caspian. Where are you from? We haven’t seen anyone else in this place before.”
   “Me neither!” Sarah exclaimed, still sounding excited to see them. “I was beginning to think I was the only one alive here! As far as I know, I’m from this place, Istalya. Where are you from?”
   Caspian started to answer, but then Jack cut him off: “Bring the lass on board!” Everyone looked at him, still uncertain about the whole thing. Lucy wondered if bringing Sarah on board would be wise; hadn’t Vanessa said she was very aggressive? So far, Lucy has seen no evidence of that, but then, they barely knew Sarah.
   “What?” Jack demanded defensively. “She’s been by herself on the seas for who-knows-how-long; believe me, that’s not good for a person.” His kohl-lined eyes were dark, and Lucy could tell that he must have had experience with such a thing.
   “We should,” Susan agreed. “We can all sit down and try to figure this whole thing out.”
   Caspian glanced at her, held her gaze a moment, and then turned back towards Sarah. “Will you come over here?” he called. “We want to talk to you and see if we can figure this place out.” He looked briefly back at Vanessa and instructed in an undertone, “Don’t say anything to her about who she is yet. Let’s see what she knows first.”
   Vanessa nodded, looking solemn.
   Sarah, oblivious to the fact that Vanessa had snapped her into being, agreed happily, “Sure! Can you toss a rope across?” Lucy pursed her lips and watched anxiously as Will and Caspian freed one of the ropes that had been tied to the rigging and put a loop in it for Sarah.
   “Vanessa,” Caspian said as he knotted the rope, “can you make a hook of some sort to put on the end of this, so I can throw it across?” Will and the others watched Vanessa curiously as Caspian gave his request. Lucy wanted to see if Vanessa could really snap things into existence, like she claimed she could; if so, she truly would be astonished, for she had never seen anyone who could do such effortless and powerful magic. What could its source be? Lucy wondered. Perhaps she’s been gifted by Aslan…he would be the most likely cause. But even so, what purpose could he have for giving someone such a powerful ability?
   Vanessa hesitated, and then whispered something softly to herself, and snapped her fingers.
   A mere second later, a large tri-hook, the perfect size for both throwing and for the rope Caspian had, appeared a foot or so above the ground, and it clattered to the deck with a dull clang. Everyone took a step back, as if it had been a snake that had appeared from the air, not a hook. Someone gave a startled gasp, but Lucy wasn’t sure who. She was excited, however; since Vanessa could, in fact, snap things into existence, could she perhaps create land for them? Or even send them back to Narnia?
   However, as Caspian bent down to pick up the hook, Lucy’s mind returned to the potential problem at hand: the strange girl who had come from nowhere, Sarah. Glancing back at the girl, who was waiting patiently at her ship’s railing, Lucy frowned slightly. She heard Peter say softly to someone, probably Edmund, “Do you think it’s a good idea? Bringing her on board? We don’t know anything about her.”
   Edmund replied, “I don’t know. I guess if Vanessa doesn’t think she’s dangerous, it’ll be all right…”
   “She may not know everything about Sarah.”
   “Yeah…but she seems all right, so far.”
   “So far,” Peter said grimly.
   Lucy started to protest her brother’s comment in Sarah’s defence, but she was distracted as Caspian launched the weighted rope across to Sarah’s ship. It landed solidly on the deck, and Caspian pulled it taut so that it was wedged between the rails. Sarah came forward, tucking her spyglass into her vest, and she loosened the rope so that she could swing back across. Lucy saw her skilfully un-knot the hook from the rope’s end, and she fashioned a sort of stirrup for her foot. Standing then and positioning herself atop the railing of her ship, Sarah hesitated only a moment before jumping and allowing herself to swing towards the Black Dawn. Sam happened to be the closest to where she landed, and he reached out and pulled the girl to safety. Her momentum knocked them both over, however, and Sarah and Sam fell sprawling against the deck.
   “Oh!” Sarah exclaimed as she untangled herself from him, “sorry!”
   Lucy felt a prick of annoyance as the two of them picked themselves up, but she knew she shouldn’t; Sarah didn’t even know Sam.
   The group gathered around Sarah, and Caspian came forward to kindly help her up. “Thanks,” Sarah said, and ran a hand through her curls. Lucy saw now that there was a streak of Sarah’s hair that was purple, the same colour as the sails of the two ships. Curious, she wondered why so many things in Istalya seemed to be purple.
   Sarah looked around the group excitedly, her green eyes shining. “Hey!” she said happily.  “Nice to meet you all! Wow.” She straightened her mussed clothing, suddenly seeming self-conscious. “How many of you are on this ship?”
   “There are twelve of us,” Caspian informed her. “I’m Caspian. This here is Will Turner, Sam Temple, Peter Pevensie, and Susan Pevensie.” He gestured to each of them in turn. “And over there, that’s Elizabeth Swann, Skandar Keynes, Edmund Pevensie, Vanessa Talydon, Caine Soren, and Lucy Pevensie.” He glanced over his shoulder at Jack, whose eyes were on the sea, not on the scene on the deck below him. “And that’s our captain, Jack Sparrow.”
   Sarah grinned. “I love all your names! It’s probably going to take me a while to remember who’s who, but I’ll get eventually.” Then she looked back to Skandar and her face lit up. “You have wings! Can I see them?”
   Skandar looked pleased with the attention, and stretched out her snowy wings to their extent. Caine stood beside her, a veiled, slightly smug expression on his face. Sarah hurried over to Skandar and reached out a hand to touch her wings, a look of awe on the newcomer’s face. “They’re so beautiful…” she commented, and Skandar appeared flattered.
   “Thanks,” Skandar replied proudly. “Want to see me fly?”
   Sarah’s eyes got wide. “Yes!” she exclaimed.
   Skandar backed up a few feet, as did everyone else. Sarah took the hint and scooted back as well, her eyes riveted to Skandar. The winged girl pumped her wings slowly at first and then faster, and in only a few moments, she was about six feet off the ground, her great white wings buffeting them with air as she flapped.
   Sarah clapped her hands in delight. “Amazing!” she said happily, and Skandar grinned. She then let herself touch back down to the deck, and she folded her wings against her back. Caine smirked at her, and Skandar smiled back.
