Determine the Future (The Exceptional S. Beaufont Book 10)

by Sarah Noffke

  “Are you saying I have to embrace commitment fully?”

  Bep shook her head. “Quite the opposite. Too often, we enter into love because we want to get something. We want the other person to commit before we open up. That’s where that love potion went wrong. It was conditional. But a true love spell, if such a thing could ever exist says, ‘I love you even if you don’t love me back.’”

  Sophia pondered the notion for a moment although the box’s weight felt like almost too much. She considered putting it down. However, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to pick it back up. “That’s strangely beautiful. So I have to love without condition to open the box?”

  “That’s right,” Bep answered. “Now, be off so I can enjoy my birthday treat.”

  Sophia didn’t wait to be ushered to the door by the shop owner, who suddenly seemed antsy to dig into her dessert. However, a random question occurred to her when she was almost at the exit. “Hey, if you sell everything through online retailers, why do you have a shop?”

  Bep smiled from the counter while holding the imposter burger in her hands, a look of delight on her face as she prepared to take a bite. “Because I like making friends and that’s easier to do in person.”

  Chapter Ninety-Three

  The smell at Happily Ever After College was almost too much for Sophia to stand. She instantly fashioned a piece of clothing into a face covering, which made her feel like a bandit in the Wild West.

  Sometimes she pretended she was playing a game like cowboys and Indians or cops and robbers when in a difficult battle-type situation. It made it easier to get through.

  Sophia was able to fashion the face-covering because her hands were free since she’d figured out a way to carry the small velvet ring box. Bep had stated that putting a lighter weight spell on the box would detract from its magic. However, that didn’t mean she couldn’t carry it using magic.

  The extremely heavy box currently floated next to her thanks to a levitation spell, which helped her to preserve her energy.

  Although Sophia was certain that her containment spell still kept the toxic goo from spreading through the college and creating destruction, the smell apparently couldn’t be contained. It was probably one of the worst odors she’d had the misfortune of inhaling. She tried to breathe through her mouth as she approached the school where visible fumes wafted through the open door.

  It was poignant to Sophia that a love spell gone wrong would create something so deadly. That only went to prove that love couldn’t be manufactured or forced. Bep had alluded to the notion that “if” a love spell was ever invented, which made Sophia believe that it hadn’t and probably couldn’t—not without devastating repercussions like what the toxic goo was doing to Happily Ever After College.

  Sophia knew some spells were nearly impossible. Not completely, but the cost was significant. For instance, a person couldn’t bring someone back from the dead without trading a life. And love it seemed, had deadly repercussions if spelled. Some things in the world shouldn’t be done using magic, Sophia reasoned.

  It was weird to see the grounds of Happily Ever After College deserted like they presently were when Sophia was so used to seeing fairy godmothers and their students bustling around the idyllic campus. There was always laughter in the air as well as birds singing and squirrels chirping. It appeared that not only all the fairy godmothers and students vacated the grounds, but all the animals as well.

  Sophia reasoned that the chi of the dragon made it so that only someone like her could stand to be in the toxic substance's vicinity. Still, Sophia didn’t believe that she could be around it long.

  The smell was already making her lightheaded and the fumes burned her eyes as she approached the door where the green goo glowed like radioactive nuclear waste. Once at the door’s threshold, Sophia halted, disbelieving what she found.

  The containment spell had worked to keep the goo from spreading, but it hadn’t stopped it from evolving. Left unattended, it had become something more.

  It had come alive.

  Chapter Ninety-Four

  The toxic slime had resembled something alive before when it curled up from the floor like hands trying to claw their way up from a grave. The substance had movement the last time Sophia had seen it, making waves that licked up into the air. However, it had grown. Formed. Created itself into a blob-like monster.

  The creature—which was a loose term for whatever it was—resembled a snowman-like being. Sophia realized as she blinked away the fumes wafting from it that it reminded her of the slime creature from the Ghostbuster movies but without the teeth. She half-expected for it to put both its hands to its head and blow a raspberry at her.

  Remarkably, the thing had hands and a mouth and hollow sockets that resembled eyes. It appeared tethered to the floor where she’d put the containment spell, but that didn’t prevent it from growing into the air and wiggling in her direction, its large green belly jiggling like a bowl of Jell-O.

  The green blob seemed to study her as it twisted its neckless head to the side while its arms waved around wildly. The creature’s midsection bent back and forth like one of those inflatable air dancers they used at car dealerships to attract attention.

  Wow, that thing is cute, Lunis said in Sophia’s head.

  She nearly laughed. She hadn’t expected the interruption, but realized that she should have. Mr. Ectoplasm is anything but cute.

  I think he has nice eyes, Lunis joked. And mister, huh? How formal. No Fred or Don or Phillip?

  Don is his first name, Sophia replied.

  Don Ectoplasm. I like it. I bet he’s one of those types that if you call him Mr. Ectoplasm to his face he grimaces and says, Mr. Ectoplasm was my father.

