narnia · alice in wonderland · pevensie siblings · high fantasy · ww2 era · time travel · royal family · protective · magical realm · ensemble cast
***1 9 4 2*** The year is 1942. London is a memory; Yorkshire is home. Alice Liddell, thirteen, blonde, and bored, clings to a thick tree branch above a flower-dusted field. Her aunt reads aloud below, but Alice’s eyes are on a white rabbit in a suit, clutching a clock. Curiosity wins. She follows him into a hole, tumbling down in a slow, dreamlike spiral past floating books and ticking clocks. At the bottom, a tiny door bars her way. A doorknob speaks: *“Take the shrinking potion!”* Alice, hesitant but curious, drinks. It tastes of cotton candy. She shrinks, slipping through the door into a sun-dappled forest. Talking animals chatter. An orange fox approaches gently. *“You’re in Narnia. Come, I’ll show you.”* Alice follows, heart pounding with wonder. She stumbles, looking…