   “Sarah,” Caspian said then, drawing the new girl’s attention back to him. “We want to discuss some things with you, if you don’t mind.”
   She nodded amiably. “Yeah, sure. Sounds good.”
   Caspian gave a small smile. “But first, why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself?”
   Sarah pondered for a moment, glancing once back at her ship, and then she shrugged. “There’s not a lot to tell, really. I’ve been on that ship for several months now, and I’ve been looking for land, but haven’t found any. As far as I know, we’re the only people in this ocean…maybe in this whole world.”
   Caspian frowned. “Where were you before you were on the ship?”
   Sarah started to answer, and then cut herself off, looking puzzled. “I…Now that you mention it, I don’t really remember.”
   “You must remember something. Your parents, your home, how you got on the ship in the first place.”
   She shook her head slowly. “Not really…No, I don’t remember any of that.”
Caspian and Will exchanged a look, as did Sam and Peter. Lucy could tell they thought Sarah must be lying, and she had to admit that Sarah’s lack of memory seemed very suspicious and a little disturbing. But even so, the girl did not seem confused or strange, and Lucy rather liked her.
   “Perhaps she just doesn’t want to talk about it,” Lucy said to Peter softly, and he looked down at her, considering. “I think she would just say so and not pretend she doesn’t remember anything, Lu,” he replied, not unkindly.
   Lucy pursed her lips and said nothing more, knowing his point was a valid one. She didn’t know what reason Sarah could have for hiding herself from them, but perhaps she just didn’t trust them yet. Maybe she would tell them in time, once she knew she could trust them.
   “Well,” Will said then, “you must be hungry. When was the last time you ate?”
   Again, Sarah looked a little puzzled. “Uh…well, I’m not sure. I think it’s been a pretty long time.”
   Caspian nodded and motioned to Lucy. She came over to him and faced Sarah with a smile, which was returned. “Lucy can get you some food, and some new clothes, if you want.”
   “Oh, yeah, that’d be great. Thanks,” Sarah said warmly.
   “I’ll come too!” Skandar volunteered brightly, and Lucy smiled affectionately at the winged girl. Though Skandar had spent most of her time with Caine since she had come to the ship, the time that Lucy had spent with her, she had found Skandar to be a very nice girl, and one that seemed as if she belonged in Narnia rather than in the strange, futuristic world that she, Vanessa, Sam, and Caine were from. Skandar evidently respected Lucy and her siblings, and she was very kind to all of them. She always seemed happy to help Lucy with whatever maintenance was needed to keep the ship clean, which Lucy greatly appreciated. Of the five girls on board the Black Dawn, Lucy was the only one who seemed interested in doing a girl’s work; Elizabeth was constantly helping Will, Sam, Caspian, Peter, and Edmund with the rigging and manning the sails, Susan was content to merely watch the men work and look pretty, and Vanessa preferred to stay near the captain at nearly all times—him, or Will, which Lucy was sure both them found annoying.  Caine kept to himself or near Skandar … except when she was helping Lucy. She was saddened that Caine had alienated himself from her since the other had come, but there was nothing she could do about it to get him to start being more friendly. She talked to him and was kind to him at all times, but he seemed rather flustered around her and often excused himself at the nearest opportunity. Of the twelve of them, Caine puzzled Lucy the most.
   Skandar flew herself over to where Sarah and Lucy were standing, and the dazzling of the sun off of Skandar’s great white wings startled Lucy back into the real world, away from her musings and ponderings.
   “Could I get some new clothes, too?” Skandar asked curiously. “I’m tired of these jeans, and I really want a dress like yours, Lucy; it’s beautiful,” she added, her voice full of admiration.
   Warmed, Lucy told her assuringly, “Of course, if there are enough. I don’t know how many dresses are left in that trunk Caspian found.”
   “Well, just some pants and new shirt would be fine; this t-shirt’s getting kind of ratty.”
   “I’ll see what I can do, then.”
   She beckoned to Sarah and Skandar with her hand, and they followed her below deck, whereupon she guided them to the captain’s quarters. The blank maps and books still lay scattered about it from when Caspian had been rifling through them, and Sarah went forward and looked at one curiously, tucking a wayward curl behind her ear as she examined the blank book before her. She flipped through a few pages as Skandar came to join her.
   “It’s empty,” Sarah said in surprise, looking back at Lucy as if for an explanation. She shrugged, wishing she knew why the books and maps were bare. She knew that Caspian had already discussed it at length with Will and Peter, but that they had been unable to come up with any answers about their strange predicament.
   “We can’t figure out why, but yes, all the maps and books seem to be blank,” Lucy explained. Skandar looked at her with wide eyes, but Sarah seemed troubled.
   “So you don’t know anything about this place …? Nothing at all?” the new girl asked softly, still flipping through the pages.
   Lucy started to say something about Vanessa and her role in Istalya’s existence, but then remembered Caspian’s warning not to mention it, so she held her tongue. “Nothing,” she confirmed. “I think Caspian was hoping you might know something.”
   Sarah shook her head sadly. “Nope. I’m just as clueless as you all are.”
   Skandar then chimed in, “Well … I’m sure we’ll figure out more about this place the longer we’re here—”
   Lucy couldn’t stifle her dismay at the thought: “Oh, but I do hope we’re not here for months or years! My brothers and sister and I need to get home to Narnia! I can’t imagine how confused and worried all the people are …” Her gentle heart was torn with the thought of poor old Trumpkin and Drinian trying to run the country by themselves.
   Sarah frowned now. “Narnia? Where’s that?”
   Lucy waved her hand tiredly. “It’s a rather long story, I’m afraid. I’ll tell it to you later; right now, I suppose I had better obey Caspian and get you some new clothes.”
   Sarah looked down at her clothes in bemusement, as if she hadn’t really noticed them before now. “Oh …” she said vaguely. “Yes, I suppose you’re right.”
