Chapter 2

The train station was extremely crowded as families came here to send there children far away from the death and destruction that seemed to dominate the city of London. Day and night were filled with the screams of air raid sirens as yet another wave of Nazi bombers filled the skies to deliver their cargo of destruction. Susan Pevensie kept a firm grip on her younger brother Edmund's hand so he wouldn't be swallowed by the crush of the sheer amount of people inside the station. The whole place stank of the fear that seemed to permeate the very air itself, all around her families wept as they said goodbye to loved ones as they prepared to send their children far beyond the reach of the constant air raids.

Helen Pevensie looked back to make sure all her children were still with her and hadn't gotten lost in the throng of people who were making their way throughout the station. She reassured herself that this was the right thing to do, sending her kids to live in the countryside while she stayed at home working in the factory. With the ever escalating air raids the city was becoming more and more uninhabitable by the day making it no place to raise a family of children. Not to mention that since their father was away fighting in the war she had trouble keeping all four of the children safe and cared for.

Looking back she could see that her youngest, Lucy, had taken the evacuation tag off her coat. Bending down she reattached it saying. "Lucy, dear you have to keep this on at all times, ok?"

"Why do we have to go mum?" Lucy said trying to keep herself from crying.

"It's not safe in the city for you children and it's only for a short time." Helen replied wiping the tears from her eyes. She swore to herself that she wouldn't cry, not here not in front of her children. She had to be brave for them, at least until they got on the train and were away from the city.

Peter, her eldest, always the strong one took Lucy's hand. "Don't worry Lu, wars don't last forever. We'll be home before you know it."

Finally arriving at the table where all the children's numbers were checked and registered one last time in preparation of them getting on the train which would take them into the countryside where they would remain until the ending of the bombing runs on the city. Glancing over to see what her two oldest were doing she caught them staring at a group of soldiers who were walking down the other side of the platform towards a military supply train. Though she could plainly see that they were watching for different reasons, Peter because he was jealous of the soldiers and Susan who was watching them with a touch of lust in her eyes.

Helen sighed to herself. Sometimes she really regretted ever keeping that child. Just after Peter was born she had had an affair with a soldier passing through London and the end result was nine months later she gave birth to her daughter Susan. Though she never told her husband the truth sometimes she thought that he knew from the way he was always a little bit harsher or colder in his treatment of Susan compared to the way he acted around the other children. Thinking to herself that perhaps this would be a good thing getting Susan out of the city and away from all the young men who had started to court her since she had started blossoming into a beautiful young lady.

Giving all four of her children a hug Helen said. "Goodbye, and be good for the professor. Now, hurry along and get on the train."

Peter being the leader of the group began moving them onto the train. Susan was responsible for the tickets which she gave to the worker who was quickly processing the massive multitudes of children who were being moved onto the train as fast as humanely possible. As soon as they were confirmed as being supposed to be on this train they were nearly shoved onto the train in the hurry to get everyone on as quickly as possible to get this train out of the station to allow other trains to come into the downtown station.

Watching her children board the train Helen strained to see over the heads of the surrounding crowd as her babies started off on a trip that would take them far from here for a considerable amount of time before she would be able to see them again. The train began to slowly move as its engines gave it the power to move its massive bulk; she waved furiously as she saw her children leaning out of a window looking for her in the crowd. For a few seconds they saw her and waved back before the train picked up enough speed and they were carried out of sight.

Onboard the train Peter led them to the compartment that they had been assigned for the trip to the professor's house in the countryside. They found two other small children in the compartment they had been given when they got there but there was plenty of room for all of them to fit in there so it wasn't a big hassle. For the most part everyone was quiet each lost in their own thoughts as they watched the countryside fly by as the train sped through England stopping at nearly every small town as they went to drop off ever smaller amounts of children.

Susan looked at her watch and realized that they had nearly six hours before they reached their stop. Not wanting to just sit on her butt for all that time doing nothing she decided to get out one of the books that she had managed to buy without her mother's permission. She would have probably had a fit if she found out what kind of books she had been reading behind her back. Sitting back down after grabbing the book out of her suitcase she opened it to where she had left off and proceeded to lose herself the far off fantasy world described in the book.