  Let’s find out. Sophia watched the thing move a lot while also thankfully staying anchored. It appeared he’d formed a solid mass but wasn’t going anywhere, although the hallway where he’d traveled from was destroyed.

  “Mr. Ectoplasm,” Sophia began. The fumes were thick when she spoke, which made it feel like she was chewing the air. “It’s time that you find a new home. We need the college back.”

  The thing didn’t seem to register that she’d said anything. It continued to wave around as though caught in a breeze.

  Are you sure that we can’t keep it? Lunis asked. I’d take care of it. Maybe Don can live in my new bachelor pad.

  He’s toxic waste, Sophia argued.

  I once had a girlfriend I called that after I dumped her, Lunis joked.

  Sophia laughed. You’ve never had a girlfriend.

  You don’t know, he fired back.

  I know. Well, say goodbye to Don. Sophia reached for the velvet ring box hovering right next to her.

  The monster took note of this immediately. His mouth opened wide and showed a huge black hole. Don Ectoplasm’s cheeks caved in as it sucked and created a tumultuous wind that pulled at Sophia and nearly took her off her feet. The box slipped through the air a few inches, and she had to dive to grab it before the beast sucked it into its mouth!

  Chapter Ninety-Five

  Suddenly, Sophia felt like she was in a wind tunnel. Thankfully her hands cinched around the velvet ring box in time. The object’s weight worked in her favor and acted as an anchor when Don Ectoplasm nearly pulled her into its vacuum mouth.

  The wind whipping by made her hair beat Sophia in the face and intensified moment by moment. Sophia felt like she was inside the propeller system of an airplane. Don’s mouth was the spinning blade that drew her and the ring box to it.

  The monster’s mouth enlarged and took over most of its form. It went from a few inches wide to three feet in an instant, which would easily swallow her.

  The wind blasting in Sophia’s ears was deafening, taking over everything. She could barely make out Lunis talking in her head over the rush of air around her—it owned her attention.

  I can’t understand you, she yelled to her dragon and tried to focus as the monster pulled her and the ring box a few inche
s closer.

  Sophia yanked her head down and noticed that she was only inches from the green sludge’s base. Any closer and it would touch her, and she knew that wouldn’t end well.

  Don Ectoplasm’s arms were like the stretchy sticky hand toys that children throw through the air to attach onto walls. However, Don’s target was her and the box.

  He reached for her as his wide hands expanded.

  Sophia heard Lunis in her head again, but she couldn’t make out his words, and she realized that was because her mouth was wide open and she was screaming.

  Objects behind Sophia raced by her and into Don Ectoplasm’s mouth. Without chewing them, he swallowed flowers and leaves, garden art, light fixtures, and whatever else was in the yard behind Sophia.

  Many objects hit her in the shoulder or head, almost sending her forward with them. She was dangerously close now, and so was the ring box. If Don swallowed that she’d be out of options. If he inhaled her, she’d be dead.

  When she looked over her shoulder, Sophia realized that she was running out of options. That thought occurred to her as Don Ectoplasm sucked harder, pulling Sophia off her feet and racing toward the blackness of the monster’s mouth.

  Chapter Ninety-Six

  In a flash, Sophia reached out, grabbed the door frame to the front entrance, and held on with all her might as her other hand clenched the ring box, which shot forward and nearly flew into the beast’s mouth.

  Sophia instantly went horizontal in the air with her boots sweeping out in front of her and her legs waving like a flag in the wind.

  She could again hear Lunis yelling in her mind, but it was crazy that she couldn’t hear his words even in her thoughts. That’s how loud the wind violently whipped around her as Don Ectoplasm tried to suck her into his darkness along with the ring box that was supposed to be its demise.

  Now Sophia felt literally out of options. She couldn’t open the small box with one hand holding her in place. The monster still reached in her direction and gained a precious inch with each passing minute. Soon Don would grab her and would no doubt stuff her and the velvet box into its mouth.

  Sophia had to open the box. That was the only option. To do that, she had let go of the door frame. However, at the rate that Don Ectoplasm was intensifying his vacuum, it wouldn’t matter.

  The dragonrider’s grip on the doorframe was slipping. She was an inch from losing her hold. Her flailing legs knocked into something behind her, and she jerked her head back to see that it was the railing on the walkway up the stairs.

  Her boot knocked into the wrought iron railing as she tried to direct her flailing legs. Her shins banged into the metal several times, but Sophia didn’t care. Her fingers slipped another inch from the door frame.

  She wildly scissored her legs, desperate for anything to save her. She was about to release the doorframe and open the box when her boot caught the side of the railing and hooked in place.

  Sophia’s breath caught in her throat. She gulped, and felt like she might pass out. However, this wasn’t the time to faint. It was time to use everything she had left.

  After winding her other foot around the other side of the railing, Sophia felt anchored in place, if only for a moment. The vacuum’s intensity was greater than ever.

  Her hand shook as Sophia dared to release the doorframe and found that her legs kept her in place, although she still flew like a flag in the wind. She reached for the ring box and remembered what Bep had told her.