   Lucy smiled at her and Skandar, and then pulled the trunk out from where Caspian had stored it under a smaller chest that contained more blank maps. Setting that aside, she flipped up its ornate iron latch and lifted the lid, not expecting there to be more than one or two articles of clothing left in it; after all, she, Sam, Caine, Caspian, and Susan had taken some new clothes from it and there was sure to be little left. But to Lucy’s complete shock, a few pieces of clothing, which had been balancing precariously on top of a stack of folded clothes, tumbled out as soon as the lid was partially up, and they fell into Lucy’s lap. The chest was brimming with clothes, so stuffed that Lucy wondered how it had not burst. Gasping, she sat back on her heels. Where had all of these clothes come from? They certainly had not been there earlier! In fact, as she began digging through the stacks and examining all of them, she found that there were at least five sets of clothes—even nightclothes!—for every person on board the Black Dawn … including Sarah!
   “Oh my goodness,” Lucy cried. “Where did they all come from?”
   “What is it?” Skandar asked in confusion.
   “These clothes! There were only two or three shirts and pants in here a few days ago …” she explained dazedly.
   “Really?” Skandar asked, sounding amazed. She came forward quickly and picked up some of the clothing that had fallen out of the overflowing trunk. Turning them over in her hands and running her fingers over the embroidery on the shirt she was holding, Skandar breathed in awe, “These are absolutely beautiful …” She then gazed up at the chest. “How many sets of clothes are in there?”
   “Five sets of clothes for every person on board,” Lucy said, “even Sarah!”
   Skandar shot her a look of disbelief, and Sarah protested, “That’s impossible! I’ve only been on this ship for, what, fifteen minutes?”
   Lucy shrugged. She had never seen magic like this before, but she was very thankful for it; it could have been a very miserable journey if everyone had had to live with only one set of clothing. Thank you, Aslan! she thought fervently, and smiled. “Well, however this happened, let’s make the most of it. What do you think of this one?” She pulled out a green dress that was draped with delicate blue lace, and both Skandar and Sarah ohhed.
   “That would look gorgeous on you, Lucy!” Sarah commented, her eyes sparkling, and Lucy grinned, standing and holding it against her body. “Do you think so?” She twirled around once, the dress’s skirt swirling around her.
   Skandar clapped her hands in approval, giggling happily.
   For the next hour or so, the girls dug through the vast amounts of clothing—separating the boys’ clothing out from the plethora of dresses—and chose their favourites. It seemed to Lucy that there was a set for each person that reflected their owner’s personality and likes, such as the fact that Vanessa’s set contained no dresses, only pants and billowy shirts, as did Elizabeth’s. Skandar’s set, which contained a myriad of brightly coloured clothes, had one beautiful, pale blue dress that seemed like it could be worn to a ball, but she had pants and shirts similar to Vanessa’s for everyday wear—Lucy concluded that it was probably because it wouldn’t be smart for Skandar to wear a dress while she was flying about the ship. Susan’s set had only pair of pants, which Lucy highly doubted her sister would ever wear unless absolutely necessary, and Sarah’s had one or two dresses that seemed to fit her partially delicate, partially rugged appearance. In Lucy’s set, she found that she also had only one pair of pants, and she thought that that fit her style pretty well; she was accustomed to skirts and dresses, and pants had always been rather uncomfortable to her, anyway. 
   “How are we going to explain this to Caspian?” Skandar asked a little while later, adjusting the new blue shirt she wore as she looked over at Lucy.
   Lucy pursed her lips thoughtfully. “We’ll just tell him the truth, I suppose. There’s really no other explanation. Maybe he and Peter and Will will be able to make something of it; Peter knows quite a bit about magic.”
   Skandar wrinkled her nose. “You really believe in magic?”
   Surprised, Lucy regarded her curiously. “Well, what else do you call what happened? Those clothes didn’t appear because of anything we did.”
   “Do you think Aslan did it?”
   Lucy was astonished Skandar knew who Aslan was, but then, the Great Lion had said he existed in Skandar’s world, just by another name. Perhaps Aslan had revealed himself to her, as well. “I suppose so; Aslan is the one who makes all magic happen,” Lucy said. “I don’t see why this should be any different. Perhaps he knew we needed some more clothes and provided some.”
   Skandar smiled now, and Lucy felt that her answer had been satisfactory. “That would make sense.”
   “Who’s Aslan?” Sarah asked curiously.
   Lucy sighed happily and twirled in her new dress yet again. “He’s the king of Narnia; he helped my brothers, sister, Caspian, and I defeat the White Witch and the Telmarines, Narnia’s enemies. He’s very powerful but very kind. He died so that my brother Edmund could live, and in doing so, he weakened the White Witch.”
   Sarah appeared fascinated, and her green eyes obtained a faint sparkle of excitement. “He sounds wonderful.”
   Lucy smiled warmly at the new girl. “He is; I hope you’ll get to meet him one day.”
   Sarah then appeared confused, but she didn’t get the chance to say anything more, for just then, Sam came down the stairs. He stopped suddenly when he saw the three of them, as if he hadn’t expected to see them there.
   “Oh, hey,” he said, “Caspian is looking for you; he wants to get everyone together and have a talk.” He thrust his thumb over his shoulder, gesturing back at the stairs.
   Lucy smiled warmly at him, glad to see him. “Thanks,” she replied. “We’ll be right there.” She faced Skandar and Sarah again, and her smile widened mischievously. “Let’s clean all of this up, shall we?” she asked, and Sarah and Skandar grinned and began to help her pick up the scattered dresses they had been trying on.
   “Want some help?” Sam asked a moment later, and Lucy realized he was still there, watching them. She glanced up at him.
   “We’ve got it; thanks, though.”
   Sam dipped his head, a small smile creeping over his lips, and then he turned and jogged back up the stairs. Lucy paused to watch him, her blue eyes following him until he was out of sight. Then she blushed slightly and continued to gather up the clothes.