Peter glanced over and saw his sister reading a book that he knew that his mother had forbidden her from reading. It was one of those 'bodice ripper' style books that their mother claimed were immoral and dirty.

Susan glanced up from her reading to see Peter staring at her. "What?" She asked.

"I know mum told you not to read those kinds of books." He said pointing at the cover of the book in question.

"Yes, well she's not here, nor does she need to know." Susan replied before going back to her reading.

Peter simply shook his head at his sister's stubbornness. Sometimes she could be such a pain and other times it was her he turned to when he needed advice on damn near anything.

Susan covertly glanced up to look at her siblings who were either sleeping, Lucy and Edmund, or looking out the window at the passing countryside, Peter. Sometimes she wondered how none of them could tell that she wasn't their full sister, she had managed to figure it out after wondering why their father had always been so cold in the way he talked to her as if she wasn't welcome or wanted in the house. After getting fed up with that treatment for so many years she had read her mothers diary and found the mention of the affair which produced her and her mother's own comments that she thought she had made a mistake by keeping her. Ever since then Susan had avoided talking to both of her parents as much as possible along with her siblings to a lesser extent.

Though she loved her siblings sometimes she found herself wishing that her real father would come for her and take her away to live with him. It pained her to admit that but sometimes she just couldn't take the coldness that came from the man she had called dad for so many years. Shaking her head, she tried to clear her mind of such thoughts. Susan knew deep down that her siblings loved her in return but she couldn't help but thinking that sometimes she would be better off if she wasn't with them all the time. Besides it was hard sometimes not to wonder how your life would have turned out if you had grown up in either another time or place with different parents.

Susan went back to her reading as a way to pass the time before they would get to their stop. While reading her mind wandered to wonder what awaited them at the professor's house. Would it be a house large enough for all of them to have their own rooms or would she be forced to share a bedroom with her younger sister like she did back home. Also would the professor be a nice man or would he be one of those people that hated children.

The hours seemed to fly by as her mind crossed between the realms of her flights of fancy and the realm of the book she was reading. Before she even knew it the conductor was announcing that their stop was the next one coming up in ten minutes. Shaking her siblings awake Susan got her stuff together so she would be ready to jump off the train as soon as they stopped. She didn't want to risk not getting off and being separated from her family. Once they were all ready Susan lead them towards the door that would let them off at the station and waited for the train to come to a full stop where they hopped off and stared at the tiny stop that barely qualified as being called a stop for the train.

Looking around and not seeing anyone waiting to pick them up Peter turned to Susan. "Are you sure this is the right stop?"

Edmund was staring at the identification tag that they were all wearing. "Perhaps we've incorrectly labeled?" He wondered aloud.

"Don't be ridiculous. We haven't been mislabeled." Susan muttered to her younger brother. Ever since he had gone to that new private academy he had turned into such a pain.

The four children sat down on one of the benches on the platform to await the arrival of the professor or his servant Miss Macready. Though the time seemed to drag on it wasn't more than thirty minutes before they heard the sound of an automobile approaching. Thinking that it was the professor who had merely been misinformed about the time of their arrival they quickly gathered their things and moved to stand at the roadside so they wouldn't irritate him by taking to long to get into his vehicle.

Susan was shocked when the automobile turned out not to be the professor after all as it sped on by the assembled group. Thinking that perhaps Edmund was right after all and they had gotten off at the wrong stop she started thinking of a plan of what to since they couldn't sit out here forever waiting for someone who was probably waiting for them at another stop down the line. Just as she was about to suggest they start walking down the road in hopes of finding a house or town she heard the sound of a horse approaching with a rider. Turning in the direction of the sound she saw a middle aged woman sitting in a horse drawn cart approaching.

When the cart came to a stop Peter spoke first before anyone else. "Miss Macready?"