If you follow this story, you'll probably noticed that the time between updates is getting longer and longer. I'm sorry. Back when I first started writing fanfiction, life was a lot easier. My writing's getting slower. I am not going on hiatus – don't worry – but I don't think I'll be writing very fast any time in the foreseeable future. Again, I'm sorry.

This story is based on an original idea from ReadingPixie.

C.S. Lewis owns Narnia.

Abigail, Jacob, Timothy, Ariel, Belissa, Faelyn, Layton, Amberline and Cosmo are my original characters.

Jacob knew something was wrong as soon as he heard the shouts. When Ariel and Timothy had run out of the room, no one had known quite what to do. Follow Ariel and Timothy, or let them meet Susan in private first?
Then Jacob had heard the shouting – horrible, angry, from upstairs – and ran to them.

As he reached the top of the stairs, the door of a classroom banged open. A woman ran out, a man chasing after her, calling for her to come back. Aunt Susan and Uncle Timothy, Jacob realised, but why were they running? It made no sense for Susan to flee upon seeing her husband and daughter. He tossed the thought aside and hurried into the classroom.

Ariel looked up at him. She was huddled against the far wall, her face blotchy with tears. She sniffed and stood up as he moved towards her.

"Ari." he said. "What happened?"

She stared at him, and her face was very white. "Mother." she whispered. "My mother. She – she doesn't remember me. She asked me who I was." Her voice rose to a wail. "She doesn't remember!"

The words bounced around in Jacob's brain. They didn't make any sense. Not remember? How could Queen Susan – Aunt Susan – not remember her husband and daughter? Had she been afflicted with some kind of memory loss? He'd heard of such things happening, people waking up unable to recognise the faces of their friends and family, but he had never thought it would happen to his family.

"It'll be alright." Jacob promised, his mind whirling. "Maybe she was just – just shocked to see you. And Timothy. We'll figure this out, Ari." He glanced at the open door. "Did you see where they went?"

Ari shook her head, sniffing. "I'm sorry."

"That's okay. We'll ask Uncle Edmund. He knows this school." Jacob held out his hand to Ariel. "Come on."

OOO

"I'm sorry you had to be reunited with your mother like that, Ariel." Edmund said. He looked down at her, a mournful look in his brown eyes.
I don't understand." whispered Ariel. "Why doesn't she remember me?"

Edmund was silent for a long moment, and then he sighed. "I don't know. A few years after we returned from Narnia, Susan started saying – well, she started saying that it hadn't been real. That it was all a game we made up."

Ariel gave a low cry of agony, but Edmund continued.

"It was gradual. Slow. It started as her changing the subject whenever we talked of Narnia. Then leaving the room. Then denying it had ever existed at all." He bowed his head. "I'm sorry, Ariel."

At that moment, the door flew open. A wild-eyed Timothy stumbled in, looking like he'd had his soul sucked out.

"My wife – my Susan." He was panting. "She does not remember me – we quarrelled – she ran." He broke off, clearly too overcome with emotion to speak.

Edmund moved to stand beside his brother-in-law, talking quietly to him. Jacob saw Timothy's shoulders slump at whatever Edmund was telling him.

Jacob looked around. His mother was talking to Amberline in a corner of the classroom, her hands moving in agitation. Jacob guessed that she, too, knew about Susan and the way she had forgotten everything. Belissa was sitting with her children and Cosmo, entertaining them by making books fly around their heads. When your aunt was a fairy, you got used to sights like that.

Jacob felt a light tap on his shoulder. Edmund was behind him, looking sober. "I've telephoned Lucy." he said, and then, seeing Jacob's puzzled expression, "A telephone is a way of sending messages here. She'll be here any minute."
"How much did you tell her?" asked Jacob, cheered that his happy, carefree aunt would be arriving soon. She was just what they needed, Lucy with her bright way of dancing from one thought to the next like a butterfly.

"Everything." said Edmund grimly. "She deserves to know. Her husband and son are here, after all. But….." He sighed. "She…well, when Susan began to forget, Lucy took it the worst. She didn't understand." He suddenly looked a lot older, and Jacob had a brief flash of realization of how difficult it was for his uncle, with his family newly returned but not even being able to properly spend time with them because of all these problems.

The life of a king is not an easy one. Jacob heard his father's voice as clearly as if he'd been standing next to him. He swallowed, and put his hand on his uncle's arm.

"Let's go meet Lucy." said Jacob, prince of Narnia.

OOO

Jacob stared at the woman whizzing towards them on a - was bicycle the word Edmund had used? It looked uncomfortable. The woman's green coat flew behind her and her golden hair was coming undone. She was laughing, laughing as she stumbled off the strange machine and stumbled towards them.

Jacob stared at the woman – no, the girl. A girl not much older than himself, young enough to pass for his sister. He could not believe that this girl was really his aunt, the respected and beloved Queen Lucy of Narnia.

And yet Amberline was staring at her like she was some rare and beautiful flower. "Lucy?" he breathed. There was shock and joy and love mingled in his eyes.

Lucy smiled like the sun. "Amberline." she said. And then she looked down, and her smile grew even brighter. "And Cosmo. My son!" She swooped down to embrace him.

Cosmo looked up at the bright, laughing lady who swooped down over him, and burst into tears.

Jacob looked around wildly. Everything was going wrong. Susan didn't remember her family. Cosmo didn't remember his mother. There was still the constant worry of the strange blight back in Narnia, and they were stranded in a totally unfamiliar land, with no way of getting home.

Aslan. thought Jacob. Please, please send us some kind of help.

Edmund clapped his hands. The sharp sound cut through Cosmo's wails, and Lucy's distress as she tried to comfort her son, who was terrified by the affection of this strange woman. Everyone turned to look at the King.

"We can't stay here." Edmund declared. "People will be leaving work soon, and you all look like you've just come from a fancy-dress party." He indicated Jacob, Abigail, Timothy, Belissa, Ariel, the twins, Amberline and Cosmo. They were all still in their Narnian clothes – rich silks and velvets, which looked very out of place on the drab street. "We need to go someplace where we can rest and figure out this situation. That blight you mentioned, Abigail – that will need research. And we need to meet up with Peter and find a way to get back to Narnia."

"You have someone in mind, Edmund." Lucy said. "Don't you?"

Edmund nodded. "We will go to Professor Kirke."

Does this count as a cliffhanger?