 Sarah

As Sarah followed Skandar and Lucy up the stairs, she smiled satisfactorily, her green eyes taking on a harsh tint.
    So easy, she thought smugly, already revelling in her victory. 

Ok

Sam is in Washington, so she can't work on Episode 7, but I have it nearly done, so just give me a few minutes and I'll have it posted...if anyone even cares, which I don't think they do, because no one...reads these anymore... *sad face* But I'll post it anyway.

Another Cast Picture

Here's an epic picture of Captain Jack Sparrow, one of our cast members. Savvy?

So....

Sam? When are you ready to release Episode Seven? Let me know!!

Epic Picture of Peter Pevensie

 A cool pic of one of our own cast members, Peter Pevensie. Enjoy! :)

The Dodecagon Is Now on Fanfiction.Net!

The Sea Dodecagon of Love has come to fanfiction.net - a website where fans can write stories about their favourite characters - and is available episode 1-6 on this website. To visit the story, click here.  Or you can just visit the website and read whatever other stories strike your fancy :) Enjoy!

Episode Seven Coming Soon!

Possibly today, if I have enough time to get it done. I don't really want to have to wait until next Saturday to reveal it - a week is such a long time! I don't know, though; maybe Sam will tell me when she's going to release her Episode Seven and we can release ours at the same time. Let me know, Sammie! :)

Update!

I added some stuff to my version of Episode Six, so go and read it. It's  the same until the end. I added a few parts.

