"Yeah. But maybe we want to hurry, since time seems to go faster in there and it would be sad if they had to have a very much longer time of only winter. They'll start starving in there."

She nods. "If they've already had hundreds of years, I think they must've found some way to feed themselves, but it's not necessarily a very good one. Let's figure out everything we want to bring, figure out what we're saying to our respective grown-ups and how, and then pack up and go."

"I guess as long as they know we're going to that one house they can come find more complete explanations that we leave there. But how will we get there? I don't have a bike and if I did I couldn't really ride it."

"I bet I can get a ride out of Chris, actually."

"Are you going to tell her? Would she believe you if you went and showed her the snow before it melts?"

"I'm pretty sure she would. But it might decrease our chances of getting a ride if I tried to sell her on 'please take me and Bella to the abandoned house so we can rescue the magical land of Narnia from an evil witch queen', snow or no snow, instead of 'please take me and Bella to the abandoned house so I can indulge my morbid imagination with her for a couple hours'."

"Charlie wouldn't believe us. He'd think you got a - a snow-cone machine or something." Pause. "If you got a snow-cone machine or something this isn't funny at all."

"Real actual snow from a real actual magic forest, I swear."

"I would think people would notice if the back of their wardrobe led to a magic forest. Are you sure it always works?"

"The two times I've walked through it, it was a magic door, and the one time I just stuck my arm in it wasn't one. Maybe it only works if you climb in and most people don't climb into their wardrobes to check if there's a magic door in the back."

"That could do it I guess."

"Okay. So if all we're doing about the grown-ups is getting a ride from Chris, the remaining question is... what do we pack? It might be a bad idea to bring anything that's too big to hide away in a backpack, in case Chris asks questions, but if we think of something really useful I'd risk it."

"Notebooks for me. Food - enough to last a while if we're careful, especially since if we meet people who are hungry because of the winter we might want to share or trade with them. Maybe - flashlights? We can take coats from the wardrobe which is good because I don't have anything warmer than a raincoat."

"Yeah. And food that keeps, as much as we can, and doesn't need cooking or anything. Flashlights... yes, but the kind you shake or wind, if we can get them, not the kind that needs batteries. Batteries run out and I don't think Narnia has electricity."

"Granola bars, um, nuts, raisins, candy maybe, candy keeps... I have a flashlight you squeeze to charge."

"That works. Okay. Wanna scour your house for non-perishable snacks and then meet me at mine?"

"Yeah, will do."

"Okay. See you in a bit. If you find something you think might be useful, bring it if you can; we can always leave it at my place if we don't have room."

Bella nods and goes into her house.

Bella's there an hour later, her own backpack full up.

"Hi," she says when she opens the door. "I've got all the nonperishable food in the house and the one wind-up flashlight I found that worked. What have you got?"

"Notebooks and pens and my flashlight and a first-aid kit. Granola bars, chocolate chips and Skittles and crackers and a jar of peanut butter and a knife, and I made us sandwiches - they should keep until the next time we want to eat, in our backpacks in winter, even if they wouldn't last days. Box of matches. Water bottle, I could only find one though."

"Nice. I've been focused on the food; I can't go rooting around for useful objects so easily while Chris is working. I should clean us out of matches if I can find any, though. And I bet I can come up with some water bottles. There's probably room to throw a roll of duct tape in here on principle, even after all that..." She hefts her backpack, which is looking pretty full but still has room at the top - it's twice the size of the one she originally filled with snow.

"Ooh, duct tape's a good idea."