  If she didn’t get this right, then she wasn’t sure what would happen next because one thing was certain—she couldn’t hold on much longer.

  Chapter Ninety-Seven

  Sophia loved Wilder. She knew that with her whole heart. But she also recognized that most romantic love was conditional.

  I’ll love you if…

  I’ll love you when…

  I’ll love you as long as…

  Those were common terms connected to love. Sophia knew what Bep meant about having no restrictions on love. It couldn’t be based on a commitment. True love wasn’t about being there as long as the other person promised one thing or another. Genuine love was about being there simply because.

  Yes, there was respect. Yes, there was affection and honor, and thoughtfulness.

  Someone didn’t stay if they were abused. That wasn’t love.

  Real love was about being in a healthy relationship and loving someone for everything that they were—the good and the bad. It was about loving someone unconditionally. For Sophia, there was no doubt that if Wilder never promised himself entirely to her, if he lost all his hair, if he forgot her birthday, or if he decided not to love her anymore…

  No matter what, Sophia loved Wilder.

  That was true love, and she had that for him. With that thought in her head and heart, Sophia’s free hand grabbed the lid and sought to pull it back. As when she tried to pick up the velvet ring box, resistance met her efforts.

  Her mind screamed with horror that it might not open…that she might be out of options…that this was the end. Then the lid cracked as she put more force into the effort, feeling determined. Using her emotions, rather than relying on her brute strength.

  It felt like trying to open a rusted-shut door, but once Sophia got it to crack, she poked her pinky finger into the opening and pried it back. Then came a flash of brightness and a chorus of noise—a blinding experience that made Sophia completely black out, overwhelmed by what spilled out of the ring box.

  Chapter Ninety-Eight

  Everything hurt when Sophia opened her eyes. The light was too bright, and the sounds too loud. The pain from the wind that had attacked her body. The bumps and bruises from being banged around, and the aches in her muscles and bones.

  Her head had hit the concrete hard when she landed on the school’s front stoop. The one piece of good news was that the wind sucking her into the blob of green goo was gone. Don Ectoplasm was still very much alive though, only a few feet away and rising into the air. It made a tall tower that she was certain was about to bend and gobble her up.

  Sophia glanced over at the ring box in her hand to find it still open although it was empty. She couldn’t figure out what had happened. Suddenly, Don screamed. The toxic substance that made him up flew through the air straight at her.

  Panic raced through Sophia at the thought of the monster coming at her this time instead of the opposite. However, he was siphoned into a spiral of thin substance and sucked toward the ring box in a strange turn of events.

  Sophia held onto the velvet box. Her arm banged against the concrete from the force the box exerted as it sucked in the green sludge like it was a bottomless pit. It continued to swallow the radioactive waste as though gulping it through a straw in a neat stream.

  Holding onto the ring box grew exponentially harder as if it were trying to get away while filling with the toxic sludge. Sophia yanked her other hand onto it. She felt like she resembled a madwoman lying on the steps to Happily Ever After College while holding a small box that sucked up a stream of green goo as she flailed around as though possessed by a poltergeist.

  It made every part of her body sear with pain. Her limbs banged into the concrete, and her head flew forward and back like she was on a rollercoaster. She felt like she was fighting with an invisible force.

  She could still hear Lunis yelling to her in her head, but the force of the commotion around her and her desperate thoughts to hold on for dear life made it impossible to make out his words.

  Then, as suddenly as it had started, the hallway before her emptied of the green matter and left the space bare besides the destruction it had caused.

  The velvet ring box snapped shut in Sophia’s hands and sealed with a spell she knew couldn’t be undone. It would never open again, and what was inside would be trapped forever.

  Sophia’s head lolled to the side. She suddenly felt lightheaded, as though she would pass out. She’d allow that now that she’d done her job.

  Lunis… s
he said in her head, searching for her dragon. What were you trying to tell me? I couldn’t hear you.

  I told you to hold on. Sentimentality filled his voice. I told you to remember that real love always holds on, but you didn’t need to hear that from me because you already knew that. Good work, Soph.

  Chapter Ninety-Nine

  “Is she dead?” an indistinct voice asked from the recesses of Sophia’s mind.

  “Do you think she’s dead?” Mae Ling shot back. “Would I have this expression if she were dead?”

  “You always look like that,” the woman replied.

  “She’s passed out.” Mae Ling put a cold hand on Sophia’s forehead, making her startle.

  “Do you think the green poison got to her?” another girl asked, this one with a high-pitched voice.

  “Maybe.” Mae Ling sounded worried.

  Sophia shook her head and tried to open her eyes but felt locked inside a distant dream. She was coming to, but it took time to swim to the surface.

  “The poison is gone,” Willow’s voice stated in a dignified tone.

  “She could have gotten knocked out while trying to take it out,” another voice Sophia didn’t recognize countered.

  “Maybe,” Mae Ling repeated.

  “What’s in the box in her hand?” a third stranger asked.

  “It looks like an engagement ring box,” someone responded.

  Sophia tried to pull the velvet box to her, but her limbs didn’t respond to her brain’s commands.