Introducing...My Blog!

For those of you who have no idea, I've written 3 books and the first is soon to be published by Sheryn Hara of Book Publishers Network.Since February, I've been posting on a different blog about my publishing journey, and I decided that it was time to unveil my book blog to the world ;) It's basically me keeping a journal of all that's been going on with the publishing process, as well as some other unrelated things that have happened to me this year. It's just a way to keep up with what's going on with my books, and I intend to keep posting on it all the way through, so it'll give you my thoughts and opinions about all this craziness :) It also gives you a summary of my book (which will probably end up on the back of the book), some pictures of my characters, and a blurb about me. Please visit and follow my blog! I would so love for y'all to share this trip with me! To visit 'Sons and Daughters', please click here, or type this address into your address bar: http://sonsanddaughterseam.blogspot.com/. Can't wait to hear from you!! 

    P.S. I'm going to be getting my own website in a month or two, so I might just transfer everything onto there, but I'll let you know soon. :)

The Sea Dodecagon of Love - Episode Six

To make things a little easier since we've got so many characters now, I've put the name of the person from whose point of view the section is above that section, and each person will have their own colour. Sorry again about the delay. Enjoy! :D

EPISODE SIX

WE'RE NOT REAL?

Sarah                                                                                                                 

Sarah Pittner barely existed. She knew that she was being created, and she knew that she was being created with an innately aggressive manner. She knew that she was going to be important, but she didn’t yet know why. She was just a figment of someone’s imagination right now, nothing substantial or corporeal…

Sarah could sense that she loved water, but she didn’t even know what water was. In fact, she didn’t even know how – or why – she had a name. Who had given it to her? Who was creating her? Sarah didn’t know, nor did she particularly care.

She let herself drift back into nothingness as she waited to be created.

Vanessa                                                                                                              

Vanessa knew she could do it; she should be able to do it. So why couldn’t she? Why were her powers giving her such a hard time about going into another world? Perhaps because those worlds weren’t real. Perhaps because those worlds were still being created and weren’t ready yet. But c’mon! How long could it take to bring a world into existence? Vanessa had done it many times in her mind, like when she had created a water world a few months during math class. How cool it would be to visit that place!

            And another thing that irked her: her ‘amazing teleporting powers’ were making her look bad to Skandar! Sure, she could pop into different places, but the fact that she couldn’t do the one thing that both of them wanted her to be able to do…it was definitely irritating. And now Skandar had wings! How unfair was that? Vanessa wanted wings; what good had her teleporting powers done her?

As she watched Skandar struggle to fly, her friend only getting a foot or two off the ground before she had to touch back down, Vanessa wondered if she could transport Skandar to another world, even if she couldn’t move herself. Maybe if she tried to transport both of them, it would work. Intrigued by the idea, Vanessa said, “Hey, Skandar. Do you think if I tried to transport both of us to another world, it would work?”

Skandar paused, ruffling her wings, and then shrugged, saying, “It’s worth a shot, I guess, if you think it might work. There’s been no indication that it will, but…Sure, you can try if you want.”

Vanessa debated for another moment, and then decided. “Okay. I guess. Come here; let’s see if this’ll work.”

Skandar laughed as she came over to her friend. “You really want to meet Jack Sparrow, don’t you?” Her eyes amused, Skandar looked down at Vanessa where she was sitting on the floor, surrounded by books that she had tried to read herself into and failed.

She nodded vigorously, so excited about the fact that she could barely contain her energy. “Heck yeah!” she agreed, getting to her feet and dusting herself off as she eyed Skandar. “How are you supposed to move wings anyway?” she wondered aloud.

Beaming with pride, Skandar flapped them experimentally, gusting Vanessa with a large breath of wind. “Just like you flap your arms,” she said matter-of-factly. “But they’re not strong enough for me to fly yet; it’s like those baby birds who can’t fly until they’re bigger and stronger.”

Vanessa laughed; she couldn’t help it. To hear Skandar compare herself to a baby bird was hilarious, especially since Skandar actually had wings. “I’ll just call you ‘birdie’ from now on, okay?” she said with a laugh, which drew a disdainful look from Skandar.

“No!” her friend protested. “That’s not okay, Vanessa!”

“Oh, c’mon! You just said-”

“No!” Skandar crossed her arms and glared at Vanessa, looking snubbed. Seeing that she could not be reasoned with, Vanessa sighed and grabbed Skandar’s wing, causing her friend to stumble a little.

“Hey!” Skandar protested. “What’re you-”

“I want to go to my water world!” Vanessa interrupted, and she snapped, holding tight to Skandar’s wing just in case. She waited for nothing to happen, as usual, but to Vanessa’s complete shock, the world began to dissolve around them and colours began to fade away. She dimly heard Skandar scream in alarm and while that alarmed Vanessa, she couldn’t manage to say anything back.

Suddenly they were falling, and then a half-second later, they were underwater. Vanessa reflexively let go of Skandar’s wing and began to swim for the surface, which she could see not far above them. Though she should have been excited that her powers worked, she was mostly confused, scared, and desperate for air.

She kept swimming, her lungs beginning to burn.

Edmund                                                                                                               

In his opinion, coming to this strange new place was even better than being in Narnia. There were no kingdoms to run, no enemies to fight, no battles to fight – and there was also the bonus of a very pretty young woman to whom Edmund had taken quite a liking. Elizabeth Swann was brave, fierce, stubborn, and beautiful, and Edmund liked her quite a lot so far. She hardly ever spoke to him, however, and spent most of her time with either Sam or Caspian, to Edmund’s annoyance. What was it about Sam that attracted her attention? The American was nothing special in Edmund’s opinion; all he could do was smile and swim. Even Lucy seemed to have fallen for him! She followed Sam doggedly everywhere he went, practically, and she and Elizabeth were like his own little cult of worshippers.

So as he stood on the deck, watching the waves and listening vaguely to the strange captain shouting orders to no one in particular, he felt conflicted. Edmund was torn between being so glad that they had been poofed out of Narnia and being disheartened that Elizabeth didn’t even know he existed. After all, what could a chap do in his situation? He didn’t want to scare her off, but he really wanted to talk to her! Only problem was that Will Turner, the other pirate, seemed to like her every bit as much as Edmund did – if not more.

He sighed. This was why Edmund had never really had much interest in dating before – there was far too much drama involved!

Suddenly two girls appeared out of mid-air and plummeted five feet into the water below, startling Edmund so much that he could barely process what had just happened. Stunned, he watched the water for a moment, thinking maybe he was seeing things, but when one of the two girls broke the surface with a gasp a moment later, he was startled into action. Edmund looked over his shoulder and called to Caspian and Will – who were in the middle of an intense discussion – “Hey! People in the water!”

Caspian and Will looked up, confused, and looked at him like he was crazy. Annoyed, Edmund gestured at the railing behind him. “Two girls!” he reiterated. “They’re in the water!”

Caspian then seemed to realise what Edmund meant, and he dashed over to where Edmund was standing, followed closely by Will. The three young men peered over the side at the dark-haired girl who was floundering about in the water.

“I thought you said there were two,” Will commented.

Edmund frowned. Where was the other girl…? Realising then that she might be in danger, he swung over the railing and dove in, followed by Caspian a moment later. Edmund swam over to the dark-haired girl and caught her flailing arms.

“Hey!” he said. “No need to get so excited; you’re fine.”

The girl gasped when she caught sight of him and her eyes grew wide before she squeaked, “Oh, my gosh! Edmund!”

Surprised and wary as to how this strange girl knew his name, Edmund merely nodded and began towing her back to the ship. “Yep, that’s me,” he agreed. The girl gave a breathless, excited laugh and then allowed herself to be hauled to the ship, where Will tossed a rope down to them. Holding tight to the girl, Edmund grabbed the rope and Will hauled them up on deck. When their feet had touched the deck, he realised abruptly that Caspian was not there too. He dashed back to the railing and, looking out at the water, saw Caspian towing a brown-haired girl towards the ship. The girl looked unconscious, but Edmund could see that she was still alive.

He jumped with surprise as he heard a loud, “Oh my gosh! Will!” Whirling around, he saw the girl hugging Will ecstatically, whilst Will looked completely flabbergasted and a little disturbed. The racket caused Sam, Lucy, Susan, and Peter, who were up on the poop deck, to come to the railing and look down at Will, Edmund, and the girl. Lucy gave a delighted gasp and raced down the stairs to stand before Will and wait for the girl to stop hugging him. When she did and she caught sight of Lucy, the girl clapped her hands and bounced up and down, her bare feet making soft thumps against the deck.

“Lucy!”

Looking surprised but pleased that the strange girl knew her name, Lucy laughed and said, “Yes! Welcome! And who are you?”

“Vanessa Talydon,” the girl said happily, looking around in wide-eyed wonder at the assembling crowd. She waved enthusiastically to Susan and Peter, saying, “Peter! Susan! Hi!”

Peter, frowning a little, asked her seriously, “How do you know us, Vanessa?”

Vanessa started to reply, but at that moment, Caspian called down from the water, “I could some help down here!” Will and Peter immediately went over to the railing and lowered the rope down to Caspian, who was hauled up a moment later bearing a brown-haired girl with…wings? Edmund couldn’t believe his eyes. It appeared that this new girl actually had real wings! Could it be? He had never heard of such a thing!

Caspian set the unconscious girl down on the deck, carefully making sure that her wings were not crumpled beneath her, and then the three young men stood over her, looking down at the winged girl curiously. Curious, Edmund came over, and he was soon joined by Lucy and Susan.

“What on earth…?” Susan said after a moment, voicing all their unspoken thoughts.

Vanessa barrelled her way into the small crowd a moment later. “Oh, that’s Skandar,” she said dismissively.

Edmund glanced at her, wondering about the strange winged girl. “She’s got wings,” he said doubtfully.

Vanessa nodded. “Yeah. She can’t fly very well, though; she’s not strong enough yet.”

Lucy interjected, “But she can fly?”

“Only a little. About a foot off the ground, and for only a second or two,” Vanessa supplied, sounding bored. Then she wandered off towards the poop deck, humming happily to herself and bouncing with excitement.

“Lucy,” Caspian said after a moment. “Go get Caine, Elizabeth, and Jack; we need them to meet the new girls as well.” Lucy dashed off towards the forecastle to obey his command, and everyone else stayed where they were, staring down at the strange winged girl and wondering about her. Peter knelt down and gently touched one of the white wings, as if to make sure it was real and not some elaborate costume.

“Are they real?” Susan asked, sounding curious.

“I think so,” Peter said, looking a little stunned. “Incredible…I wonder if she was born with them, or….?”

“Who knows?” Caspian said then, kneeling down and touching the girl’s wings himself. “I suppose that’s why she was having such a hard time getting to the surface; these wings weigh quite a bit.”

“They’d have to, to get her off the ground,” Sam said. He had been silent the entire time, and Edmund realised that the American didn’t really look too surprised or in awe like everyone else did. He wondered if Sam had seen someone like this before, so he asked him, “Sam, you look like this is nothing new to you.”

Sam shrugged casually. “I’ve seen far more exciting and weird things than a girl with wings; where I come from, she wouldn’t be out of place at all.” He thrust his hands in his pockets and shrugged again, looking a little bored. Edmund studied him carefully, wondering if he was not simply making it up, but decided not to press the matter too far; he didn’t like Sam, anyway.

Lucy returned then with Caine in tow, looking sulky as ever. Elizabeth followed a moment later, and when those two had joined the others, Lucy dashed up to fetch Jack from the helm. They had a brief discussion, and then Jack sauntered after her and came down to the deck with the others. He sashayed over to the winged girl and peered down at her through squinted eyes for a moment, and then he pointed at her and declared, “That’s not natural.”

Edmund rolled his eyes; if there was one person on the ship that he really disliked, it was Jack. The captain was so strange, Edmund hardly knew what to make of him. Caine was all right as long as he stuck to himself - which he did - but Jack didn’t, and that annoyed Edmund a lot.

Then everyone heard a cry of, “Jaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!” and a moment later, Vanessa had barrelled into the captain and was hugging him as she had Will. Jack curled his lip and waved his hands at Vanessa. “Someone get it off!” he ordered. Edmund, being the closest, dutifully pried Vanessa away from Jack. “Sorry,” Vanessa apologised, though she looked none too penitent. “I just got really excited to see you.”

Jack peered at her carefully and then declared, “Well, no harm done. Just don’t do…that again.” He gestured aimlessly in the air.

“I’m Vanessa,” she told him breathlessly.

“I don’t care,” Jack told her back, and then he straightened and asked, “Anything more to be said? No? Very good.” And he turned to leave, but was stopped in mid-stride when Will ordered, “Wait, Jack. We’re not done yet.”

Jack waited a moment and then turned, his lips pursed, and reluctantly joined the circle again.

Will asked Vanessa then, “I don’t suppose you know where we are?”

Vanessa looked vaguely uncomfortable and she squinted for a moment as if trying to remember some long-forgotten detail. “Not really,” she said eventually. “It kinda looks familiar, but…” She shrugged.

“Are you sure?” Will pressed. “You don’t know the name of this place?”

Vanessa shook her head. “Well, it’s kinda silly, but it reminds me of a place I made up in math class one time…It was called Istalya, I think, but since this is a real world, it can’t be the one I made up.”

Caspian then began to speak: “Where are you from?”

“America. But back to the important stuff – you guys don’t know where we are?” Vanessa asked.

“No,” Peter said.

Vanessa frowned. “Hmm…How did you get here?” There was a suspicious look on her face, like she had some idea what was going on but she didn’t like it at all.

“We just disappeared from our worlds and came here,” Lucy said, looking a little forlorn. “Sam and Caine came first, then Caspian and me, then Edmund, Susan, and Peter, then Captain Jack, Elizabeth, and Will. It was about three weeks before Edmund, Susan, and Peter came, and then another few days before the others came. It’s been a week or two since they came.”

Vanessa looked disturbed now. “Uh huh…I see.” She was silent for a moment, shifting uncomfortably, and then she cleared her throat and said, “Well, I believe I know what happened. See, I found this purple rock at my house. And it gave me these teleporting powers, where I could snap my fingers and go anywhere I wanted. I tried to snap myself into a book called GONE, which is where Sam and Caine came from-” she gestured to the two brothers “- but nothing happened. Then I read Voyage of the Dawn Treader and tried to snap myself there, but that didn’t work. I tried again, and then I read Pirates of the Caribbean and nothing worked. Then Skandar got wings and we tried to get into another world one more time…and this time, I guess it worked.” She twiddled her fingers aimlessly as she spoke.

A stunned silence settled over the small group as everyone attempted to make sense of the new girl’s strange story. Edmund was very confused; was Vanessa saying that she had pulled them out of a book and into this strange new world, apparently called Istalya? He and his siblings weren’t in a book! That was impossible! But he uncomfortably remembered what Lucy had told him after he had come a few weeks ago: all of them had come from different places and times. Maybe what Vanessa said had some truth after all…But it was so absurd!

“Wait,” Caine said, speaking for the first time in a long time. “So you’re saying that…we’re not real?”

Sarah                                                                                                                 

She knew the moment she was created. That ice-crystal moment when Sarah began to exist was a lucid one indeed. There was a swirling sensation and a vague breathing beside her, and then she was lying face up on a warm wooden deck, looking up at a blue sky. She didn’t know how she knew what the things were called, but she did. Perhaps the words came from her creator, whoever it was. Slowly, Sarah Pittner stood up, her legs shaky, but they held her up.

She walked to the railing and looked out at the blue waves and breathed in her first breath of the sea air. Sarah knew that this was where she belonged, in the watery world of Istalya, on her ship the Millennium Pearl. Puzzled, Sarah paused. How did she know her ship’s name? She had only been alive for a few moments. Then she shrugged, unconcerned, and pulled out a telescope that she instinctively knew was in her pocket. Sarah peered through it, seeing nothing, but then she caught sight of another ship, far, far away, and a small smile came over her lips.

Her first mission was clear to her now: go to the other ship, and take it.

Skandar                                                                                                             

She woke with a cough.

Skandar sat up slowly, her wings aching. What had happened? She dimly remembered falling and hitting the water, but everything after that was a blur. What was she lying on? Skandar explored the surface with her fingers slowly and realised that she was sitting on wood. Wood…in the middle of the ocean? Confused, Skandar started to sit up and then she noticed that there were people watching her. She froze and gazed around the small circle, her amazement growing with each new face she saw.

Peter Pevensie.

Susan Pevensie.

Sam Temple.

Elizabeth Swann.

Will Turner.

Lucy Pevensie.

Jack Sparrow.

Edmund Pevensie!

Vanessa.

Caine Soren.

“Wow…what the heck?” was all Skandar could say.

Edmund                                                                                                             

Edmund couldn’t believe what he was hearing, honestly. Vanessa expected them to believe that they weren’t real – and never had been! – and that she had read them out of books? It was so unbelievable…and he knew everyone else thought so too.

“That’s impossible!” Sam voiced.

“Not logical,” Susan argued.

“Are you out of your mind?” Elizabeth.

“I don’t think so…” Lucy said gently.

“You never know, “Caspian said supportively. “There are many strange magics in the world; maybe Vanessa has discovered another kind.”

“We are real,” Peter argued. “See?” He put a hand on Edmund’s shoulder. “You can’t argue that we’re real, Vanessa.”

Vanessa shrugged. Then the winged girl began to cough, distracting everyone from the argument. They fell silent and watched the girl sit up slowly and blink like an owl as she noticed everyone watching her. “Wow…what the heck?” she said after a moment.

Peter immediately knelt down in front of her and said gently, “I’m Peter Pevensie. How are you feeling?” Edmund was surprised to hear the kindness in Peter’s voice, and he wondered if his brother wasn’t curious about Skandar for different reasons.

“I’m…okay,” Skandar said unsuredly, as if she wasn’t certain about how she was feeling. He offered her a hand and the winged girl took it dazedly as he pulled her to her feet. “Come on,” Peter said. “I’ll take you below decks; there are hammocks down there where you can rest.”

“Oh. Thanks,” Skandar said faintly and Peter guided her away from the group. Edmund raised his eyebrows. How quickly Peter had fallen!

“So,” Caspian said, drawing Edmund’s gaze back to him along with the others. “Vanessa has told us her theory, and as no one has any better ideas of how we got here, her theory will be the official one for now. Vanessa, what did you say the name of this place is?”

“Istalya.”

“And is there in land in Istalya?” Caspian asked then.

Vanessa thought for a minute. “I don’t think so…but I could probably create some, if you want.”

Caspian laughed. “Very well. Maybe later, then. But right now, I think we’ve had enough excitement for a while. Lucy can get you some new clothes and show you where you can sleep. If you have any questions, you can ask me or Peter. Jack Sparrow is our captain, so if you’re going to create any land, be sure to give him the headings for it.”

“Sounds good,” Vanessa said happily, and then she dashed off to the helm, leaving the little group bewildered and unsure of what to think.

They weren’t real?